If someone asked me to describe what Ride Your Wave was about, I don’t think I’d
say surfing, or firefighting. I don’t even think I’d say, spoiler alert, that it was
even necessarily about grief. While it has bits and pieces of all of those in there,
I think the more accurate descriptor would be that Ride Your Wave is about misunderstandings.
Not in a silly, “Oh I thought this was a date!” kind of way. But instead, in a much
more human way.
There are a lot of traps that the human brain has a propensity for getting stuck in. It’s
often unintuitive to do what’s best for us, and we tend to stick to what feels good
in the moment rather than what’s healthy long term. Ride Your Wave addresses this kind
of irrationality of the human mind, and does so through the power of comparison.
Many people are familiar with the traditional idea of the five stages of grief—denial,
anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. However, what most don’t realize is that
idea was never intended to be used how it is today, as a kind of roadmap to judge how
far along people are in the process. Firstly, it was originally discovered in the context
of patients facing death themselves, not their loved ones, and lastly—they’re incredibly
nebulous. You don’t necessarily go through each stage sequentially, with clearly defined
transition points along the way… nothing about grief is clearly defined. Instead, you
may find yourself floating among them, going back and forth, forward and backward, spending
a second here and an eternity there. And acceptance is never guaranteed.
This misunderstanding is corrected and displayed in full through Hinako. For most of the movie,
she doesn’t really go beyond denial and depression. She has better days, she has worse
days, she kind of comes to terms in some ways but ultimately still feels the pain of loss.
I think it’s a very earnest depiction of grief. She struggles with having to stand
on her own two feet for the first time in a while, and she gets lead astray clutching
onto Minato while learning to how ride her wave.
Luckily, she isn’t the only one going through this process. And the shining light that contrasts
sharply against her unhealthy denial is Youko. From the moment of Minato’s tragic accident,
Youko harnesses her grief and, pretty in-character, almost forces it to be productive. She tells
Hinako that she got a job at the cafe because that was her brother’s dream—and she is
going to be the one to make it a reality… no if ands or buts about it. She’s able
to rattle off the days her brother would’ve cared about off the top of her head when Hinako
asks—Marine Day and Disaster Preparedness Day. There’s a moment where she makes the
perfect cup of coffee for Wasabi, and she teaches him about how the bubbles are the
result of CO2 production—just as Minato described it to Hinako. Instead of trying
to clutch onto a Minato that is no longer of this world, she instead chooses to harness
his memory. Because she understands that one of the best ways to honor someone, is to have
them live on through your actions.
Both Wasabi and Hinako eventually realize this in their own ways. Wasabi ceases to needlessly
compare himself to this image of Minato he’s placed on a pedestal. He puts himself to work,
executing… while not gracefully, effectively. He remembers the lesson Minato stressed about
putting effort into doing your job well, growing Wasabi from someone who just wanted to ride
firetrucks, into someone who is also in tune enough to realize that construction has moved
the water line when storming to the last fire. Youko again helps tremendously, reminding
him that it’s not a game of who’s better than the other. Rather, he has his own unique
approach and energy that has the power to save people in his own bumbly endearing way.
Even an insecure girl who couldn’t bring herself go to school.
Meanwhile, Hinako kind of takes bits and pieces from both approaches. She finally snaps out
of her self-doubt and realizes her own worth. She has a love for the sea and is immensely
talented at riding waves, and it is that love that saved Minato’s life. She embraces both
his memory and her talent by becoming a lifeguard, even with the amount of trauma it brings her.
She finally recognizes how unhealthy she was being by relying on Brand New Story as a crutch.
After witnessing Youko share the despair that she’s hidden under a brave face, Hinako
comes to terms with what she ultimately has to do. Ride her wave.
I’m going to be honest, I wasn’t absolutely in love with Ride Your Wave. I thought it
was a little cheesy and overbearing at times. But I think it’s incredibly valuable in
terms of displaying unhealthy and healthy depictions of grief. I did end up getting
a little misty-eyed, and even on the verge of crying, but not because I was so invested
in Minato and Hinako. You see, I lost a friend a couple of years ago. I’m not going to
try and say that the situation was similar to Ride Your Wave, obviously you can’t compare
a lover and someone you’ve just known online. But it was utterly bewildering to suddenly
have someone you talked to every day for almost two years suddenly decide life wasn’t worth
living. For a long time I didn’t know how to react, I often questioned if I was doing
it “right.” There were a lot of internal “how could I let this happen,” and “what
could I have done better”s floating around in my head. Ride Your Wave flooded those feelings
back to the surface to me. But also the steps that I should take to deal with it. The idea
that, the best way to keep his memory alive, is to channel all of the things I appreciated
about him through me. To make myself available and check in on others when necessary. And
to be firm and unapologetic with my taste. I miss him often… but I don’t have to.
I can bring him along for the ride.
Thanks for watching, and be sure to like and subscribe for more content. Or if you’d
like to support me further, you can donate to my Patreon. Special thanks to FatBunsBG,
A-nime-stuck, rapha632, Rolly-polly-mor, GreenSheenAtonement, and ForgedPottery for their support. This
video also couldn’t have been made possible without GKIDS. Ride Your Wave was just one
of their many quality releases, and I can’t wait for more in
the future.
And of course, if anything I said was wrong, I’m sorry.
I must’ve stuttered.