Forum - View topicTune In to the Midnight Heart (TV).
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 25599 |
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Tune In to the Midnight Heart (TV) Source: Manga (ongoing @ 12 volumes by Maskuni Igarashi) Demographic: Shounen Animation Studio: Gekkō Genres: comedy, romance Themes: broadcasting, harem, inspiration, music, school, self-discovery, social media Plot Summary: 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 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. Air Date & Platform: January 06, 2026 (Tuesday) Available on: Crunchyroll Episode Count / Runtime: 12 episodes [EDIT: Fancy opener stuff edited. -TK] |
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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1:
The first episode has plenty of cringe in it yet somehow I am still looking forward to more. A large part of that is having another rare harem/romance anime where the mc has an actual personality. Say what you will about him but he is not the type to give up/be unsure and he also has quite the presence thus making him anything but bland. The girls seem to be more than just tropes and building up the club and their skills could be fun to see. |
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Edjwald
 Posts: 3505 |
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I dunno.
It looks like somebody wanted to incorporate a mystery element somewhat akin to the Quintessential Quintuplets as to which female is the bride of destiny, as it were. I didn't really care about the MC's quest because I didn't really buy that he would care for anyone else but himself, and the twist at the end in regards to his motivations elevated the show in my opinion. But at the same time, it's a twist that's hard to get all that passionate about. The MC's out there personality was neither terribly amusing or terribly annoying, and I'm not sure where it fell on my internal scale. Mildly amusing or mildly annoying? I think its probably tilting towards annoying. Either way, the soup needs a little more salt. My biggest issue is that I don't really find the females particularly interesting. The angry one and the shy one are tropes, the black haired one is undefined, and only the brown haired one has a bit of a spark IMHO. But the anime wasn't entirely predictable or a trope fest per se, so I'll give it a little breathing room. I'm not at all convinced I'll be sticking with this one long term though. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 25599 |
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I was dubious going in but kind of won over. Can't predict if I'll stay until the end but got enough out of this to check out more. Much like the fantasy/isekai and SoL genres, I'm kind of put off by rom-coms these days, unless they are really, really, really good. This one is not really, really, really good but it's got a little something going for it, I guess. I'm not even really sure what that little something is, yet. Maybe I'll find out?
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15851 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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As of episode 1, I don't think that I can feel the appeal. My biggest issue is that I think the whole parasocial thing is kind of icky. He didn't know that girl, only the character she played on the radio, and it kind of feels grosser that she was saying that she loved the audience/him. Him trying to find her by analysing the voices of people is more than kind of creepy.
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Edjwald
Posts: 3505 |
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I think that the title "Tune in to the Midnight Heart" doesn't just indicate the the guy is listening intently to recognize her voice. I think the show's intended trajectory is for this guy to gradually become closer to the woman (or women since this is a harem anime) while trying to identify them for questionable motives. And maybe become less of a narcissistic douchebag in the process?
The reason I'm a little hesitant about this approach is that I thought Chitose in the Ramune Bottle was also maybe going to be about an MC guy getting his unrealistic world view shattered - and maybe it did, eventually - but the following episode doubled down on the obnoxiousness to the point where I didn't think it would be worth the irritation that sticking around waiting for the slow, grinding gears to turn would involve. I do think Smurky is right in that the thing that makes it worth trying another episode is that the anime escapes the same tropes that You Can't Be in a Rom Com With Your Childhood Friends smothers itself in. It's got room for some surprises, and it does have some personality even though the personality is a bit irritating. I also think Dusky is right in that there's something creepy about the fact that the premise relies on this guy pursuing someone who seems to just want to be left alone, and his reasons are dubious. On the other hand, at least it's different than the complete shmuck being pursued by droves of women just for breathing syndrome. I even think Blood was right  I'm taking the same stance, just being more longwinded about thinking it through
This one landed in a strange midway zone where the positives and negatives are cancelling each other out. I'm left in neutral but still thinking about it. I think my biggest problem is that the anime is largely a one man show, and everyone else is just reacting off a larger than life MC whose shtick is kind of annoying. If the females get a chance to show enough individuality to be interesting and make the MC question some things sooner rather than later, the show could get a shot of adrenaline IMHO, but I don't know how much time I'm inclined to give it to become more interesting and less annoying. At least one more episode. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3822 |
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I don't really understand what medium the original stream was in. Maybe I'm too old to get it? Are there livestreams that allow listeners to talk back with voice?
