Thoughts on Kimi ga Nozomu Eien/Rumbling Hearts

I spend the whole of Sunday watching the whole of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, also known as Rumbling Hearts or KGNE. Yes, that was one Sunday wasted, but at least it's wasted on a good anime which few can compare.

This was originally a h-game, a text-adventure game with sex scenes in it, but it was so popular that the PC game got transformed into an "all-age version" where anything that's inappropriate for young audiences is taken out or censored, which is released on the DC and PS2 within a year or so from the release of the original PC game. It's not difficult to see why it gain such a huge fanbase and became so popular. When a game is text-adventure based, it is important to have constant care for the dialogue which makes up the plot, the mot crucial factor in deciding the quality of such a game, or it will become very boring. But many h-games out there (or at least most of the earlier ones) failed to understand that and instead treat this genre of PC games as some sort of sex simulation games, to fulfill the innermost desires and fantasies of those who played it. Over the years, there have been a bit of emphasis on the plot and character development, but the amount of disturbing scenes fails to convince players that these is not even central to the storyline, and are there just for the player's "pleasure". This is one major pit that most games fall into, and fails to redeem themselves.

KGNE is very different from such games. It is one of the very few h-games that give so much emphasis on the plot and characters, and every scene is there to compel the storyline. Although the game is still pretty much a harem game, where you can date many girls, the plot is centred on the two heroines, Suzumiya Haruka and Hayase Mitsuki. There are also a substantial amount of sex scenes, which might be a bit hard to swallow but is nonetheless important to the setting and progress of the story. The game is also widely reveled as one of the best in its genre, putting it alongside famous titles such as AIR, Kanon, Utawarerumono, Fate/Stay Night, Tsukihime etc.
Good emphasis on drama incidentally also means that it will get very emotional at times, so there are cases where you decide whether a h-game is good by judging whether you will cry while going through the game. That's my point of view, so it might be different for every one of you out there. This game is also the claim to fame for its company, âge.

++++++++++++++++++++++++SPOILER ALERT+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

For me, KGNE is very heartbreaking. If there's one thing I've learned from this anime, it's that never to take things for granted. You won't know something is precious until you lose it. By then it will be too late. This is a very common saying, but it's shown explicitly in this anime, if you look hard enough. We knows that Mitsuki loves Takayuki very much, to the extent of looking after him for that one year when he's so depressed from Haruka's accident. However, towards the end of the series, you will realise

Mitsuki three years later

that Takayuki is too focused on fulfilling his responsibility to Haruka who has woken up from her three-year slumber (he believes that he's the indirect cause for the accident), that he gradually forgotten about Mitsuki who had always been supporting him. He was such a blockhead that he did not even notice that when Mitsuki broke up with him in a tearful manner. It was only until his long-time friend, Shinji, beats the hell out of him, and when Haruka realise that she's only chasing after the Takayuki from three years ago, and decides to move on instead of dwelling on the past (thus she says "Goodbye" to Takayuki...), that he finally understands what was most precious to him all along. Yes, this anime follows Mitsuki's route in the game, which means the person Takayuki ends up with is none other than Mitsuki, which is why the direction tends to be from Mitsuki's perspective, instead of Haruka or Akane (Haruka's little sister).

Choosing Mitsuki's route is a better choice for the anime in my opinion. And in reality, if I'm given a choice, I will choose Mitsuki. Although I do feel sorry for Haruka, the fact is that Mitsuki had done more than Haruka. You can call it betrayal (that's what Akane says to Mitsuki all the time), but you have to make a choice. It's either Haruka or Mitsuki. You can't expect a threesome ending from this (is it even possible?? =p), so you can't have the best of both worlds.

"Mayauru no Okurimono" The picture book that Haruka always want to buy, the symbolic item of the relationship between Takayuki and Haruka

I know about KGNE way long ago, and because it's so famous, I have been hearing good reviews for it. It even got aired in Singapore on the anime slot in Arts Central broadcasting at midnight (you wouldn't want your kids to watch this, first thing first it's already showing hints of possibly encouraging them to have sex at the same age as Takayuki and Haruka). But as there's so many animes that I want to watch (my current anime to-watch list stands at around 50 titles, PHEW!!), I pick them randomly, or when I feel like it. The trigger came when Joy ask me about this anime that was aired in Arts Central. From her words (she told me about practically everything in the first episode), I already figured it should be KGNE, even though I know nuts about it. The only things I know are that it's a romance show in a middle school setting. It was easy enough, since the other animes broadcasted on Arts Central are all rather distinct from each other (Inuyasha, Shaman King, The Twelve Kingdoms, Technolyze. Samurai 7 etc). After some research, it is as I suspected. And I immediately went on to find the series and watch it. As simple as that.

