This TV movie was an attempt to make anime solely by the young staff members, mostly in their 20s and 30s. Tomomi Mochizuki, who was 34 years old then, was brought in to direct. Their motto was to produce "quickly, cheaply and with quality," but the project went over budget and over schedule.
During the school fair, you can see in a long shot Porco Rosso sitting on a bench.
This movie was the first Ghibli anime directed by another person than Hayao Miyazaki or Isao Takahata.
The story mainly took place in Kouchi City. Kouchi is on the island of Shikoku, the smallest of the four major islands that comprise Japan.
This movie has two English titles. Unlike other movies, Ghibli didn't give it an official English title for a long time. Ghibli finally titled it "Ocean Waves", but most people in the U.S. know it as "I Can Hear the Sea" (a direct translation of the Japanese title).