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 25599 |
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I hadn't really thought about the question until you posed it, Yttrbio, but maybe she was broadcasting as a digital radio station that somehow allowed listeners to call in?
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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2:
Arisu may be cringe and a bit too confident but he is indeed not all talk. When he says he will do something he goes all the way, be it learning to play the guitar or playing out the role of a knight. The latter made for some fun moments and the first actual bit of romantic progression. Apollo wise I am agreeing with the theory that all four of the girls are her, they just took turns doing the streams (hence different parts feeling familiar to him). |
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Edjwald
Posts: 3505 |
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I hadn't heard that theory, but it sounds like something this anime would do, based on what I've seen so far.
This episode went by painlessly, and there were some things I enjoyed, like the outdoor music concert. My biggest struggle in really investing in this anime is that the whole thing seems so contrived. I mean, almost all harem anime have contrived premises. Quintessential Quintuplets has five beautiful daughters who are all uniquely bad at school for different reasons and a straight A misanthrope whose family has debts...the one about the cafe goddesses has a business student inheriting his grandmother's restaurant where no one but beautiful women with varied career goals both work and live. Unlikely, but once you get past the premise and accept it, you stop questioning it after awhile. Here, we have an insanely rich heir (apparently) who seems to sleep in a basement at the beginning, so emotionally desperate that his only consolation in life is listening to some kind of independent broadcast radio station (still not clear on that). He swears love to the speaker, then obsessively follows that speaker to a school so that he can tell her he didn't mean it. He discovers four possible candidates who run the school broadcasting system, but none of them will admit knowing who he is. Instead of just saying, "if Apollo is here, I want her to know I was young and foolish and blurted out something stupid in the heat of a moment" he decides to fund the station and spend all of his time and energy becoming a career coach for all of them...and they accept it. I guess what I'm saying is, when I'm watching the scenes, it's not bad, and there are some fun moments, but I still haven't really gotten past the premise enough to really empathize with anyone. |
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 25599 |
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I'm not super loving this, but it's still not making my drop trigger finger itch... much. You have earned another week, show. I am a bit curious what happens after his inevitable "helping" stints with the two remaining girls in the club. Once the show has ticked off those two boxes, where does it go from there? Interesting theory about all 4 being Apollo... makes sense. I just hope that is pure speculation and doesn't come from the source material which is currently at 11 manga volumes.
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Edjwald
Posts: 3505 |
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Our MC working in a cafe sort of felt real to me when a lot of things haven't been making much sense. Like, if he's an entitled heir, why was he in that initial situation? But if things between him and his birth dad are at a point where he's either not getting or not accepting a dime, it makes a little more sense and might hint at why he feels so strongly that he has something to prove as the heir of the whatchmacallit family.
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smurky turkey
Posts: 4987 |
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It would be very on brand for him to completely reject any and all aid from while building up everything by himself. There might not even by any family drama with pops just shaking his head about his stubborn son. Iko was the focus this week and she made some good progress by the end of the episode. There are so many VTubers out there that you will need plenty of charm to make it big.
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 25599 |
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Her "forget beam" was pretty adorable.
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Edjwald
Posts: 3505 |
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It's true that the plot could go either way. (1) The reason our MC was so miserable and isolated at the beginning is for some outlandish reason that makes sense only to himself, and he's just a loose screw, period. (2) Our MC comes from some emotionally rigid and unforgiving environment where nothing less than perfection is expected from the family heir and he's corkscrewed his brain trying to live up to an unrealizable ideal. Either way, about 85% of the plot seems to be driven by MC going to crazy extremes, so for me, whether I stick around until the end or not depends on me either empathizing with him to some degree or having the plot kick him around in a way I find satisfying. I thought the third episode was a positive development. |
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