Tune In to the Midnight Heart

Duh..... *inhale, exhale Mayonaka Heart Tune — Just because it is a harem romcom doesn't mean its animation quality standard has to be insanely low. tl;dr. Manga fans are annoying and ungrateful; Micro expressions and background art are not important at all; Bad adaptations are better than no adaptations; TBATE & Uzumaki were not bad at all, either. Mayonaka Heart Tune (Tune in to the Midnight Heart) is the third adapted-to-anime series by Masakuni Igarashi after Mattaku Saikin no Tantei to Kitara (Detective These Days!) last year and Senryuu Shoujo (Senryu Girl) in 2019. The manga blew up after 5–10 chapters due to Igarashi-sensei's beautifully drawn visuals andhow he turned the generic-looking main character Arisu Yamabuki into a competent and committed boy in hope for the success of the broadcasting club girls. The story brings you back to the good old premises of Nisekoi and Quintuplets, where Yamabuki is searching for the missing radio girl named Apollo he listened to during his middle school days. When Yamabuki became sure Apollo was in the broadcasting club in his high school, he realized that the journey of finding the voice of Apollo would be long because he would have to guess which radio girl he was looking for: Rikka Inohana, Shinobu Uzuki, Nene Himekawa, or Kirino Iko. Despite knowing the broadcasting club was meant to be all-female, Yamabuki wished to be added as a member. He realized the club's broadcasting quality was far from good, which affected their ability to attract listeners and showcase their talents effectively. Hence, Yamabuki offered a training program in his own style to improve the girls' talent while secretly gathering more information about Apollo. Let's give a round of applause to the anime's sound production, music, and voice acting for their flawless execution. The plot of the manga feels over the top, and it is insanely hilarious. Any advice and training given by Yamabuki were unpredictable, often leading to unexpected and humorous situations that kept the girls on their toes. Even if they were all ridiculous to the girls, Yamabuki had infinite guts to practice his wild theories in front of them. Kudos to Yamabuki's VA, Rikuya Yasuda, for being an absolute 'giga chad' for 12 straight episodes, despite the fact it was his 'first' time doing a big role in a shounen anime. While the four heroines looked pretty and certainly waifu-able, their respective roles were not really why the manga was that good. However, thanks to Avex Pictures and INSPION Edge, as well as all the voice actresses, their respective roles feel much more alive. You know the seiyuus did their acting passionately when the anime published behind-the-scenes videos on its social media every week during the broadcasting. Props to Avex Pictures and all the music producers involved in the insert songs as well. Excited to listen to all the insert songs when they finally arrive on streaming platforms. However, when it comes to "Anime Adaptation," animation production has always been coming first, often overshadowing the importance of a well-crafted story and character development. To be fair, disappointing animations never really mean it is a bad product. But not-even-trying animations? This is what happened to this anime throughout the season, and a similar situation likely occurred with TenPuru three years ago (6.69 anime vs. 7.49 manga). What's with those flat microexpressions on each character? The directing was so stiff, and the coloring looked awful. Additionally, others have pointed out the poor body proportions that resulted from attempts to censor large breasts and navel scenes. Look, I am also often silent when it comes to anime censorship if they hide it properly (like Ruri Rocks, Bocchi the Rock, and 100 Girlfriends), but dear, Mayonaka's censorship looked so unnatural. To think that the anime's lead director had previously directed only one anime (Butareba). To think that this adaptation would feature an uglier crying animation than the infamous filler Boruto episode (not even the ugliest, though). This anime never failed to disappoint me. Even so, props to JUNJUN for the beautiful choreography during Rikka's karaoke performance, despite being poorly animated. In a decade where even trashy harem/ecchi romcoms were animated passionately, like Chiramune, 100 Girlfriends, and even Rent-A-Girlfriend, NBCUniversal Entertainment Japan somehow chose the opposite for Mayochu. It is an insane exaggeration to believe that manga readers desired high-quality animation, or sakuga, similar to that of Jujutsu Kaisen for a harem romcom title; however, it is also understandable that the unrealistic expectations of production committees, such as those for Oshi no Ko, needed to be called out. It is a shame that people tend to accept cheap productions like Mayochu, making The Beginning After The End and Uzumaki look like masterpieces. All in all, Mayonaka Heart Tune had one of the best sound productions out there. However, unless NBCUEJ brings up a better studio for a sequel, I couldn't recommend you enough to watch it, so please just read the manga. I just do not understand how the Mayonaka Heart Tune anime basically had everything but decent animation staff. I just couldn't defend this show that much and would personally be happier with no adaptation than bad adaptation. If you still want to try it and support these hardworking seiyuus and sound production, just minimize the anime and read the manga with the audio playing. Nevertheless, I am still truly hoping that all the special events run by this anime post broadcasting go successfully. If the anime truly receives a Cour 2, as previously rumored, the in-between animation and background art really need to be improved, because realistically, Gekkou will still be responsible for the anime adaptation.

