The perks of going into a film blind -- in this case, the film is Ride Your Wave -- truly overwhelm me sometimes. Ride Your Wave greeted me with a wonderful setup of a budding romance, developed the relationship on-screen, and took the romance away in just around one-third of its runtime. The two leads, Hinako and Minato, showed chemistry and were likable as individuals and as a pair.
From this point onward, there will be spoilers of the film.
Ride Your Wave kills Minato while laying a lot of foreshadowing for Hinako and him. The film hints at Hinako being Minato's savior, Minato proposing a year after his first Christmas with Hinako, and Minato being Hinako's wave in life. While Minato lives on as a water spirit, all the hints come to play as Hinako goes through grief and moves forward with her life.
But Hinako was madly in love with Minato; so, she was ecstatic when she could summon the spirit of Minato by singing a song they both love. However, there are some strains in their relationship as Minato laments he could no longer touch Hinako. Minato also encourages Hinako to move on with her life and be brave as she rides the waves of her life. Wasabi, Minato's junior at work, and Youko, Minato's sister, also meet up with Hinako to see how Hinako is coping and help her.
In the end, Hinako moves on after surfing with Minato one last time. After some time, she sings their song again, but Minato no longer shows up in the water as he too moved on from his life on earth. Instead, Hinako is surprised by a message from Minato -- a message to promise he'd stay with her forever and ever.
I'm not great at story recapping, so I strongly recommend watching the film. The film is amazing and brought me a lot of feelings I didn't expect I'd have while watching it. Ride Your Wave stands as one of my favorite presentations of a mature romance and moving forward from the death of your loved one.
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