Anime 38594 Kimi To Nami Ni Noretara Reviews

I picked up this film for no other reason than the fact that it was directed by Masaaki Yuasa. This is a very different type of story than he would typically adapt. It's a story about love, coming of age and learning to move on from loss. Colorful, vibrant and fairly easygoing, it does away with most of Yuasa's hallmarks of frantic and wild fever dreams.

Nothing wrong with that, however I don't think the movie is very successful at giving its lead much of anything to do besides being an absolutely hopeless blubbering mess who comes off as a dysfunctional klutz who needs her hand ... held by her knight in shining armor.

The film starts off showing Hinako - the female lead - as an elusive, glowing trophy. Two friends, Minato and Wasabi, admire her surfing in the distance. They don't know her name, and accept that her existence in their lives could be as fleeting. Yet fate has her cross paths with both of them, and in fact Minato ends up saving her from a fire, and the two of them start dating.

It's then that you learn that Hinako is basically only good at surfing and doesn't have her life together in any way. She can't take care of herself, her house is a mess, she can't cook, she doesn't have a job - in fact, it's never quite made clear what exactly she's doing with her life. Minato, on the other hand, does everything for her and is basically the perfect cookie-cutter boyfriend. She becomes quite reliant on him. The only thing he can't do is surf, which Hinako teaches him.

After a series of tragic events, Hinako spends the rest of the film acting like a lunatic when she learns she can sing a song to make an apparition appear in water whenever she needs its advice - which is basically all the time. The problem is, no one else can see this except her. So naturally, everyone around her finds her behavior strange. I can't tell if these portions of the film are supposed to be funny, or sad, or perhaps even both. It's a bizarre mix of emotions and it lacks any kind of magic or chemistry. The romantic chemistry only exists because of dependency issues, and Minato is such a flat and uninteresting character that it's hard to be anywhere near as infatuated with him much as Hinako is.

The supporting cast is .. there. The only voice of reason is the stone cold Youko, Minato's sister. Minato's friend Wasabi doesn't do much of note besides live in the shadow of his buddy. And there's really not much more to it.

As the title suggests, the film is supposed to be about Hinako learning how to "ride the wave" of her life. But constantly throughout the film she howls and begs for others help. It's only at the very tail end of the story that Hinako learns to grow, and only because of Minato's help. She never once accomplishes anything on her own accord.

It's an unsatisfying story because of this abrupt end to Hinako's arc. The ending is bittersweet, as one might imagine, but it lacks any emotional punch. Hinako is hard to care about because she doesn't grow or change much, and when she does it feels unearned. Minato is hard to care about because he's basically an ideal and not much of a character. I, personally, only really enjoyed Youko's brief time on screen, a minor character by all means.

Should you watch "Ride Your Wave"? I'm not sure who I would answer "yes" to. If you like the works of Masaaki Yuasa, you probably are looking in the wrong place. If you like romantic stories, the relationships aren't fleshed out enough here to give a satisfying romance. Everything that "Ride Your Wave" represents falls flat. Perhaps it could offer some catharsis for those going through loss, but I think there are many other stories out there that do it better. If you are looking for anime in that vein, I might recommend something like "The Wind Rises", "Shinsekai Yori" or "Katanagatari" instead.

I normally don't write reviews and forgive me if my thought process is all over the place. This review will contain spoilers (kind of) as well as my own personal experience, so please bear with me. This is my first review.

When I first saw the trailer for this film, I thought it would be another romance anime, but it was more than that to me. I'll start with the six points and why I scored them as such. I hope you enjoy this review. And even if our opinions differ, I'm glad I was still able to share my experience with you all.

Story ... (7): The story was nothing overly spectacular, but was very relatable in terms of someone starting their own path in life and working their way towards their future with each bump in the road along the way. Even so, I enjoyed the journey and really felt it on a personal level. Which I will discuss at the end of this review.

