Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
GlassPufferfish
Summer Wars, and please don't attack me for saying this, is the most over-rated thing I've watched. My friends all talked about how great it was, sang it's praises. Why? I was baffled so when one of them offered to watch it with me on DVD I jumped on the opportunity. I would rather have jumped out the window, a trip to the A&E would have had more interesting people and the reason everything was happening would be clear.
I genuinely disliked most of the characters, why should we settle for complimenting these bland as bread people? Every refers to the aspects of family in this, the only one I feel that applies to is Granny and Shota (Good Lord Shota, I have never been so frustrated at a character and I watched several episodes of SAO). The others were forgettable, not because they were blan…
Read at the sourceBlurredVision18
Summer Wars
If you don't wanna read the review I'll get to the point here. I heard good things about Summer Wars from a lot of people. Watched it. It's awful. Also, spoilers.
The characters are boring, there is very little we learn about the MC besides he's a math genius, and the girl comes from a very proud family. The film wastes time introducing a large cast each giving a quirk to their personality and nothing more.
The "romance" if you wanna call it that, is literally nonexistent, until the end of the movie when Okudera decided it would be nice to include. Natsuki has been in love with her Uncle for years since she was very young (which is very nonchalantly discovered by her family members) but falls in love with the MC after four days, most of which they had little to no chemistry g…
Read at the sourcewalrusking14
What would happen if Facebook was used to control every key factor of society? Used to govern every day to day function of our lives? Director Mamoru Hosoda answered this question in 2009 with his heartfelt standalone, Summer Wars. We live in a world that is constantly becoming more and more integrated with the technology we create; so where do we draw the line and say enough is enough?
Setting:
Summer Wars takes place in two primary locations, Ueda, Japan and the virtual world OZ. The year is an alternate, but very similar 2009, where the world relies on a virtual database known has OZ. Every piece of information humanity controls and uses is stored in OZ; from personal records to nuclear launch codes. Least to say, humanity struggles to function without it (sound familiar).
Story:
The…
Read at the sourceliteraturenerd
Overall:
Summer Wars is a highly acclaimed movie that pleased audiences in Japan, the US, and pretty much everywhere. It is cheesy and doesn't have the strongest plot, but it is a terrific feel good movie and will make you smile.
Plot and characters: 6/10
Spoilers! If you haven't seen the film yet. I summarize the rather short plot, so if you plan on watching and you don't want it spoiled than skip the plot summary!
Kenji is a socially awkward math wizard that is invited by a girl in his class named Natsuki to pretend to be her boyfriend, so she doesn't have to go to her family reunion single. This comedy plot has been done quite a few times before, but this movie has a twist. The world of this movie has their own version of the internet where people literally enter it virtual reality…
Read at the sourceZelot
There is only one word that can sum up this entire movie. Family. The whole concept of this entire movie revolves around being a cooperative and strong family. What does the word family mean to you? A group of people who are of same blood? This movie will show you the true meaning of family, a group of people who may or may not be of blood relation, but truly support each other till the death. That is what a true family is.
One spoiler in this review.
Story: 9
In a world where everything is connected to OZ (Imagine the internet, but with animation), OZ assists almost everything, from GPS's to maintaining water pressure to sending dispatch calls for emergency vehicles. OZ helps the world and is well protected. The movie follows Kenji as he joins his crush in a visit to her grandma's 90th b…
Read at the sourceBuddhaDom
[This is my first review... comment on my profile/message me with any feedback if you wish. Enjoy.]
Summer Wars. With a title a bit away from the actual topic of the movie this movie bring very nice feelings to you. Ranging from exitement to sadness, fun and dessperation, and so on. This movie really felt good while watching and I bet that's how it should have been.
STORY (9):
The plot is very interesting. I like how they mix virtual and real concepts very well, making the relation between a person's avatar and himself very important throughout the movie. They did a good job in that as well as making real moments as intence as virtual ones, even though the virtual parts had more action, both had the same level of importance for the plot.
ART (10):
I really liked the art style in this mo…
Read at the sourcekaonasi_mV
History.
Senior Koiso Kendzhi, presented in mathematics, accepts the invitation from the girl to go to her family. If he only knew that everything will end! At first he unexpectedly should play a role of the guy of this girl. Then somebody steal his account from the "country Oz" (it is virtual reality in which you can not only play and have a good time, but also run quite serious business). As a result this couple must to save the world (real and virtual), and at the same time to rescue themself and relatives from death.
