elena25 - 2014-08-09 04:20:57

Story
Summer Wars has a pretty basic story. The entire something-online-is-dangerous-in-real-life is uninteresting. It doesn't help that the animation of what's happening in Oz doesn't make sense matched up to what the characters say is going on. It doesn't even really feel intense or important until the end of the movie. However, there is a saving grace, which is the Natsuki's family drama. It is compelling to see the issues the family has and how they deal with these problems. 7/10

Animation

Even though I was talking about the animation of Oz as a flaw before, I have to admit the animation of Oz is breathtaking. It's really colorful and looks like something someone on LSD would see on the brink of an overdose, and I mean that in a good way. 9/10

Sound

The dub as to expect from Funimation is really solid. However, the soundtrack is relatively unmemorable except for maybe three or four tracks. 7/10

Character

Kenji and Natsuki are pretty one dimensional. The family characters aren't too interesting either and it feels like they're only there to provide comic relief or keep the plot from just being about Oz. The only really strong character is the family matriarch. She is deep and is old fashioned and it is interesting to see her react in a story that focuses on something she doesn't understand and it's a shame we couldn't see more of her.

Enjoyment: 8/10

Overall:

Collectively, Summer Wars isn't the most thought provoking, or even best animes out there. However, it is extremely entertaining, and fun to watch. So if there's an anime you just want to sit back and enjoy without thinking too much about it, Summer Wars is a great choice. Summer Wars is licensed by Funimation Entertainment and the only way to legally view it is to buy the DVD or Blu Ray. 7/10

lwilderman - 2014-04-21 16:09:12

This review may not be very filling. But my thoughts were in a jumble from the massive amount of thoughts this anime gave me. Just comes to show how much it really contains.

Summer Wars so heart melting, it's hard for me to express it in plain words. What I'm saying underneath here may be a very compressed version of my thoughts, but it contains the key elements none the less.

I know how important family is and this anime is all about that. Both bonds of friendship and love fall under the bonds of family and are the massive pillar supporting it.

I'm not saying this anime was all about that.. I loved that they put so much effort into presenting this multiverse, that has been around for many years already. It turned out to be a very interesting and pleasing experience for a tech geek like myself.

But in the grand scale, any scenario of the same size as the one we got here, would've done and we would still have had an awesome story. Hands down to the storyboard workers here!

Very lovable characters that you could fantasize about forever. I guess they'd have to be, since it's what makes up a family. People.

Well anyway, I'll stop rambling now, so you can go watch it for yourself.
I really, really can't tell you clearly enough why you should watch this. But please do!

- Martin S. Andersen / Anime Enthusiast

gloria.wilkinson - 2014-03-26 01:21:33

Heartwarming film with a simple yet complex enough plot to keep you interested. While it has decent animation and likable characters, the atmosphere and loving moral of Summer Wars is what absolutely makes the movie. Highly recommended.

jordyn97 - 2014-03-05 00:16:29

Doki doki'd the shit out of my heart or whatever 10/10 ya weeb

tleffler - 2014-03-03 04:03:49

SPOILER ALERT!

Summer Wars. An Anime that could have been way shorter or should have been way longer. Either way, it is a must-avoid. Something that no one needs to watch.

Story 3/10

It is really hard to write about the story of this Anime because it is a completely character based Anime and it falls flat in this category, which causes the low score for story. My biggest complain about the story is however that it has the opposite of plot armor. It has 2 major scenes one is after just half an hour, where Love Machine could be easily defeated, but because of the stupidity of the supporting characters can escape. Even the grandmother could have survived if they had killed Love Machine the first time. Well then. Summer Wars plays in a time where apparently a website with the user count of Facebook can replace the whole Internet and at the same time have access to every social institution on the world and space. That that is completely unrealistic seems to be unimportant to most views. Thanks to a convenient coincidence our protagonist Koiso Kenji is forced to play boyfriend of the most beautiful girl in school which has one of the biggest and most influential family in Japan. As he lies awake one night trying to cope with this situation he gets a text message with a ton of random digits and apparently that is some sort of code which is also mathematically solvable. He goes ahead and solves it and it seems like thanks to that breaks the security system of the social network. That he makes an error and the thousands of other people who received the text did the decoding actually seems also not to matter until the later part of the movie. As the social network is linked to the real world the breaking of the security system leads to a lot of trouble. Luckily Kenji comes to the rescue and would have been easily solved the problem if it weren't for a bunch of kids randomly interfering, after which Love Machine gets into his final form and starts to mess up the world. I don't want to retell the story so I will skip to the ending. After a lot of stress and chaos Love Machine is finally beaten by a game where he clearly shows human feelings, jealousy, and rises the bet to high and allows a win of the female protagonist Shinohara Natsuki. After that they are able to steer away a satellite that is falling down to earth with at least 7 km/s within just a minute without any damage to their main house. Something that again is completely impossible but no one seems to care. After all this is done we get a 'and they lived happily ever after' ending.

