Summer Wars
M J Flack
Staring: Ryunosuke Kamiki Nanami Sakuraba Mitsuki Tanimura Sumiko Fuji
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Produced by: Nozomu Takahashi Takuya Ito Takafumi Watanabe Yuichiro Saito
Screenplay by: Satoko Okudera
Story by: Mamoru Hosoda
Screenplay by: Satoko Okudera
Music by: Akihiko Matsumoto
Cinematography: Yukihiro Matsumoto
Edited by Shi:geru Nishiyama
Production compan: Madhouse
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures Japan
Plot: Kenji Koiso is a young student at Kuonji High School with a gift for mathematics and a part-time moderator in the massive computer-simulated virtual reality world OZ along with his friend Takashi Sakuma.One day, Kenji is invited by fellow Kuonji student Natsuki Shinohara to participate in her great-grandmother Sakae Jinnouchi's 90th birthday. After traveling to Sakae's estate in Ueda, Natsuki introduces Kenji as her fiancé to Sakae, surprising them both. Kenji meets several of Natsuki's relatives and discovers that the Jinnouchis are descendants of a samurai (vassal of the Takeda clan) who challenged the Tokugawa clan in 1615. He also meets Wabisuke Jinnouchi, Natsuki's half-great-uncle and a computer expert who has been living in the United States since stealing the family fortune 10 years ago.
Kenji receives an e-mail with a mathematical code and cracks it. However his actions inadvertently cause OZ's Love Machine to use Kenji's avatar and hack the infrastructure with the encryption Kenji had inadvertently cracked, causing widespread damage. Kenji, Sakuma, and Natsuki's cousin Kazuma Ikezawa confront Love Machine. Love Machine defeats Kazuma's avatar King Kazma and continues to absorb accounts in the OZ mainframe, which due to many accounts being connected to devices for public infrastructure allows Love Machine to cause catastrophic traffic congestion and the disabling of electrical devices. Two of Sakae's relatives, Rika and Shota Jinnouchi, discover Kenji's involvement. Shota arrests Kenji, but the congestion causes Natsuki to return them to the estate.
Review: Summer Wars is an amazing piece of anime writen by Mamoru Hoosoda and screenplay writen by Satoko Okudera. It is full of the fun and amusing Japanese social norms. Which include some of the unique aspects of Japanese culture. If you are not aware of the significance of a male with a bloody nose (no fighting involved) you may misunderstand the meaning. As an example the film depicts the secondary protagonist having become so socially embarrassed that his nose begins to bleed. Just one of many nuances throughout the film.
I enjoy anime for the way they are crafted and the way they can tell a story. This is a fine example of such an art form that has come to represent Japanese anime. I highly recommend it..