Mamoru Hosoda is one of my favourite anime directors, because his style is so unique and so recognizable, and I first encountered it in my all time favourite, Digimon. He hasnt done a whole lot, still as far as I can tell, relativly new on the scene. Anyone who is fans of Digimon will recognise his work in Digimon Adventure and Our War Game, two of the three Japanese films that were spliced together for the English release of Digimon: The Movie.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was also his work, with scenes that had a very similar feel to Our War Game, as well as his same slick artstyle.
Now we have Summer Wars, and I had to see it because I really do love his style. I knew that I was in for a movie with the same visual look and feel, and the same sorts of thematic qualities as Our War Game.... however what I didn't know was that the movie would basically be exactly the same as Our War Game.
For a refresher course: Our War Game features a rouge virus type Digimon taking over the Internet. The DigiDestined kids and their Digimon have to battle this virus, because with the chaos of the Internet the entire world falls into disaray. Its quite the statement on our current dependency on technology, and the results of a super-virus taking over the net are not too far from what would probably actually happen. The virus has also launched a missile from a military base, because it now has access to that, that will kill lots of people and start a war. Fighting the Digimon becomes a race against the clock.
Summer Wars is pretty much exactly the same, except without the Digimon. We have a super AI thats hacking peoples accounts and taking over the entire Internet (cyberspace is called OZ in this futuristic setting). From here everything falls into almost the exact same plotline, even down to the clock ticking because a satellite from space has been set to crash into a nuclear power plant. Sure the background plotline differs, as do the characters, but the entire core premis remains the same. They even beat the bad-guy in the same love-in type manor. Interesting. Im suprised the director felt the need to retell Our War Game, which is what I suspect he is basically doing.
So which one is the better movie?
Well, Our War Game, from my point of view, is just simply more entertaining. It has flashier character designs, more interesting battle sequences, and less emphasis on familey drama and relationships. Sure Digimon has its silly drama, but its all just that: silly. This movie is more serious which in this case translated to more boring.
But that is strictly speaking my own opinion. On Summer Wars side, its all those things I just mentioned: more serious, more realism, more of a sci-fi drama, then a kids monsters-fighting-monsters action movie. The sequences inside the net make a little bit more sence too, because in Our War Game the viewer always seemed to feel a bit odd about its portrayal of The Internet... I would often find myself saying to myself, "But... the internet just dosnt... WORK like that..." but in Summer Wars, since its a future in which they actually have developed a virtual reality internet system, it feels more natural.
In the long run Im not sure sure that one or the other is better then the other really, it just depends on your own preferances. People not into kids cartoons and wanting a sci-fi drama will gravitate towards Summer Wars and those of us more into flashy action and robots/monsters will be more into Our War Game.
Basically its the same story, told in two different ways with two different audiances in mind, and thats fine by me I suppose. Although I do hope that his next film isnt a straight up retelling of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.
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