Ocean Waves

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 (credited as Kaoru Nakamura) 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.

Ocean Waves was an attempt by Studio Ghibli to allow their younger staff members to make a film reasonably cheaply. However, it ended up going both over budget and over schedule. In 1995, a sequel to the novel, I Can Hear the Sea II: Because There Is Love, was published. In the same year, a TV drama was produced mainly based on this work starring Shinji Takeda and Hitomi Satō.