Ocean Waves simply is, for better and for worse. It’s got none of the usual Ghibli archetypes – there’s no sentient animal companion, none of that magical realism, and there most certainly isn’t any underlying message or moral. It’s time to put some respect on Ocean Waves’ name. They aren't exciting, they probably won't make it on your list of favorite characters, but their personalities and how they interact with each other and react to situations was very realistic. The music had very little presence.CHARACTERSLike the story, the characters were very realistic. The designs are atractive enough, and the animation of the movements are alright, there just aren't that many movements to animate, and a marked over-reliance on still shots.SOUNDIf you played the soundtrack from this film back to me, I probably wouldn't recognize it. It's obviously made by Ghibli, but as a made for television movie, instead of one that was shown in theaters, it had a noticably smaller budget. Which isn't really my thing.ANIMATIONPassable. Ocean Waves did this for the most part, but also included conflict between the students and the school itself- the administration and how the school was being run.Ocean Waves also manages to be one of the slowest-paced things I've ever watched. Countless anime take place in Japanese schools, and almost all of them take their drama from the interactions between students. One of the more impressive plot points (to me) took place in the school. Adding to the realism are things that wouldn't normally be included in an anime (a girl mentions her period, there's a brief scene of a few of the teenaged characters drinking), as well as complicated emotions that are hard to portray. It's focused on problems that seem very petty compared to most anime, whose plots contain sweeping melodrama and constant twists and turns, and thus is rather more relatable, for what that's worth. It's a story about normal people living their normal lives. I wish there were stronger interactions between the three of them rather than a short, bland discussion followed by minutes of Taku’s voiceover.My only experiences with Studio Ghibli up to this point have been with Miyazaki's films, so I picked one at random, and this is what I got.STORYOcean Waves is very realistic. The only reason given to care about them is that they are the ones on the screen. Not to say they’re unlikable, they are just nothing special. There is nothing inherently wrong with the characters of Taku, Yutaka, and Rikako, they’re just not that likeable. The characters are rather generic, the story is lacking any sort of emotional weight, and the romance isn’t believable whatsoever. Besides the aesthetic, there’s nothing really all that compelling about Ocean Waves. Which gets to why I think this is Studio Ghibli’s first miss. Yutaka has no idea Taku likes Rikako and Taku barely recognises it himself. I am hesitant to call it a love-triangle because the three of them have very little interaction throughout. Yutaka and Taku both develop feelings for Rikako, but only Yutaka’s are public, creating a love-triangle of sorts. Rikako, a mysterious girl from Tokyo, transfers to their Kōchi high school, “the country,” and shakes things up. They’ve never had a class together, but they became friends by fighting for the reinstatement of the cancelled junior high school class trip. Ocean Waves follows Taku and his friend Yutaka. Taku arguing that the trip shouldn’t be cancelled | GKIDS
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |