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Ghibliotheque presents

Summer Wars

+ intro by Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham, co-hosts of the Ghibliotheque podcast

Samâ wôzu

Mamoru Hosoda’s visually dazzling mix of meet-the-family hijinks and virtual reality spectacle.

  • Director

    Mamoru Hosoda

  • With

    Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Nanami Sakuraba, Mitsuki Tanimura

  • Japan 2009. 114min

  • Digital 4K

  • Certificate

    12A

  • Japanese with English subtitles

Join authors, podcasters and animation advocates Michael Leader and Jake Cunningham for a day celebrating two breakthrough films from one of the great auteurs of modern anime, Mamoru Hosoda.

The second in Hosoda’s informal trilogy of films that examine the impact of social media, virtual reality and the digital world on our daily lives and personal connections, Summer Wars is a ’meet the parents’ disaster movie epic like no other.

Kenji is a shy, part-time moderator for OZ, the virtual reality world that powers everyday life, until pretty and popular Natsuki recruits him to be her fake boyfriend. When Kenji finds that a rogue A.I. program has stolen his online identity, he is accused of hacking OZ and causing real-world catastrophes. As the destruction in OZ throws Natsuki’s family into disarray, Kenji must unite his newfound connections to overcome an impending cyber apocalypse.