Joy once told me that Takayuki is one (hell of a) indecisive fellow who doesn't even realise he's a lucky man in midst of a very caring girlfriend. I have to agree, he's a jerk. But his character is, I feel, very close to reality. If it's me in the same situation, I feel that I will also act in the same way as him. Takayuki is a very nice person (he frequently got praised for that), but that itself is a double-edged sword. You might say that being nice is a good trait, but looking at the situation where he has Mitsuki as his girlfriend while he needs to take responsibility for Haruka, he wants to be nice to both, which is why he tries to juggle the scale between the two of them. However, you will realise the scale is actually more inclined towards Haruka, as Takayuki feels that he had already been together with Mitsuki for three years, while Haruka had been alone in her coma for three years. Naturally, he will want to give more attention to Haruka, to compensate for all the time she had lost. All this sounds logical to the normal guy, but I will bet that girls wouldn't be able to understand this. Look at Mitsuki, she is very jealous of the attention that Takayuki has been giving Haruka, and she wants Takayuki entirely to herself. Of course, Takayuki with his logical reasoning fails to see this coming, and frequently quarrel with her about this. It's not entirely Mitsuki's fault either, as Takayuki is incapable of balancing the scale in his heart, and being the delicate woman that Mitsuki is (despite her strong front, her heart is as fragile as glass), she will be able to sense any little abnormality from Takayuki, and the fact is, Takayuki is not as focused on her as before. Seems that guys are really bad at multi-tasking... They focus on one thing, and fails to take care of the other. It's not easy to be nice to everybody, and boy, we are only looking at two girls here. Yes, Takayuki may be a jerk, but any guy out there can be a jerk like him, even me.

And regarding that Takayuki look pretty "normal" and not being really a handsome guy as pointed out by Joy, I will say that he does look normal, or rather a cliche design for male mains in anime. Having said that, this anime (or rather h-game) is originally geared towards a guy audience, which means more emphasis is put on the girls rather than the guys. Why would we guys be interested in looking at whether the males are handsome or not? Duh. Any normal guy will tell you that 99% of the time, we are looking at the girls. (1% is when we look for the button to fast forward the scene which have no girls), LOL. Ok, that last sentence is just a joke.

There's one part in the story which left me quite disturbed. After Mitsuki had finally decides to break off with Takayuki, he seems to be very depressed (but not as serious as he is after Haruka's accident), where he will just stay at home, not going to work, once again like a living zombie. However, after some days when he finally decides to go back to work, you are able to see that he's still smiling happily as usual at the restaurant. Shinji, his long time friend, got really pissed when he saw this, and proceeds to confront him. He was chiding Takayuki over why didn't he do anything to get Mitsuki back, despite the fact that he knows Mitsuki loves him so much and had been supporting him, and actually have the nerve to joke around. (well Takayuki did try to call Mitsuki, but she deliberately ignore his calls. I will say that he's not really doing much...) [Note: This is the geez of their conversation, it's actually much more complicated, relating to events that happen even before the two broke up]. But to Takayuki, he doesn't know what he should do, as he was still pretty dumbstruck by the shock, so he says that he can't help it, and shout to Shinji what is he supposed to do. Shinji shoot back at him, telling him that's something for him to think about. A calm Takayuki at this time tries to push responsibility to Shinji, since he knows that Shinji does hold some feelings towards Mitsuki. Immediately, a punch from an angered Shinji flies to Takayuki's face. "I can't, damn it!! You are the only one who can!!" (Why do you think Mitsuki chooses you, not me in the first place... is what I think Shinji is thinking at this moment) .

You know the harsh reality. Guys can be so cold-hearted that they forgot about the break-up after a while. In Takayuki's case, you might argue that he's trying to hide his depression by laughing frivolously, since sub-consciously he does not want to return to the old days where he's like a zombie walking around. And the most scary part is that he actually shirks the responsibility to Shinji in a very calm manner. There can be another reason for this, it's that he has blanked out his mind and couldn't think properly of what he's going to say. But this argument has double meanings. Since he can't think properly, whatever he's going to say is the truest to his heart, just like how people tend to burp out secrets when they are drunk. If you knows that the girl you broke up with loves you that much to the extent of sacrificing everything else in her life (Mitsuki did gave up her swimming, her studies, and her social life just to be with Takayuki. She once says that, if Takayuki was to leave her, she will have nothing else in her life anymore, providing the reason as to why she is so intent on getting Takayuki to stop seeing Haruka), will you be as calm as Takayuki as to push the happiness of that girl to another man, even though you know that she can only be happiest if she's with you? Again, it can be argued that Mitsuki is the one who suggests the break-up, so regardless of what Takayuki think he can do to try to save the relationship, it's ultimately up to Mitsuki to decides, which will be very hard, since after all she's the one who suggest it. If there's even a slight possibility that the relationship can be saved, why would she go through all the trouble of breaking up? Here comes the decisive split between the thinkings of a guy and a gal. The way the two sexes think is way off from each other, it might even be said that their logical thinkings when it come to handling of their inner emotions are different as well. While a guy may perceive as what I say above, a gal might not think this way. She might even think that if the guy even makes the greatest effort to run back after her, despite the difficulties which a guy comprehend as "no matter how I manage to pass through the obstacles, the result will still be the same. She won't change her mind", she might even consider changing her mind. What the guy comprehend as 0% in success rate, the gal may actually comprehend it as a much higher rate (at least it's not 0%). What the guy see as having totally no chance, the gal is able to see there's actually the slightest chance.

it's really funny how can such a guy-inclined romance anime like this leads me to think so much?
Most animes of such type are typically no-brainers, so watching KGNE really come as a surprise. Heck, it might even be better than watching shoujo animes, since KGNE is all about the perspective from a guy's viewpoint. The only other guy-inclined romance show that is on the same scale is "I''s" (which I have the whole manga series, hehe), but that will be left til the next time.

Time will never turn back, no matter how you wish... It's all but a memory