Characters 5/10

Characters is also complicated in this movie because on the one hand it falls short with development and also creates a lot of supposedly main characters which are nothing but hateable, but on the other hand the characters that the movie is rather focused on are not all that bad, though a bit unrealistic. As mentioned we have Koiso Kenji as the male and Shinohara Natsuki as the female lead. The problem is that because of all the characters the do not shine as much as a usual lead would and only Kenji as the main character is interesting at all. Worth mentioning are Ikezawa Kazuma as the bullied kid who thanks to learning Kung Fu is amazing in animated fighting games and the grandmother Jinnouchi Sakae who singlehandedly calms down firefighters and doctors all over Japan in the middle of the film.

But that is about it of the good characters. Most of the female characters in the film are just there to hinder anyone from fixing the chaos on the internet and believe until the end that it is all just a game, even after the grandmother died. Also all of the little children cause nothing but trouble and create a deep hatred in me when watching it. I also do not know why Jinnouchi Wabisuke is listed as a main character, he had less lines than most of the supporting characters and it was at the end stated that he never planned the Virus to be released in the social network, only the US Army was responsible for it.

All in all the biggest problem for Summer Wars was not to have many characters, the problem was that it didn't really developed any of them at all and made me straight up hate some of them. Because of that it receives just an average rating from me.

Sound 8/10

We arrived at the points where I have to judge fairly, because I see myself as a critic and not a hater. I've seen the movie in both sub and English dub and though I usually am a sub guy, if you want to watch the dub go ahead. It might not be a Hellsing Ultimate but it is good enough. It didn't gave me the awkward feeling that I usually get when watching dubs of for example Slice of Life shows, they just can't be dubbed. In both dubs the grandmother is the one with in my opinion the best voice acting, Pam Dougherty especially convinced me, which is surprising for her rather short list of previous appearances. To the OST.

Mastumoto Akihiko did a good job in this one. I did not always noticed the music but after listening to it alone I realized it was done really well. It most certainly is not a masterpiece but you can listen to it on its own and it won't be boring. Sometimes I felt like I was listening to my X-Files CD which had great effect on the rather tense moments on the show and then there were scenes, where the orchestra had this happy vibe which also gave the relaxed situations a positive feel. It is definitively something where I'd recommend watching it with headphones on as normal speakers would not do this music justice.

Animation 8/10

Produced by studio Madhouse with a movie budget you would not expect bad animation. And it is true, Madhouse doesn't let you down and manages both the normal world and the digital world quite well. The normal world has some really pretty scenery and backgrounds which makes it a pleasure to view. The digital world with its entirely CGI animated structure works surprisingly well, mostly because they did not aim to be realistic but instead be the polar opposite, which simply works.

The design they used for the social networks is a bit strange but it is hard to imagine how today's Facebook would look like so I am pleased with what they did. Overall you can't really say much about the Animation because there is not a lot they did wrong. They stuck to the accepted way of doing things and it might not be as iconic as something from Shaft but it is still something to look at.

Enjoyment 1/10

So far I've tried to be as objective as possible with the movie itself but I feel like I need to explain a bit more why I've rated this movie so low. This movie could have been over after 30 minutes, when they had Love Machine in a headlock for the first time but instead they ended it with a card game no one seems to understand. They could have either removed some characters or made the movie longer, both would have worked. But they didn't. And that frustrates me. It annoys me so much that I can rant about this movie for hours on end, how I hate the characters and the story and everything else. But I won't do that here. I've learned a lot from the Anime community and the most important part is that every one has a different taste and that you should accept that. It would not be fun to discuss Anime with friends if everyone thought the same and apparently a lot of people enjoyed this movie. And that is fine. I just wanted to share my opinion on this piece alone. Feel free to mark this review as not helpful if you want. It never was intended to be a review. A review should be helpful and tell you whether it is worth watching this Anime or not. This here is a rant, intended to do nothing but tell you my opinion.

