Summer Wars, the Latest Japanime Explosion

GKids

Anime gone wild(er) in Summer Wars

Details

Summer Wars
Directed by Mamoru Hosoda
GKids
Opens December 29, IFC Center

Related Content

• Hidden Colors 2: The Triumph of Melanin
  December 5, 2012
• Hackers Evolve in We Are Legion
  October 17, 2012
• Basset Hound Meet-Up in Park Slope Was Too Cute For Words, But Perfect on Video
  June 28, 2011
• Inside the Second Life Universe With Life 2.0
  May 18, 2011
• New Dating Opportunity For Reclusive Weirdos!
  May 21, 2011

More About

• Second Life

An apocalyptic take on the social network comes from, of all places, Mamoru Hosoda’s childlike, yay-go-team japanime about a hijacked Second Life–esque world. Shy math whiz Kenji joins pretty, older schoolmate Natsuki on a trip to her family’s rural ancestral home, where he’s supposed to pose as her boyfriend so that her appealingly fierce great-grandmother isn’t disappointed on her birthday. But Kenji is all nerves, and—oh, yeah—he also inadvertently compromises the security of a worldwide online community called Oz, allowing its takeover by a sinister AI being. Hosoda toggles between airborne clenched-teeth cage matches in Oz’s avatar cutesplosion, and bickering among Natsuki’s samurai-descended clan as they work to overcome the real-world chaos caused by Oz. As Kenji’s brave-nerd maturation chugs along, interesting comparisons are set up between the societal structures of the family and of the virtual sphere. But corn is corn, and when everyone starts pulling together—which ultimately means Natsuki’s favorite card game of hanafuda will prove to hold life-or-death importance—it’s hard to appreciate things like the character detail amid the insufferably squealy voicing and arbitrary suspense.