Art (9): The art style and animation in this film was absolutely gorgeous. The colors were bright and used effectively and I really enjoyed the pleasant look of the whole film. The movement of the waves were honestly what stood out to me most.

Sound (8): The soundtrack in this movie was very well done. The composition was put together in a way that I thought worked well. I'm no expert on sound design or music scores, but I enjoyed how everything flowed with the movie like a wave. It matched the tone and I had no problems with it.

Character (7): I enjoyed the characters. Nothing to write home about, but I was invested in them nonetheless. Nothing really more to say here. No complaints.

Enjoyment (10): As I stated in the beginning of this review albeit being short and to the point, I felt this movie on a personal level. I enjoyed watching it and I hope to see more from this studio.

I wrote this review because in April of 2019, my father who was eldery passed away and left this earth. He had been struggling for a long time but chose not to tell me because he knew I would worry. Even though he passed peacefully, it's been tough grieving someone who had been there my whole life.

I lost my job, my sense of purpose, my interests in a lot of things and have felt conflicted on where to go and what to do. I was sobbing by the end of this movie because even when people leave us they're always there in spirit. I felt my own father was trying to reach out to me while I watched this film trying to tell me that he wanted me to be happy and to get back on my feet.

Thank you for reading this if you did and I do recommend you watch this film.

The showing date for Tenki no Ko was announced the day right after I booked my flight to Japan, and that showing happened to be just a day after my flight back. In pure frustration, I decided I would watch at least one anime movie while I was there, and that happened to be this: Kimi to Nami.

After seeing only the trailer, I didn't really have much expectation for this other than a sappy, supernatural love story, but it was surprisingly good. The story was simple, the characters were easily relatable, and the music was fantastic. I still find myself humming BRAND NEW STORY every ... now and then.

It's a pretty good movie. Just don't raise your expectations too much; it's nothing groundbreaking, but not a waste of time either.

I watched this film in the theater purely because it's hard for Anime films to screen in theaters overseas and when one makes its usually a really good one. I came in, with no pre-exisiting notions, i hadn't even seen the trailer so i had no pre-conception of the film.


SPOILERS AHEAD!!

Story (3):
Firstly I thought the Film was Mediocre at best. The story was very linear and simple. Girl falls in love boy, boy dies trope. Although this is okay and can be interesting, the story didn't make it interesting and instead dragged out a semi-pointless story of Hinako dating water Minato.

Art (6):
The art was really ... good at times and really bad at other times. When it came to scenery and back ground, the art was fantastic. Especially the water. However, when it came to characters the art was just bad, I myself am an Artist/Animator and this was something an independent could do on their own.

Sound (7):
Now the sound in this movie was relatively good, especially the music and sound effects. However a big problem with the title song is that it played almost throughout the whole movie (whether it was sang by the characters or played in the background) which made the audience sick of the song by the end of the music. So although it was a good song, it's overplayed too much.

Character (4):
I think where the movie really failed was in establishing any emotional connection between the audience and the characters. We basically got a short montage of Minato and Hinako and then when story kicks in it expects you to already be connected to Hinako, who we have seen no character development for and only seen her ride a wave and get saved by Minato. We are then expected to engage with Hinako and her post-minato's death mentality. At first I thought that they were gonna deal with psychosis and denial, because it seemed like the water Minato was not real and in her imagination (which i thought could've explored some interesting territory) but ultimately it turned out that it was real and gave emotional weight to her character.

Enjoyment (3):
i'll be honest here, i did not enjoy this movie. It set up the premise really quickly and was straight to the point and i was not able to connect to the movie on a personal level despite any similar experiences i have had.

Overall (5):
Overall the movie is mediocre at best. There's nothing groundbreaking and the story is very bland and linear. So if you're expecting to be wow'ed then this movie is not for you. I'd say watch this movie if you're looking for an anime flick to pass the time with.

