When Kenji, a programmer and bug fixer for Oz, Oz being a massive on-line community used by pretty much everyone in the world, agrees to spend the weekend with the girl of his dreams, Natsuki, he never imagined it would be to pretend he was her fiancé or that a maniacal virus would invade Oz using his avatar and cause a global melt down. With his “new family” Kenji must use all of his intelligence to save the world, literally, from this clever AI program that has been programmed to think and learn and show no mercy. Summer Wars has been toted as the arrival of director Mamoru Hosoda (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) who many are toting as being the next Hayao Miyazaki (Spirited Away). Only time will tell but for now Summer Wars is one of the most fantastic anime films I’ve seen in awhile.

First off the bat, before I watched this film, I started to research Summer Wars when I found out I was going to review it. One of the key complaints that popped up everywhere that I turned was that Summer Wars is very similar to Digimon: The Movie (2000). Of course to either confirm or put this comparison to rest I tracked down a copy of the Digimon Movie and watched it a couple of times before watching Summer Wars to get my head around any similarities. Yes, there are more then quite a few, both big and small. So as I prepared to write up this review I did some even deeper digging.

Digimon: The Movie is a sectioned film. From what I understand its three separate films cut up and spliced together to make the one and the segment, titled Our War Game, which many are comparing to Summer Wars, is a segment that was directed by Mamoru Hosoda. Mind you the writers for these two films are different but Hosoda is the linking factor. What’s the same about them? Well for one a virus appears in the on-line world and begins to cause havoc, you’ve got a select few who are trying to stop the virus, said virus is running amuck messing up phone lines and stop lights and re-routing flights from all over culminating in a life threatening scenario that must be dealt with or else. The similarities are obvious. However, I think in order to truly get Summer Wars you need to think of it as somewhat of a reboot, as awful as that sounds, but it makes sense.

In Digimon its not just about kids playing a game that gets out of control. There is a lot of social commentary about the times. In Digimon it’s the internet (still in dial up connectivity), the dumbing down of the adult world and the advancement of the kid world where computers are involved, and pretty much a shift happening that signifies both sides falling into new roles. With Summer Wars its like a continuation of that story. You see in the beginning of Summer Wars the kids are glued to their DS games, Oz itself signifies the massive on-line games like Second Life, World of Warcraft, and Everquest. People put more stock into the personalities of their avatars and the relationships they have on-line then they do with the people they know and love. How the world is slowly going digital and how easily this scenario could become a reality is a looming message as well. When Kenji meets Natsuki’s family a sense of togetherness starts to creep in and everything is in contrast with that; the importance of work, status, respect. It all seems to feeble in the face of this family that comes together in a great time of need. So, yes Summer Wars seems like an updated version of Hosoda’s Digimon film but at the same time its been expanded upon, made more meaningful by social satires and commentaries on how far we’ve come  and how much its cost us and continues to cost us on a social level. It really does offer up a best of and worst of both worlds look at how we are and what we could be.

Bonus features are not what I had hoped they would be. A few interviews with Japanese Voice actors. Some of it was interesting but somewhat vague. The interview with Mamoru Hosoda was not as telling as I had hoped. It was interesting to hear how his wife “somewhat” inspired him to make this film making it seem more like a personal project in a sense. I would have really loved a commentary track from Hosoda himself. Rather you get commentary from the American voice over actors only. Teaser trailers, Teaser TV spot, Original trailer, and TV spots. You also get some limited edition character cards as well. I’m more interested in seeing some deleted scenes or an interview with Hosoda to clarify this whole Digimon thing. In any case you get a fantastic film and some somewhat useful bonus features. As always final judgment is yours. Enjoy.