New World Cinema: Summer Wars, Acclaimed Anime About a Virtual World Like Second Life, Opens in US This Month

Opening in the US theaters this month in select cities, Summer Wars is an acclaimed anime about a virtual world called OZ, and the boy who's a successful entrepreneur there. "His second life is the only life he has," a summary explains, "until the girl of his dreams, Natsuki, hijacks him for a starring role as a fake fiance at her family reunion." Hijinks ensue, until a rogue AI from OZ threatens to destroy the real world. Watch the English dubbed trailer:

It's created by Mamoru Hosoda, who also made The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and in interviews, he's openly acknowledged the parallels of OZ to Second Life. "[It's] quite true that Second Life has a lot of similarities." Hosoda also mentions Mixi, a Japanese social network that also uses anonymous avatar names:

"People in Japan tend to really like their anonymity. Almost everyone uses a handle for their account names, never something derived from their real names. I guess it lets them feel more at ease, and lets them speak their minds more freely." That said, in the movie, the inventor of the sentient AI has a pretty uncanny resemblance to Second Life's creator, Philip Rosedale -- who as it happens, is now building a sentient AI in SL. Well, least I see a resemblance, look below:

The movie actually opened in Japan last year and I know there's a lot of anime fans who read New World Notes and may have already seen it, so I'd love to get their perspective in Comments. Speaking of which, here's the non-subtitled version of the trailer for the Asian market, because I know hardcore fans hate dubs:

Comment below please!

Comments

[soror nishi]

This looks terrific.

[Mitch Wagner]

This looks like a lovely, sweet, SL-ish movie. No idea what the storyline is from the trailer.

[Latok Neumann]

I have seen this movie some time ago and bought the blu-ray as soon as I could get it. Especially the scenes inside the virtual world look amazing in hi resolution. The 'real' world depicted in this movie actually feels very real, you get to see real locations in Japan, public transportation, people using iPhones and other mobile phones (which apparently are all able to run some form of the virtual world) and kids constantly playing with their Nintendo DS. It's just a great example of modern Japanese anime. It's funny, intelligent and surprising.

[Fallon Winnfield]

You missed the best part: the rogue AI in Summer Wars is named . . . "Love Machine!"