Underplayed Gems

Ocean Waves (1993)

Ocean Waves poster
Original title
海がきこえる
Directed by
Tomomi Mochizuki
Cast
Takeda Shinji, Takaoka Saki, Hakamada Yoshihiko, Sato Hitomi, Ishida Junichi, Kurimoto Shinichiro, Suzuki Honami, Nakamura Azusa
Genre
school anime and manga, romance anime, Drama, Romance, Slice of Life
Country
Japan
Runtime
1h 12m
Rated
PG-13
Rating
6.4 of 10 from 984 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

Two close high school friends find their friendship tested when a new girl transfers from Tokyo. Over time and a trip to the coast, romantic feelings create a quiet love triangle.

gentlenostalgicbittersweetunderstatedmelancholicintimatereflective

What happens

Ocean Waves, known in Japan as I Can Hear the Sea, is a 1993 Japanese anime coming-of-age romantic drama television film directed by Tomomi Mochizuki and written by Keiko Niwa (credited as Kaoru Nakamura) based on the 1990–1992 novel of the same name by Saeko Himuro. Animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten and the Nippon Television Network, Ocean Waves first aired on May 5, 1993, on Nippon TV. The film is set in the city of Kōchi, and follows a love triangle that develops between two good friends and a new girl who transfers to their high school from Tokyo. Ocean Waves was an attempt by Studio Ghibli to allow their younger staff members to make a film reasonably cheaply. However, it ended up going both over budget and over schedule. In 1995, a sequel to the novel, I Can Hear the Sea II: Because There Is Love, was published. In the same year, a TV drama was produced mainly based on this work starring Shinji Takeda and Hitomi Satō. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.