karen33 - 2013-08-16 01:53:02

As an original animated movie done by Mamoru Hosoda it should come as no surprise that it is done very nicely. This anime tales a tale of an eleventh-grader and math genius Kenji Koiso who is asked by older student and secret crush Natsuki to come with her to her family's Nagano home for a summer job. What she left out is that the job requires him to pretend to be her boyfriend. While that is happening some one sends him a message on the phone, with lots of numbers, being the math genius that he is, he solves it in 1 night, later on it is reviled that he cracked the code o an online site that is connected to every thing powered by electricity & that site is known as "OZ" . Finding out that in the family he visited is the best brawler in OZ they work together to stop the program from wrecking everything. Failing to do so alone, they get help from there entire family and the real battle begins. Now the story is very good, and heartwarming, and while the battle against that thing is the main story, the real story behind this movie is about the family and it`s bounds, and how no matter what mistakes some one makes, or how annoying some one is, you should forgive them cause you are family, and while you can chose you friends, you can`t chose your family, and you should always give them a chance, cause know that they will always give you one. The animation is beautiful, especially when they are in OZ. The sound is topnotch, and there are some really great theme songs. The characters don`t really get much development, but except the main character, most of them don`t really need one, and the ones that do, did get it. But this movie is not about individual characters, and there development, it`s about the family as one character, and how they develop together. My enjoyment was large, as this is one of my favorite original animated movies, with it`s competition mostly being movies made by Mamoru Hasoda. Overall this is a great movie and should be watched by anyone no matter what type o anime you like, cause you will like this anime!

ywiegand - 2013-08-11 04:18:12

It's hot outside and you need to cool down and relax. You get that stash of popsicles you've been hiding in the freezer and pick a movie to devour your refreshing treat on. Enter Summer Wars, a 2009 film by Mamoro Hosoda, the same director who brought you "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", "Wolf Children" and a long time ago, Digimon: The Movie. It's about a time where technology has integrated most of our everyday lives and social networking is now a big part of our lives. Hmm, sorta sounds like Facebook. Anyway, the network known as Oz is the newest fad where everyone and their uncle is on it. Everything is fine and dandy, Oz boasts that their security is invincible. What's the worst that can happen? It's not like the Titanic sank or anything right? This is a review about how I felt about Summer Wars and what you should know going into the movie. Now please get your account details ready and get ready to sign onto the world of Oz.

Here's what Oz™ offers you if you pledge allegiance and never sign off:

• A simplistic art style that may please you or turn you off. (More on that later)
• The Virtual World has its own style that gives another flavor to what's onscreen (Even more on that later)
• The Music was absolutely fantastic, There are some memorable pieces for when certain scenes are happening
• The Voice Acting was great. Usually if there was someone who stuck out like a pin, I'd note it down but here, there was none. Everyone was great.

• A simple story told through the main character's blunders with the girl of his dreams (as per usual) and her family.
• One final thing, Oz™ will offer you is the importance and strength of family.

The story goes something like this. Meet Kenji Kioso, our 17 year old protagonist who's a math genius and moderator of the world of Oz. Enter Natsuki Shinohara, a peppy girl and close friend to Kenji. You guessed it, Kenji likes her but we wouldn't want it any other way right? Natsuki asks Kenji for a favor, one where he goes with Natsuki to visit her great grandmother for her birthday. It turns out Kenji has bitten off more than he can chew since it's actually for him to be an undercover lover. During his stay, a mysterious message appears on his phone and he uses his math skills to solve it and send off the answer. Unfortunately, Kenji actually cracked the code for Oz's "invincible" security system.

Boy, didn't see that one coming...

Kenji musters up what courage he has and try everything in his power to stop the culprit to right his wrong. Of course, somehow the family gets involved into the mix but I won't spoil it for you.

I didn't find the plot development for the show to be too slow. They introduced their characters, gave us the setting and the problem pretty soon. From there things kept escalating, now I was especially thrilled when there were times it had me saying "oh you've been caught now" but then it turned out to be not true. There is lots of fast paced thrilling action to be had in Summer Wars and I think you'll find it very enjoyable once you get to watch it. Some people might think that the movie is predictable because of its simplicity. However I don't think convoluted and complex plot devices were a thing the creators were going for. Sometimes you just have to think in the way the directors made it. It presented a simple plot and a message, and I applaud them for that.

