Knowing that Hosoda has a new film coming soon(ish), I thought I’d do a quick comparison of some posters from one of his previous hits: Summer Wars.

It’s obviously clear that you’re being told this movie will feature an ensemble cast from both images, but Natsuki seems a bit less capable in the poster for the left, compared to the right. Technology is clearly important in both images, but the real world setting on the left is clear too.
To me it feels like the ‘original’ poster on the left places emphasis on romance, comedy and maybe drama, whereas the ‘international’ one seems to be more about action and science fiction, due to the avatars. (Of course, I don’t know whether each region got two variants etc so ‘original’ and ‘international’ here is probably not accurate).
There’s also this one – which was maybe a ‘coming soon’ poster, based on my (admittedly poor) memory, which I also like:

Sort of covering similar ground as before – showing an ensemble cast, hinting at drama and action maybe, but no hints of the technological elements (at least visually).
Similar ‘determination’ pose from Natsuki and here, Kenji is a bit ‘lost’ in the crowd.
So, how about you – do you prefer one over the others?
Everyone of those images could be for a different story. Itβs crazy that they are so varied.
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Yeah, and it actually reminds me that the same film manages to fit the contrasting parts in pretty comfortably too
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The third poster is the one I remember seeing advertising the movie when it first came out. It did it’s job, in that it made me interested in seeing the movie, but I also think it’s the worst of the three at conveying what the movie is actually about. I think the one on the top right looks the most appealing, personally.
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I feel the same, yeah – and that top right has that extra contrast too, which always catches my eye π
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I greatly enjoyed Summer Wars. Actually, Hosoda’s new film BELLE (July, 2021) sounds something like an updated Summer Wars, at least in synopsis. That’d be a huge treat, especially after the resentment-filled MIRAI. . .https://anotheranimereview.com/?s=BELLE
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Very curious about ‘Mirai’ now, as I’ve not had a chance to find it yet. Sounds less enchanting than his other films, yeah.
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The artwork is stunning. But it was his most bitter, resentment-filled film to date. I cringed when, in the interview after the movie, Hosoda said that he modeled the story on his own children. . .
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Woah, I think I need to see the film one day soon, then – that sounds like a kinda savage thing for him to say.
Will try to get to the movie soon and do a review, quite curious now.
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Yeah, I reviewed it immediately after watching. I was pretty much floored by the negative emotions of the film: https://anotheranimereview.com/2018/11/30/a-not-so-short-review-of-mirai/
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I remember seeing both posters a while ago even though I never saw the whole movie. The one with the avatars reminded me a lot of Digimon which makes sense since Hosoda worked on Digimon: The Movie.
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Oh yeah – now I see that too, very much has that feel π
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Glad you noticed it. The internet scenes did remind me of the 2nd part of that movie.
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