Great first half, lack luster second half. My main issues with the movie are the rushed pacing and constant repeating of the films main message, moving on from sadness/grief and relying on yourself in life. The movie isn't a complete dud as it has great visuals and cute moments between the main characters but I can't say that's its more than average. Worth a watch but not highly recommended! I think Josee, the Tiger and the Fish has very similar vibes to this movie but executes the romance aspect better so give that a try if you like this one.

You can make something groundbreaking by doing nothing groundbreaking and everything else really damn good.

Just a quick heads up for anyone who may want to watch this movie: DON'T WATCH THE TRAILER. The trailer for some damn reason spoils the entire movie and makes it not near as intriguing to watch. I'm glad I didn't watch the trailer until after the movie.

I am just blown away about how surprisingly spectacular this movie was. Looking at the score and the reviews, I thought this would either be a disappointing, boring ass movie like Shikioriori or a real solid, heartwarming movie like Summer Wars; and it was ... none of the above.

I deeply ADORE this movie and Science SARU has become one of my all-time favorite studios.

Yes in fact, the reviews do speak the truth; the movie does nothing groundbreaking, but DAMN IS IT AMAZING. The writing is maybe slightly above average, the plot has been done a million times before, the execution was exquisite, the character design is simple, but beautiful, the characters themselves are memorable, the animation is so clean it puts Mr. Clean himself to shame, and I still can't get the soundtrack out of my head.

Does this movie deserve the score it has? In my opinion, hell no.

Ride Your Wave is one of those movies that does nothing different, but absolutely everything extremely well.

Do not sleep on this emotional, heartwarming mastapiece of a film. You may not love it as much as I do, but I can assure that you are in for a tasty-ass treat.

Watch this sh*t now.

*Spoilers ahead, though I try to be vague.*

I made the mistake of renting this movie, and I don't know what I miss more: my money, my time, or my sanity.

This movie is a mess from the start. Within the first twenty minutes, they establish a romance between the main characters, Hinako and Minato. It's cliche, predictable, and I found myself cringing. I can't understand how we, as the viewers, are supposed to feel emotionally invested, or even care about the characters when the movie speeds through their relationship, just to get it out of the way.

The viewer must sit through a terrible song, sung ... by Hinako and Minato, as they go on dates to establish that, 'look, these two are in love'. After that's over, tragedy strikes. I felt nothing but annoyance at this point, but I continued to watch.

Hinako soon realizes that she can summon her beloved by singing the song from the relationship montage. I close my eyes and take a breath. I know where this is going. Sure enough, that terrible song is sung, repeatedly, over the entire course of the movie.

Does anyone remember that meme of Mr. Incredible where he's on the ground, clearly in pain, with the caption "I can't...not again. I'm not...strong enough" -- because this is how I felt every time Hinako sang that @#%! song. The singing was like nails on chalkboard. It made me grit my teeth. I felt my blood pressure rise with each broken note.

Music aside, Hinako is obnoxious and unlikable. She sulks, pouts, and makes everything all about her, despite the fact that others are suffering too. She acts erratically and obsessively. She comes across as unintelligent and klutzy, without any redeeming qualities. She's nothing without her man. I haven't disliked a character so much in a long time.

In contrast, Minato is the 'cool guy'. He's laidback, intelligent (I guess), seems to have his life together, and is completely enamored with Hinako, which is frustrating to watch. I failed to see where the attraction stemmed from, but they touch on that later, and...well. I've seen better plot twists on the Neopets RP boards.

But I digress. Hinako just can't seem to move on, so she brings Minato with her wherever she goes, except he's carried around in a water bottle and in a blowup porpoise, because he can only exist in water. Oh, and she's the only one that can see him, so her friends think she's crazy. Rightfully so.

Minato's character offers nothing. He throws up the shaka (surfs up) sign in every scene, offering little tidbits of encouragement while Hinako goes off the deep end. She acts giddy and seems to think that their relationship can persevere despite the fact that her man is literally in a water bottle.

All the while, the "goal" of the movie is for Hinako to 'ride her own wave', aka move on without Minato.

