Summer Wars

During this year I’ve only seen only have a dozen movies worthy of recommendation. Of all those movies Summer Wars is definitely the movie that I’ll recommend to everybody even a decade later. It successfully integrates modern society and a virtual reality world. It uses a myriad of symbolism and analyzes modern society.

The normal western viewer will encounter a culture shock when watching Summer Wars precisely because it’s an animated film. The western media has offered animation as for children or comedy; this can be seen by Nickelodeon, Simpsons, Shrek, Finding Nemo, Disney movies, and a whole other animated movies. Summer Wars shows otherwise. It draws an amazingly accurate picture of society and analyzes it.

Currently society is having an ever heated debate about the existence of social networks on the net, in other words a virtual reality world. Summer Wars depicts a virtual reality world called OZ in which everything is regulated through it. It is Facebook only different in that OZ is used by everybody, regulates traffic, can fire nuclear missiles (only if you have an account that allows such authorities), allows gambling, is much more sophisticated and faster, and lastly is the most secure program in history. Summer Wars doesn’t support only OZ or the real world; rather it endorses both worlds and reminds that staying connected and helping each other is the most important virtue. It correctly analyzes that today’s argument is useless and we should always keep in ourselves the most important virtue in either choice; caring for one another.

What I loved the most while watching it wasn’t the music or amazing animation, it was the perfect blend of comedy and graveness. The very first few minutes immediately grapples both. The introduction OZ, the main protagonist Kenji’s part time job, Kenji’s account with his crush Natsuki’s family, and his and the family’s endeavor to save OZ is all humorous yet serious. I couldn’t help but interchange between laughter and sincerity.

The pure specs of this movie outdo any Hollywood movie. Once you get used to the animation it’s guaranteed that the characters, plot, and animation will make your day. There’s only one con of this movie. I’m not watching it now and you certainly aren’t as well! Get Summer Wars now and enjoy the masterpiece of the year. You’ll regret it if you don’t.