Summer Wars

Summer Wars (2009) is a Japanese animated sci-fi feature from Studio Madhouse — watch it online on iFILM. Director Mamoru Hosoda weaves together a sprawling family reunion in rural Nagano with a full-scale digital emergency that threatens the real world.

Kenji Koiso is a quiet, mathematically gifted teenager who agrees to pose as his classmate Natsuki's fiancé at her great-grandmother Sakae's 90th birthday celebration. One late-night attempt to crack a cryptographic puzzle turns into a catastrophe: a rogue AI named Love Machine takes over OZ, the virtual platform that runs hospitals, traffic systems, and financial networks. With global infrastructure collapsing, Kenji and the entire Jinnochi clan — grandmothers, cousins, a troubled uncle named Wabisuke — have to pull together before things go irreversibly wrong.

Hosoda made Summer Wars right after The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, and the film established his signature blend of domestic warmth and high-stakes action. Stream Summer Wars (2009) online on iFILM.