Ocean Waves

Ocean Waves (海がきこえる, 1993) is a Studio Ghibli anime romance you can watch online on iFILM. It's a story of first love told by a young man who didn't even notice he had fallen.

Taku is an ordinary high schooler in the seaside town of Kōchi. Life drifts along quietly until Rikako transfers in from Tokyo: smart, striking and prickly. The city girl never quite settles into small-town rhythms, and Taku's best friend Yutaka steps up to look out for her. From there things tangle on their own, and the three teenagers end up caught in something that can only be called a love triangle. Years later, Taku spots a familiar face on a Tokyo train platform, and his memory winds straight back to those school days.

This was Ghibli's only feature of the era made by the studio's younger staff, without Miyazaki or Takahata, directed by Tomomi Mochizuki. Built as a low-budget TV film, it still carries the studio's tender eye for small detail. Stream Ocean Waves (1993) online on iFILM.