Anime: Summer Wars

it's a studio ghibli title. this is NOT sci-fi, I wouldn't even call it fantasy, it's analogous to the world of Spirited Away except the "spirits" are avatars in an online game. The problem is you can't just make up definitions for words, the game avatars act exactly like you would expect spirits to act if the movie were set in a Japanese spirit world and they act nothing like you would expect avatars to act in an online game setting whatsoever.

There are random unnecessary plot lines running throughout the movie which waste and fill up time, I was unable to get interested in any of them at all. The technology is nonsensical to the point where it's irrelevant, it might as well be magic.

Obviously everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but I found the action scenes to be completely boring and pointless - all of the hype doesn't make any sense when you remember that these are all online avatars, no one is actually dying or getting hurt despite the fact that the movies writers constantly try and draw you into this drama of people getting hurt, to the extent that the online avatars are in pain and struggling physically, complete with dramatic/heroic music settings. To me it just made the entire thing more surreal and extra stupider.

As a final note on the main plot, the romantic aspect of this movie is just an insult to romantic writing.

The artificial intelligence obviously does not act anything like an artificial intelligence and does in fact act exactly like a capricious Spirit God, since as I explained that is the real setting of this movie (except that they just decided to call it an online game setting because I guess that was trendy? Can't really say I understand why tbh). Probably one of the most idiotic things about the movie is the fact that the artificial intelligence acts so not like an A.I. - anybody with an ounce of intelligence will not be able to enjoy most of the A.I. scenes, like how it can't resist gambling as an example. Personally I would have enjoyed this entire experience more had they just done away with the fake science facade and just made the movie as a spirit world movie.

I wish I had known what I was getting into, I would have skipped this movie. If you like other offerings by this studio and are interested in a romp set in a Japanese spirit world dressed up in stupid science window dressing then I guess you would enjoy this. I was extremely bored by the end and had to force myself to finish.

SPOILERS ALLERT!! All my reviews have spoilers!

