Rumbling Hearts

Summary: >

Takayuki never about relationships until the day his friend Haruka confesses to him. The two take it slow, but eventually the bond of love grows. While hiding it well, Haruka's best friend Mitsuki harbors feeligns for Takayuki. She is however happy to see them together. Everything changes when Haruka is left in a coma after a car accident.

Three years pass, and it's been hard on Takayuki and Mitsuki. The two miss their long time friend, and are consumed with guilt over Haruka's accident. They decide life must go on, and grow into feelings for each other. Slowly they move past the pain, and begin to build a life together. Then Haruka wakes from her coma, unaware that three years have passed.

Thoughts: >

Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (Kiminozo for short) means "The Eternity You Desire". It has nothing to do with this anime, which is probably why the title was changed to rumbling hearts in America. "Rumbing Hearts" is so vague it could describe most anime releasd these days. With the cover art showing school uniforms, I figured this would be another high school drama / romantic comedy thing. Man was I wrong about that! Rumbling Hearts is an adult oriented drama unusual for anime. If you watch anime for the "usual stuff", you may not like Rumbling Hearts.

Rumbling Hearts begins with the typical high school experience between four friends. The beginning is okay, but something didn't quite feel right. It's packed together too tightly and flows poorly. Things looked bleak for this anime, then the accident changes everything.

From there it goes into really heavy drama. So heavy I'd say it's trying too hard, but it mostly works. A big issue involves a cast of frustrating characters - possibly fustrating enough you might throw things at the TV. That doesn't mean they're bad. For example a good villain may be a character you hate - the more the better. Similar to this, characters in Rumbling Hearts are oriented to creating drama within the story, NOT necessarily around you liking them. That's asking a lot of an audience, so think about that before you decide to pick this one up.

[+] Character Talk

Most of Rumbling Hearts is wall to wall angst and drama. It tries so hard it often becomes unconvincing. If you want drama, you can probably look past that, but don't expect it to feel natural enough to convince you. The drama starts to clear around the last two episodes, and I realized each character grew out of everything I hated about them. A very strong point of Rumbling Hearts: until the very end I had no clue who Takayuki would end up with... if anyone. That level of suspense was a big plus. With the conclusion, Rumbling Hearts stays true to itself by not washing away the pain with magic sparkles. Healing takes time, and I think the end captures this, with the most powerful breakup I can think of. Considering how explicit the show is with drama, the ending is a bit vague, bittersweet but positive.

Rumbling Hearts is good for a mature adult drama. This puts it in a league out of what most anime fans want, and will likely not be of interest to most - unless specifically looking for this kind of show. It's nowhere near perfect. It's clunky, often overdone, and has a few haphazardly applied sex scenes. Parts with Takayuki's job are intended for comic relief, but I didn't find very amusing - oddly that didn't bother me. On the plus side, the soundtrack is well crafted. I also give Rumbling Hearts credit for touching on something else that hit pretty close to home. There are times when your personal life can turn to absolute shit. And maybe all you want to do is crawl into a gutter and die. ... But then you still have to go to work. Ugh!

I know this isn't the popular opinion, but I really enjoyed Rumbling Hearts. I often reflect on shows afterwards (doing reviews requires this); the more I think back on Rumbling Hearts, the more I like it. So if you're the kind that likes to think a lot about a show, this one might give you a lot to think about.

Screen Caps: >