Rumbling Hearts

Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (君が望む永遠) is a 14 episode romance/drama that aired in Japan during the Fall of 2003.  The anime is based on a galge for the PC of the same name.  The American title for the show is Rumbling Hearts and was brought out by Funimation. Kimi ga Nozomu Eien translates into The Eternity You Desire.

 

 

    The story is about four high school friends. Takayuki, Shinji, Haruka and Mitsuki. Takayuki and Shinji are child hood friends and the same goes for Haruka and Mitsuki. Haruka falls in love with Takayuki in a chance encounter at a bookstore. She forces Mitsuki, who is in the same class as Takayuki and Shinji, to become friends with them in order to allow her to get closer to her love. Eventually, all in the first episode, Takayuki finds out about Haruka's feelings and the two begin to date. Takayuki is the strong, silent type who coasts through life without any worries. He doesn't have any particular cares or concerns. It seems like he agrees to date Haruka because he can't think of a reason not too. Haruka is a shy, timid girl living not wholly in reality, her dream is to be a children's book author. She is a pretty innocent soul. Eventually, the second episode, their love blossoms and they almost have sex, but are interrupted by Haruka's family returning home. Mitsuki is a rough athletic tomboy who harmlessly flirts with both Takayuki and Shinji. It doesn't seem that she likes one of over the other but as time goes on, the first two episodes, you can see she has more fondness for Takayuki. Shinji, well, he's kind of like the 3rd wheel, or in this case the 4^th wheel. He likes Mitsuki but is pretty 2 dimensional; they really don't develop his personality in the series.

    Takayuki develops a habit of being late to dates with Haruka, a couple of times due to Mitsuki, this is were you begin to see her fondness for him. The final straw is when Takayuki is already running late for the date, he was buying a book that Haruka really wanted as a present when Mitsuki sidetracks him. She forces him to buy her a birthday present. By this point Takayuki and Haruka's relationship has developed to the point were they are both planning to go to the same university in order to be together. Pretty well developed after such a nonchalant start. After satisfying Mitsuki's demands he rushes off to the train station, where Haruka is waiting, already dangerously late. He discovers an accident scene when he arrives. Some one lost control of their car and slammed into a row of pay phones in front of the station hitting a pedestrian. Upon searching for Haruka in the crowd of on lookers, Takayuki over hears the name of the accident victim…yeah it's his girl. The car obliterated her, leaving only blood and a hair ribbon to prove it.

 

    Skip ahead 3 years into the future, episode 3, and Takayuki is working part time in a family dinner named, Sky Temple. Mitsuki is working at some sort of business supply company, selling things door to door. Shinji is going to college. Haruka, well she's laid up in the hospital in a coma. The rest of the series deals with the 3 awake friends relationships with each other and with Haruka.  Mitsuki and Takayuki are dating, and for some time, living together. Shinji, who still has feelings for Mitsuki doesn't play much of a roll until near the end of the series as a sort of catalyst point…boring fuck. Eventually Haruka awakes from the deep sleep, and is not aware of the passage of time. Her chain-smoking doctor informs everyone that they cannot let her know that 3 years have passed. She still thinks they are in high school preparing for college entrance exams and that she and Takayuki are dating. What makes matters worse is Haruka's younger sister, Akane. She once idolized Mitsuki and loved Takayuki as an onii-chan. The sight of them together fills her with rage and disgust as she sees betrayal of her sister in their relationship. She pushes the 'love triangles' strains to the limit. All in all the series is about these people who at one point were inseparable and how events changed the directions of their lives. Now they have to face undeniable truths and salvage what they can of their relationships as time catches up to them.

    This is a very heavy and serious drama. Like really damn serious. Between about episodes 9-14 I was wondering who was going commit suicide. At one point or another all four friends, and Akane, get pretty close to doing it, at least in my eyes. Hell, a lot of real people in Japan will choose suicide over a lot of things, especially deep rooted pain and fear. Anyways, it's really depressing and emotional, except for two sub characters. At the restaurant Takayuki works at, there are 2 servers who are the series comedic relief. Two spitfire, anime-esque, girls named Daikuuji and Mayu (Mayumayu). They provide plenty of chuckles, grins and even a few laughs as they mess with Takayuki. Daikuuji, the main perpetrator, has a catch phrase that she shouts at him, 'Go step in cat shit!'. Along with their scattered appearances throughout the series they are also the main focus of the "previews". It's actually not a preview of the next episode.  Instead it's the two comic relief characters acting goofy in SD while talking about something that happened in that episode, a little like the end of every Bleach episode, the Shinigami Golden thing. There is also a 2 minute long spoof/parody that was released that's a trailer for a Gundam spoof that deals with all the characters and the plot line of the series, worth tracking down!

 

    All in all this was an entertaining series, if you're into romance/drama. The story is pretty gripping. The art is nothing special, but this series isn't about the art, it's about the story. The characters are all your normal anime fair, different unnatural hair colors and the absence of facial details every so often. I am happy that it was being released to English speaking audiences. So, if you are one who finds this anime intriguing definitely pick up the DVDs.

    There was a continuation of the story released called Kimi ga Nozomu Eien Next Season which was released in 2007.