I went into Tune In to the Midnight Heart intrigued by its premise - mystery, livestreaming, and the search for a long-lost voice? Sounds promising! Unfortunately, the execution left me feeling more frustrated than entertained.

The story follows Arisu, a arrogant high school student whose only comfort in life once came from the soothing voice of an online streamer known as “Apollo.” But one day, Apollo’s broadcasts abruptly stopped, leaving Arisu desperate for answers. Years later, he’s determined to track down the girl behind the voice, convinced that she must be a student at a particular high school. His plan? Transfer in, infiltrate the broadcasting club, and uncover Apollo’s true identity. Simple enough: except Apollo refuses to reveal herself, and Arisu is left with four possible candidates, none of whom have any patience for his pushy and entitled attitude.

Now, here’s where things fell apart for me. From the start, Arisu is an incredibly unlikable protagonist. He’s obsessive, self-centered, and completely tone-deaf to how unsettling his actions are. Changing schools just to hunt down a stranger? Forcing every girl in the club to say “I love you” so he can analyze their voices? Stalking tendencies dialed up to eleven? Yeah... not exactly the charming, determined lead I was hoping for. His wealth and arrogance only add to the problem, as he believes he can buy his way into the club’s good graces without considering their feelings or ambitions.

The pacing and storytelling didn’t help either. The narrative felt scattered and hard to follow, jumping between moments without clear direction or buildup. While the concept had potential, the execution left me more confused than invested. It was difficult to connect with the characters when the plot seemed to lack cohesion, and at times, I wasn’t even sure what the main focus was supposed to be - was it really a mystery? A slice-of-life drama? A character-driven story? It never fully committed to any of them.

That said, there were a couple of elements I did appreciate. The end-of-volume explanations about Japanese words, phrases, and cultural nuances were a nice touch, adding helpful context that might otherwise be lost in translation. It’s always great when a manga provides deeper insight into language and culture, and I genuinely appreciated that effort. Unfortunately, that wasn’t enough to redeem the overall reading experience for me.

At the end of the day, "Tune In to the Midnight Heart" had an interesting premise but was ultimately a frustrating read. Between an off-putting main character and a messy, unfocused narrative, I just couldn’t find enough to enjoy. I can’t see myself continuing with this series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Kodansha Comics for the opportunity to read this volume.

The story is about a boy who attends a specific school to find a girl whose radio show he used to listen to religiously. In fact, he was her only listener, so they had many intimate conversations between just the two of them, and he feels there is unfinished business between them. Once at the school he meets the four girls who comprise the radio club. They all have unique voices, which they intend to use in their future careers. But he's not sure which of them is the girl he's looking for, because his memory of that particular voice has been lost to time. So he takes it upon himself to train the girls to perfection so they can attain their future career goals. He feels qualified to do this because of his background: his family is wealthy and every man of his lineage is, in his mind, without flaw.

I noticed in other reviews that people found the protagonist to be insufferable. He does brag a bit, especially in the beginning of the book, but he shows throughout the story that he has heart and is willing to degrade himself to help the girls out. He's more emotionally mature, I feel, than he lets on. I actually liked him a lot by the end of the manga. If anything rubbed me the wrong way, it's that a male character is coaching female characters to be their best selves. But it's a comedy and I don't think it's really that serious, especially given his failures throughout the story.

The art in this book is fantastic. The four girls all look very different so there's no confusing them. They each have a distinct personality and are easy to tell apart. And I'm finding myself really intrigued by the plot, even though it seems obvious which girl is the one he's truly looking for.

I enjoyed reading this and I would read more of the series.

This harem book follows a boy who once fell in love with a radio voice and potentially finds her at the broadcast club at his new high school. The concept of this manga sounds interesting but the execution falls flat. The main character is full of himself and not likeable (and who talks about soiling himself that much?) It just felt like the book needed more editing to be actually likable.

DNF @ 25%

[Thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha for an advance copy of this manga in exchange for an unbiased review.]

[No thanks to the other user here, Samriddhi S, who brazenly copied half my review, changed some words, and acted like it was theirs.]

A boy goes to a school to find a girl whose music program he used to enjoy before she disappeared on him. In so doing, he encounters a quartet of cute girls who are all pursuing vocal careers. A mystery is afoot!

While pretty much cut from the most basic of cloth - the shy one, the tsundere, the ditzy one, the forward one - the girls in this story are at least easy to pick out from a visual perspective and they are certainly attractive for the target audience.

And that’s, unfortunately, where my compliments for this series will grind to a halt.

I don’t hate harem stories; I loved the mystery aspect of <i>Quintessential Quintuplets</i>, which feels most like this one, and it had some good moments. <i>Tying the Knot With An Amagami Sister</i> is inconsistent but has just killed some of its story arcs. I even enjoyed portions of <i>We Never Learn</i>.

For as much as we complain about the boring potato self-insert males that dominate these stories, they’re a thousand times more tolerable than Yamabuki, who starts obnoxious and remains obnoxious.

He busts in talking about how great he is and how much money he makes and basically just strong arms the girls into letting him realize their hopes and dreams because he thinks they suck.

Oh, it’s framed differently, but you can tell that the angle here is how completely not capable these poor girls would be without this superhero swooping in to save the day. Except he’s a jerk.

It takes a lot of gumption to make your females the most interesting characters and then give all your agency to the uncharismatic bozo who will bounce off them in various romantic entanglements until the big reveal.

And the vague reality of this series makes exactly no sense. This mystery girl ran a broadcast, but they talked? It didn’t appear to be a phone-in show, so what the heck was it? How did they ever share words? It’s just pure nonsense and a mystery that has no reason to be ongoing except it will make the series last longer.

Also, I absolutely refuse to believe that any high school in Japan has outfits like that for its female students. This is just adolescent male fantasy that’s as erudite as a watercress salad and about as filling.

2.5 stars - a very generous half star because the girls deserve better. But I wouldn’t ever tune in for a second volume of this without a major tune up.

Furin High School has finally become co-ed, merging the Furin Girls and Boys high schools into one. Arisu Yamabuki finds this to be a boon in his favor since he is looking for a specific voice from the girls of his school. In middle school, every night he listened to a radio show podcast ran by a girl that called herself “Apollo”. However, three years ago she stopped broadcasting and deleted all her shows off the internet entirely, leaving behind not a trace. Yamabuki must find this voice within the crowds so that he may finally reveal something to her.

#ThxNetGalley #MasakuniIgarashi #TuneIntotheMidnightHeart

I enjoyed the art style and the main story was pretty interesting and kept me interested. I had a hard time liking the main character and could do with how sexualized some of the characters were. It was a okay read, I might keep going. Thank you for the early copy.

A boy's quest to find a mysterious girl whose music program he once enjoyed leads him to a new school, where he encounters a quartet of aspiring vocalists. As he delves deeper, a mystery unfolds.

While the girls' character archetypes - the shy one, the tsundere, the airheaded one, and the forward one - may be familiar and visually distinct, they unfortunately feel like tropes rather than fully fleshed-out characters. Their appeal is largely superficial, catering to the target audience's expectations.

Regrettably, this is where my praise for the series ends. Despite its promising premise, the execution falls short, relying on overly familiar character molds rather than meaningful development.