'Wave, Listen to Me!' Isn't for Everyone, but for the Right Audience, It Proves to Be an Enjoyable Anime About the Radio Industry and the Struggles of Young Adulthood

Wave, Listen to Me! follows Minare Koda, a twenty-something waitress in a small restaurant in Sapporo who gets drunk after a bad breakup with a man who ran away with her life savings.  Completely hammered, she begins blabbing about her present frustrations to the random stranger she’s sitting next to at the bar.  The next day, Minare is shocked to hear a recording of her bitter, drunken ramblings playing on the radio – which ended up being a relative hit with the listeners.  Apparently, the man next to her that night at the bar was radio producer Kanetsugu Matō, who found Minare’s ability to rant entertaining.  Believing that Minare has the potential of being a radio personality, Matō recruits and mentors her.  Thus, Minare finds herself working as a waitress in the day, and hosting a program during the wee hours of the morning – a program that’s designed to be as unpredictable, chaotic, and spontaneous as its host.

This isn’t necessarily a great anime.  It isn’t for everyone.  If I had seen this when I was much younger, it would have either bored me out of my mind or turned me off with its zany elements.  However, at this point in my life, I found it enjoyable for I’m absolutely among this show’s target audience.

It’s an anime about the struggles of young adulthood, and its themes and humor revolves around that.  And as a young adult myself, I found these evoking a pensive mood in me as I watched it – which kicks in with every episode once the stirring OP plays (it’s one of the three OPs of the season that I didn’t skip; the other two being Kakushigoto’s and Kaguya-sama: Love Is War season 2’s).

Minare Koda is an effectively relatable main character; her predicaments and gaffes are painfully familiar.  As an outcome, whatever good breaks she gets during the course of the series comes off as somewhat pleasurably cathartic.

In relation to that, the strongest aspect of this anime – which one can argue is the thing that carries this whole show – is the voice acting for Minare.  Her seiyu, Rihu Sugiyama, brings such engrossing and crisp rapid-fire energy to her uttering of words.  Even though I don’t understand Japanese, I totally bought it that she could kill it in the airwaves with her gab.  I would absolutely listen to Minare in real life.

Another thing appealing about this show, which is a big reason why I picked it up in the first place, is that it features the radio industry – something that is no longer as big and appreciated as it used be, now that we’re in the age of the Internet and podcasts and all that.  This anime argues in a rather compelling manner that radio is still a romantic and relevant thing even in the 21^st century.

All in all, for the right kind of audience, Wave! Listen to Me proves quite funny, diverting, and even inspiring.