It's rare to see radio entertainment being done, usually the entertainment industry anime are limited to idol groups or very infrequently, acting. I'm not a big fan at all of idol group anime, so it's nice to see a show that has the entertainment industry as a focus. It's not just the industry that's different, though. Nami yo Kiitekure definitely has a more seinen and slice of life feeling than other entertainment industry focused anime. That is, while radio certainly is a big part of the plot, it isn't always the focus of the story: in fact, it's more of a supporting role that brings the story together rather than being the main theme. It's more about Minare and her experiences in life, and her translation of those experiences into her radio show. This was pretty interesting. While I don't think the radio shows in particular had any charm, it's more of the fact of how Minare managed to weave that story in the first place. What spurred her on to say those things? That's what the radio show really adds to the story. You can see this lack of focus on radio even more when you're looking at just her job. It's a part time job which can't even pay the bills, and it's at 3 AM in the morning with little listeners. It's a blip in her life story, yet something that she comes to become more invested in as the story goes on.
However, the experiences she goes through can only be said to be unrealistic. Recall how I said that it's more of a slice of life sort of anime? Well, that's not entirely true. A lot of the scenarios she goes through are pretty unrealistic and the show doesn't bother to hide it, either. They themselves know that some of the things are a stretch, which doesn't make a lot of sense to me. They turned something that could have been the mundane into something unrealistic and more exciting. While this is certainly much easier for the author to translate these exciting experiences into the radio shows and progressing character development, it really hurts the overall atmosphere of the show. If a show is about the feelings and experiences of Minare, then it should only be right that she goes through situations which could possibly be feasible.
This applies to new characters as well. While none of Minare's coworkers are introduced in a bad way at MRS, the radio station, Makie gets introduced in a very bizarre and forced manner. Her entire story arc is just unusual and doesn't make a lot of sense, and the anime certainly doesn't bring much of a focus to her feelings regardless. She gets into a car accident, She was kept captive, yet is obedient to her brother, works at the curry shop as a result, and is connected to radio...of course.
Other than Makie though, I enjoy the characters for what they are. There actually is quite a cast of characters, but too bad that most of them don't get a lot of spotlight. What really killed this show for me was definitely the unrealistic scenarios that Minare repeatedly gets put in, and the fact that the radio shows that Minare hosts are particularly interesting in their own right.
