I finally got around to watching Summer Wars, director Mamoru Hosoda’s latest anime film that just won Japan Academy’s Animation Award of the year. What I expected to be a good movie ended up being a fantastic movie that gave me a number of things to ponder…
Summer Wars presents us with two different settings and conflicts. One of the settings is OZ, an overwhelmingly large, Internet-based society in which tens of millions of people and businesses around the world, represented by their own custom avatars, can interact and connect with each other to partake in all manner of activities, from chatting and playing games to receiving medical treatment and satellite information. The major conflict of the movie comes from an intelligent but renegade machine that wrecks havoc in OZ by stealing people’s accounts, thus causing a variety of calamities like traffic jams, false emergency calls, and eventually the dropping of a satellite, to occur.
Then we have the other, and quite contrasting, setting – an old-style Japanese mansion in a beautiful countryside area, owned by the wealthy and prestigious Jinnouchi clan, which has been in existence since Japan’s Muromachi era (1366 to 1573). The less major conflict in this setting comes from Kenji’s haplessness as he tries to fit in with the many Jinnouchi family members and come to grips with the fact that he may have to marry Natsuki.
With these two very different settings, it only makes sense for Summer Wars to have two very different looking movie posters…
…one for the OZ world, the “Wars” of Summer Wars (featuring the characters’ OZ avatars)…
…and one for the real world in the Jinnouchi estate, the “Summer” of Summer Wars (with the characters’ real forms of course).
The Jinnouchi family is very believable, but the OZ world, while fictional now, actually seems inevitable if you think about the rapid progress of technology, especially in Japan – the PS3 and Wii, the capabilities of Japan’s cell phones, Web 2.0 – honestly, the world of OZ is not too far from becoming reality and its kind of a scary thought.
Mixing the overbearingly complex, futuristic setting of OZ with the traditional, ancestral history-laden Jinnouchi clan and their estate in a peaceful, natural setting, makes for some interesting contrasts throughout the movie.
The younger generation such as Kazuma and the children are often seen glued to their computer or DS, while the older generation like Mansuke and the women, are engrossed in their family’s ancient history and tradition, and can’t fully comprehend the conflict going on in OZ.
But to get to my main point, I found myself wondering exactly what kind of message Summer Wars is trying to make about its two worlds. Is it trying to suggest that a world like OZ, which we’re relatively close to approaching in reality, is a bad thing because, while convenient, could cause catastrophic consequences should it ever be disrupted? Or is it simply suggesting that, as long as people don’t forget their real-world bonds and are willing to work together, as the Jinnouchi family and eventually many other OZ users did to help Natsuki in the movie’s conclusion, things will be alright, even if technology becomes so ingrained in our lives?
Summer Wars doesn’t seem to be portraying a melancholic idea of the old (Jinnouchi) fading out in favor of the new (OZ). None of the characters are opposed to OZ – all of them seem to have accepted it as the new way of life. And in the end, its revealed that they’re all involved in it, the children and the adults. Even after Sakae dies, the movie ends with the thought that the clan and all its traditions will live on despite the rapidly changing world of technology around them. The old and the new ways of life work hand-in-hand in this movie, with Sakae’s ancient wisdom influencing the younger generation like Wabisuke and the other men who have all been swept into the technology of the times. The letter she leaves to the family suggests that they will live on happily with the strong family bonds of the old days within the lifestyle of the now.
Hundreds of years ago they fought with swords and brute strength. Now the Jinnouchi clan will continue to fight with game consoles and cell phones!
The real-world setting of the Jinnouchi clan estate, representing tradition, family ties, old-style living, nature, and ancient history, together with the fantasy-world setting of OZ, representing technology, rapid progress, anonymous identity, impossible feats made possible, and a massively overwhelming amount of ways to customize and communicate, comprises the unique and ultimately amazing movie known as Summer Wars.
As near as I can tell, the focus of the movie is on the familial bonds that have united all three generations of the Jinnouchi family and how through them, the world can put aside their petty quarrels to deal with a bigger threat. If anything, this movie does have an optimistic spin to it which can make it a positively heartwarming experience.
@ zzeroparticle
Yeah, I think you’re right. Familial bonds are what resolved both conflicts in the movie – saving the world from Love Machine, and Kenji and Natsuki’s development. As Sakae’s letter stated, she wanted the family to be happy and caring about each other, even Wabisuke. They demonstrated their togetherness in their fight against Love Machine, which in turn influenced the togetherness of the world. It is quite optimistic and heartwarming, another plus for the movie =)
The problem is the message between the two worlds is very subtly put across, and people seem to blame the show for not being able to tell that well. I think a subtle hint is way better, since it makes people think, but that may just be me.
Also OZ is actually the future Google in disguise.
@ Panther
I also usually like shows/movies/books that make you think rather than spoon-feed you an opinion or interpretation. Summer Wars definitely gives a positive opinion about family bonds, but it remains fairly neutral about OZ.
Yeah, OZ as a future Google is a possibility. If you’ve ever played LittleBigPlanet on the PS3, it’s like an extremely advanced version of that.
