English Dub Season Review: Wave, Listen to Me! Season One

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Minari is a drunken woman working a dead end job who just got broken up with by her boyfriend. She’s still reeling from the news as the show begins, and winds up oversharing with a strange man who happens to work at a radio station. He secrets records her, and plays it on his show the next morning. When Minari storms into the studio to put a stop to it, she ends up falling in love with talking on air and is given her own show. It’s never pretty and always messy, but Minari and the airwaves might just be a match made in heaven.

Our Take:

There’s a lot of anime out there these days, but much of it falls into the usual categories like action, adventure, and slice-of-life. Wave, Listen to Me! is not one of those shows. It’s hard to pin it into a certain genre due to it’s uniqueness that make it stand out from your typical series — in ways both good and bad.

The series is anchored by Minari, the leading lady who gets dumped by her boyfriend in the premiere episode and is severely torn up about it. This leads to her drunkingly ranting about murder to a guy who happens to work for a radio station (instead of say, an off-duty cop, in which case the show might have taken a different turn). She’s the type of person to burst out with words without thinking too much about them first, and she’s a refreshing character to see in a leading role, an adult woman without a filter who follows her passion and finds herself in a much better place by the end of the twelve episodes.

Some of the other characters are more engaging than others, of course, which means that the quality and entertainment value of the series can hinge on who’s headlining a certain episode. While Minari is the unquestionable star, there are plenty of others who take their turns in the spotlight, from her oddly handsy restaurant boss to her co-workers at the radio station. One of my favorites was a high schooler who dreams of being a director and working behind the scenes.

Minari and the others slowly fall deeper into the world of radio as the show progresses, starting with her drunken rant in episode one and ending in the finale, where Minari is one of the sole voices keeping people calm by broadcasting during a major natural disaster. It’s cool to see a series that is able to show so much growth throughout — Minari has found friends, a purpose, and her own voice by the finale, and helped others along the way. There’s plenty of meandering along the way, however, and the show can be very jumpy, cutting into comedic chaos one minute and a slow-moving montage the next.

Since this is a show about radio, voices takes on even more importance than usual. Luckily, Funimation has delivered an above average dub that, while not landing in my top favorites, is a good cut above many other English language adaptations. Terri Doty does a nice job as the show’s leading lady, channeling Minari’s more vulnerable moments as well as her usual bravado. The supporting cast is rounded out by names like Monica Rial, Nazeeh Tarsha, and Zach Bolton, each doing a solid job of inhabiting their animated persona. There’s even some full on f-bombs dropped throughout the episodes — one of the first times I’ve heard this happen on a Funimation dub, but very age-appropriate for the cast which is comprised mainly of adults.

Wave, Listen to Me! is a one of a kind show. That’s both good and bad, as it’s a series that has plenty of ups and downs along the way. It won’t be for everyone, and I’m still not even sure if I truly enjoyed watching it. It’s loud, scattershot, and a little strange — it’s going to be a memorable series no matter what you end up feeling about it, but fans looking for something truly different might just find this one of the most entertaining stories to tune into since radio ruled the airwaves.