WAVE!! -Let's go surfing!!-

Franconator Mar 30, 2021

3

If you’ve ever wanted to watch an anime about the fun, dynamic sport that is surfing, then you’d best look much, much further away from WAVE!! Surfing Yappe!! This is a show that’s so devoid of life and energy and practically every other adjective you know to be associated with surfing, which must be why the main character title-drops the show about three times per episode so that nobody forgets what they’re supposed to be doing. It’s a show that’s supposed to be filled with hot bishie characters – it’s surfing, man, nobody wears clothes in surfing – but they all look so generic and their personalities are all so one-note. Everyone’s limited to about one trait and catchphrase each, and much like the constant title drops, they feel the need to repeat all of their quirks a couple of times per episode so they don’t forget who they’re supposed to be. The surfing action, when you can get it, is a CGI stillshow with character models that look like they were rendered 21 years ago. It’s probably not the worst set of graphics you’ll get this season, but once the characters hit the waves, let’s just say you’ll learn to look away from them to start marveling at the way they’ve managed to animate the water at least almost decently. Forget forgettable – WAVE!! defies what it’s supposed to be by being as below-standard as it possibly can. Things happen because they’re probably supposed to and events take place to fulfill some average quota it’s laid out for itself. There’s simply no soul to WAVE!! even if some of the characters still mouth off their lines with some modicum of gusto. It’s a show completely undeserving of the exclamation points in its title and can only at best, serve as white noise for when you need it. There’s nothing offensive about this – it lacks the personality that’s needed to even be such a thing – but there’s nothing about WAVE!! that sticks either. Surf tricks are explained to you by way of annoying announcers and looks of reverence or shock on the other surfers’ faces. Plot points are presented to you via in-your-face narration from the main character, who’s always so helpful to tell you how to feel in exact moments. The drama, laid on as thickly as possible, doesn’t do the show any favors and it’s clear they only brought it in to give the plot some reason to progress. I’d try and muster the energy to actually feel sad and disappointed about the way they’ve gone and presented surfing to us as this bland, lifeless thing, but that would mean I’d have felt some type of way about this – and oh, boy, you know Mama Franco didn’t raise a liar.  

begtsats Apr 26, 2021

8.5

I dare say this is a very important anime. In my humble opinion it deals with some very serious issues and does so pretty damn well. If you are looking for just some chill top-less anime dudes have fun surfing im sorry to dissapoint you. The only thing that i found Wave falling short is the sport side of things. Yes its true compered to Yuri on Ice and Sk8 the Infinity, its terminology and overall surfing reality feels a bit dissapointing. But, and thats a huge but, the magic of Wave is in its charachters psychology. This anime deals with the passion for surfing and the fragile thing that is the athlete's mentality. Our young, ever so passionate, protagonist meets people who have been surfing for far longer than him and treats them with love and respect and actually helps them when they seem to have hit rock bottom. Furthermore, they kept things real and the protagonist didnt win every single match that he participated in (looking at you Langa). Ultimately, i found that the most wonderful thing that this story does is how it deals with loss and depression. There is a very shocking death in the story and its not shocking only because of the nature of said death but also cause it happens so suddenly. There are very tender moments and the writing is just superb. And ultimately, shit happen in life, completely out of the blue that shake us to our core but we have to keep moving. I loved how our protagonist went from blaming himself, to finding joy again, without forgeting the person he fell in love with and who introduced him to the amazing world of surfing. I'm tearing up so i'll stop this review here. If i could describe this anime with 3 words, those would be : fun, loss and hope.      Update : WTF was that last episode he better not be alive or give me back my tears, i had depression for like 3 days, what the hell man is he alive or dead make up your damn MINDS

GabiiTachibana Aug 31, 2021

5

This anime.... was not good. I'm the most easily impressed person I know, so it takes a LOT for me to say that about something. WAVE!! is filled with tons of little inconsistencies and illogical moments that range from annoying to outright ridiculous. So many things are repetitive, and not even in the cinematic parallel sense; it's more like, "Really? We're doing/showing that again?" Character development, if present at all, is extremely weak across the board. And don't even get me STARTED on that horrendously ambiguous ending that only gave us more questions that will never be answered (because let's be honest, there's no way this shipwreck is getting a season 2). The best part of this show was, legitimately, the dogs.  I didn't want to believe all of the bad reviews, because, as I said, I'm easily amused: I absolutely adore redundant sports anime with little to offer other than homoerotic subtext. But this one? This one was genuinely so boring that even the cute boys did nothing for me.