This is a movie directed by Mamoru Hosoda and written by Satoko Okudera - these two had already worked together in "The Girl Who Leapt through Time" so, to be honest, I was expecting something good, although the title may not seem much appealing!
The production of the movie started in 2006 and, three years later, got released. In the end it showed to be so good that won several awards and was nominated for the Leopard award in 2009.
First I need to tell you something - the story wasn't new, and it's not actually the first time that Hosoda picks up old stories and turn them into something fresh and new, because he always integrate a contemporary formula. So, if you already knew about his works, you'll see that this is very close to a remake of his Digimon: Our War Games! from 2000 (who was also inspired in an Hollywood film from 1983, WarGames). The premise is basically the same; Hosoda just put a strong element in it - the concept of family in our social network era.
Summer Wars is an animated movie directed for family audiences and it’s a big family movie per se! Well Hosoda stated that he wanted to include 80 family members as main characters and... That’s a lot!!
The story is about Kenji, a high school student and a math genius, who also works part-time as moderator in a social network world called OZ, with his friend Takashi Sakuma.
His also friend of a female student, Natsuki (for whom he has a secret crush) and got invited by her to go to Ueda, during the summer break, and celebrate her grandmother's 90th birthday.
In there he discovers that he was misled by Natsuki when suddenly she presents him as her fiancée. A bit surprising since our Kenji is the shy type and when it comes to deal with people he's not very good!
During the night he receives a strange email with numbers that he thought was some kind of charade sent by someone who wanted to tease him, and he decides to decipher the code. What he couldn't possibly imagine was that this code was actually a key to awake an AI in the social network OZ and take control of all the user accounts, traffic and emergency services that were managed by this program.
Untill this moment you have the basis of the Digimon premise, the real creativity and diversion begins when we touch a very precious thing - family!
Sakae is the leader of the Jinnouchi's family, and there's an interesting fact that they are the descendants of a samurai who challenged the Tokugawa clan in 1615, and this clan existed in real life!
So, after the control of OZ by Love Machine (AI) that toke measures in the real world, Sakae acts like a call to arms and calls all her acquaintances and relatives that work in emergency services telling them to keep calm and try to do their best to respond to this catastrophe with their work. What they all forgot was that her angina was being monitored by OZ, so after a stressful fight she had with Wabisuke, in the next day, she's gone.
At first I didn't understood why this family keeps appearing all the time in an online focused movie, and then I began to see why were they all so important and why this movie is so contemporary. From day to day we spare more time in the internet, relying on it, giving our info, our records, and the family concept keeps being pulled away with all this media and technology we have - kids play PS; dad is watching a game on TV; mom is on the FB... - and families fall apart and begin to be completely dysfunctional! And I almost cried when I saw this family united with all families spread worldwide to defeat this hell of AI Love Machine, that doesn't give any love! And kick him out of the virtual/real world.
This movie shows you that we are a gigantic family! We're a lot! And we can be strong and act with true bounds when we're united, even online! We're a family!
There's this moment, in the climax of the movie, which might feel strange if you never heard about Japanese traditional games: I'm talking about Koi-Koi. And it's rather awkward to see in the film from across the world saying "Koi" when this game is not very popular unless in Japan and other parts of the Asia. What I'm saying is that if you aren't Japanese you probably never even heard about Hanafunda cards, and there's a reason why this family plays this game for centuries. Hanafunda cards started to be a deck of 75 cards with Asian decorations, and along the times the cards had change a lot the art design. Why? Because during the Tokugawa period (remember this name?) they were banish, so gamblers were constantly changing their appearance to be able to play. In the Edo era this cards were placed by a 48 deck with four sets of 12.
Hanafunda cards are like a combination of the traditional Japanese cards with the Western ones, but you don't have a number in each card to associate, you need to know by the image what they represent - the 12 set represents the months, and each has 4 cards (2 normal & 2 specials). There are many forms to play with these cards, the most known and popular in Japan is Koi-Koi. And now you ask me what is Koi-Koi... you'll see in the movie the casino calling Natsuki the parent (oya) - parent is the dealer - it's decided in the beginning of the game, but can change along it since the oya is the player who draw the card from the earliest month. The objective is to accumulate combo points (called yaku) always more than your opponent, and to make the piles of special cards combinations you need to "Koi" - that’s why Love Machine toke the moment of distraction from Natsuki (she didn't Koi) to win. It's a pile point system; if you don't Koi the adversary can take all your points! This game is not easy!
Let's talk about characters: the family acts very united and Kenji at the beginning is seen like an intruder, but he proves to be someone capable of integrated the Jinnouchi’s family; Wabisuke, the Natsuki's half-granduncle, is not a villain, and I don't even think there's a villain here! Although they portrait Love Machine with a devilish smile, he's actually just an AI that feeds on information but worked improperly. It's true that Wabisuke steal the family fortune, created the AI, and raised the heartbeat of Sakae, but he did all those mistakes thinking it was the right way to feel part of the family, and bring them money.
I find Kazuma, the 13 years old hikikamori, to be especially well made because of his cool avatar, his way of playing and dedication, and the special design they gave him with dark skin tone, and I got a bit disappointed over Kenji because being a genius at math I though he was going to hack everything from the start.
Natsuki seemed a bit spoiled (that lie!), she's like everyone else in the family trying to show that everything's fine at the beginning, but she showed to be a strong character, very confident. They are all lovable and feel natural.
The artwork is very good, better than Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo, I need to point out the variety of grade skin tones and appearances, that are amazing! To the point you wouldn’t even say they were all relatives!
There aren't many wide background scenes, but the virtual world feels very "clean" with an "uncluttered look" as Hosoda wanted (although many critics find it simple), they used CG combinations, mostly in the avatars. The inspiration came from Nintendo.
I see some issued with the music. Despite being great, varied and fitting the scenes, there are some occasional moments that the sound can get messy with the dialogues, staying at the same tone.
The second issue is the pace that can be very slow in the family scenes in contrast with the virtual speed pace, but in true they couldn't cut any scene since it's all needed to explain the story and the family.
Overall it's entertaining, fresh and adequate for our time. Fits the family audience very well, and it's intelligent and contemporary.