And...that's the movie. What you expect to happens, happens. It's predictable, it's boring, it's cringeworthy and frustrating. I enjoyed Lu Over the Wall, so I thought I'd like this one, but it's a hard pass. If anything, watch it to see how bad it is, but don't spend your money like I did. My review may come across as harsh, but I don't care. I haven't disliked a movie this much in a long time.

Kimi to, Nami ni Noretara or Ride Your Wave is Masaaki Yuasa's latest film and coming from a long time fan of his, I'd say this is probably his weakest one so far. But even his weakest work makes for a great watch that's enjoyable and has at least some interesting things about it.

Before watching this film it's best that you know what you're in for so that you'd be in the right mindset. This is a relatable and sweet (if cheesy and a very fairy tale-esque) portrayal of young love which then turns in to a story of overcoming loss, letting go of ... the past and finding new passions in life. The surfing and catching waves motif in the film is akin to catching new opportunities in life instead of hiding underwater and letting opportunities pass over you.

Not a bad concept and this is tied together nicely with every aspect of the film. I especially like the hints we get about the main character early in the film about her clinging to her childhood by having her move in to her childhood town, using her childhood surfboard, eating her childhood food, listening to a song from her childhood... etc' etc'
it's a little heavy handed, but it makes for good foreshadowing to what she's about to cling to later in the film.
The male lead observed baby sea turtles struggling to enter the sea which hints at what he's going to cling to as well.
The chemistry between the two leads is pretty solid, if a bit cheesy and the film is able to set up a fairly cute love story in its first act, using montages, seeing them have fun together and hearing them have nice casual conversations too.

The supporting characters don't have too much of a character arc of their own, but they're also given enough personality, screen time, serve enough of a purpose in the story to justify their existence and they do just that - support.
You have a another firefighter who's not very good at his job, but is trying his best to improve and is also used as a red herring to make the audience think he's gonna be another love interest for the main character. There's also the real love interest's little sister who's the voice of reason and does play more of a role later in the film.

The thing you really need to know going in to this film is that it relies heavily on happenstance and fairy tale logic:
[SPOILERS AHEAD]
The inciting incident of the film is that the main character is saved by a fireman from a fire who (later turns out) just so happens to be the same guy she saved from drowning when they were kids.. Who later becomes her boyfriend, who later drowns in the sea, dies and becomes a firefighting ghost with water powers who saves the day in the climax (yeah it can't be her imagination at that point).. It's also worth mentioning that the climax is set up pretty conveniently too, with one of the supporting characters who just so happened to overhear the same punks who set off fireworks illegally and caused the fire in the beginning of the film, planning their next fireworks playtime in an abandoned building where there happens to be a dried up tree that catches fire easily..
[End of SPOILERS]

Maybe making this feel like a fairy tale was intentional, I have no way to know that. I'm just pointing this out because this does hamper some of the character's control over the story in retrospect. It feels like the scenarios are driving the characters half the time and not the other way around. This isn't too bad though since in a lot of the film the characters do act in a way that's significant and that's tied to their personalities, it's just that the transition between acts or the actual plot points that feel kinda forced and establishing that ghosts exist in the middle of the film isn't the best decision.

Visually, the film is quite beautiful in terms of imagery and background art that seems to have great depth of field and has very fluid character motions, impressive character acting, as well an emphasis on food and coffee animation that is also very elaborate. Coming from Yuasa Masaaki this is probably his most mainstream looking film, in the sense that the characters look a lot more "animeish" and further away from Masaaki's usual abstract style. Which is fitting since the film in general is more of a crowd-pleaser (not that there's anything wrong with that) and further away from his more abstract and weirder works.

Soundwise it has breezy pop music, great sound design and excellent voice acting all around, especially from the main character who is the only one to sound like an actual anime character, while the rest sound like they have more realistic speech patterns (not the first time this has been done).

