rtil

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 handheld 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.

thefoolsorchids

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.