Released in 1993, Ocean Waves (海がきこえる) is a coming-of-age/romantic drama directed by Tomomi Mochizuki, with animation by Ghibli Studio for Tokuma Shoten. If you find the characters and character designs somewhat familiar to one teen witch sporting a big red hair ribbon, it’s because they are all the beautiful work of veteran Ghibli animator/character design/director Katsuya Kondō (近藤 勝也).

The film recently saw a resurgence in popularity after been re-discovered by a new generation of young fans, and screenings at the Bunkamura cinema in Shibuya held in early 2024 were all sold out. Perhaps this is one of the reasons why this particular book was published, and we’re all fortunate to have it.

The contents of this 160 pages softcover book showcase a comprehensive mix of visuals from the film, including select stills handpicked by the director as well as over 140 pieces of imageboards, illustrations, character designs and storyboards by Katsuya Kondō. Also included are art work and designs for publicity and promotional materials like film posters, cinema tickets, art book covers and more.

Flipping through the pages of this art book and looking at the beautiful illustrations and character designs by Katsuya Kondō has certainly renewed my interest for this film, although it is not one of my favorite Ghibli films and I’ve not re-visited it in a very long time. I plan to do something about that. The excellent collection of Katsuya Kondō’s splendid illustrations featured in this book alone is worth the price of the book, and more so if you’re a fan of the film. Recommended.

“Ocean Waves – The Visual Collection Anime Art Book 海がきこえる 画集” details :

Dimensions – 29.7 x 21 x 1.3 cm
Softcover, 160 pages
Full color, In Japanese language

  
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