Kimi to, nami ni noretara

Ride Your Wave is a very good, emotionally powerful movie, albeit with a few shortcomings. I enjoyed the love story, drama, and the messages the movie wanted to get across. It is an emotionally intense movie that pays tribute to everyday heroism and those who choose to dedicate their lives to saving others. It is also a nice reflection of ordinary life and issues we all have to deal with. It reflects the fact we always have to keep going and somehow ride even the biggest wave that fate sends our way (and it also shows sometimes that it is not easy). The idea of fate permeates the entire narrative, sometimes in a good way, although other times quite predictably, and it is a bit silly. The biggest problem I had with the movie was that there were at least two moments (one at the beginning, one at the end) that were extremely predictable, the atmosphere and the pace of the narrative gave it away, and so the supposedly big plot twist was not at all surprising or had the impact intended. Similarly, one of the intended big twists you learn towards the end is deduced after about five minutes into the movie, and after another twenty, it is blatantly obvious. This predictability means that the big reveal is more of a little reassurance than a dramatic surprise to the attentive viewer. Unfortunately, there was also a moment when I wanted to smack my head against the wall because it was so stupid. SPOILER ALERT. In other words, how stupid do you have to be to decide not to call the police after you have followed a group planning something nefarious, as they lead you to the scene of the crime? Also, someone a tiny bit smarter explicitly urges you to call the police, and instead, you decide to film the people in question on your phone. END OF SPOILERS. I get why that part was there, to get the characters to a certain point important for the next phase of the plot. But even then, the fact that the character filmed it on their phone seemed really stupid. The standard of the animation also varied a lot. First of all, this is not a style I like very much; I thought that the concept of the character depictions especially was very strange. I felt that everyone here had necks that were too long or heads that were too small. In fact, they seemed to be all arms and legs (even though that is still much better and more bearable for the viewer than, say, the characters in the anime shows Welcome to the Ballroom and Dance Dance Danseur). However, this is probably just my problem because I am used to something different in an anime series, although others might consider it a nice, interesting, and distinctive style. Likewise, the colors felt kind of bland and not very good at some points, while it was beautifully strong and expressive at other times. However, it did not always fit what was happening on screen. In truth, there were scenes that were magical, illustrated in great detail, and suited the atmosphere beautifully, alternated with those that were probably not so important for the story. So they felt a bit artificial, strange, and sometimes empty (mostly when the camera was capturing some movement or was supposed to be a moving perspective itself - e.g., a shot from a moving car of a landscape, some surfing scenes and running around the city). The soundtrack was good, and I enjoyed the theme song. As for the characters, I could relate to them, which was probably the main reason I said this is an emotionally strong movie. In other words, I was able to start caring about them and felt like I was going through the story with them. To sum it up, Ride Your Wave is a slightly above-average movie. It has something to say and is worth seeing, but because it has its weaknesses, it did not work as well for me as I would have liked. 6.8/10. (2022.05.27) (kevesebbet) (több)