Rec: Summer Wars (Anime Movie)
(weekend public crosspost of rec from GB)
These days I find that while movie trailers tend to be pretty cool, the actual movies usually come up short. In some cases, I actually found myself more satisfied with the movie trailer >_>
This is not the case for Summer Wars though. Released last year it's exactly what I tend to want in a summer movie: something entertaining and kick ass with a generous dash of humor. Yet, at the same time it balances a focus on family, relationships and technology in our lives and brings them all together beautifully.
There are characters I fangirl and adore (like Kazuma <3 and Grandma Sakae) or want to pat on the back (Kenji) and others who I want to punch and yet, even the antagonistic characters in the house aren't villains at all, but more reflections of the annoyances and realities in our own family members and friends.
Not to mention, the virtual reality world of OZ is fascinating as well as the effect events there have on the real world.
For more info, check out the review on ANN or MyAnimeList's entry on the title.
S U M M E R W A R S
( C L I C K T O Z O O M )
Genres & Themes: Slice of Life | Family | Technology | Virtual Reality | Action | Comedy
About When timid eleventh-grader and math genius Kenji Koiso is asked by older student and secret crush Natsuki to come with her to her family’s Nagano home for a summer job, he agrees without hesitation.
Natsuki’s family, the Jinnouchi clan, dates back to the Muromachi era, and they’ve all come together to celebrate the 90th birthday of the spunky matriarch of the family, Sakae. That’s when Kenji discovers his “summer job” is to pretend to be Natsuki’s fiancé and dance with her at the birthday celebration.
As Kenji attempts to keep up with Natsuki’s act around her family, he receives a strange math problem on his cell phone which, being a math genius, he can’t resist solving. As it turns out, the solution to the mysterious equation causes a hijacking of the social networking site "OZ", through which most of the world's social and business traffic flows.