Critic’s Log - Earthdate: September 2, 2013.. Review #56: Summer Wars

Summer vacation is almost over for students and school is almost back in session. If you want to know how I spent my Summer. Well, playing Softball and playing video games… Oh and watching and reviewing anime. Since Summer vacation is about to come to an end for most people, I thought it would be fitting to review a specific movie because because because because because...The wonderful virtual world of OZ is what I want to talk to you about. Here’s my review of Summer Wars.

Kenji Koiso is a timid eleventh-grader but he is very knowledgeable in Math to a level of genius. He is also a part-time moderator in the computer simulated virtual world of OZ. One day, He is asked by older student Natsuki (who he secretly has a crush on) to come with her to her family’s Nagano home for a summer job, he agrees without hesitation. Natsuki’s family, the Jinnouchi clan, dates back to the Muromachi era, and they’ve all come together to celebrate the 90th birthday of the matriarch of the family, Sakae. That’s when Kenji discovers his “summer job” is to pretend to be Natsuki’s fiancé and dance with her at the birthday celebration. As Kenji attempts to keep up with Natsuki’s act around her family, he receives a strange text message that happens to be a strange and complex math problem on his cell phone which, being a math genius, he can’t resist solving. As it turns out, the solution to the mysterious equation causes a hijacking of the social networking site through which most of the world's social and business traffic flows.

To be technical, this is a Madhouse production and I know I may sound predictable when I say this. The animation looks damn gorgeous and even sometimes amazing. Madhouse has a pretty good resume with Anime shows as well as movies. The animation does not disappoint here. But what’s interesting about the animation in Summer Wars is that in the real world, the character designs looks like what you would expect from Mamoru Hasoda (that’s if you seen The Girl Who Leapt Through Time). Giving it the earthly tone to the movie. But in the virtual world of OZ, the animation is vibrant and appealing. Both animation settings compliment eachother and they are pretty well balanced in screentime. The animation without a doubt is the strong suit to this movie.


The music is done by Akihiko Matsumoto, and I would not be surprised if you’ve never heard of this guy. He did not do a whole lot of musical compositions in anime. I hate to say that the music isn’t really too memorable, but it does compliment the movie greatly. If you want to listen to the soundtrack without the show, be my guest. I can say however that the music is effective. Most of the music is orchestral, but there’s even some Electronic music thrown in as well which compliments both the real word and OZ. It’s another factor that helps both worlds compliment eachother well.



As far as Voice Acting goes, The Japanese cast is excellent and also sounds natural. The cast is not full of big names in this movie and that’s pretty good. Ryunosuke Kamiki played Kenji pretty well. Nanami Sakuraba was mostly good as Natsuki. Mitsuki Tanimura was pretty good as Kazuma, Sumiko Fuji was mostly terrific as Sakae, and Ayumu Saito was great as Wabisuke. When it comes to the English Dub, there are some popular voice actors in this cast unlike the Japanese casting. Michael Sinterniklaas was an interesting choice for Kenji and he played Kenji very well. Natsuki was a real surprise in the dub, Natsuki was played by Brina Palencia. I always saw Brina Palencia as someone that has been getting some average roles even though her performances are sometimes pretty good, there are some roles where I think she could have been better or someone else could have done the role better. Don’t get me wrong, she’s great. But her performance as Natsuki is really good in this movie. She does give Natsuki the right attitude like portrayed in the movie, but the real kicker is during an emotional scene. I won’t give it away, but she makes that moment play with your heartstrings a bit. If you are used to watching Anime dubbed, Brina Palencia does not disappoint in this movie. Maxey Whitehead is mostly good as Kazuma, but I don’t have much to say about her performance. Pam Dougherty is terrific as Sakae, and J. Michael Tatum is great as Wabisuke. The voice actors that are noteworthy would be Chuck Huber, John Swasey, and Mike McFarland. As well as other voice actors and voice actresses you might be familiar with if you’ve seen enough Dubbed Anime. This movie has a good Japanese Cast, and a good English Dub Cast. You can’t go wrong with either cast.

