Nami yo Kiitekure

Title:Nami yo Kiitekure
Nami yo Kiite Kure
Wave, Listen to Me!
波よ聞いてくれ
Overall:Buy
Keywords: , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - SUNRISE
SUGIYAMA Riho
Imagine the surprise of waitress Minare Koda when she hears her own voice being broadcast by a local radio station, telling all sorts of sordid but quite authentic tales. This can only be a recording of things she said while drunk to a strange man the night before. Minare storms into the radio station to make a complaint--and winds up with a job as a talk show host.

12 episodes
OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Buy 8 8 8 8 8 8 Ggultra2764 [series:3838#1552]
(Buy-/ Rent+)

Must admit this was a unique one. Wave, Listen to Me focuses on the financially struggling Minare landing a gig as a radio show host and often getting in the bad habit of letting her short-fused and impulsive personality get the better of her in her everyday life. This provides the series a unique blend of comedy and drama, the former coming from Minare somehow getting herself into trouble and the latter involving Minare using her radio gig to reflect on things in her personal life when the studio crew propose ideas for her show. Other characters in the series serve to support or be companions to Minare in her everyday life, some of whom get their own story developments involving problems within their personal lives. The only major issue I have with the series is the gay stereotyping the series plays up with Minare's boss at the restaurant she works at, which makes scenes with him uncomfortable at points with his ogling of male customers and employees. But beyond that, do have to admit that Wave, Listen to Me was surprisingly entertaining with its fair share of comedy and drama coming from Minare's antics and the issues facing some of those she is acquainted with.

Last updated Monday, April 11 2022. Created Monday, April 11 2022.
Rent Stretch [series:3838#628]
(Rent+ or Buy)

(All episodes watched):

One thing that quickly becomes clear is that Nami- is an adult level show, not in the sense of it being sexually explicit (though there is a little nudity), but rather because it is made for discerning adults rather than children. The only fighting is an imaginary match between Minare and a bear in a dark forest, which she brings to life to liven up her radio advice column. The jokes and dialogue are witty and clever, though it can be a bit of a slog to struggle through it all (I think it took me around 45 minutes to watch episode one). I think this will be the sort of show which requires a good deal of concentration to watch but is worth the effort. What with all the talking she does, we can't help getting to know Minare pretty well and coming to like her. Definitely the most lively and sophisticated dialogue of any Spring 2020 anime I had yet watched. This is definitely not the usual sort of anime where words are kept to a minimum and fights of the week do most of the talking. In general, this show is pretty clever. It has a novel premise and at the end of episode one I was left wondering where things would go from where they stood. It was the first new anime of the season about which I felt I must download any additional available episodes ASAP just to make sure they didn't slip between my fingers.

I found myself reluctant to watch episode two, precisely because this show is so good. It's a show with a complex and demanding storyline, and I must be in tip-top mental state to watch it and get the most out of it. Watching while being fatigued or just not in the right mood won't cut it. More than a few viewers would find this show too demanding and prefer more lightweight, simple stuff. Anyway, Minare soon finds herself out of a job and goes to Mato to negotiate. Two of her former coworkers at the restaurant get some character development, which wouldn't happen if they aren't going to stick around for awhile. Except for manager Mato, the people already working atv station MBS are suspicious of this newcomer and won't let her rise to stardom overnight. Even Mato has his doubts. Minare has genuine personality--odd, but likable--and this show has a sly, witty sense of humor. Like the scene in episode three where she thinks there's an intruder in her apartment. In episode four a strange woman, Makie, shows up at Minare's short-handed restaurant and volunteers to work without pay, which seems too good to be true, and indeed something is funny here. Whereas many shows pile on more and more shallow characters, here the new character has a definite personality and there's something intriguing about this person, something we want to know. Judging from the OP sequence, there's a large cast in the making, and the signs are that each character will be distinct and interesting.

In episode five Minare broadcasts the first episode of her show, Nami yo Kiitekure, at around three in the morning. She is given only a rough outline to follow and must improvise everything else, which Mato is confident she'll be able to do. This episode reinforced my previous impression of this show: in terms of all around quality, it is leagues ahead of the usual fare. So much so that I almost fear watching it, as if it will be so clever and sophisticated that I won't be able to completely 'get' it. Episode six was truly LOL funny as more and more crazy stuff piles on. Minare needs a theme for her second show and goes to investigate a bizarre fax the radio station received. Whereas many anime comedies struggle to make us laugh, this show just knows how to be funny--it almost seems to do it effortlessly, in fact. Crazy stuff just happens, yet it makes some sense and is hilarious. How does anybody come up with ideas like this? So many shows are highly formulaic and never really surprise us, but Nami- is the sort of show where you never know where things will go next.

Suffice to say that the guy in question has a credible excuse for the bizarre things he has done, but a certain other person does not. I was actually a little disappointed by the explanation here; the lead-in to the joke seemed more funny than the punchline itself. But I had to pause episode eight at least once to LOL. You don't get dialogue like this in most anime: "You know how, since the dawn of history, humans have killed animals, torn down forests, and contaminated rivers to expand their habitat? But the moment we feel some level of ease in our lives, that's when we realize how terribly we've been treating Mother Nature". Minare learns why she was given her particular name (she'd have been better off if that had remained a mystery), and Makie's brother comes looking for her at Voyager. Most anime are so bland and lifeless in comparison to Nami-.

Even in the first minutes of the final episode, my impression was that far from winding down the story was still expanding in new directions. I wondered if I had been mistaken and this show actually had something like 24 episodes. I bet it is based on an incomplete manga and some sort of ending had to be engineered. But, as it works out, a decent one is put together. A crisis takes place while Minare is on the air, forcing her to perform the important job of relaying vital information to the public. We get a sense of what she has learned and the professionalism that this once laughable performer has taken on. Things could either end satisfactorily like this or just as easily another season could be added. I hope it's the latter option; this is a novel show about an unusual topic, genuinely funny, and engaging as well.

Last updated Saturday, September 19 2020. Created Tuesday, April 21 2020.

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