Review of Rumbling Hearts: Vol.3

Introduction

Rumbling Hearts has been a breath of fresh air when it comes to new anime in the UK. Eschewing the usual comedy anime clichés concerning romance, this is a series that treats relationships with realism and integrity. People fall in love, become intimate, then things go wrong, and they have to deal with the fallout of that. Love and guilt, pain and joy, could it be that real life has been animated? The first two volumes certainly impressed me with the more adult outlook and serious tone. The characters were well written, and the story rose above its soap opera leanings. Volume 2 maintained the high standards set by the first, and it made waiting for this final instalment difficult to say the least. Fortunately, the gap between volumes hasn`t been too long. The story concludes in these four final episodes.

Rumbling Hearts tells the story of four high school friends, Takayuki and Haruka, Mitsuki and Shinji. While Mitsuki had a thing for Takayuki, she knew her best friend Haruka was interested, and with Shinji`s help set about some serious matchmaking. It was a relationship that was nipped in the bud by a tragic accident that left Haruka in a coma, and Takayuki in the depths of grief. Three years later and Takayuki and Mitsuki had become an item, but it`s practically a clandestine relationship, tinged with guilt. The angst only worsened when Haruka finally woke up from her coma, wishing to see Takayuki again. Only for her, no time had passed, requiring her friends to perform an elaborate masquerade for the sake of her fragile psyche. Mitsuki and Takayuki`s relationship wasn`t built on the firmest of foundations, and the time Takayuki spent with Haruka only increased the stress. As was inevitable, the charade played for Haruka`s benefit messily fell apart, sending Haruka back into catatonia from the shock.

What little amity there was between the friends vanishes quickly when Mitsuki, feeling abandoned and alone, betrays Takayuki. Seeing her whole life as having been wasted, Mitsuki determines to change her life, but must agonisingly wait until she nurses Takayuki back to health, who has exhausted himself into sickness. What`s surprising is that Takayuki isn`t even angered by her betrayal, unmoved even when confronted about it by Shinji who has a vested interest in the relationship. It seems the three friends are irrevocably torn apart. Then Haruka reawakens, and this time she has no illusions about how much time has passed. She doesn`t appear to recall her initial awakening though.

Each episode ends in a brief comedy skit starring the waitresses from Takayuki`s restaurant.

Video

Rumbling Hearts gets a 4:3 regular transfer. The image is clear and sharp throughout, and the only grumble is some hideous aliasing during the credit sequences. The show itself remains unaffected. The character design for the anime is very sympathetic, while there are plenty of atmospheric touches used here and there to give the show dimension, dappled sunlight through leaves, underwater sequences, that sort of thing. It is a dialogue heavy show, so it does seem more static than the average anime, but this impression is quickly dispelled as the story progresses.

Audio

You just get your basic DD 2.0 English and Japanese, with translated English subtitles. Since it is a dialogue heavy show, not so action oriented, there are no complaints about the subdued soundtracks. The music is gentle and suits the story well. My first instinct is always to go with the original language track, but I must mention the English dub, as it is one of the best I have heard. Rumbling Hearts is an emotionally intense show, and the English language cast give excellent performances for the main characters. This is one anime that is worth watching in both languages.

Features

Just your standard anime extras I`m afraid, textless credit sequences, and trailers for Full Metal Alchemist and Moon Phase.

Conclusion

I`m a great one for escapist entertainment, stories of the farfetched, bizarre ideas that feed the imagination, it`s one reason why I have become so enamoured of anime these past few years. Conversely, when it comes to realism, to accurate portrayals of the everyday world, I`ll usually avoid it. After all, I get it for free when I walk out my front door. So I wasn`t expecting to enjoy Rumbling Hearts at all, thinking that I would comment objectively on the well-written story, the sympathetic characters and the real world emotions that drive the show, and recommend it because of that. I was certainly not expecting to be ensnared by the show`s charms, to have followed the story so avidly, and to have been caught up in the trials and travails of four animated characters. This final volume caps what has been a short but effective series, maintaining the standards set by the earlier volumes, and delivering an ending worthy of what has come so far.

Given the quandary that the characters were in, it would have been difficult to envisage a happy ending for all of them, and there are no fairy tale endings to be had here. Everyone has an arc to go through, and whether it is for good or for ill, the resolution that each of the characters find is satisfying. If anything, the series has been about character growth, and we have followed them from high school to adulthood. We can see the illusions of youth crumble in the face of the real world, and it is a difficult but ultimately rewarding path that they travel.

Rumbling Hearts succeeds because it is so weighted in reality. The characters are brilliantly written, complex and human with no hint of cliché. The situation they are in may be impossible, but what is impressive is how sympathetic they are. The choices they make, the mistakes they commit, how they react and how they feel is easy to empathise with. When you care about the characters, that`s half the battle won. On the other hand, the soap opera premise is never realised. Instead the writers always pull back from overdoing it. There are no wild reactions, no grand gestures and certainly no melodrama. We`re presented with the rare image of animated characters internalising their emotions, and it works perfectly in the context of the story. There is one scene where Takayuki is faced with yet another stressful situation, and he reaches a point where he just can`t face it anymore. He just switches off, becomes numb. Any other story would have had him kicking and screaming at that point, but I was left yelling at the screen for him to react, to say something, all the while understanding exactly why he acted that way.

Watching three lives disintegrate would have been a depressing experience of Radiohead proportions, were it not for the fact that these characters have a full life outside their relationships. Other than Haruka who is in hospital, we get to see the lives of all the characters, and all the friends and work colleagues they interact with. Takayuki may be in the emotional dilemma of a lifetime, but in these episodes we see that his prospects at work have never seemed better. Mitsuki`s friendship with her immediate superior at work is a source of strength for her, and of course the waitresses at Takayuki`s restaurant provide much needed comic relief. Again it`s a touch of reality, and a reminder that only the clinically depressed are in a state of despair 24/7.

Having said all that, I must admit that there is a slightly magical element to the conclusion of Rumbling Hearts. In one of those coincidences that only writers can dream up, it turns out that the very same book that Haruka was buying on the day that she first met Takayuki, is a story pertinent to the dilemma that they are all in. But since this one touch of fantasy gives us the resolution that we do get, I certainly don`t begrudge the intervention of the Gods of the Plot Device this one time. After all, no matter how realistic the story is, there has to be a smidgen of hope for the audience to cling to, a promise that no matter how bleak things get, there is a silver lining to look forward to. Were we going for complete realism with Rumbling Hearts, the characters would no doubt end up on a special edition of Jeremy Kyle entitled, "My cheating boyfriend got his comatose ex-girlfriend pregnant", screaming their heads off at each other, and separated by a couple of burly bouncers.

I would have thought it difficult before seeing Rumbling Hearts, but here is the proof that anime can do realistic slice of life drama. Real life, real characters, real problems and it`s animated. In a market saturated with fantastic stories, far-fetched ideas and escapist visions, Rumbling Hearts is rare indeed. I`d recommend it on that basis alone, were it not that it`s really very good as well. Deserves a place in every anime collection.