Search - Rumbling Hearts, Volume 1 on DVD

WHILE YOU WERE SLEEPING

Sesho | Pasadena, TX USA | 01/18/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Haruka, Mitsuki, Narumi, and Taira are good friends at school, but there is a secret brewing underneath the sheen of friendship. Haruka has been nursing a crush on Narumi for a long while but she is too shy to declare her love. Enter Mitsuki Hayase, the school swimteam star, who encourages and finally convinces Haruka to let the truth out. Haruka does and Narumi surprisingly returns her affections and they start going out, slowly developing their relationship. Hayase, meanwhile, watching from the sidelines becomes a little jealous and realizes that maybe SHE liked Narumi too. She causes Narumi to be late for a date with Haruka which horribly leads to Haruka becoming involved in a car accident and being in a coma for 3 years! While she is out of it, Narumi and Hayase become lovers and even talk about moving in together. But what's going to happen when Haruka wakes up, knowing nothing of what has gone on the past 3 years?

Let's get out the heartstring violins, cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of tears! At first I thought this was going to be a boring slice of life romance along the lines of a less interesting His and Her Circumstances. But in the second episode when Haruka gets hit by a car, the show took a turn for the more serious right out of the Hollywood movie Pearl Harbor storyline of one person moving on while the other remains stuck in time. Even though you can predict that Haruka is going to wake up, it doesn't make the realities the characters will have to face any less heartrending. In situations like this, noone comes out a winner. It's just a matter of degrees of loss. While Rumbling Hearts exploits the emotions of its viewers, the writing and the great acting distract you from any obivious manipulation and you just get caught up in the experience of the characters. There are no extras to speak of."

Ahhh painful, drama-inciting love triangles.

Kuroda Taiki | 01/03/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Well, I came across this by reading the latest Newtype magazine, where it's demo had the first episode. Didn't bother watching it until I read the review...couldn't help it, Mitsuki's pretty, and the review said love triangle, and a story with no happy ending in sight basically.
Basic premise, with a soap opera twist. Takayuki, Haruka, and Mitsuki, are all high school friends. Mitsuki's best friend is Haruka, and so helps her build up courage while coercing Takayuki to take Haruka's feeling seriously. The two go out, a bumpy start, but evolves into lovey-dovey. Happy story isn't it?

It's more mature and realistically painful than most anime relationships. So if you don't feel a wince of heartwrench for these three, you got problems, homie.

I wouldn't show this to someone with a recent break-up. It starts off like a dating sim, but definitely ain't it in the traditional sense, and if you're looking for harem's or happy endings, this is having none of that. This is romance, homie.

That ain't where it ends. That happy face sappy story does a one-eighty about-face into ugly. On Mitsuki's birthday, Takayuki runs into her and gets her a present, "unknowingly" making Takayuki late to his date with Haruka. Haruka gets hit by some drunk (I'm assuming) driver, goes into a coma. He gets to the aftermath scene, and you'd have to be drunk to smash into a downtown set of phone booths.

Takayuki emotionally breaks down nearly going catatonic himself. Mitsuki tries to comfort him; at first through guilt, but ends up going out with him. For three years. Just when they realize and get past the thoughts of traumatizing guilt, especially with this relationship, Haruka wakes up. Add a little more gas, and let simmer. She has anterograde insomnia as the doc says, her mentality can't comprehend time has passed, she still thinks they're all in high school, despite everyone's image and age."

This is real life, people...

Andrew Olson | Macon, GA | 06/05/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are so many animes out there with sci-fi or horror themes; so many animes contain scenarios that could never really actually happen. Folks, Rumbling Hearts is NOT one of them. Yes, Rumbling Hearts is one of the most heart-breaking animes out there, but what makes it all the more sorrowful is that the scenes and acts depicted could actually happen to someone- maybe even someone you know or love. The original teaser descriptors of this anime say this: "Warning: This is not a tale of superheroes or science fiction. This is real life. Happy endings are bittersweet at best." That is probably the most apt description of this sob-a-thon on wheels.

Rumbling Hearts concerns the lives of four high school best friends: Takayuki Narumi, Mitsuki Hayase, Haruka Suzumiya (no relation to Haruhi Suzumiya), and Shinji Taira. Haruka has had a major crush on Takayuki since three or four years earlier, but has never really gotten up the nerve to talk to him yet. Enter Shinji, who pushes the two together and encourages them to start dating. Haruka finally gets up the courage to ask Takayuki out, and the startled Takayuki accepts, though at first it's only because he feels sorry for her. After a tear-jerker phone call in which Takayuki almost ends up driving Haruka away for good, he realizes that he has intense feelings for Haruka and ends up asking her out again himself. And that's just episode one.

Episodes two through five are where it really gets complicated. Because Takayuki is late for meeting Haruka at the train station, he wonders if she had already left. When he arrives in the station, he finds out that there had been a horrible car accident there- and the victim was Haruka. Overcome by guilt, Takayuki slowly and quietly slips into a state of extreme depression, while Haruka lays at the hospital in a coma. For three years, Haruka is there in a coma; during that time, Mitsuki takes care of Takayuki, even going as far as to move in with him. At first, she only does it as a friend, but the pair soon fall in love and begin a relationship- but remember, Takayuki is also still technically going out with Haruka, even though she's in a coma. After three years, Haruka finally awakens, and Takayuki must make a decision: Does he choose Mitsuki, where the relationship is now rocky at best, or Haruka, where she still loves him with all her heart but a full three years have passed them both by? Oh, and to make matters worse, Haruka doesn't even realize that she's been in a coma for three years.

One of the greatest animes ever created, Rumbling Hearts is to me about how actions can very much affect everyone around you. This is also one of the only animes yet that I've cried at multiple points during the volume. I'll end by giving you some stats about the team who created Rumbling Hearts, then a volume 1 episode guide.

Director: Tetsuya Watanabe
Character Design: Yoko Kikuchi
Art Director: Takashi Miyamoto
Sound Director: Hiromi Kukuda
American License by: FUNimation Entertainment

Volume 1 Episode Guide:
Ep. 1- Friends to Lovers
Ep. 2- Waiting
Ep. 3- Betrayed by Love
Ep. 4- Moving On
Ep. 5- Lead Astray"