The conclusion of the movie was heartwarming, I mean even if you might find it predictable you will probably find a lot to smile about when it's finished. You know that warm fuzzy feeling when you hug your loved one after a long absence or drinking a cup of hot cocoa on a cold day? That's the feeling I'm talking about and it'll stem from the overall message the show is trying to portray.

Never turn your back on family. — Sakae Jinnouchi

It just so happens that the director of Summer Wars, Mr Mamoru Hosoda was also the director for the 2000 film, Digimon: The Movie. The scenes of the virtual world are done in the same manner in which the Digimon virtual world was drawn. I'm not saying this is a bad thing because I for one love this particular style, especially in Summer Wars. I'm thinking that the director fell in love with this style and tried to perfect upon it. He did well and it added an extra aesthetic to the film. The problem here is that some people thinks he was just trying to carbon copy a past film which I think is understandable but it was his own style. So, no dice.

Outside of the Virtual World, Summer Wars holds a simple art style. The backgrounds and settings are all gorgeously drawn, it'll sometime look like a painting if you take a closer look. The character designs are all distinct and you really could tell a person from another, I didn't think no one suffered from generic syndrome. It's a movie, so I'd expect them to go balls deep with the character designs in the movie. They didn't disappoint. It looks gorgeous and they deserve all the applause they can get. The animation quality never dropped, especially in the virtual world scenes. The fighting scenes are all masterfully done and fluid. If you're wondering, the animation was done by the Studio Madhouse. Studio Madhouse were the ones responsible for giants like Death Note, Hunter x Hunter, Redline and more recently Sunday without God so you can get an idea of their expertise.

Now, here's what peeved me. The style they were going for was great and well done but me personally didn't particularly like how the characters would look at certain distances. I mean the real world in this case by the way. It looked as if it was because of animation budget why the models would look so unpleasant but since it was there on the blu ray's release then I'm thinking it was intentional. It's akin to how the quality sometimes dropped in an anime called Welcome to the NHK. However I didn't find it to be much of a bother so I carried on enjoying the movie.

The music and sound design were superb, I wouldn't exchange it for anything else. The piece I had in the beginning of the review was my favorite one to play in the movie and it was during a really moving part of it so I couldn't help but love it.

Quitting won't do you any good. You have to work for an answer — Ken

The characters are arguably the weakest part of Summer Wars. However, the one point where it's weak is where its strength lies. Together, the entire cast make for an enjoyable experience. The main character Kenji does not get much development other than what we are presented with during the movie. This isn't bad but I had expect more. It's even worse in the case of the main female protagonist, Natsuki doesn't have much involvement in the story up until nearing the end of the film. Luckily, when she does get the spotlight, she does it with style.

The family that surrounds them are plentiful in personalities and quirks. It's an extended family so I'd expected as much. They all teach us valuable lessons and I think that's what Summer Wars was about. It focused on the family and not much on revolving around Kenji and this was alright.

The real star however was Natsuki's great grandmother, Sakae Jinnouchi. She's the one who teaches us all the valuable lessons there is to learn, she is the cog that holds the Jinnouchi family together. Over the course of the film, this old lady had strengthen my resolve than any other film but that's just me.

And you always eat together as a family, even during difficult times, because being hungry and being all alone are the worst things that can happen to anyone. — Sakae Jinnouchi

Summer Wars is a simple story with a big message. Family is important and they will strengthen you every step of the way. The tale of Kenji and Natsuki and her family is done very well through careful attention to detail and determined teamwork. The animation may have been a tad quirky for me personally but ultimately, the gorgeous backgrounds and virtual reality kept pulling me forward. I never once found the film to be a snooze fest and for a 2009 film, I'd say it's pretty darn good. I should say a little more but I wouldn't want to ruin the surprise. So get some popsicles, some kool-aid if you're black or iced tea otherwise and come cool off. Load up Summer Wars and enjoy a juicy film with a message.

I give Summer Wars, a warm 8/10.

Oh and, Love Machine says Hi:

Please tell me you didn't break the internet. — Sakuma

sandrine11 - 2013-08-07 03:58:08

This is my first review, but I'll try to do my best.

So as a bit of an overview of this movie. To start, the movie takes place between the real world and the world of Oz where anything and everything takes place. Vision Oz as if you morphed everything on the internet into a single place. It's also where all real-world transactions are now held such as shopping, stock markets, and everything else you can imagine. The plot revolves around the genius math geek, Keniji Koiso, who is asked by the most popular girl in school, Natsuki Shinohara, to do a part time job. Little does Keniji know what is in store for him.