As far as characters go, Kenji and Natsuki are pretty underdeveloped compared to the family characters. The family gets a good chunk of screentime and they are reasonably developed. Kenji may be a school student and that’s not a bad thing when it comes to main characters, he’s not written terrifically and that’s a hard feat to pull off, so he doesn’t have to be a superbly written character. I may get a little flaming for this but I’ll say it anyway. Kenji is bland most of the time throughout the movie. He decodes some math problem, OZ gets messed up and the whole entire plot revolves on saving OZ and the world. Kenji isn’t the only character that is bland, Natsuki is too. It seems she was there for Kenji to meet her family. She truly shines near the end of the movie but she could’ve shined early on in the film. The family is not as bland though and I will say that Sakae is probably the best written character in the movie, she had a reasonable amount of screentime and she is my favorite character in the movie. In the end, I still had an issue with Kenji and Natsuki at times. I guess the romantic tension is okay but I have seen better romances than what Summer Wars resulted in the end. The characters is probably the weakest factor in Summer Wars.

Here’s a little trivia for you. Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (The character designer for the Evangelion franchise) is the character designer in this movie as well as Hasoda-san’s other works such as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and Wolf Children.

The characters are not the only issue, but the story has some problems as well. I know I am going to be a bit critical about this and I know this is just a movie, so maybe I should lighten up a bit. Please don’t get the wrong impression when I am about to say the following. The characters do contribute to the problem with this movie. I will give Mamoru Hasoda some credit that he balanced out the two art styles rather than overuse one of the styles and neglect the other. Some of the blandness of the characters does hurt the story to some degree. What also is hard to connect is the real world and the virtual world of OZ. OZ looks fantastic and as far as virtual reality goes, it’s portrayed well enough. It’s pretty cool and I kinda wish it existed. But of course, it is fictional, so I’m not going to get too excited about this. What is a little far-fetched is how the users of OZ operate their Avatars. I know this is a work of fiction and I will give the movie props for having a Nintendo DS (or something close to it) as a device to control an Avatar, but the use of a cell phone and a complex combination of buttons on a computer keyboard to control an Avatar as well as an Avatar having the same emotions as the player. That is pretty far-fetched. This is not the biggest problem I have with the movie, it’s just hard to believe that aspect of the movie at times because of the fact that the real world is vastly connected to this social and global phenomenon that is OZ. I wish the integration of the two worlds would be fully fleshed out and not have a loose end left to the viewer’s imagination because of lack of detail. But I digress, The virtual world of OZ is still pretty fantastic. Also, like most people. There is one movie that needs to be mentioned while Summer Wars is discussed. Mamoru Hasoda also directed a movie called Digimon: Our War Game!. This was also the movie spliced with two other Digimon movies that an American like me knows as Digimon: The Movie...which was really not worth seeing at all. That Digimon movie and Summer Wars are identical in visuals and similarity. This may be uninspired for some viewers, but Hasoda-san himself was inspired by that movie and decided to make a movie like the Digimon movie he was involved in, but attempt to make it better. Digimon: Our War Game was 40 minutes long while Summer Wars was almost 2 hours long. Did Hasoda-san succeed in making Summer Wars better than Digimon: Our War Game? In a way, yes. It got quite a number of nominations in a few film festivals (probably because of the movie’s animation), However, it didn’t really win any awards. Even though it’s not heavily acclaimed, what does work for the most part is the theme of family. It may not appear to be portrayed superbly, but it is still effective once it all comes down to it. Despite my nitpicking and some slight harsh words towards some parts of the movie. I did enjoy this movie. It kept me entertained, it was nice to look at. It was also fun as well as light-hearted

I can say that I will be keeping my eye on Mamoru Hasoda from now on thanks to this movie as well as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which I will go over eventually. Also, as wonderful as the Virtual World of OZ can be, there is no place like home.

Summer Wars is available from Funimation.

