2.5/4Starring (voices): Nobuo Tobita, Yoko Sakamoto, Toshihiko SekiRated PG-13 for Some Thematic MaterialHollywood believes that animation should be reserved for musicals and cute, cuddly animals. The Japanese know better. There is nothing in "Ocean Waves" that couldn't be filmed with live actors and sets and no CGI. But animating it gives it life and energy that live action cannot. Mood, setting and character can be played with by animators to get different effects. So while "Ocean Waves" did not need to be animated to work, it wouldn't have been the same movie. Unfortunately for the movie itself, the animation is really all that it has going for it.Taku (Tobita) and Yutaka (Seki) are best friends. That is, until a girl comes between them. Her name is Rikako (Sakamoto), an intelligent and athletic girl from Tokyo, whose big city ways impress, then offend, the country folk of Kochi. She's a loaded pistol who is the object of Yutaka's, and eventually Taku's, affections. But can their friendship survive this firecracker?Watching "Ocean Waves" is like listening to schoolyard gossip about people you don't even know. While it may be interesting for them, chances are that you're going to be bored out of your mind. I admit that I was charmed by the animation (Japan has never looked so good), but when it came to the characters and their ordeal, I sat there stone faced. At one point, Taku says that the situation is turning into a soap opera. I couldn't agree more. To one degree or another, all three of the characters are self-absorbed, which makes it difficult to care about them. While they occasionally show flashes of personality, they remain stick figures from beginning to end.Perhaps the film's focus is too narrow. Adolescent romances are always fleeting, and they change with the drop of a hat. But at the time, each one feels like " Gone with the Wind ." But so what? Everyone knows this. Tomomi Mochizuki doesn't offer any new insights or perspective for this. Apparently he believed that the characters were strong enough to make up for it. And even so, isn't this idea a little limiting for a movie?I wish American movie studios would learn from movies like this and exploit the emotional resonance that animation can bring to even the simplest story. But "Ocean Waves" doesn't do this, so in the end, it's just a mediocre high school soap opera. If you're wondering what animation can bring to a story of reality, take a look at " Only Yesterday " or " Whisper of the Heart ." This one isn't worth your time.