Our Movement in Film
Jan 2010 08
Summer Wars Movie Review0
Posted In Reviews
Summer Wars
Summer Wars is the story is about a young high school student, Kenji Koiso, a math genius who has just started his summer break and is asked by his secret crush, and older student, Natsuki Shi
nohara, to go with her to her family home for a summer job, he agrees to it immediately, only finding out later that his “summer job” requires him to pretend to be Natsuki’s fiancée. As Kenji tried his best to keep up with Natsuki’s back stories of himself, he receives a strange message on his “keitai” (which are mobile phones of Japan) asking him to solve a ridiculously long mathematical problem and of course, being a math genius, he cannot resist solving it. In doing so, he unleashes something terrible in the Internet world of OZ.
Mamoru Hosoda’s latest original comes out in theaters on February 25 2010. And on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of November, I was lucky enough to catch Mr. Sevakis of Animé News Network with Mr. Hosoda live on stage at the Animé Festival Asia (AFA) for a discussion panel about this new movie!
Mr. Sevakis started by asking about the basis of Summer Wars, which used the world of OZ to mock the Internet and social networking sites of the digital society. Mr. Hosoda tells us that this is not a ploy to tell everyone that the new form of media is evil, however, he enjoys using the Internet and thought that an action movie about the Internet world would be fun.
Sevakis goes on to ask about inspirations for OZ, where avatars are made to represent real people, suggesting popular names like, Facebook, Second Life and Gaia, but Hosoda tells us that a Japanese site called, Mixi which is only available in Japan, or by invitation, Twitter would give you an idea of a similar network.
Another important motif in the movie was that of large families. In our modern-day world, not many people from many different countries live in large extended families anymore, including us here in Singapore, and people living in Tokyo. Families tend to be smaller. (Sevakis did a quick poll to ask all of us whether we lived in big or small families, the number of hands showed that most of us lived in small family units.) Apparently, Hosoda felt that the feeling of a large family all living under one roof was “more lively and nostalgic”
We also found out that many of the same people who worked on, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, would be working on Summer Wars as well. But, Hosoda made clear that this was a completely different movie, just so we all knew we wouldn’t be getting a Girl Who Leapt Through Time 2. Some of the more important staff that was mentioned was, Satoko Okudera, who wrote the screenplay, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, character designer, who also did character design for Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Sevakis continued to ask about the art direction of Summer Wars, and the simplistic feel of it, similar to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Hosoda wanted to make it “simple and sharp” instead of using lots of CG effects. Why? “It’s more cool that way,” Hosoda replies.
When asked what other animé inspired Summer Wars, Hosoda said, “My Neighbor Totoro, Ghost in the Shell, too many things.”
After a few more joking comments from the host and Mr. Hosoda himself, we went on to questions from the audience.
One asked about Mr. Hosoda’s next project, after Summer Wars.
Mr. Hosoda replied that he was still thinking about it, however, the contents of a “next movie” would be very simple, like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It was a simple movie, with a simple plot and a few main characters, whereas Summer Wars was far more complex, with the story revolving around many more characters. That’s why his next movie is going to revert back to being simple.
Another person asked if Mr. Hosoda would rather work on TV animé series rather than animé movies. Mr. Hosoda replied that he used to work on TV animé series, but he preferred movies, since they call to a larger audience are easier to distribute. However he does not mean that movies are a piece of cake. “Each movie takes three years to complete! One year for planning, second year for scripts and the final year for the film-making.” He also mentioned that the hardest part of the production is usually the planning part, since they have to “try to think about what can make people happy, and what people enjoy.”
The final question asked if there was a difference between the Japanese perspectives of the Internet compared to the rest of the world. Mr. Hosoda says, “I guess it’s a little different, probably.” He used Facebook in America as an example, where people used their real names and information, while on Mixi in Japan, people used online handles, preferring not to reveal their true identities, especially when a situation can lead to trouble. Mr. Hosoda said, “Personally, I feel it would be more fun if people use your real names.”
Mr. Sevakis said, “Unless you get into trouble.”
To this Mr. Hosoda replied with a big smile, “That’s part of the fun.”
As a result of Hosoda’s ethics, the characters in Summer Wars all use avatars that look nothing like themselves, but their real names in the world of OZ.
“If you use your real name,” he said, “people trust you more.”
A last comment from Mr. Hosoda before the panel was closed was, “When you go to watch Summer Wars, bring someone else to watch it with you. It’s a movie about love and family, so don’t watch it alone.”
I recommend that any animé fan, or fan of Mr. Hosoda’s work go to watch this when it’s out in theaters. Some people may not like it, but just like the different perspectives of people who use the Internet, we all have different perspectives of movies as well.