I’ve gotta watch Summer Wars, due to both my love for Hosoda’s work (TokiKake <3), but I've heard that it's really similar to Our War Game of Digimon.
@ jda95
I think I’ve seen the English dub of that Digimon movie a long time ago. That was one of the first things that came to my mind when I saw the King Kazuma vs Love Machine battle in Summer Wars. In both movies, the characters are fighting an evil digital being using their own digital creatures (the avatars in Summer Wars and the digimon in Digimon). And in the end of both movies, the enemy is defeated because people all over the world supported them through the Internet. The animation and deign of the setting looks kind of similar in both movies too.
I think Oz was just a story conceit, because it offends our sensibilities to say “this virus has taken over THE ENTIRE INTERNET.” Instead, we’re asked to imagine that we’ve purposely consolidated the World Wide Web into one place, much like what we’re beginning to do now.
I’m going to just cut and repaste what I said before:
“Summer Wars imagines a future where a single ubiquitous digital environment controls a lot of very important things. But the amazing thing is that Oz itself isn’t the threat. It isn’t even very elitist or arcane. It actually seems quite nice, even familiar. That’s probably because it is: The social interaction is kind of Facebook and kind of Skype, the avatars are a better take on Gaia Online, the shopping and data management is all stuff we do now.”
@ 2DT
Yeah, the concept of the entire Internet being contained within one Facebook/Gaia/Skype-like program makes for intense suspense and plot possibilities. But like we’ve both mentioned, reality isn’t really too far from becoming like that.
You’re right that the ethics of OZ are not the concern of the movie. OZ has just been accepted by all the characters and the real concern is the virus that disrupts it. But for me at least, a hidden, subtle concern is whether something as massive as OZ should exist at all.
I literally just finished watching the movie and, like you, I was stunned at the immense quality of this movie.
The main message I got was that no matter what medium, we’re all connected in someway (even if only 13.5% of the accounts got behind Natsuki).. I feel their meaning was that the world of the internet is supposed to be just a medium for communication in comparison with when Sakae called all her acquaintances to calm everyone is equally like the Jinnochi avatars bonding all around Japan for the trap.
I’m reminded of the proverb “don’t put all your eggs in one basket” from the OZ problem. Already we’re starting to see the beginnings of an OZ-like situation with World of Warcraft and Second Life and that does lead to a possible situation (WoW already has some money related concepts iirc).
As for your point about technology mixing in with the old culture, I feel that it’s much like Japan’s society to mix current technology with old traditions more so than in other countries. The shot of the satellite dish on the mansion before everyone brought all the vehicles in seems to go along with that theme.
Personally, I thought it was a big point to mention that it was released by the American military. That seemed a bit too realistic in my opinion given the past actions of that military. I wouldn’t be surprised to see an virus-like problem come about within the future as we do become more reliant on networks (such as online money transactions and databases).
I’m incredibly tempted at the current moment to purchase the DVD/Blu-Ray, but I’ve got a trip in the process of being planned, so I may have to hold off until then to get it.
@ ultimatemegax
Yeah, connection between people is a big part of the movie, whether it’s something simple and traditional like family or something complex and modern like the OZ world.
The technology+tradition aspect is certainly reflective of Japan’s uniqueness as a country that is perhaps the most technologically advanced, yet continues to hang on to centuries-old customs, traditions, and ideologies.
I believe there have been other anime where America’s militaristic tenancies have been highlighted. I guess some people might have a problem with that but I think it’s pretty realistic.
I watched a low-quality avi file of Summer Wars. Watching those OZ scenes on Blu-Ray would be amazing. Hope I can do that one day =)
lol just watched the movie
very good x)
It had great animation! It would be so wicked if World of OZ was real! Well, besides the fact that an evil AI could ruin it all. But besides that.
I caught the English-dub premiere of the movie this past weekend & I think the message is to not let the Internet control everything. When Oz broke down, Japan went into a panic until Sakae calmed everyone down.
I wrote about the movie here.
http://www.mangatherapy.com/post/1659502530/summer-wars
Summer Wars also probably wants to teach responsibility when it comes to technology.
it would be truly EPIC if the world of oz was real japan or someone should gt around to making it.
I think it’s interesting how the movie pulls everything together, from the not-so-subtle baseball analogy (A virus takes over! The team is losing!) to the interesting blend of drama/romance and raw sci-fi/action. It was really cool to see how the movie portrayed actual computer actions with imagery, such as when Love Machine was trapped by all of the doors closing. That actually can happen to viruses, but the imagery brings it to new light. The movie as a whole has spectacular detail… And I’m not gonna go into the soundtrack. The movie even appeals to quite a few audiences. Noiw, if you absolutely HATE drama or Sci-Fi, you won’t like this movie at all. But isn’t that what life is made of? Dreams, reality? Reality, dreams? This is the film that keeps you thinking long after you watch it.
So to conclude…. I’m gonna go watch this movie again.
You know it would be amazing if we could make something like Oz and I have an idea to keep it locked down I was thinking that we could make an Eternity Code. Amazing Movie by the way