Summer Wars

Review: Summer Wars Hosoda Collection

By: Robert Prentice
Funimation Summer Wars

Mamoru Hosoda’s Summer Wars finally gets added to the Hosoda collection of premium blu-ray and dvd release sets from Funimation. If you are a fan of Hosoda’s work or just love Summer Wars, this collection gives you extras worth having. Check out what you get and our review of this film.

Hosoda Collection Extras

Summer Wars

The new release comes in a clear sleeve and features a collectable, exclusive art book. You also get the film with extras on both DVD and Blu-ray, PLUS an Ultraviolet digital copy as well.

“This art book is really special—not only does it include concept/character art and an interview with director Hosoda, you can also read about the film from pretty much every principal creative mind that touched the release, a real treat for any fans of, well, any aspect of anime, from animation to voice acting to music to writing and so much more.” (Funimation)

Interviews include:

–          Director Mamoru Hosoda

–          Animation Director Hiroyuki Aoyama

–          Action Animation Director Tatsuzo Nishita

–          Character Designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (of Evangelion fame!)

–          Scriptwriter Satoko Okudera

–          OZ Designer Anri Jojo

–          Character Designers Takashi Okazaki and Mina Okazaki, who handled avatar designs

–          Art Director Youji Takeshige

–          Musician Akihiko Matsumoto

–          Theme Song Artist Tatsuro Yamashita

Synopsis

After the sensational success of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, director Mamoru Hosoda was offered the chance to produce an entirely new film based on an original story. Inspired by his own life experience with his family, he created his second award-winning film, Summer Wars. With this film, Hosoda crafted a story that showed the importance of family and understanding those you love.

Worlds collide in a tale where virtual reality meets actual reality. When Kenji Koiso is pulled from Oz a popular social networking realm to play fiance to classmate Natsuki, he faces a mess of challenges. Between the boisterous and bickering characters of the Jinnouchi clan and the sudden chaos in Oz, Kenji and his new companions must learn the importance of coming together to face the toughest of odds.

Review

There is something about the way Hosoda manages to yank out emotion in his characters that I just cannot get enough of. Summer Wars takes the social antics of family and life experience and mixes in some science fiction and modern era twists with technology. Along the way we watch how a large extended family interacts with each different generation. Hosoda makes it clear that saving the family and the rest of Japan (no the world) falls on the shoulders of the youngest generation.

That is both a statement of our real world and a life lesson that he manages to sneak into the story. There are several moments where you cry, especially when the patriarch of the family passes away and you just can’t help it. But then you have the moments where you are jumping up and down at your screen as you root for King Kazuma to kick Love Machines ass.

Summer Wars is a recommended watch for any anime fan who loves a little slice of life mixed with science fiction. But as a Hosoda fan, its a must watch all on its own. If you haven’t already, we also recommend Wolf Children and The Boy And The Beast.

You can pickup your copy today at Amazon.com

Technical Specs
  • Format: Blu-ray & DVD
  • Languages: English, Japanese
  • Subtitles: English
  • Rating: TV-PG
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Special Feature Video: 480 Standard Definition 16×9
  • Main Feature Video: 1080p High Definition 16×9 (HD Native)
  • Special Feature Audio: Dolby TrueHD: Japanese 2.0
  • Main Feature Audio: Dolby TrueHD: English 5.1, Dolby TrueHD: Japanese 5.1
  • Main Feature Runtime: 115
  • Special Feature Runtime: 40
  • Region: 1|A
  • Number of Blu-ray Disc: 1
  • Number of DVDs: 2
  • Interview with Mamoru Hosoda (Director)
  • Interview with Ryunosuke Kamiki (Kenji Koiso)
  • Interview with Nanami Sakuraba (Natsuki Shinohara)
  • Interview with Mitsuki Tanimura (Kazuma Ikezawa)
  • Interview with Ayumu Saito (Wabisuke Jinnouchi)
  • Interview with Sumiko Fuji (Sakae Jinnouchi)
  • Teaser Trailers (2 trailers)
  • Teaser TV Spot
  • Original Trailer
  • TV Spots (7 spots)
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