Main idea:
« all, that is created by the person, is not absolutely …».
Opinion.
Undoubtedly, Miyazaki and Shinkai already appear the first on the importance in Japanese animation long time. And if Miyazaki allocate with the general madness, irreality and fabulousness…
Read at the sourcewoodenbottom
Rant, there are spoilers, feel free to disagree, no cry babying on my page, constructive criticism is accepted, opinions are also accepted, it is 3 am and I am tired, do not expect former writing.
Okay, I watched the movie thinking it would be a warm hearted romantic film with comedy and a bit of action but I didn't expect such a disaster.
First of all, the story takes place in two different worlds, real life and the virtual world. The main character(can't even remember his name) is "hired" by his friend(can't remember her name) to attend a birthday party for her grandma. By "hiring" it means for him to pretend to be her fiance. Now you may be thinking "what a twist, how would he react/her family react in this situation." Well... nobody seems to care except for the grandma. From this poi…
Read at the sourcegogglemaster01
Please don't flame me for rating this movie so low, because I know how much everyone worships it. The problem with it is that if you watch it after watching Digimon Bokura no War Game, you'll find a lot of similarities between the two, which kind of dampens the experience. After all, you've seen it all before. Why watch the same exact movie again? Because the character designs are amazing and the animation is beautiful, that's why! Unfortunately, that's all Summer Wars has going for it. It falls flat in the character department especially.
STORY- 2- To someone who hasn't watched Digimon, I guess the story would be pretty impressive. On the surface, it seems original- a virtual network called OZ runs almost everything in this world, but someone infects it with a virus called Love Machine,…
Read at the sourceSpookyTanuki
Summer Wars was a little overhyped for me. I went into it expecting a sort of mashup of Satoshi Kon’s Paprika and Digimon: Our War Game, and really that’s just what it is. Those are definitely the ingredients, but the measurements must have been off somewhere because despite a mouthwatering recipe, this dish came out a bit bland.
The characters are all fairly typical. The two contrasting settings however—the Jinnouchi family’s thoroughly traditional Japanese home, and the ultramodern Facebook meets Second Life world of Oz—are enough to make Summer Wars memorable. These two worlds make this movie’s message clear. Unfortunately, I feel like it’s a message we’ve heard plenty of times before from the anime genre. Something along the lines of, “Technology is neato, and it just keeps gettin’ mo…
Read at the sourcedietmango
As one of the directors responsible for making Digimon: The Movie happen, I guess it makes sense for Mamoru Hosoda (also did The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) to infuse elements of his past work into future projects. Such is the case for Summer Wars, his latest and quite possibly his most ambitious film to date. Even if you’re not a fan of anime, you’ll find something to like in this sci-fi/comedy/romance spectacle that is both awfully heartwarming and very pleasing to watch.
Kenji Koiso is a high school student/math genius who works part-time with his best friend, Takashi Sakuma as moderators for the massive, widely popular virtual world called OZ, where the norm consists of virtual shopping, business, and much more (Second Life, anyone?). One summer Natsuki Shinohara, Kenji’s senpai (who…
Read at the sourceUriel1988
Summer Wars is a perfect example of a story biting off more than it can chew.
The film opens with an introduction to ‘OZ’. An information network that controls and monitors electronic services all over the world: from shopping to competitive gaming to healthcare facilities. Think the current internet age, but even more extreme.
Then we’re introduced to Kenji, a math wiz who works as a moderator for Oz and has a crush on a girl named Natsuki. A few moments later we’re introduced to this crush of his who begs him to come with her to visit her family’s summer home. Thus kicking off the plot.
Well not quite. Turns out Natsuki has a huge family and the film takes its sweet time introducing them one by one thus establishing some characters and relationships. If you can’t quite tell who’s who…
Read at the sourcemiscanime
Let's start by getting all the obvious win of this movie in terms of art and sound and whatnot--it's amazing! But unfortuntely for Summer Wars, art and sound do not a movie make.
Going against the 9 and 10 grain of the common persuasion here, I have to say that this movie was a dud when it came to actual purpose. Like someone else mentioned everything is just too damn coincidental--oh hey math genius needs to meet old grandma whose grandson happens to be the best net fighter in the world and whose other grandson yadda yadda yadda connections all over Japan, birthday coming up soon, I think these people in their little rural home just so happen to rule Japan from the shadows of the countryside. Everything is just too convenient and contrived that its like something from M. Night Crapalan.…
Read at the sourceMarquis_D_Luffy
Summer Wars was recommended to me by an eccentric friend whose tastes in all aspects of life differ greatly from mine. This is key in understanding that I was genuinely very surprised to find that I really enjoyed Summer Wars, to the extent that I might even be willing to add it to my top 5 favourite anime of all time.
