Ride Your Wave. 127925There you are out on the water.127925 I initially intended for this to just be a simple status update to go alongside me completing this movie but I figured that I have a good amount to say about this. As an authors note this was the visualization of the very first novel I completed related to an anime so a soft spot existed already for me when it comes to this existing work. Or in other words I have some slight bias in the materials favor as I knew what would happen already. However that potentially made this experience that much more memorable. Considering this spoilers abound so proceed with caution or return to this upon viewing the movie first if you wish. 400https://i.ur.com/xfwNiaN.jpeg 127925There you are out on the water.127925 The first wave. I think the best way to properly delve into things is to understand who is who and what is what. When it comes to this film and not knowing anything about it it surface level comes across as a love story with the ocean as a background. And thats true. To an extent. There are some surprises that may potentially change the tone of how youre perceiving this film and that may be where it loses a viewers interest. But I found this as simple progression to get to the conclusion. And therefore why I loved this movie. Anywho enough of this wordy explanation and lets just ride this upcoming wave : 400https://i.ur.com/mGKD7Bt.jpeg 127925There you are out on the water.127925 A view from afar. This movie really only has four characters disregarding the work bosses and such. These four are: Minato a firefighter. Hinako a college student who loves surfing. Wasabi another firefighter and coworker of Minato. Youko Minatos sister. For most of this I will mostly bring up Hinako and Minato because they are who the story is for. It all begins with Hinako surfing really. Minato always looks out into the ocean whenever the possibility presents itself at his work if he sees the orange toned surfboard and the person on it riding the waves. Its simply a pleasant sight for him to look at and one that he finds beautiful. Visually I do agree. While for him its more of a love sort of deal as a viewer I think the setting and character designs throughout the film are pleasing. So no complaints on my end here. In motion it all looks so bubbly. Considering the underlying theme being water this feels fitting. Regardless going back to Minato he sees the beauty of the person surfing and calls her his hero....from afar. This changes one night when an apartment complex ignites on fire due to illegal fireworks being fired nearby. A person isnt accounted for during the head count of evacuees so he goes to rescue them. Upon arriving to their location he sees the orange surfboard and she sees a hero. He is her hero....from nearby. 400https://i.ur.com/9lbPgqJ.jpeg 127925There you are out on the water.127925 A song to share Repetition. Repetition is used when a message is intended to get across. In this case this would be their song. After the events of the night fire Minato and Hinako start seeing each other. They are the couple in love. When a couple is in love they have their thing. For Minato and Hinako it is a song called Brand New Storyhttps://youtu.be/tuPc0A2NpZk?si=BBklJ7qobqFhwE6 as well as a love for porpoises. However to anyone but the main pair these sweet little interactions might be too cheesy to take in. For example in a small sequence of their dates the song Brand New Story is sung by the duo in the background and the direction of it is anything but perfect. But this works because you simply understand that when its just the two of them it really is just them two in their world. No way people who arent in love would tolerate some off key singing and giggling interrupting a full song otherwise This is actually the biggest instance of how my previous experience with this in the form of the novel influenced my appreciation for this. When it cut to their first drive to the beach because Hinako wanted to teach Minato how to surf they first sang the song until it became theirs. In text this scene stuck the lyrics in my head but seeing it made me attach the sound to it. By doing so I became one of those persons who found their couple activity to be anything but cheesy. Though in return I was rewarded with the frequent use of their song. Thankfully it did not wear me down. 400https://i.ur.com/VVPW4wY.jpeg 127925 There you are out on the water. 127925 To wallow in sorrow. Before proceeding be aware this section as well as part of what follows this part will be a full on spoiler. I dont think I can get this point across without detailing it. So I came to love the dynamic between Minato and Hinako didnt I? Well its something that wasnt meant to last. Due to drowning the exact situation wont be detailed here to at least not spoil that much the relationship between Minato and Hinako is over. No more dates no more talking about goals and life and no more singing their song. Hinako is now alone. The very moment she starts realizing this was a moment that I will possibly never forget. Whereas previously the whole world had color the instance her heart drops the moment loses its shine. The grey overlay shows the occasion her heart breaks and I simply applaud Science Saru for making this scene extremely powerful even if it comes at the expense of a main characters death. But to the point of the aftermath Hinako does not take it well. And a story about love becomes a story about dealing with grief. As with real life people deal with grief very differently. Extremely so in fact that I personally believe there is no right way to grieve. And now we have Hinako as well as Wasabi and Youko who find themselves going through this process. Wasabi presents a facade of being okay and his priority is worrying about Hinako. Youko is more stern in her responses and simply says its time to move on which is a presentation of a hard exterior. Hinako as hinted at here previously does not know what to do. She does not know what to say. All she knows is Minato and now her world is gone. These are all simply the many faces of dealing with grief and by approaching this subject the movie adds more depth to its story. 400https://i.ur.com/ppoVOeV.jpeg 127925There you are out on the water.127925 A porpoise or purpose? To say this movie only adheres to realism would be a false statement. Because once it approaches the moment of death it brings into the movie a supernatural element. Relating to how Hinako deals with her grief she remembers her and Minatos song. So she sings it. Upon singing the initial lyrics she sees Minato. In the water. At this point realism is thrown out the window in favor of recovering from the aftermath somewhat metaphorically. Again I didnt mind this but its entirely understandable if someone doesnt like seeing our main heroine talking to a water bottle. Or even more walking with an inflatable porpoise one that Minato is inside of. But in any case Minato appears when she sings the there you are out on the water lyric. To the point the song now bears a different meaning of love for them. But why does he appear? It is part of the process. Hinako simply cannot move on and is just isolating herself so he arrives to help her. His love remains to help her move on. And with this there is a purpose for the porpoise. 400https://i.ur.com/pbQCbOk.jpeg 127925There you are out on the water.127925 You are my hero At this point Wasabi and Youko have recovered enough to more or less push Hinako to snap out of it. Yet it remains pretty much impossible. She simply denies denies denies. Youko after inviting Hinako into their home for a Minato shrine visit indirectly helps Hinako find her resolve again. She pretty much explains why Minato wanted to be a firefighter and it actually all happened because of a little girl saving him from drowning when he was a kid. This girl had an orange surfboard with a porpoise on it. Yes as Minato never directly said it to her Hinako was his hero. With this small resolve Hinako is able to recover. Or at least begin the process of recovering. This extends to Wasabi and Youko too because they get courage to go ahead and do a few things they never had the resolve to do Ill keep this part unspoiled. All this is to say that there is still a bit of conflict by the end but the themes of love grief and growth intertwine to leave a strong impression. 400https://i.ur.com/iHygPc9.jpeg 127925There you are out on the water127925 Riding a wave again It should be fairly obvious by now but I intentionally repeated the first lyric of the English dubhttps://youtu.be/OYkIWfGqo54?si=WGiBgJL7b9CM2N6t version to Minato and Hinakos song as my way of segmenting this review. I figured the different ways of expressing it spoke pretty well to how the film did things and by doing so I believe that my appreciation for it should be coming through. To specify however I thought this film was excellent. It gives direct and indirect meaning to the term ride your wave and for that I appreciate it. While love and grief are on opposite aspects of positive and negative emotions they are pretty well connected with one another and this movie helps show that. Honestly me praising this partially stems from me enjoying the novel but on its own I do think the movie itself is wonderful. So to Hinako Minato Wasabi and Youko I give you a 129305 400https://i.ur.com/HLx11jY.jpeg