Matt Schley
June 28, 2024 
Believe it or not, Mamoru Hosoda’s Summer Wars is 15 years old! The film was released in 2009 to huge acclaim, and is still considered one of the director’s best.
Now there’s a new commercial airing in Japan (and on YouTube) celebrating the 15th anniversary of the film with some new narration from Ryunosuke Kamiki, who voiced Kenji Koiso.
The commercial is a letter from the grownup Kenji to the 17-year-old version of him in the film, looking back on the events of that summer. The present Kenji writes to his younger self:
“I still remember those summer days. When we faced off against that unknown challenge, sweating all the while. It was scary, and filled me with doubt, but if you give up, you can’t solve it. That’s all that filled my mind. The fact that you solved it made your future.”
Now, here’s where things get a little cheesy: this ad isn’t just celebrating Summer Wars, it’s also promoting Z-kai Group, a cram school for Japanese students. Actually, this isn’t the first time Z-kai has used anime to promote its services: it also released a short directed by loundraw (Summer Ghost) back in 2022.
Still, y’know, good on Z-kai for having good taste in anime, and for getting Ryunosuke Kamiki back to voice an adult version of his Summer Wars character, if only for 30 seconds.
Source: Natalie
