Summer Wars (2009)

Together with Kaboom Animation Festival we bring the best anime to the big screen!

The virtual city of Oz allows anyone to access the Internet at any time, for information, to pay bills or play games online. In his spare time, Japanese high-school student Kenji works as a maintenance computer programmer for Oz. When Natsuki, the girl with whom he is secretly in love, invites him to go to Nagano for a few days for a family party, he promptly accepts. The night after the banquet, Kenji has gone to bed when he receives a strange email on his mobile phone that contains numbers and the following message: Decode me! Piqued by this challenge to his mathematical abilities, although still half-asleep, he tries to work out the puzzle and solves it. Next morning he learns that his avatar is wanted by the authorities.

Summer Wars was Mamoru Hosoda’s much-anticipated new film after the success of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and the first animated Japanese animated film to compete at the prestigious Locarno Festival. It is also a story for our times, in which we look at online presence and social media with new eyes.

Melkweg often hosts different types of programmes at the same time, such as concerts, club nights and films. Please note that there may occasionally be some noise pollution from other programmes during the screening.