This romcom was really refreshing, mostly due to MC actually being somewhat different. A note before I go further: I didn't read the manga. And from what I heard this adaptation was not received positively from manga fans. So I will judge it simply from the anime only perspective. Animation and music: quite decent. Animation is industry standard, there were no bad frames or quality drop during the entire runtime of the show. Music was excellent, especially some memorable songs in the last episodes. Overall: animation is good and music is great. No further complains in this area. Characters: Arisu, who most people know and Yamabuki-kun, isreally something. Instead of being shy, reserved and usual trash-tier MC or perfect, all favorite class rep like Chirose Yamabuki is something in between. He is somewhat of an oddball, has intelligence and charisma but the way he acts can come a bot of awkward. But when he sets his mind to something he gives it his best, and in this anime he really shines. Alongside him there are 4 girls which are your typical waifu tropes: Rikka (popular and confident girl), Uzuki (good-natured and caring girl), Iko (shy little sister girl) and Nene (typical tsundere girl). I really like how each of them get their time to shine and get some actual development. And the banter between them and Arisu is pure gold to watch. Overall - Arisu is one interesting MC and the girls are quite enjoyable to watch despite mostly being walking tropes of waifus. Story: It revolves around Arisu trying to find a girl from his childhood - a mysterious voice known only as Apollo. Problem is that all 4 girls here have a similar voice to that one, and because Apollo knows some rather private things that Arisu told during the live broadcast he made it his mission to find it and ask her to keep silent. Along the way however, he got attached to girls and decided until he finds Apollo he will try his best to let them shine as most as they can. it is a simple premise but it works very well. From here there are various situations that Arisu and girls find eachother and it is up to Arisu to give it his best and try to push trough the problems that may find themselves along the way. Suffice it to say, this is above everything else a love story. So interactions between characters are what will make it or break it, and for now it has been working fine. Overall: story has a simple premise and the events that happen along the way help the characters grow slowly but steadily. It is nothing major but it does not need to be in this case as the focus is on the characters themselves and not the story as whole. Overall grade: 10 from me, I really enjoyed it. Realistically, it is somewhere between 7 and 8. People who have read the manga may give it lower grade as their expectations were higher. But as anime only watcher this is where I think the show stands. I will recommend it to any romance and harem lovers, as the MC is really a breath of fresh air and acts very realistically. 2nd season is in the works and I will watch it for sure when it comes out.

As a manga reader, I’m honestly very disappointed with the show overall. The quality was really inconsistent throughout the season. That said, there were still some parts I liked—mostly the screen time for Iko and Nene. The story itself is fun for me, and the animation during those moments was good enough. I especially enjoyed Iko’s storyline, with all the VTuber elements—it was always entertaining. However, Rika’s storyline was a big letdown. In the manga, she’s my #1 favorite character. The art is beautiful when she sings, even without music, and her confident, teasing personality makes her really fun to read. But in the anime, most ofher screen time just felt bad to me—it was the opposite of eye candy, and it really turned off. When she sings, the art direction focuses too much on background shots, her movements while playing guitar feel stiff, and the animation is inconsistent. All of this made those scenes quite disappointing for me. As for Season 2, if the quality stays the same, it will feel kind of misleading—like the anime was originally planned as a 24-episode project but split into parts. This seems to be a trend in anime lately, where studios do this to build engagement. But if the quality does improve, then that would be great for us. However, I don’t think they will improve it, since Season 1 didn’t attract many people due to its quality. Most anime that get improvements in Season 2 are already popular, like Hell’s Paradise or Mato Slave. From a business perspective, improving a less popular series doesn’t bring much benefit. Would it attract people to go back and watch Season 1? Maybe a few, but probably not many. On the other hand, when a series is already popular, improving Season 2 has clear value then people become more impressed and are more likely to buy merchandise or the manga. It’s not that I don’t want them to improve it. But thinking about it this way, I can understand why they might not see much reason to put extra effort into Season 2.

If you can overlook the animation quality, this series is a definitive must-watch. While critics label the visuals as "horrendous," they aren't nearly that bad, especially since romance stories rarely require top-tier production to succeed. The true strength lies in its exceptional storytelling and a refreshing protagonist who is both unique and genuinely funny. The main character’s personality adds a layer of humor that keeps the experience consistently engaging. Overall, it is an incredibly enjoyable journey that prioritizes heart and character development over flashy graphics. Don’t let the negative comments deter you; the narrative depth makes it well worth your time.