Secret Yeti Shaq Attack

Oh, man. Okay, so here’s something really interesting. So you see those red outlines used for MetalGarurumon and WarGreymon? The director of this part of Digimon: The Movie (which was a smattering of other, smaller Digimon theatrical releases from Japan), known as Digimon: Our War Game, is named Mamoru Hosada.

Now, Hosada is also known for directing The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, but he also directed episode 21 of Digimon Adventure, which was the episode where Tai and Koromon were transported back to the real world after the defeat of Etemon. It’s the episode everyone remembers: Everything’s dreamy and strange, and Tai is so unwilling to let Koromon leave him that he makes the heartbreaking decision to be separated from his sister, Kari.

But I digress: Here’s the interesting part.

Hosada directed a movie called Summer Wars that was released in 2009. Much of the action takes place in this virtual reality called OZ, and much of the way Hosada visually represented the Internet in Our War Game is revisited here, right down to what I think is the coolest, most subtle touch:

The red outlines.

Hosada uses the same red-colored outlines on all the avatars in OZ, this really small touch that does wonders in clearly separating action in the real world from action in the online world. I haven’t seen Our War Game in years, but I thought that was really cool to see that small touch carried over from a short film almost nine years prior.

Also everyone should see Summer Wars, so there’s that.