– Winona
nohara, to go with her to her family home for a summer job, he agrees to it immediately, only finding out later that his “summer job” requires him to pretend to be Natsuki’s fiancée. As Kenji tried his best to keep up with Natsuki’s back stories of himself, he receives a strange message on his “keitai” (which are mobile phones of Japan) asking him to solve a ridiculously long mathematical problem and of course, being a math genius, he cannot resist solving it. In doing so, he unleashes something terrible in the Internet world of OZ.
Mamoru Hosoda’s latest original comes out in theaters on February 25 2010. And on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of November, I was lucky enough to catch Mr. Sevakis of Animé News Network with Mr. Hosoda live on stage at the Animé Festival Asia (AFA) for a discussion panel about this new movie!
Mr. Sevakis started by asking about the basis of Summer Wars, which used the world of OZ to mock the Internet and social networking sites of the digital society. Mr. Hosoda tells us that this is not a ploy to tell everyone that the new form of media is evil, however, he enjoys using the Internet and thought that an action movie about the Internet world would be fun.
Sevakis goes on to ask about inspirations for OZ, where avatars are made to represent real people, suggesting popular names like, Facebook, Second Life and Gaia, but Hosoda tells us that a Japanese site called, Mixi which is only available in Japan, or by invitation, Twitter would give you an idea of a similar network.
Another important motif in the movie was that of large families. In our modern-day world, not many people from many different countries live in large extended families anymore, including us here in Singapore, and people living in Tokyo. Families tend to be smaller. (Sevakis did a quick poll to ask all of us whether we lived in big or small families, the number of hands showed that most of us lived in small family units.) Apparently, Hosoda felt that the feeling of a large family all living under one roof was “more lively and nostalgic”
We also found out that many of the same people who worked on, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, would be working on Summer Wars as well. But, Hosoda made clear that this was a completely different movie, just so we all knew we wouldn’t be getting a Girl Who Leapt Through Time 2. Some of the more important staff that was mentioned was, Satoko Okudera, who wrote the screenplay, Yoshiyuki Sadamoto, character designer, who also did character design for Neon Genesis Evangelion.
Sevakis continued to ask about the art direction of Summer Wars, and the simplistic feel of it, similar to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Hosoda wanted to make it “simple and sharp” instead of using lots of CG effects. Why? “It’s more cool that way,” Hosoda replies.
When asked what other animé inspired Summer Wars, Hosoda said, “My Neighbor Totoro, Ghost in the Shell, too many things.”
After a few more joking comments from the host and Mr. Hosoda himself, we went on to questions from the audience.
One asked about Mr. Hosoda’s next project, after Summer Wars.
Mr. Hosoda replied that he was still thinking about it, however, the contents of a “next movie” would be very simple, like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. It was a simple movie, with a simple plot and a few main characters, whereas Summer Wars was far more complex, with the story revolving around many more characters. That’s why his next movie is going to revert back to being simple.
Another person asked if Mr. Hosoda would rather work on TV animé series rather than animé movies. Mr. Hosoda replied that he used to work on TV animé series, but he preferred movies, since they call to a larger audience are easier to distribute. However he does not mean that movies are a piece of cake. “Each movie takes three years to complete! One year for planning, second year for scripts and the final year for the film-making.” He also mentioned that the hardest part of the production is usually the planning part, since they have to “try to think about what can make people happy, and what people enjoy.”
The final question asked if there was a difference between the Japanese perspectives of the Internet compared to the rest of the world. Mr. Hosoda says, “I guess it’s a little different, probably.” He used Facebook in America as an example, where people used their real names and information, while on Mixi in Japan, people used online handles, preferring not to reveal their true identities, especially when a situation can lead to trouble. Mr. Hosoda said, “Personally, I feel it would be more fun if people use your real names.”
Mr. Sevakis said, “Unless you get into trouble.”
To this Mr. Hosoda replied with a big smile, “That’s part of the fun.”
As a result of Hosoda’s ethics, the characters in Summer Wars all use avatars that look nothing like themselves, but their real names in the world of OZ.
“If you use your real name,” he said, “people trust you more.”
A last comment from Mr. Hosoda before the panel was closed was, “When you go to watch Summer Wars, bring someone else to watch it with you. It’s a movie about love and family, so don’t watch it alone.”
I recommend that any animé fan, or fan of Mr. Hosoda’s work go to watch this when it’s out in theaters. Some people may not like it, but just like the different perspectives of people who use the Internet, we all have different perspectives of movies as well.
– Winona