Last month, we announced that the beloved hit movie Summer Wars will be joining the Hosoda Collection, our premiere line of premium Blu-ray/DVD + Ultraviolet releases of the extraordinary films of director Mamoru Hosoda. Today, you can get a peek at what this release will look like—and a special preview excerpt of one of the interviews with the director!
Like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time’s release in the Hosoda Collection line, Summer Wars comes in a handsome clear sleeve, as well as an exclusive 52 page book of artwork, interviews and more. (Plus, as we mentioned previously, if you pre-order on Funimation.com, you’ll be entered to win a huge Summer Wars theatrical poster signed by English voice of Kenji, Michael Sinterniklaas.)
This art book is really special—not only does it include concept/character art and an interview with director Hosoda, you can also read about the film from pretty much every principal creative mind that touched the release, a real treat for any fans of, well, any aspect of anime, from animation to voice acting to music to writing and so much more. Interviews include:
- Director Mamoru Hosoda
- Animation Director Hiroyuki Aoyama
- Action Animation Director Tatsuzo Nishita
- Character Designer Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (of Evangelion fame!)
- Scriptwriter Satoko Okudera
- OZ Designer Anri Jojo
- Character Designers Takashi Okazaki and Mina Okazaki, who handled avatar designs
- Art Director Youji Takeshige
- Musician Akihiko Matsumoto
- Theme Song Artist Tatsuro Yamashita
There’s some really fascinating discussion about character design, animation styles, story themes, and more in this book. Don’t forget interviews with the original Japanese voice actors:
Character – Actor
- Kenji Koiso – Ryunosuke Kamiki
- Sakae Jinnouchi – Sumiko Fuji
- Natsuki Shinohara – Nanami Sakuraba
- Kazuma Ikezawa – Mitsuki Tanimura
The clear sleeve’s includes film vitals and reveals the artwork underneath. To make sure your clear sleeve arrives in pristine condition, we’re packaging the art book and disc case together and slipping the clear sleeve on top, rather than shrink wrapping everything together, in order to prevent warping.
![Summer Wars Beauty[2]](http://www.funimation.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Summer-Wars-Beauty2-1024x725.jpeg)
Want a preview of the kinds of interviews you’ll find in the book? Here’s a very quick excerpt of the interview with Director Mamoru Hosoda himself.
Mamoru Hosoda instantly became known as a top Japanese animation director after his previous work, “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” (2006), won numerous awards around the world. Anime fans and movie fans alike eagerly await his newest film, “Summer Wars” – an all-new story that’s both an action movie and a movie about family. Just how did this unusual project begin?
In broad terms, “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” follows the changing feelings of Makoto, the main character. Although there are some action-like scenes, they’re more like expressions of her inner feelings than anything else. So, for my next movie, I thought it’d be interesting to have a boy as the main character and include more exhilarating action. My partner on “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time”, Satoko Okudera, loves action movies too and mentioned that she rarely gets the opportunity to write an action story. So I suggested the idea of doing an action movie together next. We began with the idea of having the story take place in modern times with a Japanese main character. But when most people think of action films, they think of Hollywood movies, you know? And the main characters in those films are usually around 30 or 40 years old. So when we considered making a realistic action movie set in modern Japan, we asked ourselves if a Japanese man in his 30s or 40s could really save the world. I don’t know about you, but I’m a 40-year old Japanese man, and I don’t feel like I can save the world one bit. (laugh) Conversely, in the Japanese TV animation industry it’s usually boys and girls in junior high who save the world. So we asked ourselves, if there was a non-Hollywood, non-anime Japanese character who could save the world, who would it be? That’s when the idea of a family popped into my mind. Rather than have a single hero, there could be a team that would work together. I thought the idea of a team of family members saving the world would be an interesting movie, and that’s where it all started.