Studio Ghibli Thoughts: Ocean Waves

First planned as a training short for younger Studio Ghibli staff members, Ocean Waves eventually expanded into the first movie from the studio not directed by Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata. Instead, an outside director, Tomomi Mochizuki (who would go on later to direct the excellent House of Five Leaves), was brought along with support from outside studios such as Madhouse Studios. This results in a movie that doesn't quite nail the Studio Ghibli mark of excellence despite being quite good on its own merits.

The story is told from the perspective of Taku Morisaki, a high school student in Kochi, who remembers the last day of high school when he started falling in love with Rikako Muto; a transfer student from Tokyo. Complicating that relationship is that Yutaka Matsuno, his best friend, also falls in love with Rikako. While this love triangle forms the basis of the drama, it does not fully dominate the movie. Instead, it spends more time focusing on creating three-dimensional portraits of these high school kids growing up into more complex adults.

Yet, by not having the same space as other Studio Ghibli movies, and with a notably smaller budget, you don't get the depth of characterization of something like Only Yesterday, which means the movie can get a touch melodramatic at times to accelerate the plot. Also, it doesn't have the visual splendor of the other films despite its best efforts to portray the city of Kochi.

It might not be fair to judge this film, which technically was made for TV and not designed as a full feature, against the masterpieces of Studio Ghibli, yet that would be more disrespectful to the movie. After all, it is a very good movie even if it can only be considered a Low-Tier film in the Ghibli pantheon.