Starring
Eita as Komoto Takuma
Ueno Juri as Shibata Haruka
Yoza Yoshiaki as Niimi Masaru
Kawaoka Daijiro as Koizumi Shunsuke
Nagano Munenori as Soga Atsushi
Maki Yoko as Ito Yui
Sasaki Kuranosuke as Jose
Muri Tsuyoshi as Ishimatsu Daigo
Honda Riki as Tamura Akira

Summer Time Machine Blues is one of the most fun movies I’ve ever watched that only gets better the more times you watch it. It’s the story of five guys in the sci-fi club (though they’re not really sci-fi fans) and two girls in the photography club that share a clubroom. It’s a hot summer day and in an accident, the remote to their air conditioner breaks. The next day a time machine suddenly appears in their clubroom. At first, the gang is unsure of what they should do with it, but then they have an idea. How about going back to yesterday to prevent the air conditioner remote from breaking?

What’s so enjoyable about this movie it that it doesn’t take itself too seriously. I mean, I love deep movies, but if that was all I watched (or anyone watched for that matter) I may as well become depressed. Plus, isn’t it so great to just have random fun sometimes? And that’s what Summer Time Machine Blues is all about: spontaneous, random silliness.

The first time around is confusing, I admit. But once you watch it twice, three times, etc. you’ll notice something new every time. For other movies, watching it more than once can be a chore, but it’s total fun every time - and doesn’t that make a movie so much more worthwhile? Even though it’s still fun to watch more than once, it’s important to not know everything the first time around, so I won’t say much more.

The cast did a good job, giving a charming and fun-filled representation of a group of friends always playing around with each other. Eita and Ueno Juri are sort of paired up in here as the couple that could be. In the end, this is film is worth your watch and begs the question of whether the future is already determined or if it’s something you take control of.

Buy this movie: Collector’s edition | Standard’s edition