Ocean Waves- 3 Stars

Release Poster

Ocean Waves is in some ways a very good and ambitious film but unfortunately it doesn't quite work perfectly. There are too many characters, the narrative is disjointed and this leads to the film not quite flowing as it should. That said, there are positives- it is one of the first anime films (exploiting the success of Studio Ghibli's Only Yesterday) to explore a serious drama written for adults. On top of this, the film does have it's moments and the lead characters feel like real people not simply romantic stereotypes.

For those of you who don't know, Ocean Waves is a 1993 TV movie produced by Studio Ghibli and was a chance for younger animators to make a film cheaply and quickly (although ironically it ended up going over budget and schedule). It concerns a high school love triangle between friends Taku and Yutaka, and the new arrival at the school, Rikako.

In Tokyo...

However, the romance is not played out as it would be in your normal Hollywood romance flick. None of the romantic leads ever get together and all of the emotion is played under the surface- Taku, for instance, never really admits his feelings for Rikako at all or even gives any clear indication of them to anyone. This is one of the strengths of the film as it does not go for simple melodrama and sentimentality as one might see in something such as Twilight's love triangle, but instead explores the repression of those feelings. Taku and Rikako are the main leads with Yutaka being more of a supporting character and it is the interaction between these main two where the film works best. Both like each other on some level, but several things conspire to keep them from admitting these feelings- foremost is Taku's friendship with Yutaka who is the original admirer of Rikako, but there are other reasons as well such as Taku's nervousness, sense of honour perhaps, and a simple inexperience with how to deal with his own feelings. Similarly, Rikako also never admits her feelings and often in fact pushes Taku away as a mechanism of disguising how she feels. In this way, the romance between the two feels genuine- it is awkward, slow and develops over time. To illustrate this point I ask you to contrast this romance with the aforementioned one in Twilight, specifically between Bella and Jacob in the film New Moon (I was forced to watch it). It is a physical attraction between two people who have little or no reason to actually like each other- there is no development, it is immediately passionate and it simply is not real in the slightest (one could argue that it's a fantasy drama so doesn't need to be real but relationships within those fantasies do need to be real in order to ground the rest of the film). In contrast, Ocean Waves feels completely real- the leads have chemistry, both are characters who act selfishly at times and selflessly at others and the film makes it obvious that there is an attraction without forcing it down our faces. Of course, being a better love story than Twilight is no big achievement, but I could pick many other examples of cliched, undeveloped Hollywood romances that could illustrate the same point.

Rikako and Taku

On the other hand, Ocean Waves does have its flaws, perhaps the biggest of which is its disjointed narrative. Around halfway through the film the two leads go on a trip to Tokyo together- they don't really like each other at this point although it's obvious there is some attraction. We, as an audience, understand that this trip is likely to be the bonding point between them. And it is...kind of. The trip is probably the best section of the film as we see both characters develop and grow- for example, we see Rikako as a strong lead in her decision to go to Tokyo and visit her father, her weakness when her father rejects her, then her selfishness and vanity when she pretends Taku is her boyfriend to impress her ex, and finally her intelligence and insight when she realises her selfishness and the superficiality of her ex. Both leads are well rounded characters not simple cardboard cutouts. However, we don't really see that Rikako quite likes Taku in the way he does her. There needed to be some small indication of her feelings so the audience understands where the relationship is at. This is especially important because the relationship is not developed after the trip- Rikako pushes Taku away from her, perhaps afraid of her feelings- and the two do not really interact again until the very end. The film really needed to give us some expectation that this was it and the romantic leads were finally going to come together which would have meant the dashing of these hopes would have had more of an impact. As it was, I wasn't completely sure that Rikako did like Taku cheapening the following scenes. The whole point of the film is to illustrate the missed opportunities we have because of our inaction or awkwardness but it never really seemed as if anything could realistically happen. This, in turn, disjointed the narrative, as I was still expecting a scene giving an indication of Rikako's feelings for Taku. It could be argued that as we see the story from Taku's perspective, and he is not certain of Rikako's feelings, that that is meant to translate back to the audience. However, there is simply no indication that Rikako feels anything for Taku- all it needed was a look or smile or something but, having rewatched the last scene of the trip again (which was the scene in which I was expecting to see some acknowledgement from Rikako of her feelings for Taku), I am quite certain there are none. We do not need certain proof, just a hint.

The final encounter...

The trip also causes other problems in the film. Firstly, the trip to Tokyo itself seems a little contrived as if the filmmakers couldn't find a way to get Rikako and Taku alone together for an extended period of time. In summary, Taku lends Rikako money for a concert not realising she actually intends to use it to go to Tokyo to visit her father. When he finds out, he doesn't want to let her make the trip all the way to Tokyo on her own, so goes with her on the extra ticket she bought for her friend who gets scared and abandons Rikako. It didn't seem realistic to me that Taku would fly to Tokyo for several days just like that without telling his family or preparing for anything. It's made clear he does it because he feels sorry for Rikako and perhaps feels something for her but I still think him dropping everything to fly half way across the country on a whim does not fit with the realistic, awkwardly romantic style of the film. On top of this, the fact that the trip is pretty much in the centre of the film and lasts about a third of the total running time means that Yutaka, the third lead in the love triangle, is left out of the film for about a third of the time and therefore his development suffers as a result. Personally, I didn't think the love triangle worked at all well as Yutaka was not in enough of the film to be adequately developed as character and it seemed like he was only in it to provide conflict between Rikako and Taku. I understand that Rikako and Taku needed motivation not to jump into a relationship and Yutaka, as the third point in the love triangle, provided that, but I think it was unnecessary- the awkwardness of young, inexperienced couples should have worked as more than enough to keep them apart and would in fact have been more interesting and true to life.

Overall I would say Ocean Waves is a good film, although not at all up there with Ghibli's best. The romance is fairly well done and the characters likable and interesting, but the narrative feels disjointed and the love triangle did not work as intended because Yutaka was not a developed enough character. Strangely, this film is rather similar to the last one I reviewed (In the Mood for Love) as it is again a romance in which the leads do not get together out of a sense of duty and awkwardness (perhaps inadequacy).

Ratings: Entertainment: 7 Technical: 4 Intelligence: 3= 14/20 ***








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