Review of Ride Your Wave
Another one of those movies that I patiently waited to watch with my boyfriend, and then when I finally get to watch it... it just didn't meet my expectations. Let's get right into the review (first impressions from a single watch). *** SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS *** Story; Hinako Mukaimizu moves back to her home town for two thing; surfing and the ocean. Little did she know a firefighter in training would hit on her and end up falling in love. They quickly become an item, enjoy each-others company and experience love like nothing before. Then one night, her official boyfriend Minato Hinagenshi, decides to ride the wavesearly in the morning by himself. He safety gets back onto shore, but notices a pedestrian has gone missing in the water. He goes back in without hesitation, saving the life of the person in the water, and never coming back for a breath himself. With Hinako being alone we get to see how she deals with the lost of her first love, if she's ever able to go back into the water again and if she's able to find new love just as quickly as she's lost it... The plot isn't what I was expecting at all to be honest. When I saw the trailers, I was expecting some magical water boy to fall in love with the main girl. Not true love, death and then depression(and how to deal with it). Although it wasn't the story I was expecting, it wasn't all bad. I felt a lot of information was missing (or maybe I wasn't paying close enough attention) like the flower shop, his friend being waaaaay to interested in Hinako and then moving on like it's nothing and the sister being extremely rude then becoming her best friend like it was nothing? Time to move on. Art; The animation was beautiful. The water, flashbacks and emotional-changing scenes. Sound; The OST was cute. By the end of it I was tired of the song that they sang together. Especially because she would only sing the one part over and over again to call him. Characters; I like the attempt to jump right into the characters getting to know each-other, but they weren't interesting enough for me to get emotional. It was cutesy, I was blushing and getting excited. But it all moved so fast. My heart/emotions couldn't keep up with what I was happening in the movie.
Overall, not the movie I was expecting but it was interesting. Now that I know what the plot is, I can come back to it in the future when I'm in the right mood for it. If I had to describe this movie it would be "love, lose and growth"... I suggest you watch this movie when you're in the right mindset, and not expecting a straight-forward romance between the unidentified and a human.