Due to the creation of the virtual city of Oz, anyone can access the Internet at any time, for information, to pay bills or play games online. In his spare time, Japanese high-school student Kenji works as a maintenance computer programmer for Oz. When Natsuki, the girl with whom he is secretly in love, invites him to go to Nagano for a few days for a family party, he promptly accepts. When he gets there Natsuki asks him to pretend to be her fiancé to please her grandmother, who is celebrating her ninetieth birthday. Despite his shyness, Kenji is soon accepted by the family and gets to know them. The night after the banquet, Kenji has gone to bed when he receives a strange email on his mobile phone that contains numbers and the following message: «Decode me!» Piqued by this challenge to his mathematical abilities, although still half asleep, he tries to work out the puzzle and solves it. Next morning he learns that his avatar – the personification of an individual in the virtual world – is causing trouble in Oz and that he is wanted by the authorities. Can Kenji count on the help of his stepfamily, with their wealth of resources? Will they manage to stop the destruction of both Oz and the physical world?
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and emerging. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