Overall, I'd say it's Yuasa's weakest work, but still a terrific film that's emotionally powerful, fun, has nice atmosphere and hits all the right notes.
Yeah, it's pretty sappy, but I guess I'm a sap..

Holy Cannoli, does this movie have an Opening. Almost immediately out of the gate, we're thrust into an intense, high stakes situation that not only gets your blood pumping but sets the stage for everything else to come in the story. You get a very clear picture of who are characters are, what they're like, and just what kind of movie this is going to be.

Personally, I was enthralled from start to finish. Invested in the characters, in love with the story, impressed by the animation, there's nothing I have to complain about. Even the twist, which I didn't see coming at all, was superbly ... done and emotionally resonant.

Of course, this movie couldn't start the way it does without ending in a similar fashion, and boy does this movie have an Ending. Another intense, high stakes, blood pumping situation that has you on the edge of your seat.

This movie made me smile, it made me cry, it made me walk out of the theater feeling content, and it will do the same for you.

Let me start by saying I learned how to write a review on MAL just to write this review. This movie really had some promise, the premise is alright and what it more or less wanted to do could be a good story, but it fails on so many crucial parts. To be fair I'll start with what I liked.

First I actually quite liked the music, and by that I mean musically they were not bad songs. I also did enjoy the two main characters singing together as it added some nice wholesomeness to the montage. Secondly I did like the ... art, backgrounds and still objects were very beautiful and things were vibrant when it needed to be and muted where they weren't. I also enjoyed the couple of action/fire sequences as they were fairly well done and quite engaging. And finally the core story is good, dealing with a person having to handle the loss of a loved one and the toll it can take on them.

Those were the few pros that bumped it up to a 3, but here are the things that it really does poorly. First minor problem is the animation and character design, Im all for unique art styles and character design but these designs often make the characters look down right stupid and often took away from deep moments in the movie as they made silly and exaggerated looking faces, also their animations were often distracting and really took away from the tone being set at times.

Second is the characters, these might be minor spoilers but I will try to remain vague. Our two main characters are pretty underwhelming but not inherently bad. Hinako can be a little stupid at times but overall she was probably the best, Minato was simply bland and so overly romantic at times I almost felt like Hinako was being set up or lured into a trap, see the sudden heart card and lock in the tower. Wasabi was a very nothing character as well, providing very little to the plot except for some very forced feeling conflict with him trying to date his dead friends GF. Finally Youko was by far the worst character, she was a rotten human being and the only explanation for this was she had a sharp tongue as she spews insults and practically mock a girl whose BF just died. Her "redemption arc" also consisted of nothing more than "she has a crush now so she cant be bad." Id also like to bring up the fact that Youko and Wasabi did practically nothing to help Hinako who was, as far as they knew, having a mental breakdown.

Next is pacing. Im a fairly decent reader of subtitles and yet the characters talked so fast throughout the entire film, I found my self constantly pausing and rewinding to read what was said. And yet despite this it seemed like very little was actually being said, towards the end I could gloss over about 60% of the dialog and still understand what was happening. It seemed like the film was constantly racing to get to its two big climaxes, the ending and the other one.

Sound design was also a big problem, while the music used was quite good musically, the way the sound designers used it a lot of the time ruined it. I often found myself getting interested in some very dramatic and sad scenes only to quickly get snapped out of it by the borderline happy music being played. They also did a couple cuts from loud music to sudden silenced, this worked once to create tension but the others times just made me thing my audio cut out.

Finally the story, as I said before the premise isn't bad, however the lightning fast pacing and pointless and/or unlikeable characters caused me to not care about the issues occurring through almost the whole film. The set up to Minato and Hinako's relationship was done in about 5 minutes of montage and then the audience is supposed to feel a connection. For me this connection was never made and any investment I might have had in these characters was quickly swept away by their unlikeable personalities and terrible character design.

