In other ways, though, Ocean Waves is a very effective film. And, for no good reason, you love her back. It feels like such wish-fulfillment fantasy: the girl who stole your money and jerked you around in high school decides she really loves you. This is the weak point of the film, for me. Of course, then, Taku returns to the present from his nostalgic reverie to realize he was in love with her the whole time, just as he they run into each other at the station (natch) and stare longingly into each others’ eyes. It’s the worst kind of love triangle, with best friends fighting over a emotionally unattractive girl who doesn’t like either of them. To top it off, when he returns he has a fight with his friend Yutaka, who assumes the trip was romantic, and gets slapped by Rikako, who he confronts about it. Taku comes with her, feeling obligated to make sure she’s safe, and has a miserable trip, discovering Rikako is manipulative, self-centered and immature. On a school trip, Rikako borrows money from Taku, claiming she’d lost hers, only to use his loan to fly to Tokyo to see her father. Yutaka is attracted to Rikako, but she seemingly wants nothing to do with anyone at her new school, shunning friendships and after-school activities. Taku’s best friend, Yutaka, calls him to school one summer day to meet Rikako, a girl who’s just transferred from Tokyo. Ocean Waves’ main character is Taku, a university student who spots an old friend at a train station, causing him to think back on his high school days in Kochi, a city on Shikoku, Japan’s smallest major island. Designed as a TV movie to be made on the cheap, Ocean Waves went over schedule and over budget, causing consternation, no doubt, among anyone at Ghibli not named Miyazaki or Takahata with directorial ambitions. To handle direction, Ghibli brought in someone from outside the company: Tomomi Mochizuki, known at the time for directing the Kimagure Orange Road and Maison Ikkoku films. Ocean Waves, based on a romance novel serialized in Animage, was a project to be created exclusively by Ghibli staff in their 20s and 30s. The first of these attempts took place in 1993 with the film I Can Hear the Sea, known officially in English as Ocean Waves. In fact, though, there have been several attempts through the years to launch new talent at Ghibli. This isn’t a complaint: these two directors have an amazing track record, but considering their ever-advancing ages and ever-receding Metacritic scores, one wonders whether Ghibli has begun to find new blood with enough haste. Recent years have seen new directors like Goro Miyazaki (2006’s disaster Tales from Earthsea) and Hiromasa Yonebayashi (last month’s reportedly excellent The Borrower Arrietty), but Ghibli’s filmography is essentially a long list of films directed by either Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata. For the vast majority of its history, Studio Ghibli has been a two-man show.
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