This is still a studio equally known for these slow, meaningful dramas as it is for its out-there fantasies and even in their lesser efforts, the quality shines through. It’s not like it doesn’t work – there’s much to like here – it’s just a lot more obvious about everything it’s trying to say. The train station encounter which kickstarts the entire film does come back at the end, but it feels more like director Tomomi Mochizuki wanted to include a flashback more to illicit a nostalgic response from its audience over anything else.
Ocean waves anime review movie#
But while Takahata’s movie is able to connect the past and the present meaningfully by allowing the heroine of its story be affected by her memories, Ocean Waves doesn’t do a lot with its narrative device. Back in the present day, and with the reunion getting closer, Taku wonders if Rikako will even show up.ĭue to its flashback nature, there’s an inevitable comparison to be made to another of the studio’s films, released only two years prior: Only Yesterday.
Rikako’s attitude continues to cause problems between the boys, whose own awkward tendencies do little to help, until things come to a heated finale. She doesn’t reciprocate the attraction, though she seems to be into Taku, even when she asks to borrow all of his travel money during their class trip to Hawaii.Ī rift begins to form between himself and Yutaka during this time, and gets worse after Taku accompanies her to see her father in Tokyo, where they spend a(n innocent) night in the same hotel room. Rikako’s bratty attitude at school has made it hard for her to make friends, though Yutaka has an obvious crush on her. As he travels, he starts to remember the impact she had on him and his friend Yutaka. The film follows undergraduate student Taku Morisaki who, on his way to his school reunion, believes he sees his childhood friend Rikako, a girl who had transferred to his school during their final year of junior high. The idea was to make something cheaper and quicker than their usual theatrical releases and while it did go over time and budget, it would be a lie to say that it doesn’t show.
Ocean waves anime review tv#
Directing duties were handed to Tomomi Mochizuki who, at the time, had almost a decade of TV work. The studio had been going strong for 7 years, and was already a powerhouse of quality anime filmmaking, and this seemed like a good way for the studio heads to give the reins to the younger generation of creatives. In 1993, the creative at Studio Ghibli were asked by Nippon Television to produce a film adaptation of the Saeko Himuro novel I Can Hear the Sea. “The whole thing was starting to feel like a bad soap opera.” In Tomomi Mochizuki’s TV romance, much like life, teenage love can only lead to drama.
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