Overall I was incredibly disappointed, the art and synopsis looked very interesting and what clips I had seen before hand tuned out to be by far the best the movie had to offer. Its obvious that the background artists and the musicians were not included in some meetings as they are the only reason this film gets a 3 over a 1.

Story (7):
The story presented in Ride Your Wave is one that I was able to enjoy, if only for the fact that it is a relatable enough story. The main character, Hinako, is attempting to figure out what direction to go in for her career and life (hence "riding her wave"), and she enjoys surfing. She falls in love, something tragic happens, she becomes lost, something dramatic happens, and she is made to realize which direction she feels compelled to go in. It falls a bit flat, as it is not anything incredibly detailed. Unlike the core of the story, the path through the story ... is not nearly as relatable. Hinako relies heavily on the other characters to find herself, which makes her seem dangerously dependent. What she accomplishes is diminished by the fact that she does very little of it for herself.

Art (9):
While the story falls a bit flat, the art is beautiful and the colors work well with the various settings. The movement of different things-- such as the waves that Hinako surfs on-- shows true strength in animation. The only thing that I think bothered me was how thin the characters' legs are. In some scenes, the characters appear to be walking on little sticks, even if they are not super distant. It is definitely a trait that stands out.

Sound (8):
Having a specific song as a recurring theme throughout the movie does lend to the story a bit, but the song started to wear on me by the end of the movie. The main song is a cute song, and the lyrics definitely fit the story, but I got a bit tired of hearing Hinako and Minato singing it.

Character (5):
The characters are where the movie truly falls flat. The main character, Hinako, is very dependent on others. She learns very little on her own, and therefore, her character development seems largely unearned. The other characters feel like someone you meet once and never see again, despite their presence throughout the movie. They are not very dynamic. Certain aspects of certain characters-- including their desires-- are cut terribly short or jarringly switch directions. In fact, Minato is probably the most interesting character in the movie, which is a shame. His story gives him the most depth and purpose of all of the characters, and he shapes all of the other characters in some way. I would say he is the true main character.

Enjoyment (7):
While the movie was not the most spectacular thing I have ever seen, I did enjoy it. It was simple and cute, and relatable, and there were parts that brought tears to my eyes or made me feel very warm and fuzzy. I would be willing to show it to someone else, but I would not rewatch it on my own. There are other stories out there that do everything this movie was intended to do, but with a bit more strength. Overall, though, this movie was not bad.

Great anime that takes you on a ride (ha, get it) of emotions, I personally do not like romance or sad anime's but this one made me actually shed a tear, I highly recommend it, it is not for the feint of heart though. It is beautifully written as well as drawn, the visuals compared to most anime's is astonishingly better and easier to the eye. The storyline does keep you interested throughout the whole movie, as someone that has a hard time focussing on one thing for an extended period of time this was very relaxing and easy to follow all whilst keeping my ... full attention.

I will review this going straight forward to the PTSD of the main character, a thing that I did not see in other reviews, I don't know why.

This review doesn't have spoilers.

the main character has post-traumatic schizophrenia, but although this is a remarkable adult plot, the movie doesn't completely understand the mental illness of hers as so and ground the situation into a child-like fantasy-power experience.
Didn't expect much before watching it, but the movie itself shows its potential and then just disappoints a bit.

I didn't see a single review talking about the PTSD which is in many real-life cases the cause of this type ... of psychosis Hinako has. I don't wanna think I overthought the movie, it seems so explicit to me that makes me nervous nobody saying it.
So I think a movie more focused on this would be awesome, but despite having all the resources to do so, the movie takes a more 'animely' path.. what a waste.
Because anime can't have deep themes like mental illness, can it?

Finishing the movie has some nice but very predictable and forced plot twists.

Good visual art, good sound, surf scenes well animated, a catchy song, can make you cry (...) definitely the type of movie you'd see with your family or girlfriend to spend time together

The message of the film is great and the two secondary characters were pretty well executed. They both had their own life and issues related towards the male lead and showcasing that added a lot towards the detail on his death. Despite there being one scene that leaned towards the friend becoming the main female's second lover, it didn't bear any fruits. Michiru Oshima is great as always. It's a shame that half of the soundtrack is just the vocal track.

