サマーウォーズ/ Summer Wars

Without paying special attention to him, I’ve been watching works that Hosoda Mamoru has directed for many years. I was impressed by the early Digimon short movie he directed, finding it surprisingly artistic and mature, given how the franchise developed, while not being so keen on his One Piece movie, which in spite of some clever and brave development of a simple plot disappointed me with its slapdash visuals and unsatisfying conclusion.

Almost two years ago, now, I went to see his Toki-o Kakeru Shoujo, or The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which had made quite an impression on the arthouse crowd. It wasn’t perfect, but I liked it very much, enjoying the characters and iconic setting. With Summer Wars, though, Hosoda has become a major player on the international animation scene, and it will probably be he who takes Madhouse from successful television studio to huge filmmakers.

Its brilliance is in blending three elements: a sophisticated family saga with a huge cast that actually made me think of Ozu, a cute and goofy teenaged romance story and an exaggerated, high-stakes action story set in an online world. It’s very hard to make such disparate elements gel, but they do, brilliantly. There is some overly coincidental plotting, significant figures just happening to be in the family, there clearly could have been better ways to make the antagonist feel ‘challenged’ when a whole world is involved, the morality of providing a password to someone malicious could have been explored more and the trouble with an imagined online world is that too much just seems arbitrary, but none of these things really detract from the deft way a world is built up, the elements balanced perfectly.

Kenji was a very likeable protagonist, Natsuki was more than a pretty face, and I found Kazuma adorable. The story allowed for great humour, joy and sadness that just about managed not to be hollow and exploitative. Wonderful little touches like the use of a woman watching the Koshien to echo the highs and lows of the main story, the chorus of ‘KITA!!’ when King Kazuma appears and the power of collaboration made this a deeply satisfying, moving film.