Ride Your Wave - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Ride Your Wave



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
Acclaimed director Masaaki Yuasi is many things, but a straight forward and “gen pop” acceptable story teller is NOT one of them. He’s most well known for creating bizarre fantasy slice of life tales that border on the edge of bizarre (well, he goes well over that edge with Mind Games), appealing to a niche Anime demographic. That being said, his works rarely disappoint, so color me shocked to find out that I had missed a couple of his films during the 2019 to 2020 period (about the time I was picking up and moving, so it makes sense now that I think about it), so I was pleased as punch when Shout Studios releases the 5 film Masaaki Yuasi boxset this last month with both of the films that I missed in that time period included.

19 year old Hinako Mukaimizu (Rina Kawaei) decides to fulfill her life long ambition to surf the waves of the Japanese coast. She moves from her home town to an ocean side community, begins taking up surfing, only to meet outgoing fire fighter Minato (Ryota Katayose). The two hit it off quickly and are soon head over heels in love. All of the songs start to make sense (if you know, you know), the two are seen as mushy and gushy by the their friends, and the two start to slowly plan out a life together. Sadly Minato’s life is taken in a freak accident when he dives into the surf at night to save a drowning child, only to get pulled under himself.

Nearly dying from the pain, Hinako suddenly finds out that Minato is alive, in a sense. Somehow his spirit is called back to her when she sings a song that the two used to sing together, allowing him to appear IN nearby water only to Minato herself. Naturally the grieving girl hangs onto her dead boyfriend as hard as she can, singing her heart out to draw his spirit closer, engaging in whatever she can to give joy to her pain. But as we all know, things like this can’t last, and the pair have to figure out a way to surmount the odds together, or find a way to live apart as Minato is slowly drawn to his final resting place.

Ride Your Wave is a sweet and utterly compelling slice of life romance. By far the most accessible film of his career, Yuasa crafts a wonderful romance that transcends even death. Touch on grief, pain, and the naivety of youth, he balances the slice of life with the fantasy of Minato living in water (in a sense) rather deftly. The fantasy is just a way to insert Minato into the story and really doesn’t call attention to itself outside of a few moments where we see other people looking from the outside in (being that other people can’t see Minato, only Hinako can).

Yuasa is known for being completely off the wall bonkers sometimes, but he tames his typical eccentricities for a more accessible tale that will appeal to adults of both sexes equally. Hinako and Minato are both wonderfully textured characters, with a sense of realism and authenticity to their exuberant characters. It’s what gives the film its life and spark. Seeing those two interact on screen, even though you know their ill timed romance is “doomed” by all appreciable margins. That being said, it’s a bittersweet tale and one that will take your emotions for an up and down roller coaster throughout the 96 minute run time.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

From what I can gather, Shout Studios released this Gkids film on Blu-ray back in 2020, and this will be the exact same disc as found on that release. The image is superb, with a brightly colored style that thrives off of blues, greens and other primary colors. The entire encode is top notch, with richly saturated colors, and the Yuasa’s animation style distinctly more “normal” than he usually employs for his films. Lines are crisp and clean, and the ocean waves make for some stunning scenes on the beach. About the only aspect that would cause me to knock it down from a perfect 5/5 rating was the pretty obvious banding that would crop up pretty often. It’s not a situation where the banding permeates the entire film, but under water and in darker shots the filmed banded pretty noticeably. Other than that fairly minor quirk, the disc is pretty pristine and a stunner for sure.









Audio:

Like usual, Shout Studios and Gkids have provided dual 5.1 DTS-HD MA audio tracks, both in the original Japanese and the English dub. I personally will 99 times out of 100 prefer the Japanese track, and that was certainly the case here. Both tracks are virtually identical except for the voice acting, so it will simply be a matter of personal taste which one the end viewer will pick (without worry that they’re choosing a lesser audio mix). The dialog is crystal clear, with strong vocals in the center of the room with some cool panning effects when the fire fighters are leaving for a scene. The splashing of the waves and the musical score keep the surrounds active and the bass adds some nice low end in a few scenes (mostly in the big fire near the end, the fireworks and the music) but is fairly restrained for the most part. Overall, and excellent mix.












Extras:

• Interview with Producer Eunyoung Choi
• Animated Storyboards
• Character Still Gallery
• Theatrical Trailers

Final Score:
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I’m going to admit that I like Ride Your Wave the best out of all the Masaaki Yusa films that I’ve seen over the years. It’s not as mind bending or eccentric as his others, but it’s a fantastic film that appeals to much broader audience than his normal art house style films. Part of me wants to rebel and say “no!!! this is too main stream!” but at the same time Ride Your Wave is just so likable and well done that I enjoyed it more than his other works. This is the kind of film that I can sit and watch with my wife, vs. her getting up and walking away like she usually does with Yusasa’s films (and she’s a bigger Anime nerd than even I am). The Blu-ray looks and sounds amazing, and it has a fairly healthy array of extras on the disc. Highly recommended.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Ryota Katayose, Rina Kawaei, Honoko Matsumoto
Directed by: Masaaki Yuasa
Written by: Reiko Yoshida
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1 AVC
Audio: Japanese : DTS-HD MA 5.1, English DTS-HD MA 5.1
Subtitles: English, French, Spanish, English SDH
Studio: Shout! Studios
Rated: NR
Runtime: 96 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: August 4th, 2020

Recommendation: Great Watch

 

[tripplej]

Thanks for the review. I will check this one out.