First Thoughts on Ocean Waves / Umi ga Kikoeru (1993)

*All reviews contain spoilers*
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For this week’s First Thoughts article, it’s time to cast ourselves back a few decades to 1993, where we find one of Studio Ghibli’s more obscure pieces, Ocean Waves (also known as I Can Hear The Sea in some places). This one had a more unusual production than most other Ghibli features, as it was originally a TV release and was the studio’s first film not to be directed by Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata. Instead, thirty-four-year-old Tomomi Mochizuki was chosen to direct, because this was intended to be a project for the young, by the young. The story came from a 1990 novel by Saeko Himuro and was re-written for the film by Kaori Nakamura – a sequel novel was later released in 1995, entitled I Can Hear the Sea II: Because There is Love.

The film was animated by Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten and the Nippon Television Network, where it aired for the first time on May 5th, 1993. Just a few months earlier, in February, the various parts of Himuro’s novel, which had been serialized in Animage magazine from 1990 onwards, were collected together and released as a single hardcover book with illustrations by Katsuya Kondō. Kondō was later selected as the character designer and animation director for Ghibli’s adaptation, which did not in fact take place entirely at Ghibli. The studio was assisted in its efforts by J. C. Staff, Madhouse Studios and Oh! Production, all of whom had collaborated with Ghibli on earlier projects. The aim of Ocean Waves was to give the younger generation of animators a chance to test their mettle, with most of the team in their twenties and thirties; their motto was to produce the film “quickly, cheaply and with quality,” although it did eventually go over budget and over schedule. Director Mochizuki even claimed he developed peptic ulcer because of the stress.

Shigeru Nagata handled the score, and the cast included Nobuo Tobita as Taku Morisaki, Toshihiko Seki as Yutaka Matsuno, Yōko Sakamoto as Rikako Muto, Kae Araki as Yumi Kohama, Yuri Amano as Akiko Shimizu, Jun’ichi Kanemura as Okada, Hikaru Midorikawa as Tadashi Yamao, Ai Satō as Taku’s mother, Kinryū Arimoto as Rikako’s father and Takeshi Watabe as the Principal. Watabe was a local of the film’s setting, so he also served as a dialect coach for the rest of the cast. Since this was one of the few Ghibli films not released in America until recently, it hasn’t yet been given an English dub (at least not that I could find), so there’s no English cast to discuss.

The film is set predominantly in the city of Kōchi on the island of Shikoku, which is the home of the main character, Taku. Rikako, the leading lady, is a Tokyo girl, so she sees Kōchi as a bit of a backwater. Despite this, it’s rendered just as beautifully as any other Ghibli setting; say what you will about them, but you can always rely on Ghibli to deliver scenes of picturesque quality. The story is pretty simple – we follow the interactions of Taku and Rikako, along with their friends, as the latter struggles to fit in at her new school while also dealing with a troubled home life. Thematically, it’s very similar to Only Yesterday (1991) by Isao Takahata, which was also a slice-of-life drama with a small-scale but charming story to tell. While this means Ocean Waves is not as grand or fantastical as some of Ghibli’s other fare, it doesn’t mean the film isn’t interesting.

Watching it, I got the feeling that I was intruding on something private, since this wasn’t meant for western audiences. It has a subtle, yet distinctly “Japanese” sense to it, which you’d expect given that it was only shown on Japanese television in its original run – the lives and conflicts of these young characters are clearly supposed to reflect the experiences of real Japanese teenagers, so while it is relatable to a point, there are elements that lost me a bit.

For instance, the deeply personal interest many of the teens had in how their grades relate to those of their peers, to the extent of Rikako being considered snobby for not seeming interested even after doing well, had me interested – the educational system in Japan is known for being extremely intense. While a bit of competitivity is natural in any school, seeing students ranked so carefully and having everyone obsesses over their ranking was definitely not something I recognised from my own school years. Holding meetings to protest against faculty decisions also seemed unusual, although I admired the kids for it – and presumably a class trip to Hawaii would be a little less expensive for Japanese students than British ones, given how much closer they are to it. Numerous small details like this added to the sense of place, so while I assume the film is supposed to be viewed nostalgically, much like Only Yesterday, as a westerner I ended up seeing it more like a fictionalised documentary on a country I know little about.

As far as the characters go, they’re exceptionally ordinary – you could meet people like this anywhere in life. That’s not a bad thing in itself, but much of the story revolves around the mysterious circumstances of Rikako and her transfer to Taku’s school, and I’m afraid I couldn’t stand Rikako at all. She is a deceitful, manipulative and callous young woman who treats the incredibly-patient Taku appallingly, lying to him to get money, insulting him and using him to make herself look better (something she admits), even slapping him across the face twice (although he does return the favour at one point, which surprised me even more given the current stigma against male-on-female violence). The idea that there could ever be a romance between her and Taku seems incomprehensible, yet for some reason he’s smitten with her – while it’s implied that they might get together at the end, both a few years older, I wonder whether they could really make each other happy. They both display poor communication skills and unhealthy coping mechanisms, but hey, who am I to judge?

This film is dripping in melodrama; I’ve never seen anything that feels so authentically “young,” with everyone gossiping about each other, smacking each other, yelling at each other or crying over each other. If I’d left it any later to watch this one, I doubt I could have related to it at all; if you haven’t seen it yourself, I’d recommend trying to watch it before you’re twenty-five if possible. Towards the end, there’s a scene where a college-aged Taku smiles dreamily to himself as he reflects on Rikako’s many, many complaints and I just started laughing at how hopelessly romantic teenagers can be when they’re in “love”. It’s a strange little film, this one, but if you like both intimacy and simplicity then this might be a good one for you. As the shortest offering from Ghibli, it’s not like it’ll take up too much of your time, after all.

Although Disney got the distribution rights to this like most other Ghibli films, they chose not to do anything with it (perhaps because of a few references to, well… blossoming womanhood). Eventually, as late as 2016, GKIDS announced a remastered, limited theatrical release in America for the end of that year, followed by the film’s first home video release in spring of 2017. For fans of Only Yesterday, at least, I would recommend it, but otherwise there are many other far more interesting Ghibli pieces out there than this.

 

Thank you so much for reading, and my apologies for this being so short; I’m busy at work in the run-up to Christmas, and I also wanted to dedicate plenty of time to preparing for The Prince of Egypt, which should be up next week. I can’t wait! Until then, though, have a good day and stay animated!

 

References
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108432/mediaindex?ref_=tt_pv_mi_sm – credit for the poster
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean_Waves_(film) – Wiki page
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108432/ – IMDB profile