However that is the only praise for it's story writing that I can give. The pacing is a mess. It poorly built up the ... romance and that greatly impacts the entire second half of the movie. A decent chunk of the scenes only exist just to showcase how good at animation the studio is, which is unnecessary wasted time in a film where every second counts.

The second half is the meat of the story, however there it seems to have conflicting messages. It seemed like they couldn't decide whether the delusions were a positive thing or unhealthy. For a movie that's whole message is about moving on, the climax wholeheartedly acts as if her delusions worked. It's a smack in the face of the message and frankly ruins what should've been a decent film. How does justifying her deluded reality give any closure? And how exactly does him having a non-subtle effect on the world add to the clear message? The is easily one of Masaaki Yasua's weakest works. I enjoyed it, however I can't say that it's a good film with the major blunder that is the climax.

I recommend seeing his previous works if you liked this one. They do a better job exploring their themes.

Ride Your Wave is the story of a young and naive surfer who falls in love with a firefighter; the two have a whirlwind romance that eventually leads to something supernatural. This movie is the latest anime feature from director Masaaki Yuasa (Lu Over The Wall, Night Is Short), who I find very hit or miss, but I'm happy to say I thought this was a hit! In fact I loved this movie so much I almost gave it a 9/10, but a few things held it back to a strong 8/10. When I first saw the trailer I rolled my eyes a bit because ... it comes off as a cheesy romance movie, but honestly the romance was VERY well done. Probably one of the best anime romances, ever. The main couple just have such natural chemistry and are so likable, they feel like a real couple and you just want to see things work out for them. I LOVED the design for lead girl, Hinako! She is just so cute and upbeat and strong and a total surfer babe! I'm not kidding when I say I'd literally watch a movie with any plot that has her in it, I just find her so entertaining to watch. Like that opening scene when she gets a surprise call from mom and she's trying to make lunch while trying to keep every box in her house from falling on her? I was in stitches! I wanna point out Hinako's tan, how she's much darker skinned than the male lead. For me this is a big deal since I almost always see the opposite in anime, where a tan male lead is accompanied by a much lighter skinned female lead (I could give so many examples but look at Natsu vs. Lucy in Fairy Tail or Ash vs. Misty in Pokemon). Anyway, Hinako's tan skin to me shows how atypical, how against the grain she is. Furthering my point is the fact that her boyfriend admires her surfing skills so much that he says SHE's HIS hero, when in a normal romance anime I feel like the female lead would be going goo goo eyed over the male lead's athletic ability, y'know? Minato's a pretty loveable lead as well, a dude who became a firefighter solely because he loves helping people. You can see why Hinako falls in love with him so fast. Side note: I couldn't help but notice that Minato's got the same design as Ryo from Devilman Crybaby (only with dark hair), so I kept thinking to myself that this was an alternate reality where Ryo wasn't an asshole and got a girlfriend lol. I also have to mention that Minato's best friend Wasabi and Minato's sassy little sister Youko have a side romance that's actually VERY well done and cute as well. Even minor characters shine in this film! The animation is really solid, the designs are a bit lanky and noodley, but less so than normal Yuasa outings. The animation almost looks like a normal anime movie!

