Anime movies and the like, obviously. Summer Wars, Millenium Actress, Our War Game, Evangelion 2.0, a whole slew of Pokemon movies, with sights set on The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, the rest of the Pokemon movies, and some Ghibli films that I watched when I was 5. As for non-anime movies, I plan on hitting Throne of Blood and Densha Otoko soon.
Summer Wars! Oh Summer Wars! How greatly you deserved whatever award it was (forgive my irreverence!). Directed by Mamoru Hosoda, who also directed Our War Game; in fact, I noticed a number of parallels between OWG and SW. I’ll start with those. At one point in Summer Wars, it’s mentioned that the OZ account of the President of the United States (Lol Obama’s Blackberry) could be hacked by Love Machine to fire a nuke. Wait, that’s what Diaboromon did (and thankfully the world was saved by a Taiwanese boy in middle school who hacked the fucking Pentagon– I was accused of being racist for calling this irrational). I don’t know if it’s meant to be a reference back, but considering the general storyline of the two movies is the same, saving the world from an autonomous digital threat, I consider it more than likely.
Really, I liked the movie so much I delayed writing my essay and watched it again. It turned out to be one of those things I would later severely regret, but hey, I got along fine today. And then, the next day, I delayed my essay again to read the manga, which is different, but still good. The manga focuses more on developing Natsuki and Kenji’s relationship, which I felt was a bit lacking in Summer Wars, but that’s just because I’m a sucker for happy romances like that. That being said, I actually hate romance series, but the occasional romance like this is always a nice feeling. Kind of like when Haruka called Imber her boyfriend. I’m a teenage girl, my name is Jen, and I have a flat chest, deep voice, and manly lack of fashion sense. It would explain a lot. But seriously, my main beef with the manga is that the art style, pretty and emulation worthy (I really want to draw like that) as it may be, seems to target older audiences. There’s no problem with that at all, and I kind of like having it reserved for people like me (lol I’m kidding), but Summer Wars was intended to be for the family, and thus its theme of a united family fighting together. The art style in the movie reflects this, being much more simple and approachable than a nuanced and detailed manga art style. Though, you could accuse the animation of being too simple and at times overlooked; Natsuki, while on the train, at one point looks like she’s pouring her tea on herself because the animators forgot a bottle of tea has liquids in it. But seriously. Grandma Sakae in the manga is pretty cool. That’s like, granny, after saving Japan, you get to make Kenji man up and go after your great granddaughter with a card game for MEN. I’m totally out of it.
Speaking of Natsuki, she’s one of my favorite characters, even though she totally shafts Kenji by flirting with Wabisuke after getting his hopes up by asking him to pretend to be her fiance. Actually, I think by pretending to be her fiance Kenji was pretty much sealed, but that’s okay because it’s all happy in the end. Okay, so she turns out to be less substantial than Kazuma plotwise; she serves as my favorite character’s, Kenji’s, motivation, something which is more explored in the manga since we can actually see Kenji’s thoughts. Seriously, Kenji is my hero. But back to Natsuki, she’s a happy kid who is coming of age as much as Kenji and Kazuma are, growing out of her lovestruck childhood and into a mature woman who can take responsibility for more than herself and her own desires. Her scenes are usually the ones that made me cry or smile the most. When the old ladies find out Natsuki basically asked Kenji to pretend to be Wabisuke (ouchlol)? IT’S SO CUTE, and lo, serves as a mark of her childishness. When Kenji gropes Natsuki’s finger because he thinks it’s enough? IT’S SO CUTE, and a little aggravating. Kenji, man the fuck up, you got a woman to protect, granny Sakae told you to do it. Also, it’s the implicit differentiation of Kenji’s manliness. The end, when Kenji is lorded over by that strange whore aunt and Shouta goes on being a bitch (culminating with Natsuki’s killer kiss)? IT’S SO CUTE, and hey, a hell of a lot more satisfying than Xenoglossia’s ending. So yea, Natsuki’s scenes are cute. Oh, and not to mention her voice; Nanami Sakuraba, in my opinion, does a good job and making a teenage girl’s voice, and even though it sounds like she messes up a few times, it makes the movie feel natural. Ryunosuke Kamiki’s Kenji voice is also pretty good.
Next is Kazuma. The first time around, I was unsure of Kazuma’s gender. First of all, he sounds too girly. Second of all, he’s slim and ambiguous. Third of all, God knows what girls do nowadays. While I acknowledge the fact that he’s a boy, Mitsuki Tanimura’s voice is too high. And cute. This movie is too damn cute. I love it. I think that’s all I really had to say on Kazuma, really.
I read a few reviews some other internet dwellers wrote on Summer Wars, and they all feel the movie was good but not great. They all watched The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, while I delayed that (and my essay) and read the manga, which I guess got me thinking a little more than I usually do about this stuff, especially since, as I mention above, it gave me so much more to work with. Basically, we should make an OVA with Madhouse’s charmingly simple animation and Iqura Sugimoto’s choice to look into Kenji’s head and I think we might have something. Another complaint was that OZ was for the most part immaterial and insignificant. True, Granny Sakae could have easily shown off her importance as the family pillar without a crisis like OZ, and perhaps my reasoning is weak and OZ really is cliched (I mean, look at iRobot and Our War Game, we’ve seen it before), but OZ is a modern threat against an ancient Japanese clan with a propensity to challenge the impossible. What better to challenge this close knit, traditional family with what’s being accused of destroying human interpersonal relationships, the internet? What better to display Jinnouchi resilience by pitting twenty against 400 million? I’ll admit, I thought little of the OZ scenes too; they kind of seemed out of place, both in animation style and general feeling. I’m out of it, I can’t come up with a good argument.
But yea, Summer Wars is a movie I’ll definitely watch again, buy the DVD for, and then collect as much merchandise as I possibly can for, since it’s just one movie. That’s what I hate about movies. Whatever. Well, when I write you all saying how I skipped a mad crazy party that got broken up by the cops just to watch Summer Wars again, feel free to call me a loser.
