Review of Rumbling Hearts

What would you do if an important connection of yours was suddenly left hanging, stuck in time? Neither moving forward nor back? How long would you wait for time to start moving again, how would you decide when it's time to move on? The premise to this show is arguably its strongest point - two girls, one guy, he ends up dating one of them with the feelings of the other girl lingering. But in good old RomCom-fashion, she holds back for the sake of the other girl, who is also her beloved friend. But when that girl falls into a coma after an accident anddoesn't appear to be waking up again - she decides to support their boy friend throughout the following chaotic storm of emotions. Eventually, after three long years, he decides that it's time to move on and starts dating his supportive friend. But then - in an unexpected turn of events, shocking, I know - his girlfriend wakes up from her coma again, unaware of how much time has passed.

Please be aware that there will be spoilers from here on out, since most of what I liked about the show directly relates to its story and how the premise is handled.

The conflict is very believable (even if the circumstances are certainly convenient). Takayuki, our protagonist, has never had the chance to reconcile with his original girlfriend, Haruka. Their relationship was just sort of interrupted with him being left unable to communicate with her. And we as audience get so see that it's not like he gave up on her easily. He went to the hospital to be by Haruka's side every day for months, possibly years on end. We can see him slowly losing hope. We can see how it's tearing him up from the inside, with his other friend, Mitsuki, patiently staying by his side and caring for him. Eventually, even Haruka's parents tell him to stop visiting her because they can see how much it hurts him to see her not getting better. Likewise, we can see how much it hurts Mitsuki, and how she still builds a career and focusses on continuing her life. She keeps on moving whereas Haruka is frozen in time. So naturally, he eventually decides to move forward with Mitsuki.
It doesn't feel like a dick move. And that's an important part of how the story is presented; at no point is anyone acting like an idio or out of a misunderstanding. Sure, there is the character of Harukas little sister Akane who is misguided in many different ways, but even that is understandable. She is a teen in Middle School when the accident happens and clearly has to deal with a lot of her own complicated feelings - some of which are for Takayuki, of course, this was originally a Visual Novel.
It creates a natural flow to the story.

But speaking of the Visual Novel background of the Anime - that is where the first of quite a few weaknesses come into play. Almost every scene contains two characters talking without much else going on. The animation doesn't need to be super exciting for a more subdued tone in a show, but with how super stiff it can be, the Director seemed to have run out of ways to make dialogue scenes interesting to look at.
Another problem is the structure and the role of some of the characters. The anime chose to focus on only the two main heroines - which was a very good choice, mind you - but that kind of downgrades some characters cearly having an own route in the game just spouting catchphrases by the side of the road and not much else. Any character backgrounds are only hinted at very, very vaguely, time which could have been better spent fleshing some of its main cast out.
Because this is the third and biggest problem; Outside of their role in the story, nobody in this show has any personality. Haruka is the frail, innocent girl that is victim to circumstances, whereas Mitsuki is the person who pretends to be strong, but is doubting herself constantly and is seeking reassurance in a very frail relationship.
I like that the characters have lifes outside of the central romance - since they're all young working adults and not high-schoolers anymore - but these lifes and occupatiosn tell me nothing about them. During the course of the story, both Mitsuki and Takayuki end up skipping a lot of work, too, or getting there visibly distraught and only making problems for everyone around them. How much patience all of their coworkers have for them - with never really being told the situation these two are in - it feels like the show might as well have been set in school.
And the kind of compromised realism continues with Haruka.
She wakes up from a 3-year-coma, and is able to perfectly articulate herself again after only one month. Sure, she can't walk properly, but then seems perfectly fine with sitting for long stretches of time. It's a very "pretty" version of a coma aftermath.
And I get it, the idea is more than Haruka is "frozen" in time. And I don't think the show would've been better off for intrudingly showing Haruka being unable to move or speak. But it feels like it's making the whole sitauation looking much lighter than it is. It adds to Harukas status as a frail girl that she looks like a pretty doll most of the time and that her doctor insists that everyone keeps the truth from her. You'd think that a hospital dealing with coma patients would have a therapist or something specialized in slowly preparing her to face reality. It also breaks immersion when you try to imagine what Haruka does all day - we're being told that she is not allowed reading since it's "too much of a strain", but there isn't a television or even a radio in her room either. Is she just staring at a wall blankly until someone comes in? I'm no expert on the subject, but I highly doubt little to no stimulation to the brain will help a recovery process. It makes her feel like a very passive character, and pity aside, makes it hard to root for her sincerely.
Admittedly, by the end of the show she does bring her own drive and strength after a supposedly final meeting with Mitsuki and it's a beautiful moment. Her final goodbye with Takayuki is also very well done. But for most of the time, she's treated more like an obstacle to the romance of Mitsuki and Takayuki, which is a bit of a shame.

Now Mitsuki, the "true" heroine in this anime, is a different breed and kind of has the opposite arc to Haruka. She starts off accepting of her role as supportive friend to the romance of Haruka and Takayuki, and it's kind of pull-and-push with her after the accident. Her whole personality is "I like Takayuki, but I don't want to betray Haruka". She keeps going through cycles of feeling guilty, warming up to the idea that this whole situation isn't her fault and that it's okay for her to be with Takayuki, then going back to guilt after Haruka wakes back up, a bit of a possessive streak - arguably due to the massive insecurities her guilt caused, which is believable enough - which leads to her character arc of realizing that Takayuki is her everything, and her leaving him in order to be her own person.
Which, would the story go through with that arc, would've been pretty cool, but no, by the end Takayuki begs her to get back together with him because he now realized she's truly what he needs. I kind of doubt it would be a happy relationship, given how much guilt Mitsuki still has to deal with. EVery new conflict would sway her again, since Takayuki is also kind of more willing to ignore conflict until they disappear rather than speaking about his feelings openly. It feels like a bit of a cop-out for Mitsuki.

And then there's Takayuki, and naturally, being a VN-Everyman-Protagonist-Guy, he has the least personality between the three of them. He has a tendency to get really hung up on everything and has no idea what to do with the new situation - with basically two girlfriends. The only other thing with him is being offered a full-time job after only working part-time for a while and him hesitating on whether or not to take the opportunity. Both of these tie into the "Frozen time vs. moving forward" motive, but that's it. His choice doesn't feel like something he makes on his own, but rather a decision made by his two girlfriends. It feels kind of unsatisfying.

So at the end of all this, the story did take time to establish everyone's feelings really well, not so much anything else about the characters. I enjoyed my time with the show, and I did end up excited for how the story might develop so much that I watched the whole thing in like 3 sittings within a week. But I have no doubt I'll forget everyone's name as well as most of the story within half a year. It's perfectly serviceable, but ultimately, kind of a forgettable show due to its forgettable cast, stiff presentation and basing a good part of its premise on convenient selective logic.