Mayonaka Heart Tune

[neflight86]

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"* Based on a harem rom-com manga by Igarashi Masakuni.

At the end of a difficult day, the haughty but purehearted rich kid Arisu found his only solace in the voice of another girl his age, who hosted a livestream under the pseudonym "Apollo." Then, one day, the broadcasts stopped. Arisu has dedicated the years since then to finding Apollo's true identity, and he's narrowed it down to one particular high school. He transfers in as a student and figures it'll be a cinch—but then discovers it could be any of the girls in the broadcasting club! And the real Apollo isn't talking for reasons of her own! These four girls have no use for Arisu's personality, but they each harbor dreams of using their voices to build a career, and they sure could use his money... Can the blunt and blustering Arisu buy his way into the club's good graces, and find the real girl attached to his dream voice?

Source: Kodansha"

Genre(s): Harem, Rom-Com

Research

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My biggest disappointment of the season so far, but only because I believe this manga deserves a much better adaptation. The animation is fairly low budget and there is almost no direction beyond what was in the origonal panels of the manga- there is no passion for the source material I can see in the production, sad to say. Oh well.

That said, if you aren't sick of harems yet, this is a good one. Going at a blistering pace, we see Arisu, one of the better harem protagonists of recent year, approach and impose his indominable will on his four targets. They will succeed, and that's that, as far as he's concerned, and that kind of moxy is refreshing in a lead. Obviously there is some push back, but overcoming that is part of the thrill of the hunt. My favorite aspect of Midnight Heart has always been Arisu's extremely pragmatic view on love and his keen senses to tell he's liked. You can see it as early as episode two and it is a fun, fresh angle on the confession angst that everything may be out in the open waaaay early in the story.

Despite poo-pooing on the adaptation, I must give credit where due in that the whole 'legions of girls at the school were the girl's fans' sub-detail is completely omitted as author-kun also stopped referencing it after a few chapters anyway and the initial meeting scene flows better without Arisu having to also address the faceless mob to check on Apollo.

Still recommended, but temper your expectations.

[Ryllharu]

Yeah, the animation is a HUGE downgrade from the manga.

But they at least got the important part right, the voice work is good. The four girls all sound somewhat similar (I am once again very surprised at Suzushiro Sayumi's range since she's in three shows I'm watching and doesn't sound the same in any of them), and Yamabuki is his perfectly arrogant self.

He's one of the best near-harem romance protagonists of anything I've ever read. Aware, rightfully arrogant, and pushes the heroines out of their comfort zones to improve themselves. It's a dynamic push-pull instead of a very one sided gathering.

[neflight86]

3

Man, this really is such a disappointment, art wise. I've seen higher animation quality in late night ecchi shows unfortunately, and Midnight Heart deserved so much better...

That said, our plot is shuffling along with three out of four initial captures complete. Looks like our plainest girl should be getting her arc next. Funny that these initial arcs are taking weeks at a time that has, as the framing might suggest, Yamabuki spending so much time exclusively with each girl's activity (practice, music playing, and re-rigging) that its hard to imagine the others' affection not cooling for him.

[neflight86]

4

Plain girl even gets the plainest arc- overworked and no one notices until Yamabuki volunteers to bend the rules just a little to help her out as faux accomplices. Sweet, though the romance isn't sold as hard as friendship.

The sports festival hijinks were cute, if absolutely predictable, and we meet Lemon chan, the club absentee supervisor who somehow hold both best and worst girl positions at the same time.