Ride Your Wave

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 everynow 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 reallygood 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.