(This review was originally written on February 19th, 2020)

Romance movies are a dime a dozen. They're practically everywhere, so any attempt at making any form of romance media will inevitably seem cliche, because at this point, there's literally no original storytelling ground for them anymore. I myself have never been much for romance stuff, mostly because many of them are either annoyingly cliche, formulaic, melodramatic, or indulge in tropes that are so aggravating, you just want to punch a wall. I especially hate it when the main leads come across an obstacle, NEVER talk to each other about it in favor of dragging out the drama longer than it needs to, thereby ignoring healthier solutions, or when a love triangle gets shoved in and the writers feel the need to make everyone as mean-spirited and antagonistic about it as possible. So when I heard that famous animator/director Masaaki Yuasa, famous for works such as Mind Game, Kaiba, Devilman Crybaby, and his most recent TV series Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken, was making a romance romp called Ride Your Wave, I thought I'd check it out. It looked nice enough, and he can be good at character development and storytelling when he actually puts effort into it, so when it aired in theaters in my area, I decided to see it, thinking it'd be a cute and serviceable, but still formulaic, unmemorable movie.

Boy, was I wrong. I went into this with absolutely no expectations, and not only did the movie blow my ass away, it officially became the gold standard for which I hold all romance media as a whole! Where has this movie been all my life?!

So what's the story? A young surfer named Hinako just moved into a new town, happy to be able to surf in the nearby beach. But when her apartment catches fire thanks to irresponsible kids setting off fireworks, a young firefighter, Minato, manages to get her out of the building. The two gradually become closer to the point where they start dating. For a while, things are great for Hinako...until Minato gets into a surfing accident and dies unexpectedly. Hinako and Minato's friends and family try to cope with his death, but Hinako is the most hurt by his passing. Then, one day, she starts seeing Minato's face in bodies of water whenever she sings a song they heard on the radio. Hinako is shocked by this development, and decides to make the most of this discovery by spending as much time with spirit Minako as possible, never wanting to be apart from him. But the two realize that this kind of lifestyle can't go on forever.

In terms of premises, this isn't exactly new material. Coping with the death of a love interest is the kind of story that's been done over and over again since the beginning of movies, and Ride Your Wave is no different. Since you can't really break new storytelling ground with that kind of premise anyway, it all really depends on the execution, and honestly, Yuasa and his team at Science Saru really brought their A game for this one, and I'm still wonderstruck by just how well everything came together and how great the whole thing turned out. The animation, for one, is absolutely sumptuous. Yuasa is well known for his dynamic, fluid animation and his use of bold colors to really make everything pop and feel lively, and it really shows here, especially when it comes to animating the water, and considering the series has a very heavy water theme, it really works. From tiny droplets hanging off leaves to roaring waves crashing into the ocean, with good use of camera angles that show Hinako surfing as if she's part of the ocean. It's pretty much on par with Ponyo in terms of how great the water animation is, and everything else is great, too.

The soundtrack I have mixed feelings about. I mean, the background music itself is good, though nothing too memorable, but the main theme, "Brand New Story" by Generations from Exile Tribe (Yes, that's the band's actual name) is not only a fun song, but is a vital part of the story. It becomes Hinako's way of summoning Minato after his death, and it's sung professionally and by amateurs all throughout the movie, being both its opening, the insert song, and the ending. The song itself is good, but...I'm not gonna lie, the movie REALLY milks it, having it be literally the only song in the movie, and having it sung over and over and over, especially by people who can't sing for the life of them, really starts to get grating and make it lose its emotional impact. I think it'd be better if the song was just the insert song, and have different ones be the opening and ending, rather than having the same song for all three. I'm docking points on this one, because the movie could have benefitted from not milking the song for all it's worth, even if the song itself is both good and a really important part of the story overall. But I'm probably just nitpicking, as the positives far outweigh any negatives I can find.

One of those positives being the characters. It's hard to develop a cast of characters in a movie in a believable way, even more so when it's a romance. In the hands of less talented people, something like Ride Your Wave could have easily been a complete disaster. Some creators force characters to be in a relationship just for the sake of it, even when they have no reason to be together, or try to make a really unhealthy, even abusive relationship seem romantic or even the ideal relationship (Looking at you, Twilight saga). Most of the time, especially in scenarios involving love triangles, characters are either too stubborn to talk about their relationship issues or are needlessly mean to each other all for the sake of forcing drama. Boy am I happy to tell you that Ride Your Wave has absolutely NONE of these things. All of the characters here are intelligent, relatable, three-dimensional, and they all get their fair share of development and have great chemistry with each other. For one, when they have issues and problems, THEY ACTUALLY TALK TO EACH OTHER AND TRY TO SOLVE THINGS!!! You have NO idea how much I wanted this in any romance movie I ever watched! When Hinako asks Minato about why he went out to sea and wound up dying, Minato gives her a solid answer. When Minato's friend Wasabi (Who names their kid Wasabi?) develops a crush on Hinako and tells her about it, she outright rejects him in no uncertain terms, but is still nice about it. Youko, Minato's younger sister, is blunt and doesn't sugarcoat anything she says, but has no hard feelings towards Hinako in regards to her brother's death, as she knows full well it wasn't her fault and tells her such. Both Minato and Wasabi see that Hinako's lifestyle is hurting her because she still wants to be with Minato as a watery spirit, and explain to her in detail how she needs to come to terms with things and heal so she can move on in life. There's no dumb love triangle, no stupid romantic hijinks, nor is there really any antagonist. Do you have ANY idea how much I wanted to see a romance movie that avoids all of these terrible cliches? How rare this even is? Because Yuasa completely eschews the typical formulas and tropes involved in romance media, cuts out the bullshit, and plays the whole thing completely straight, showing a perfectly healthy, loving relationship between two people and their friends, he manages to make the audience, me mostly, care about the two leads. Wasabi and Youko both have their own arcs as well, where they have their own different ways of coping with Minato's death and finding peace with it and themselves.

The film has a typical three-act structure, but the first part focuses on Hinako's relationship with Minato, the second her struggles with accepting his death and the lifestyle she lives by summoning him in water bottles or water filled inflatable fish, and the third centers on her healing: How she's learning more about Minato and herself as people, and making the effort to try and move on, even if her attempts at doing so don't succeed at first. There's also the running theme of what it means to save someone, whether it be actually rescuing someone from the edge of death, or how simply saying the right thing at the right time can help someone just as much as the physical act. More than that, it's even possible to save someone without even being really aware of having done so. Seriously, I want to just gush about this movie all day long, it's that good! As far as where it places on my top favorite movies of all time, I wouldn't say it reached the top, as let's face it, nothing can beat Dog of Flanders for me. But seriously, the past few years have been great for anime movies. There's no denying that. But Ride Your Wave did place pretty high in my overall favorites list. Maquia was great but does have some storytelling issues caused by questionable writing decisions, Mirai had a concept that sounded good on paper but doesn't make sense when having a four year old as a main character, Liz and the Blue Bird was held back by its setting and lack of conflict, Okko's Inn had an annoying soundtrack and may seem too kiddy for certain viewers, and Your Name had too many convoluted plots and overused many dumb jokes to the point that they overstayed their welcome.

So, yeah, Ride Your Wave is awesome. It's simple but very effective, making optimal use of its run time to develop its reasonably small cast of characters, the romance was sweet and genuine, if a little twee at times, and while the premise is nothing new to romance movies, all of the positives outweigh the negatives in my personal opinion. If you're looking for something genuinely sweet and touching that's actually free of so many of the problems that consistently plague the romance genre, Ride Your Wave is a good way to get your feet wet.