Wave, Listen To Me!

 Wave, Listen To Me! (波よ聞いてくれ) is a 12 episode slice of life comedy based on the manga of the same name by Samura Hiroaki.  The anime originally aired in the Spring of 2023.

     Koda Minare unloads on a stranger in a bar after a messy break up, pouring her soul into the air as she tries to rationalize her hatred for the man that took advantage of her.  While recovering from her hangover during work at a specialty curry shop the next day she hears her drunken ramblings on the radio station playing in the background.  In a fit of rage Minare abandons her job, speeding to the offending broadcast location.  With the man from the bars business card in hand, she forces her way into the broadcast room to express her anger and intention to sue.  The man, Mato Kanetsugu, confidently shows her the release she agreed to while inebriated, granting permission for use of the recording as he sees fit.  Sensing something interesting in the crazed woman he lets her go live during the current broadcast to comment on her drunken recording.  After a moment of hesitation, Minare throws her self into the opportunity and unleashes a revenge fuel tirade full of clarity and conviction.  Her impromptu performance impresses Mato enough to suggest she consider starting a career as a radio broadcaster.  Unsure what to think about his offer she heads back to finish her shift at the restaurant.

    The restaurant continued playing the radio station in the background, allowing everyone to hear her rant.  Beyond the people there at the time, frequent customers recognized Minare's distinct voice and began to flood the internet with comments about her and the restaurant.  Due to his insecurities, the restaurants owner tells her she will be out of a job in a few weeks because he can't let her fame overshadow his efforts.  Minare finds herself on the doorstep of destitution and crawls back to Mato, desperate for any form of employment.  He agrees to bring her on as a radio talent but its not exactly a situation that will guarantee financial security.  What Mato has in mind is a twnety minute block in the middle of the night once a week in which the format is completely open.  He sees the spirit of a past comedian in her and wants to push her to the limit of releasing that energy into the world, viewing her as a play thing for his own amusement.  She is less than confident in accomplishing anything as she finds herself penniless and living on the floor of Mato's assistant director, struggling with how to do the radio program.  Not a good place for a single woman in her late 20's to be.  Perhaps if she can successfully focus that desperate frustration into weekly ranting something may come of this strange opportunity.

    Samura-sensei is well known for the epic samurai manga he wrote and drew for almost twenty years, Blade of the Immortal.   Wave, Listen To Me! is as far away from that series as one could get without doing a yonkoma.  The previous work is a dark and highly detailed story about revenge and savagery, this story, which is still ongoing in manga form, is a grounded slice of life industry piece about eccentric personalities bumbling through life.  Minare is independent, full of spite and absolutely unsure about anything going on around her.  She doesn't hold anything back when talking to anyone, regardless of how well she knows them.  This quality alone is what perked Mato's interest, who himself has no idea what he wants her to do, keeping as hands free in her creative journey as possible.  The story isn't only about Minare, but the assortment of other characters primarily interact with her and her story, instead of building their own isolated plot lines.  From the odd personalities associated with the curry restaurant she continues to work at, despite being fired once and the staff at the radio station who randomly assist in her program.  Small plots not directly related to Minare do appear but do little to progress the story one way or the other.

    The story meanders through its course with no clear goal other than Minare attempting to make enough of an impact with her program to keep doing it.  With only having read the first issue of the manga a few years earlier I can't tell how faithful the anime is, but it feels incredibly incomplete at this point.  The majority of the story was dedicated to set up for the concept and the personalities that orbit Minare, but nothing more than that.  Despite the lack of order and goal in narration, I found myself immediately drawn into the story and the characters.  Minare is bigger than life and absolutely unhinged.  Everyone else, while a bit odd, don't seem out of place or unnatural in their behavior and motivations.  The characters are all easy to like and recognize.  Samura's artwork in his seminal series is some of the best out there.  I don't recall the level of detail in manga for Wave but the animation seems to have been toned down a bit.  Not the best quality but its hard to imagine a title like this getting a lot of funding.  I'm grateful the anime was made and the pessimist in me thinks it did its job.  The commercial worked, I want to get back to the manga and dive into the world of absurdity that is Minare and her unstructured attempts at becoming a radio personality.  There has to be more story right?

    The anime is currently available for streaming on Crunchyroll in Japanese with subtitles.  The manga was available for a while on Crunchyroll's manga section and I am unsure where it may reside currently in digital form/