Review of Ride Your Wave

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 becauseit 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.