Take romance as the base, toss in a little midnight scenery, a mysterious radio voice, and a search for that voice when it stops broadcasting, and you get Mayonaka Heart Tune. The synopsis alone drew me in as it offered a very interesting premise that had the potential to offer up one of the most heartwarming slice-of-life romances of the season. Could Mayonaka Heart Tune deliver on those expectations?
Let’s go!
First Episode Synopsis
Arisu Yamabuki used to listen to a live radio broadcast every night at midnight. The host didn’t like to reveal herself, but went by the name Apollo. Every night, she would end her broadcast with “to all my dear listeners, I love you.” The only problem was that she didn’t have any listeners at all except for Arisu. He would call in, and they would chat. It was magical, but it was a complete parasocial relationship. Then, one day, she stopped broadcasting.
Now in high school, Arisu reveals that he knew she went to an all-girls school, knew ahead of time that a nearby all-boys school would get merged into it, and decided to join, waiting for this moment. Now, as an obnoxious, loud-mouthed, rich boy, Arisu boldly proclaims in front of the entire class that he wants every girl to tell him the words “I love you.” Of course, under this boisterous cover, it’s a ploy to find Apollo by the words he knows best from her.
Sadly, this earns him a less-than-stellar reputation at school. Even though girl after girl humors him, the voice doesn’t match up… that is, until he hears a girl’s voice from the broadcasting club during lunch. He rushes there only to discover there are four girls inside the club. He’s sure that one of them is Apollo, but he doesn’t know which one. As they are about to kick him out, he points out the low quality of their broadcasts, telling them he can help fix it by using his money to buy them professional equipment.
They let him join the club, and now the puzzle of who Apollo is is presented before him. Things go a bit rough at first, and he’s beginning to have some doubts, but suddenly, after he gets thrown out of the broadcast room, Apollo goes live and reveals that she is, indeed, in the club and that when she said “I love you,” it was mainly aimed at him, BUT she’s not ready to reveal herself just yet!
Worth Watching?
NO – While I will probably watch a few more episodes, I can say that unless the quality picks up, this will be a drop for me. The first thing that caused me to decide this was that it completely shattered my expectations… and not in a good way.
I was expecting something a bit more serious. When the episode first started, I got that. The soft and tender relationship between a boy and a broadcaster. A personal radio show just for him. The mystique of not knowing the girl he fell in love with through that parasocial relationship. The pain of the show going off air, and the determination to find her.
Then, it all falls apart after that by turning the main character into an obnoxious egomaniac with boisterous and unconventional methods of finding the girl that he claimed he loved. What’s worse is that he experienced true love, but made himself out to be absolutely repulsive to the point where no girl would ever want to date him… well… no SENSIBLE girl. Even the members of the broadcast club look upon him with disgust and contempt to the point where it might feel hopeless.
Then, the show tries to salvage that hopelessness by having Apollo re-enter the picture and proclaim that the I Love You she said was meant for him and him alone. Nothing clicked on a romance level with me, and the mysterious and serious premise was destroyed by the main character turning into someone you’d rather punch than cheer for.
I… honestly don’t know how you could damage a golden premise such as this one, but this show managed to do that. Again, I will give this the 3-episode rule, but straight out of the gate, I highly doubt that I’m going to make it past episode 3. A shame because this premise had all of the makings of an incredible romance story. Oh well, you win some, and you lose some. I’ll eat this loss and see what else this season has to offer.
