![]() ![]() That in itself is not a criticism Throw in many of Takahata’s works – The Tale of Princess Kaguya, My Neighbors the Yamadas, and so on – and Ghibli clearly spans a broad range of styles and subject matter. In fact stylistically the film hews much more closely to those television anime serials than in does to the rest of Ghibli’s work. This is no surprise both that series and Ocean Waves present a very similar sort of high school soap opera. Ocean Waves is directed by Tomomi Mochizuki, who had previously directed two animated feature films based on the popular manga Kimagure Orange Road. As far as I can work out, it is receiving its Australian theatrical debut this month as part of Madman’s Celebrate Studio Ghibli festival. It is by no means as accomplished a film as the company’s usual fare, but for the dedicated fans it is a pleasant enough extra to track down and sample. For viewers, it is an odd little addition to the Ghibli canon. After running over schedule and over budget, it was seen internally as something of a failure. When it was made, Ocean Waves was intended to be a ‘breather’ project between theatrical features: it was the first Ghibli production not directed by Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata, and was intended to give the studio’s junior animators their own project with which to prove themselves. Unlike the studio’s other features it was produced for Japanese television. ![]() Ocean Waves is probably the least well-known and certainly the least seen of Studio Ghibli’s feature-length works. While flying home, Taku reminisces on when Rikako transferred to his school and the complicated love triangle that ensued between them and Taku’s best friend Yutaka (Toshihiko Seki). Just before returning home for his high school reunion, 18 year-old Taku Morisaki (Nobuo Tobita) thinks he sees a former classmate – Rikako Muto (Yoko Sakamoto) – on a Tokyo train platform. ![]()
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