The Sound of Waves

Seishun Anime Zenshuu (translated as Animated Classics of Japanese Literature for its English release) is a 1986 anthology series that retold well-known stories from modern Japanese literature. It's very much in the mold of its contemporaries, the World Masterpiece Theater series. Most of the 34 episodes were standalone, although there were a few two- and three-parters. The show was licensed by Central Park Media, but the English version was left incomplete when CPM went bankrupt. Only twelve episodes were released on DVD:

• Episode 1: The Izu Dancer by Kawabata Yasunari. 
• Episodes 2,3: The Sound of Waves by Mishima Yukio.
• Episodes 7,8: Botchan by Souseki Natsume.
• Episode 10: The Dancing Girl by Ougai Mori.
• Episode 14: Growing Up by Higuchi Ichiyou.
• Episode 16: Kaidan: The Song of Hoichi by Lafcadio Heran.
• Episode 20: Season of the Sun by Ishihara Shintarou.
• Episodes 25,26: The Harp of Burma by Takeyama Michio.
• Episode S1 (33): Student Days by Kume Masao.

The second story is a two-parter, The Sound of Waves. It's based on a 1954 novel by Mishima Yukio. Like The Izu Dancer, it's very popular and has been filmed at least five times. The protagonist, Kubo Shinji, is a young fisherman, living at home with his mother and his younger brother Ryuji. He's been working on Oyama Jukichi's boat since his father's death in the war.

He meets and falls in love with Hatsue, the daughter of Miyata Terukichi, a wealthy ship owner, and the feeling is mutual. 

However, Chiyoko, daughter of the local lighthouse keeper, is jealous and spreads false rumors that Shinji and Hatsue are sleeping together.

This prompts sneaky local Kawamoto Yasuo to try to take advantage of the opening by wooing (raping) Hatsue, but she wards him off.

Hatsue's father Terukichi to forbid Hatsue from seeing Shinji, but he has a plan. He sets up a secret competition between Shinji and Yasuo to determine which is the more suitable husband for Hatsue. 

No points for guessing who wins.

The voice cast includes:

• Koyama Mami (Miyata Hatsue) starred as the title character in the Minky Momo franchise, Paris no Isabelle, Princess Himetsu, and Nils no Fushigi na Tabi. She played Kei in Akira, Arale in Dr. Slump, Lunch in Dragon Ball, and Mendou Ryouko in Urusei Yatsura. She also played the title role in Maris the Choujo, Mimiru in Bander Book, and the female lead in Tezuka Osamu Monogatari: I Am Son Gokuu, all Orphan releases.
• Shimada Bin (Kubo Shinji) played Ken Nakajima in the You're Under Arrest franchise and numerous other roles, as well as Konaki Jijii and Wally Wall in the most recent version of GeGeGe no Kitarou. He appeared in Hoshizora no Violin, Bride of Deimos, Okama Report, Dokushin Apartment Dokudami-sou, Fukyukayama Gekijou, Tomoe's Run!, Satsujin Kippu wa Heart-iro, Princess Army, and Sangokushi, all Orphan releases.
• Koiso Katsuya (Kubo Hiroshi) was a TV/film actor.
• Hiroshi Masuoka (Oyama Jukichi) played Taro in Ashita no Joe, Ushigara in Haikara-san ga Tooru, Fuguta Masuo in Sazae-san for 41 years (!), Uncle Jam in Soreike! Anpanman, and King in Magical Princess Minky Momo. He appeared in Tokimeki Tonight, Fumoon, Bremen 4, Nine, and Tezuka Osamu Monogatari: I am Son Gokuu, all Orphan releases.
• Nakao Ryusei (Kawamoto Yasuo) played the lead in Igano Kabamaru, King Falke in ACCA, Hephaestion in Alexander's Decision, and Freeza/Cooler in Dragon Ball. He also played Chou of Benten in Usagi-chan de Cue!, Roger Rogers in Plastic Little, Akio in Chameleon, Peat Cullen in AWOL Compression Remix, and Puu in Captain Bal, all Orphan releases.
• Inaba Minoru (Takashima lighthouse keeper) played Neptune in One Piece Log: Fish Man Island Saga, Dr. Garaki in Boku no Hero Academia, Bart Bagley in The Faraway Paladin, Tatsuma in The Morose Mononokean, Ham in Tezuka Osamu's In the Beginning: Stories from the Old Testament, Miyoshi Tatsuje in Mahjong Hishouden: Naki no Ryuu, and the High Priest in Izumo (1991), among numerous featured roles. The last three are Orphan releases.
• Shouji Miyoko (Lightkeeper's wife had featured roles in Chihayafuru, NANA, and The Three Musketeers.
• Midori Junko (Kubo Tomi, Shinji's mother) played Sara in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, an Orphan release.
• Fujimoto Yuzuru (Miyata Terukichi) played Hiyoshi in both reasons of Moyashimon. He voiced the nameless Aoba gang boss in Kasei Yakyoku, the nameless police chief in Twinkle Nora Rock Me, and Noah in Tezuka Osamu's Tales from the Old Testament, all Orphan releses.
• Tatsuta Naoki (Hamada Ryuji) played Oolong in the Dragonball franchise, the Cat Bus in My Neighbor Totoro, and Beta in New Dream Hunter Rem. He appeared in every GeGeGe no Kitarou series since 1985 and in Amon Saga, One Pound Gospel, and Wolf Guy, all Orphan releases. 
• Iizuka Shouzou (Captain) appeared in Yamato 2025, the What's Michael? OVAs, Neko no Midori, Rain Boy, and Hi-Speed Jecy, all Orphan releases. He played Lestrade in Sherlock Hound, Jumba in the Stitch! franchise, the wizard in The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz, and Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland.

The director, Ueda Hidehito, also directed all of the original Time Bokkan series.

The original subtitles are from CPM's R1 release. Perevodildo translation checked. ninjacloud fixed the miserable original timing. I edited and typeset. Paul Geromini and Nemesis QCed. The encoder for the series wishes to remain anonymous. CPM's mastering includes hardsubbed translations for some of the Japanese credits. They are incorrectly timed and don't line up with the Japanese credits, but as hardsubs, they can't be fixed.

The translation is mostly sound, but it's off in a few places. For example, in part 1, "During the war, this was a military firing base. They used to gauge the flight path of the cannonballs." World War II artillery pieces didn't fire cannonballs, they fired shells.

The Sound of Waves is a straightforward coming of age story, and the ending is happy, unlike many of stores in this series. It has a small amount of nudity, not atypical for an 80s OVA.

(The strategic placement of the branch in this shot and following ones reminds me of the ending skit in Austin Powers.) You can get the show from the usual torrent site.

P.S. Today is the anniversary of the passing of our late colleague, CP, QC extraordinaire for many groups. Friend, we miss you.