OK, so if I loved it so much why did I only give Ride Your Wave an 8? Well, this is where it's hard to avoid spoilers, but I'll say the film doesn't stay light hearted for very long: it's actually a movie about coping with tragedy, which might throw some people off guard. It's a very sad film that can be hard to watch at times, so please don't watch this if you're already in a sad mood. Where I subtract some points is the supernatural twist related to the tragedy, which I found a bit silly and kind of hurt the film. Though it did lead to some great comedy, like when Hinako accidentally summons the water spirit in a toilet. Another big minus for me was that the film plays its theme song "Brand New Story" WAYYY too fucking much! It's a catchy song but I heard it so many times I just wanted to puncture my ear drums! Don't believe me? It's the theme of the movie, so they play it as part of the OST, AND it happens to be the fave song of the leads so they are CONSTANTLY singing it or humming it or listening to it on the radio, AND it's actually plot related because Hinako can only summon the water spirit by...you guessed it, singing that DAMN song! There's also a tiny twist at the end where you find out Hinako and Minato were like destined to meet, blah blah, it's really unnecessary and forced and stupid. My biggest complaint is that Youko and Hinako's actions at the climax are very dumb, like they kind of deserved to drown. Why would you follow these dangerous characters without contacting the police? And then Youko says they have to wait for the gang to light the fireworks, but then she says they have to take a perfect picture of the gang in the act, but THEN she says she needs a good video of it before they call the cops!? Ugh, just call the damn cops and get outta there, dummy! Anyway, please watch this film, it's worth it for the lovable cast and exceptionally well done romances.

When I first watched the film, I thought the pacing was way too quick for me to actually understand what was going on. Although I will say that the fire fighter scenes were pretty intense regardless if they were only training or had to attend buildings that were on fire due to fireworks.

I understood this films backdrop involving the feeling of losing someone through drowning and honestly the ending was a near hard hitter for me. However I would have liked if the couples experience together was more in depth because as I said yet again, it was rather rushed. It didn't give much in ... depth either with the other guy who had a crush in her or if he was going for someone else. Since I'm not gonna say spoilers to telling you who's who, it's best to watch the film.

Animation wise, it was pretty alright. Not amazeballs but it was easy on the eyes at least.

As much as the film did offer a bit of emotion, it's not the ultimate worse or disappointment I've ever seen. However room for improvement is what it definitely definitely needs in terms of story pace development.......

Probably a 6,5.

Great art, especially the riding-the-waves-on-the-air scenes and even the bubbly love scenes.
But the characters were almost annoying. Their love story had developed fully at 20 minutes in. The back story was revealed almost in the end, so before, it was hard to relate. Also the type of all 4 characters was again, the "happy, harmless, hard working" type so it becomes impossible to relate. Like, this is a systemic stereotype, give us a break. Lastly, it seemed that everyone else other than the 4 youths, was either too promiscuous or too old to be considered a character.

I honestly enjoyed this movie for the most part. Unfortunately, like Game of Thrones, I feel they butchered the ending. The story and the visuals itself were very well done but...the ending was so lackluster it took away a lot from the initial appeal of the movie. (I feel personally)

I don't know if anyone else felt that way but, I honestly just felt 'meh' after it ended. I was so enthralled and engaged up until the last 5 minutes or so and then....blah. That was it. Honestly, a little disappointing considering how much I enjoyed it up until that point.

Movie overall: 7
Ending: a 4 at ... best

Very much recomend If you're looking for a very emotional movie. It does a very good job at getting you invested from the very first song. I found myself physicaly wanting to sing with Hinako, and crying hard with the ending. It's just a good story about moving on and finding yourself through love. I also think it did a realy good job with other characters besides the leads, giving them proper story and development. The animation is good, it does a great job in conveying the event, but nothing breathtakingly beautiful.
It's not as much focused on actions as it is on emotions of the ... characters, but that is to be expected from a movie of this genre. The general flow of the story is pretty predictable, but with a few scenes and moments that take you by surprise.

Saw this in the cinema today, a lovely bittersweet anime movie. It has some amazing animation throughout the movie. One of a few movies that I have seen recently that wasn't that predictable. The main song although annoying a few times in the movie (as it is literally the only song you hear properly over and over in the movie) is actually really good (big Backstreet boys vibes) and cant really be changed or removed as it would not work with the plot. i think the main think i disliked is the freaking hand gesture the main guy does ahaha. Seriously though if you have ... seen the trailer and liked it, its enough for you to watch it , trust.