Summer Wars
Seen it?2009 | 114 min | Animation, Science Fiction
Sunday Safe BetWhy it’s a Sunday Safe Bet
It earned strong reviews (79% on Rotten Tomatoes), though it had soft box office. A safe bet when you want something reliable.
Based on critics, audiences, awards, box office and buzz. Details below.Is it for you?
- Who'll love it
- Made for sci-fi fans and animation lovers. If you loved The Mitchells vs. the Machines, start here.
- The mood
- Feel-good.
- The pace
- Moves along nicely, at 1 hr 54 min.
- What might put you off
- Rated PG. Worth a look first if you have very young kids.
- It's in Japanese, so expect subtitles (or a dub).
Teenage math whiz Kenji Koiso agrees to take a summer job at the Nagano hometown of his crush, Natsuki. When he arrives, he finds that her family have reunited to celebrate the 90th birthday of their matriarch. His job: pretend to be Natsuki's fiancé. Meanwhile, his attempt to solve a mathematical equation causes a parallel world's collision with Earth.
How it earned its rating
- CriticsStrong
79% on Rotten Tomatoes, 63 on Metacritic
- AudiencesSolid
7.5 out of 10
- AwardsBelow par
1 win and 4 nominations from smaller awards and festivals
- Box office & staying powerBelow par
$19 million worldwide; still draws a steady audience long after release
- Buzz & cultural impactSolid
About 124K people sought it out in the past year
Trailer
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Cast & crew
Directed by Mamoru Hosoda
- Ryunosuke KamikiKenji Koiso (voice)
- Hitomi MiyauchiNatsuki Shinohara (voice)
- Mitsuki TanimuraKazuma Ikezawa (voice)
- Sumiko FujiSakae Jinnouchi (voice)
- Ayumu SaitoWabisuke Jinnouchi (voice)
- Takahiro YokokawaTakashi Sakuma (voice)
- Kiyomi TanigawaYukiko Shinohara (voice)
- Mutsumi SasakiKazuo Shinohara (voice)
- Mieko NobusawaMariko Jinnouchi (voice)
- Takuya KirimotoRiichi Jinnouchi (voice)