So as for story, like stated our main character in this story is Keniji, a 1st place runner-up for the Japan math Olympics. He, along with his buddy Takashi Sakuma are doing part-time programming for the Oz. While working one day, Natsuki comes by and asked them if one of them would like to come do a part-time job for her. One rock-paper-scissor game later and Keniji is Natuski's newest employee. Now as for the job, well its not what you think. Natsuki bring Keniji to her grandmother's 90th birthday to meet the family, but not as a random math geek. Many shenanigans later, Keniji is sent a text of an extremely complex math problem and solves it in one night. Little does he know it is the code for cracking Oz, and the main villain, Love Machine, comes and sends the world into a downward spiral. The plot is incredibly well formed and the story will take you on one bumpy roller coaster ride.

The animation in Summer Wars is flawless. From just taking in the real world views, to the crazy scenes in the world of Oz, the animation is nothing short of breathtaking. Madhouse studios does a great job of making the small things matter. Hell, it will probably take you a minute just to take in every detail of every scene. The split of animation between the real world and the world of Oz is easy to tell and both world seem to have animation style of their own.

Sound, to me, plays a huge role in anime. Jaw-dropping soundtracks can real make or break a bad anime, to an incredible one. With this, Summer Wars doesn't miss a beat when it comes to a good soundtrack. The track in this movie will make you feel the atmosphere and the mood of the story to a whole new level. Not only is the soundtrack amazing, but so are the sounds. This is sometimes glazed over, but the sounds in the Oz and those in the real world fit perfectly. From the sounds of the cartoony world of Oz to the sounds of a truck, plowing threw a few arches (yes this does happen), the sounds in Summer Wars do not disappoint.

Now with characters. The characters in Summer Wars are fleshed out very well. From the drunken Uncle, to the annoying younger cousins, the characters all have a very good feel. The slight problem is the character development with the Keniji which just doesn't seem to happen. But, the real selling point of the character is the family as a whole. Keniji gets absorbed into Natsuki's family and one could really say the the family is a character of its own, which is why the characters carried weight when everyone worked together.

Enjoyment. I full heartedly loved this anime. There is not a single time when you will want to daze off and look away from the screen. The entire 2 hours of the movie a nail biting, heartwarming, and down right awesome. Personally I love taking away something from an anime, and you cannot leave after watching and not take something away from it.

Overall I give this anime a 10/10 and suggest it to anyone who is even the slightest bit interested in anime.

P.S. The dub and sub are both great so do whatever you prefer!

vrau - 2013-06-28 08:15:23

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. 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 of both inside and outside of the anime realm. In short, if you haven’t seen this movie yet, you’re definitely missing out.

petra.kling - 2013-04-25 22:18:23

I own this - I have heared the good reviews and upon picking up the DVD, the flattery continues; this is said to rival the works of Studio Ghibli (which I love) - my point being that I when into this wanting to enjoy it...What a dissapointment. :(Story...A teen boy ends up getting roped into multipul conflicts that pretty much blow up at the same time upon accompanying a teen girl to her grandmothers countryside home; he must then work along side her family in order to save the world in a race against the clock.This gives off the illusion of character progression, when the whole thing seemed rushed and convenient, though there is grounds for a decent discussion on the importance of technology in everyday life, so that boosts the story up to a 7/10.Art...Lovely, 10/10.Sound...The vioces are fine, the music threwout fits, no problems, 10/10Characters...The element that drags the entire movie down!We have a set-up many of us have seen; nerdy, quiet, nice guy with no backbone putting himself out for the; pretty, popular, bossy girl 'many guys would dream of dating'. He ends up amungst her family forced to go along with her lie.The characters we get to know are her family; a tough self righteous gran, a stroppy young teen recluse cousin, an outcast, cool uncle and a range of mouthy individuals who aren't short of something to say.There is an attempt to add some depth to the characters by giving the significant ones an interest, however, all interests are simply convenient for the plot inwhich said characters really don't need to be in the same place at the same time, but thankfully are.Enjoyment...Not too much really?The plot is fine; it's actually quite clever and there where some pretty well though out moments in this story that proved a touching- the odd few scenes were enjoyable.Overall...This will be on my shelf for years - taking up space.It's a shame the story is executed fairly well, but the really is evidence that characters make a movie, and within Summer Wars, they really aren't worth it.I'll add that I'm an individual who has watched a lot of anime and find it easy to spot when many corners have been cut - this is a prime example - very lazy.My pre-teen sister however loves this movie.