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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Buy | 9 | 10 | 9 | 8 | 10 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:2091#1552] | |
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Man, this was a fun movie. Summer Wars mixes around social commentary on the potential negatives of modern technology with a coming-of-age focus on the developments faced by Kenji and Natsuki as they deal with Natsuki's family and the Love Machine virus affecting Oz, as well as some laughs to deliver on the way. First, let's go into the character aspect of the movie. Summer Wars has a diverse cast of likable characters who contribute both to the reality and wired aspects of the series. Kenji represents the wired aspect of the movie as like many in the younger generation, he is well adjusted to modern technology in the form of social networking on Oz accepting it as part of the norm in his life and feeling socially awkward when interacting with others outside of Oz (i.e. Natsuki and her family). The focus for him in this movie is learning that there are things to appreciate in the real world beyond Oz as he becomes better acquainted with Natsuki's family and falls for Natsuki. In Natsuki's case, she is well-adjusted to living in the real world yet has to come to grips with the affection she has had for her uncle since childhood, who is not so loved by the rest of her family, and her feelings slowly drift towards Kenji. The rest of Natsuki's family make for the highlight of characterization in this movie. Each family member has their own unique personality that stands out and they have a profound influence on different areas of society. Their characters are diverse enough where you can get heartwarming, serious and humorous moments as you see their personalities and actions onscreen from the giddy, drinking uncle talking of his military days to strong-willed family head and great-grandmother Sakae to young renowned online brawler Kazuma. Sakae now stands as one of the most memorable older anime characters I've seen in an anime title thanks to the influence she extends to her modern era thinking family to keep up the good fight against Love Machine's havoc (also symbolic as her social networking skills are still effective, even if the approach to making use of them is more old-fashioned) and scaring the hell out of her grandson, Kazuma, in one scene. Summer Wars also looks into the negative side of modern technology. In this case, the movie explores how man's increased dependency to use technology in handling man's responsibilities and conveniences for everyday living can be turned against it thanks to the threats of hacking and program corruptions. Such problems can prove to be a thorn in the sides of those fulfilling their duties in their fields of work and everyday living, or cause lives in the worst case scenario. Technology even drives some people to develop technologies for their own personal gain that would risk inflicting harm onto others. These are the circumstances that take place with the Love Machine AI as its mischief becomes increasingly hazardous when Kenji, Natsuki and the other family members try to stop its trouble. It also helps that this plot element makes mention of American military involvement in the Love Machine fiasco, which could raise eyebrows with the more patriotic Western viewers. Being on a movie budget, the major highlight of Summer Wars is the CG-animated world that is Oz. There is a ridiculous amount of detail and bright colors made into creating the character avatars and virtual environment that the movie gives off, as well as featuring very fluid movements for online battles, environmental changes and the havoc caused by Love Machine. While not as visually impressive as Oz, the real world scenery and character designs still look quite colorful and vast with a animation style similar to The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (not so surprising as both have the same director and animation studio working on them). There's not really much for me to nitpick about with Summer Wars. I could argue that there were a few points where the implied losses faced by either the Love Machine or the human characters in Oz seemed to come in rather too conveniently with interventions. But with exception to a scene in the final confrontation, I'd be way too cynical to complain about such moments since they occurred with the other family members who interrupted things due to not being as involved with the activities in Oz as those fully aware of the situation like Kenji and Kazuma. Overall, I was quite entertained and immersed with Summer Wars. Having a good mix of comedy, drama, some romance, action via the Oz fights and some social commentary to boot, this is one movie I'll be eager to buy when Funimation releases it to video next year. Last updated Sunday, August 01 2010. Created Sunday, August 01 2010. | ||||||||
| Buy | 9 | 9 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 |
 Dreamer
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[series:2091#2279] |
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I've been waiting for this one to get into my hands. The synopsis is what caught my attention and boy, it was well worth the wait. Art, Animation & Character Designs Amazing, amazing artwork. Wow! The level details is astonishing and the colors are rich and vibrant. The level of details is such that even a subtle twitching of a grandma's pupils (episode 1), are illustrated and brought to life. Lighting is another strong point with great luminosity, specular highlighting and such. The animation itself is velvety smooth with an extremely high frame rate. As expected from a movie of course. Music Music is great. Lots of beautiful orchestra-like pieces. Series and Episode Story This was one fun movie. The plot is pretty strait forward.... in that our protagonist (along his new found family) need to stop a rogue intelligent virus. But what makes this really enjoyable to watch is the great interaction between the family members, and the really cool virtual world. What made this show really stand out was the unique characters. Each family member had their own unique personality and was fully enjoyable to watch. Great character interactions and level of dramatic cutscenes and impactful sequences makes this a winner. Overall, this was a great movie to watch. I almost want to say it was a near flawless. Last updated Sunday, March 28 2010. Created Sunday, March 28 2010. | ||||||||
| Buy |
 Forbin
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[series:2091#1573] | ||||||
Analysis : 1 Fansub watched.
Each family member is unique and real. The main plot of 'Love Machine' is very interesting. My only bug? I didn't really like the Animation of the main Girl. She should've been cuter..haha It really reminds me of the Ghilbli one called 'Ocean Waves' minus the love story and plus a computer virus. It's well worth it to get in English. Last updated Friday, December 04 2009. Created Friday, December 04 2009. | ||||||||
Other Sites
| Name | URL |
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| Official Japanese Movie Web Site | http://s-wars.jp/index.html |