The first key aspect to throw in to this review, is that I watched Summer Wars in a group setting. I was with a load of friends at our local anime club meeting. And every little nuance or easter egg someone could spot was pointed out. But the overwhelming majority commented that the story is so very similar to the Digimon movie. Now, Archaeon mentioned that the plot was similar to the 1983 film "War Games." However, coming from a different generation, I had never even hear…
Read at the sourceRanivus
Chalk this movie up as another anime title with an anime-style story. So what the hell is an anime style story? I'm glad you asked
- Everything happens to be conveniently placed around a small group of people.
- The story starts to take one direction, and then ends up being a completely different genre from how it started.
- It turns a semi serious idea and pretty much takes a dump on the whole idea. (much like how Kure-nai did)
Now I don't mind a Pokemon Anime but if its disguised as a slice of life drama where a boy is unexpectedly thrust in the middle of his love interest's family, this is bound to make someone other than myself rage. To be quite honest this story is literally one of the worst stories I've seen executed with such a high budget. First off, there is way to many things…
Read at the sourceSirMuffin
This is the first anime to have gotten me off of my lazy bum to write a review. Why? Because it was awesome and I think that I need to chuck in my biased review into the mix with all the other reviews to balance out some of the negative stuff out there. Don't get me wrong though, I'm not trying to create an argument here or anything and everyone's entitled to their own opinion, here's mine:
First I’ll give you brief summary of the story in my own words. In the near future, where the internet has manifested itself into one coherent program named the World of Oz. World of Oz is a virtual world where users can create an avatar and do miscellaneous activities such as shopping and customizing (a bit like 2nd Life). Except that "real world companies and governments" have also based themselves i…
Read at the sourceArchaeon
As far as family entertainment goes anime is rarely high on the agenda, especially given the numerous offerings from Disney, Dreamworks, and other such movie studios. Generally their features appeal to children and adults alike, and in order to compete with them Japanese animation studios have had to shake off their habitual approach and focus on making films that are more accessible to Western markets. The undisputed king of this is Miyazaki Hayao, however there have been several challengers to his throne, the latest being Hosoda Mamoru.
Now those of you who have watched the latest anime incarnation of Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl who Leapt Through Time), will be familiar with Hosoda's work as a director, and as good as that movie is, his latest effort, Summer Wars, would have been at…
Read at the sourceSplitter
It's been quite a decade for director Mamoru Hosoda. Making a splash in 1999 and 2000 with his directorial debut with the first two Digimon movies, Hosoda honed his skills over the course of the next decade. Now ten years from his debut, Hosoda has returned to his humble beginnings, invoking his second work "Bokura no War Game" to give the world "Summer Wars"; a surreal cyberspace adventure about the power of family and the things that power can accomplish.
"Summer Wars" already gets a notch off because it really is a complete rehashing of "Bokura no War Game". From the growth of the Love Machine to the countdown to Natsuki's 'digivolution' powered by millions of other users, it shows in every facet of the story. Where it breaks off is outside the internet. As exhilirating as the fights w…
Read at the sourceFrosterminator
After the success of TokiKake (Toki wo Kakeru no Shoujo), there was quite an amount of hype over Summer Wars. However, Summers Wars doesn't live up to this hype and is decent at best.
Basically, there's this virtual world called Oz which everyone, from the government to a high school student, has an account in. Oz is heavily integrated with the actual world and a lot of things like satellites and such can be controlled from within Oz.
Then, an evil AI comes and everything in real life like traffic goes wrong due to the AI messing around with Oz, the foundation of the world and the internet.
After that, the main character averts the disaster, using his math skills.
The story may try to reflect our paradigm, where the internet is an important medium of communication and social networking…
Read at the sourceMifnar
I've waited eagerly for this movie and what a disaster it turned to be.
Now, don't get me wrong: it's not horrible in its wholeness. Actually, it's quite good at the beginning: lovable characters with a Miyazaki-like style of interaction between them, overall realistic setting, great art and animation. But everything ends up in ruins once the plot enters the scene. It’s simply illogical in relation to its own world that is just like our own.
So if you can cope with a lame plot, you can even enjoy the movies because, like I said earlier, it’s quite good in its other aspects. But for me it is a terrible disappointment.
Read at the source