With all that said, Summer Wars is a visual feast with appealing animation and a fitting soundtrack. The character development does have some issues and the story is kind of a re-hash of a previous work of Mamoru Hasoda. Despite all of that, it has a decent portayal of family ties. If you are simply watching it for the animation, you will most likely enjoy this movie. This movie is a must-see for anime fans. I’ll let you make your judgment on whether you think Summer Wars is good or not. Now I’ll give you my verdict.

I give Summer Wars a 8.3 out of 10, it is VERY GOOD!

Feel free to leave a comment. Now if you’ll excuse me, I got a trip to the Emerald City.

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 he also has a crush on) invites him to her grandmother’s 90th birthday celebration in the Jinnouchi clan estate. But Kenji is immediately caught up in Natsuki’s desperate request to act as Natsuki’s husband-to-be, much to his chagrin.

Kenji spends the initial parts of the movie getting acquainted with the rest of Natsuki’s relatives, and receives a mysterious email soon after. The message contains a huge numerical code, and, being a math whiz, Kenji opted to crack the code right away; he does so overnight. But as soon as he sends the solution, a virus - named Love Machine - successfully hacks within the OZ mainframe and causes turmoil in many parts of the world. As Kenji is deemed the culprit, it is up to him and his newfound family to solve the problem before more lives are put in danger. So, this is basically Digimon: The Movie adapted to a newer version, minus all the ‘mons making up that particular movie. While that thought might pull you away for whatever reason you might bear, Summer Wars’ narrative is more than just games and cyberspace. This movie touches on important themes, with family being one of its central points.

Okay, I lied. This movie IS all about games and cyberspace. For as much of a silly thing it is to base your movie on the inner workings of the Internet and social networking, it actually makes you feel weirdly sympathetic for those things. Perhaps Summer Wars teaches and/or reminds us that family can stretch beyond bloodlines, and we all can potentially build unbreakable bonds with total strangers even across the entire world, both real and virtual. Also, when it may seem that all the chips are down, there’s always hope, and it’s a hope we could always hold on to.

While the story’s great and all, Summer Wars would probably be nothing without its outstanding cast of characters. Stretching from the shy, introverted Kenji to the rest of Natsuki’s spunky, quirky, and empathetic family members, it truly feels like watching an ensemble cast bring their A-game to the table. Though it’s a lot of characters to take in immediately, seeing them once or twice is enough to make you remember them. Hell, I only remember a few names out of all the characters introduced, to be honest. There is a good mix of funny and sincere banter in-between, which really makes each character’s presence seem imperative and convince you to care about them. The main characters as well as the supporting ones play integral roles in bringing Love Machine down, and the movie does a good job making their strengths shine through.

But I think the best character out of all--and I think everyone is in unison on this--is Sakae Jinnouchi, Natsuki’s grandmother. Despite having minimal knowledge of the virtual world, she’s pretty much the one inspiring everyone to fight the infection and teach them the value of what family is. I also think it’s her courage and pretty much her overall personality that drives the story forward, as well as motivate the characters to do what they must.

Summer Wars is perhaps one of the best examples of an ambitious visual splendor, animated or not. The production values are all top-notch, with the near-perfect blend of CGI and cel-shaded effects bringing a lot of vibrancy to the movie’s cyberspace environment, the real world, and astounding attention to detail. Just thinking about the unimaginable number of sprites and avatars interacting in the entire virtual space is just insanity, and shows how much incredible amount of work was done to make this visual masterpiece happen. The animation style is no pushover either, as it is both breathtaking and awe-inspiring. Action scenes are all incredibly exciting, intense, and amazingly crafted that kept me at the edge of my seat for most of the movie. Character designs are also sharp and well-designed that all the more makes this one of the most magnificent-looking animated movies I’ve seen in a long while.

I don’t usually pay attention to movie soundtracks that much, mainly because most of them are so forgettable and barely intriguing; Summer Wars’s musical score is an exception. Top that with an excellent Japanese voice cast that brings much needed emotion and invokes life through the characters they play. I haven’t heard the English dub of the movie yet, but after seeing this movie, I’d be glad to that version when I finally get the chance to, all while reliving this grand adventure again a second time. Hell, I wouldn’t mind seeing it for a third go. Or a fourth. Who can blame me, really?

