Kimi ga Nozomu Eien: Information and Synopsis

Last Modified: February 26th, 2006
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Game
Anime
Premise
Characters
Soundtrack
Notes

Game

The original game version of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien was released in 2001 for the PC. It was produced by the visual novel company agesoft (or sometimes just age). The title was released for the Sega Dreamcast and Playstation 2 after it's initial release by different companies. The original game was never licensed by a Western company and therefore has remained untranslated, no serious fan efforts to translate the game have so far been made. This could be due to the nature and storyline of the game, which amongst fans is said to be depressing and many viewers of the series only want to watch it once, with no real incentive to play the game. It is more probable that the February 2006 release 'Muv Luv Alternative' will be translated (either by fans or licensed) and brought to the Western market.

Anime

The animated series based on the game ran on Japanese TV from the 5th of October 2003 to the 4th of January 2004 in the form of fourteen half hour episodes. It was popular both with Japanese fans and Western fans who watched it thanks to fansubs of the series being released as each episode was aired. The production company Funimation announced on the 18th of February 2006 that they had licensed the title for American distribution and will be releasing it in October 2006 with the title 'Rumbling Hearts'. The ending in the anime is just one of the available ends in the game, and it follows Takayuki as he chooses Mitsuki over Haruka. The anime was criticised for not containing enough closure on the story and the production company, Media Factory, by extending the final episode on the 7th DVD of the series which was released in 2005. The new material shows the characters meeting up again in the future under the hill that they visited much as students, and shows viewers that they could eventually be friends again.

Premise

Takayuki Narumi is your average high school teenager, he has always had a secret crush on the star of the school swimming team; Mitsuki Hayase although she did not know about it. Their friend Haruka Suzumiya has always like Takayuki and when she finally gains the courage to confess her love she is accepted and it is the start of a budding romance for the two... until tragedy strikes, and Haruka is put into a coma for over three years. When she wakes up, everything has changed, but will the feelings remain? Kimi ga Nozomu Eien is a dramatic romance story following the choices that Takayuki has to make in order to follow his heart.

Characters

Takayumi Narumi - He is the lead character of the story, after Haruka's tragic accident he left school due to him not being able to study well. He now works at his family restuarant and lives with Mitsuki although he has always felt guilt for causing Haruka's accident (he was spending time with Mitsuki when he was supposed to be going on a date with Haruka when she was hit) and has been depressed since then.
Haruka Suzumiya - A very quiet and shy girl who is friends with Mitsuki from school, she is introduced to Takayuki on the way home one afternoon and she falls in love with him. They start going out and have sex, but as she is waiting at a train station to go on a date with Takayuki one day she is hit by a car and put in a coma for three years.
Mitsuki Hayasa - The outgoing star of the school swimming squad, she is friends with Takayuki and Haruka and is the one who introduces them to each other. As she watches Haruka and Takayuki begin a relationship she begins to feel unhappy as she has always secretly desired Takayuki, she eventually quits the swim team and ends up very unhappy. After Haruka's accident she confesses her feelings to Takayuki to try and help him out of his depression, as their relationship matures they both feel responsible for Haruka's accident although they do not discuss it, which means that their feelings start to build up inside of them.
Akane Suzumiya - She is the younger and bolder sister of Haruka, as she grew up she saw both Mitsuki and Takayuki as family and felt a lot towards both of them. After Haruka's accident she finds out that they have been dating and feels betrayed by both of them, which leads to an intense hatred. She hates Mitsuki the most, mainly for betraying her sister and having a relationship with Takayuki but also for quitting the school swim team and wasting her amazing talent in the water. She is also good at swimming, although she feels that she will never be as talented as Mitsuki is.
Shinji Taira - A minor character that, before Haruka's accident, is friends with the trio in school. After the accident he does not socialise them with anymore although as the storyline progresses he becomes more important again, and eventually sleeps with Mitsuki while she is depressed and not with Takayuki, it is most probably that during high school he had a crush on her.
Ayu Daikuuji (AyuAyu) - A waitress at the family restuarant that Takayuki works at, she is the daughter of one of the directors of the restuarant which is the only reason she has not been fired, as she isn't very good at what she does. In the original game she is one of the choices that Takayuki can take as a love interest, although in the anime she is mainly used to inject comedy into an otherwise overly dramatic series. Along with her 'sidekick' Mayu Tamano (MayuMayu) she appears in chibi in comedic shorts at the end of some of the episodes of the series.
Mayu Tamano (MayuMayu) - A quiet waitress at the restuarant that Takayuki works at, she is best friends with Ayu and is very clumsy at times. Like Ayu, she is a potential love interest for the protagonist in the game version of the story, but features minimally in the animated series version. She is also prominent in the "Ayu-Mayu Theater" which shows at the end of some of the episodes in the series.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack to the original game, which beared the same name, was released on the 29th of August 2001. It was volume 7 of the "Dear...." series that was compiling the soundtracks to the best bishojo hentai games. The soundtrack contains the full versions of the OP (opening) and ED (ending), insert songs and the rest of the songs used in the game. There is also a brief audio drama segment recorded by Minami Kuribayashi, one of the main character voices in the game.

The original soundtrack to the animated series based on the game was released on the 25th of February 2004, it included the TV OP (opening) and ED (ending) themes performed by Minami Kuribayashi - "Precious Memories" and "Hosizora No Waltz" respectively. The soundtrack contained twenty-two tracks and was followed up by a second volume on the 2nd of June 2004. Both soundtracks can still be obtained relatively easily via online retailers, who will ship the product from Japan. The game soundtrack sells for around 2381yen (around $21) and the animated soundtrack is available for 2857yen (approximately $25).

Notes

The characters from Kimi ga Nozomu Eien have appeared in a number of other games produced by agesoft, including Muv Luv and Muv Luv alternative. They have also appeared in countless dojinshi games and manga, which shows the popularity of the series on both sides of the Atlantic ocean.

The agesoft game Akane Maniax featured Akane Suzumiya as it's main character, it is set in the same universe as Muv Luv and Kimi ga Nozomu Eien and happens after the events of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien. She is shown to still be affected heavily by the events that took place in the original series. There is also an OVA (original video animation) lasting three episodes based on this game, which brought controversy in 2005 as a fansubbed version of the first episode appeared on the popular anime bittorrent site AnimeSuki days before it's intended release in Japan, which resulted in Media Factory sending a cease and desist notice to the site's bandwidth providers and the site being taken off the internet for a short period of time. Since then the site permanently removed Media Factory works, licensed or not.

Some fans questioned the choice of the title for the translated version by Funimation, as directly translated the title means 'The Eternity You Desire' and it seemed suitable by many to use this title in America. No formal statement has been given by the company for their choice of name for the series.