Until now, if you’d seen some clips of Taro Watanabe there was a high likelihood that he was instantly your new favorite surfer. Literally, his style is that good. Only problem was there weren’t a ton of clips out there of him. At least not on waves that showcase that style…until now.

Over the weekend, he released his first video part called “Back and Forth.” The film features him in South Africa — scoring all over, and includes a J-Bay section you gotta see. Finally there’s some full-length footage of Taro for you to burn through and start emulating that smooth and iconic style.

We caught up with Taro to get a little more behind the scenes on the part. Check it and watch Back and Forth (and his recent “Reel Talk” episode below.—Brandon Guilmette

Inherent Bummer: How did it feel to have all those heads show up to see your ‘solo’ project world premiere in Malibu this weekend?

Taro Watanabe: It was more than I ever would have thought. The people from Malibu, all my friends from San Diego, Levi, Tosh, Kobo, all those guys came up. Simpo came up. It was a lot of people who are really close to me that came up and I just didn’t expect it to be that big. But it was so good to see everyone there and having a good time.

When did you get the thought in mind that you wanted to make a longer form film?

It was pretty organic really. I went to Indo right after I finished all the QS contests. I went with Levi and we were filming with Ivan and we were there for three weeks and we got some really fun waves.

I wanted to do another trip and went with Quinn and Levi again to J-Bay and we got insane waves there. We just had so much footage and we thought it would be cool to do something a little bit longer that shows a little bit more about me because I feel like there’s not much out there [showing] where I’m from and how I grew into myself and my surfing and the people that had an impact on my life. So it was really organic in how it came about. There were no set times or dates or anything. Pretty much just went on three trips and put that together.

What was your favorite trip for the film?

For sure J-Bay! That was one that I had been dreaming of since I was a kid. To go there for my 21st birthday was pretty sick. I was with one of my best friends, Levi, and then Quinn who I didn’t know too well at the time but we grew into really good friends during that trip. That was the trip where I feel that we scored the best waves. Everyday was pretty pumping at J-Bay. That wave and that place are really special.

How did you and Quinn connect to make this trip happen?

We connected through Noah Hill. I’ve been friends with Noah since we were about 10 or 11. He and Quinn were starting to film and surf and cruise together and I would be around Noah. We started to see each other around more and started to connect more to shoot. The trip was originally going to be Noah, Quinn and I to J-Bay but Noah had a little injury so he decided not to go. But yeah, through Noah and mutual friends and interests I came to know Quinn.

Are you and Quinn already thinking about your next project?

Right now I’m filming for Snapt. I’ll be filming for that pretty much all of this year. There’s so much you can do. There’s just a lot you can do with surf edits. Right now Quinn and I just finished this one so we haven’t started to think about the next one but I would love to keep working with Quinn. I feel like we have a cool friendship and we have a cool group of friends that are really talented in a lot of different areas. His company Non Fiction is just starting out and taking it’s first little steps and it’s really cool.

Everyone talks about your incredible style. What else do you hope to become known for?

Gosh, I really don’t know what I would want to be known for. I guess I would like to surf the way I truly want to surf. That’s the most important thing.

I get that a lot and it’s such a great compliment to me but the thing that makes me the most happy is when someone says that I inspire them to surf or inspire them to start surfing. That I feel like is the top thing for me is to inspire others. Like the biggest achievement.

The O’Neill CWC starts next week. You got 2nd last year to Kolohe. Will we see you again this year? If so, how was you going to approach any of your heats different from last year?

Yeah! I’m heading up on Monday.

I don’t know. I feel like when I think too much about winning or a contest I end up getting in my head. I definitely want to surf good and do some exciting surfing hopefully. That’s really all I want to do. Get good waves and surf them well. That’s my game plan.

What’s your secret board/fin combo for out there at Steamer Lane?

Definitely my 5’9’’ Radius roundtail by Pyzel. In any kind of right point break I feel really comfortable with that board. That board has a good mix of speed, and I feel like I can push pretty hard on it but also can release when I want it to. I like the Filipe fins from FCS. Those are my go-to. That’s the combination that I rode last year and I’ll probably ride something pretty similar. Maybe a 5’10” depending on how the waves are.

Watch Taro’s new film “Back and Forth” here”