Summer Wars is definitely one of the best anime movies I’ve seen in years. It’s as enjoyable of a watch as it occasionally tugs on the heartstrings. It's a good reminder that there actually IS something to feel positive about being in the Internet. For all its eye-popping, superb visual presentation, it’s also got a well-written, thematic, feel-good storyline and a fantastic cast of characters that will surely please the audiences both inside and outside of the anime realm. In short, if you haven’t seen this movie yet, you’re missing out on something special.

Summer Wars

"Summer Wars" attempts to combine light-hearted traditional elements of traditional Japanese family life with an "internet thriller" storyline where the characters must overcome a threat to a virtual on-line world that has become so intertwined with real life support systems that its failure would threaten everyday life as well.

Story (8)
Summer Wars' strong point is it's story. It starts innocently enough, with the male lead being duped into acting as the female lead's boyfriend in order to satisfy her extensive family over summer break. Another layer of story is added as the male lead, who happens to be a math genius, breaks an encryption code sent to his phone he believed was merely a brain teaser. When he awakes the next morning, the online world of OZ is in chaos and he is blamed. What follows is a series of ups and down as the family struggles with both the external problems caused by the hacking of the online world, and the internal family conflicts revealed by it.

While the story of the anime is very enjoyable, it also rests on quite a few clichés that unavoidably both provide it's strengths and weaknesses. The mild mannered male lead who finds his confidence, the popular female lead who needs a fake boyfriend as a cover who then ends up growing on her, and the traditional Japanese summer atmosphere of the large family gathering complete with the high school summer baseball tournament playing on the TV in the background are all common story elements, and while they all hold up they aren't groundbreaking either. I have to admit though after watching the show I kind of wished I was a part of such a family.

Except for long time watchers of anime who have picked up on some Japanese culture already, some of the references in the story might be hard to pick up on for non-Japanese. These probably won't be enough to take away from the overall enjoyment of the anime, but I really wish I knew more about the card game they were playing throughout the story at different times, thinking I might have gotten more out of the story if I had. There are similar Japanese references that I "got" only because I am a veteran anime watcher and history buff, so even more things may go over the head of the average viewer.

Overall, the characters are interesting, almost begging to be fleshed out more than would be possible in a two hour movie. The number of characters playing a part in the story does at times steal the spotlight from others, particularly the female lead, who I felt like kind of disappeared in the middle of the story, only to remerge arbitrarily at the end to have an important part to play.

Art (6)

The art quality can be reduced to two pieces, the colorful and relatively realistic world the characters inhabit and the virtual world of OZ. Overall, the art quality in the outside world is up to standard, colorful, with relatively detailed backgrounds. The art is not overly "moe" nor should you expect any unrealistic proportions or fan service. Still, the female lead ends up being demurely attractive when she isn't being a brat.

OZ on the other hand gave me way too much of a "Hello Kitty" vibe. The backgrounds were stark white, and the avatars were random and mainly childish. I wasn't that impressed with this part of the artwork, but it may just come down to my personal taste.

The animation is good, I wasn't drawn to any obvious weaknesses indicating a low frame rate or avoiding animation. That said, short works need to be held to higher standards.

Sound (5)

Nothing about the soundtrack stood out to me. It was truly forgettable, but must have filled the space in such away to at least not detract from the movie in anyway.

Value (6)

There's really nothing new here. Perhaps the pairing of a virtual world and traditional Japanese family elements has not been made in a previous anime, but there are plenty of other notable shows that use either of those story elements crossed in different ways. That said, the story is primarily driven by a wholesome, sentimental, family environment and all that entails. It kind of gave me a very similar feel as "Cross Game", basically something that can probably be watched again whenever one is in the mood for such an environment. I get the feeling there are better representations of the "Internet Thriller" out there though.

