Review of Rumbling Hearts

I'll try to keep my criticism of this show to the point as I did overall enjoy the show but my criticism will hit hard where it needed to be better. Its a more adult oriented show and I of course loved the nudity. It wasn't over done to be ecchi but more of a realistic portrayal of intimacy while at the same time giving you that fan art.2 We have a lot going for this show. If you watched Golden Time, its along the same lines. Girl falls for guy, girl gets in an accident, gets amnesia and doesn't remember anything. We then see ourmain male protagonist torn between the girl he use to love and the girl he now loves. We had some heart breaking moments where we see our MC become a pathetic loser. His now "girlfriend" pretty much takes care of him because shes loved him all along. This is where I have my biggest issue.

First a side issue. I hate girls who have a timid high pitched squelchy sound. They become too kind that its so fake its annoying. All the other characters had decent voices in the English dub.
I don't know what Takayuki actually saw in Haruka. There was no reason for him to fall in love with her other than her being persistent and a little puppy for him to cuddle up to. She has no actual characteristics that make me want to see how they would grow. This further compounds to the problem when she gets taken out for a few episodes. We have a weak character who offers nothing, wining against a girl who has plenty of interesting things to explore and can also take care of you. To all the people who prefer Haruka.. I'm sorry, but you have bad taste. It is perfectly reasonable to want a kind sweet cute girl/woman but she has to provide you with something. That something can come in emotional support or through keeping you interested in each others interests, hobbies and personalities.Haruka talks about what she wants to do, but we don't really see her struggle to do it. For example. We could see Haruka continuously fail at her dreams while still keeping a positive face. This gives us the viewer a tangible instance of why our Takayuki would be so interested in her. Meanwhile Mitsuki is the athlete who can cook, physically take care of Takayuki and herself and can get a decent paying job to get her own place.You can have a strong character who is generally mild mannered, but we need a reason to care about this mild manner to give us a reason to believe our MC actually would want to be with this person. This actually becomes Haruka's arc in the last episode as we see her start to become a strong woman who can choose things on her path, all while being the same individual. Unfortunately it is too late as it is in the last episode.

We have one character who is strong willed, outspoken, athletic, pretty, supportive, kind....
And we have another character who is pretty, kind and......................
That should be about a 5 second pause to let you think about what the problem is here. Why should I care about Haruka. Other than I don't really want people to die, why else do I want her to comeback or is that all? It doesn't really make for compelling story telling when one of your main characters is simply a pretty face. I've known many pretty faces who turned out to both be some of the most beautiful or most ugly people I've met.

This actually manifests itself into a much larger issue. Our MC cant decide who he wants to actually be with. He says one thing while doing another. He becomes passive and lets other characters drag him along. Hes not doing things because he wants to but because others want him to. Even in the ending episodes he never really makes a decision. Haruka who is becoming a strong character, after the Author threw in a mulligan, pretty much makes up her mind about what will happen with their relationship.

Everyone but our MC ended up living with the consequences, hes just the stick floating down the river which makes for very boring storytelling. Every character in this show had a small story. We saw a change in some people. The restaurant manager, Haruka's boss, the 2 waitresses who suck at their job, our 2 female leads. Even the best male friend had a better arc as we saw him try to get with a girl, fail, succeed and see their relationship turn into a supporting one. Everyone moved except our MC.

Animation was decent. Its a show from 2003 and it feels like it but it is certainly a product of its time. Not bad but needed a stronger 2nd woman. And hey, If you don't like this ending there are several side stories you can go watch to alter your experience. I'll pass.

Series is worth a watch to blow some time.