Digital Dreams and Family Ties: Diving into “Summer Wars”

Plot Summary:

Directed by Mamoru Hosoda, Summer Wars is set in a semi-futuristic world where the online realm, Oz, fuses with the reality of modern Japan. The movie starts with the system, Oz, being introduced as an engaging virtual reality with multi-faceted purposes: A person can create an “avatar” who can exist in this space to share interests, shop for clothes, and even do taxes. Oz is presented on a worldwide scale operating in a countless number of languages. The two “guardian angels” of Oz are also introduced, John and Yoko. Kenji Koiso, an eleventh-grade teenage boy, is first introduced by his avatar working part-time as an Oz-system maintainer. Natsuki Shinohara, a twelfth-grade teenage girl, runs into the room declaring that she needs to hire one of them for a part-time job with no specific description. After much debate and deliberation, Kenji is chosen for the part-time job, and he meets up with Natsuki at the train station to head to Ueda. Natsuki originally describes the job as acting as an “extra helping hand” to organize her grandmother’s 90th birthday party, where relatives from all over Japan are visiting.  

After meeting several of Natsuki’s family members along the way, Kenji is introduced to her grandmother, who mistakenly believes that he is Natsuki’s boyfriend and future husband. Even though he is accepted by her grandmother, he is adamant about not resuming the part-time job. After being begged by Natsuki who wants to cheer up her sickly grandmother, he decides to stay for the duration of the four-day trip and play the role of the successful Tokyo University college student who comes from an old, prestigious family, and recently came back from Japan after studying abroad in America. The whole family slowly assembles. He is introduced to every single member of the family which seems to be too much for him to remember. The only one who disagrees with his inclusion in the family is Natsuki’s second cousin, Shota, who likes her.  

Later that night, after receiving a phone call from his friend back at his high school, he finds himself lost. He ends up running into Kazuma, who eventually gives him directions back to his place. He takes a bath and then Natsuki’s estranged uncle, who has not returned in ten years, makes his appearance to everyone’s surprise. There are several scenes dedicated to his background, and then Natsuki and him play the card game, Koi Koi. Kenji is sent a mysterious email with a bunch of random letters. He spends all night solving them.

The next morning, he is held responsible for the hacking of Oz, the worldwide system. An anonymous hacking A.I. called the Love Machine is wreaking havoc on Oz. Millions of accounts are stolen. He desperately tries to get his account back and realizes how much control this A.I. has. Due to the hacking A.I. gaining full control, emergency services and daily services are stalled (e.g. false fire alarms, traffic lights malfunctioning, and GPS systems crashing).  

A lot of the Jinnouchi extended family cannot make it to Ueda due to the traffic issues and all of the false emergency alerts (many of the family members are government workers). During the hectic state of Oz, Natsuki’s grandmother calls a lot of her old acquaintances and friends and directs them to organize everything efficiently and quickly, so no major disaster or unnecessary deaths occur. After everything calms down for the day, Wabisuke reveals that he was the creator of the hacking A.I. and that he sold it to the U.S. army.

Natsuki’s grandmother, Sakae, attacks Wabisuke with a long-handled spear and told to leave. After the whole ordeal, Kenji finds Sakae exhausted and sickly and helps her. They play a card game together while speaking about Natsuki; at this time, Kenji has already been exposed to not be who he said he was. Due to the malfunctioning of the Oz system, the emergency alert system which monitored Sakae’s condition did not work properly, and Sakae passed away without alerting the family doctor, who is also a relative. He said, however, much to everyone’s dismay that it was simply her time.  

The entire family is split. The women of the family are preparing for Sakae’s funeral service and mourning. The men of the family, including Kenji and Kazuma, are determined to defeat the Love Machine, no matter the cost. All of the men pitch in together and gather servers, fresh ice blocks, a tank, and other machines that will facilitate a full-on assault on the hacking A.I. A long battle scene occurs with Kazuma’s avatar and the Love Machine. Their plan almost works, until Shota (unknowingly) takes the cooling ice blocks and moves it into Sakae’s room. Although a lot of them fall into despair, Kenji is determined. Eventually, Natsuki contacts Wabisuke and informs him of Sakae’s passing. He rushes back to the main house to say his goodbyes and then attempts to help them. Sakae’s will which she hid in a book is later found and read aloud to all of the family members. After eating a hefty lunch, Kenji utilizes his knowledge of the Love Machine, who loves games, and challenges the hacking A.I. to a game of Koi Koi. Natsuki is the main challenger, who uses her family’s avatars as bargaining chips. Although she wins several times, she suffers a major loss.

Surprisingly, the entire world is watching her fight the hacking A.I. and offers up to her millions of accounts to use at her disposal to defeat it. After winning the majority of the accounts aside from one or two, the hacking A.I. at the last moment activates all of the nuclear reactors around the world. Even though most are disabled, there is one in Japan that is aimed at the Jinnouchi family residence. In order to stop this attack, Kenji continues to solve algorithm after algorithm. Kazuma uses his avatar to attack the hacking A.I. and take the key from it. Kenji finally solves the last algorithm with only his mind, and the missile aimed at them hits the surrounding area destroying parts of the house but does not explode.  

At the very end, the whole family celebrates Sakae’s birthday as well as her passing. Kenji and Natsuki are seen potentially dating in the future, and he is finally accepted by everyone in the family for who he really is (all but the hesitant Shota who eventually blesses him).  

Personal Thoughts:

  Summer Wars presents both the opportunities and possibilities of rapidly advancing technologies as well as the fears associated with them. As almost everyone in the entire world is connected throughout this system, a major hacking scandal like presented in the movie is absolutely frightening. Since everything from the regulation of bank accounts to the use of emergency services are heavily tied to the system, everything falls apart quickly. Overreliance on the popular Oz system and the disasters that follow from its takedown, therefore, is a warning to many societies who are forgoing safety for advancement.  

Like the movie, Train Man, which was centered around a Japanese otaku, Kenji himself is close to a geeky math otaku, although slightly more normal than the previous protagonist was. As he uses his conventionally “boring” skills to save the world, it elevates his position in society and in the Jinnouchi family. Although this movie presents something fairly modern, the old romance tropes still make its way into the plot. There is more depth, however, to the movie than simply a teenage love story.

Familial connections, service to society, and historical roots are displayed throughout the entirety of the movie. The Jinnouchi family members are tied by the strong rope of heritage and blood. Although Wabisuke is the illegitimate son of Sakae’s deceased husband, he was openly accepted into the family, even though he became somewhat of a prodigal son. In the hardest times, the entire family held strong together and overcame the difficulties even when those troubles threatened the entire world and their lives. One of the other major themes is the general service to society. Alluding to the Jinnouchi’s role in ancient Japan (connecting to the real-life Sanada clan), the entire family participates in work which supports some facet of Japanese society (e.g. firefighters, EMTs, etc.). Even Sakae herself is deeply connected to everyone from high-up officials to local government workers.  

Overall, what this film conveyed to me was a sense of strength which came from family which further extended into the whole network of individuals connected through Oz. The main character, Kenji Koiso, experienced this connection firsthand and was eventually “adopted” into the family following the passing of Sakae and the world-threatening ordeal.