Enjoyment (7)

Overall, I found the movie to be heart warming, cute, and honest. I really identified with many of the characters, and the movie's strengths were enough to offset it's weaknesses. As long as you are able to give the show a pass every once in awhile there's no reason why the show can't be enjoyable for anyone who is already an anime fan. I was a little mystified and put off about the apparent importance of the card game to the story, I don't really know if this was needed in the finale, but otherwise I found myself enjoying the show.

Imagine a world in which your Facebook login is all you need to do anything, be it access Second Life or your stock brokerage account. This movie is one visualization of that world, where one's OZ account, guarded by impregnable security, is the gateway to interacting with anyone else across the world in numerous different ways including gambling, marketplace, employment, etc.

In this world we find Kenji-kun, a high school geek with the ability to do crazy modulo arithmetic in his head. One day, he's asked by the school's idol to help her at a job, which turns out to be to act as a temporary boyfriend for her grandmother's birthday. To make it worse, he finds out that Natsuki's extended family is quite large (probably an understatement). This is only the beginning of Kenji's 4 day ordeal that will see him avert worldwide disaster.

This is a fun, if sometimes corny, story that mixes reality with virtual reality, and how in the near future they may be more interconnected than one might think. There's a bit of humor, romance, and drama mixed in to this interestingly paced movie.

Animation:
There's really two faces to the animation here, there's the style used for the virtual reality world of OZ and the style used for the regular character animations.

The virtual reality world is a very bright, semi-sterile place with lots of whites (virtual "clouds", get it?) and other light colors. A good deal of the series takes place in this world, where people's identities are masked behind a virtual avatar. There's some action here along with some fairly noticeable CGI, though I think the dramatization of the virtual world is a bit odd.

The "real" world of anime characters looks a bit dated, especially for 2009. Character models aren't terribly crisp and some of the facial animations seem to be mismatched at times. Natsuki's ridiculously huge family doesn't help either, way too many people, many of whom don't really serve much purpose other than making Kenji's task harder. The backgrounds, on the other hand, are sometimes very detailed, and in general of high production value.

Overall the animation comes out mixed, stunning at some times but dated in others, I think they could have done better considering this is a movie.

Sound:
The movie has a very slow ED that I don't particularly care for. The BGM is likewise not very memorable. It's use is more noticeable in the virtual world, though that might also coincide with more of the action parts. Sound effects are well utilized, and again the virtual world accounts for the majority of the usage.

None of the VAs are very well known to me, interestingly Natsuki is voiced by a tv drama idol. The performance by the cast in general is average, though the grandmother takes the cake for best VA. She does an excellent job of voicing the responsible and wise head of household.

Story:
The story really tells two separate tales that, by the end, intertwine and tie up into a single uniform plot. First, there's the story about how a rogue AI attacks the impregnable security of OZ and ends up putting the world at risk. Second, we have the story of Kenji and Natsuki, and how the former story ends up pulling the Natsuki family together (including Kenji) to avert a worldwide disaster.

While the overall progression is very well done, the pacing is a bit uneven, starting out way too slow but then suddenly picking up the pace greatly once the AI appears. Be prepared for a few predictable plot twists and a few obligatory ecchi scenes (though far fewer than some series these days). The story builds to a definite climax but then doesn't do a terribly good job of winding down, the end credits just roll a few clips from the movie. There are a few really good moments in the movie, one which tries to show that there is always hope that humanity will work together to avert crises.

I do have a few issues with plot holes, the largest of which is the movie's description of rogue AI.

Character:
As mentioned before, there are way too many unused characters here, don't even bother trying to remember any of the family members, most of them are purely extras. As for the main characters, you don't really get a sense of any background and will have to deal with the few pieces that are given throughout the movie. Don't expect a huge deal of romance as this takes a backstage to saving the world in the second half of the movie.

Value:
Despite my critique of the elements above, overall this is a fairly fun movie. I enjoyed toying with the idea of a global FB account and chuckle at the idea of impregnable security given my background. If you'd like a near-future sci-fi where virtual and non-virtual are closely intertwined, log in to this almost 2-hr movie.