Ocean Waves, known in Japan as I Can Hear the Sea , is a 1993 Japanese anime coming-of-age romantic drama television film directed by Tomomi Mochizuki and written by Keiko Niwa based on the 1990–1992 novel of the same name by Saeko Himuro. Animated by Studio Ghibli for Tokuma Shoten and the Nippon Television Network, Ocean Waves first aired on May 5, 1993, on Nippon TV. The film is set in the city of Kōchi, and follows a love triangle that develops between two good friends and a new girl who transfers to their high school from Tokyo.
Japanese release poster
Obiyamachi Shopping Arcade is a frequent film backdrop.
Japanese DVD cover
Saeko Himuro was a Japanese novelist, essayist, and playwright born in Iwamizawa, Hokkaidō Prefecture, Japan. During the 1980s and 1990s, she was one of the most popular authors released under Shueisha's Cobalt Bunko imprint. She is best known outside Japan for I Can Hear the Sea, later a Studio Ghibli movie. The cause of her death was determined as lung cancer.
Himuro in 1986.