Arisu Yamabuki is a high school boy with a strong personality. A lesser man might’ve resorted to an inner monologue to introduce himself to the viewer, but not Arisu. The first chance he gets, he invites himself to the front of the class to explain exactly who his classmates are dealing with. He comes from a wealthy family and is meant to lead Japan to greatness. He’s destined to be perfect, but as of this time, he’s only 99% there. He’s missing just one thing to complete him: a lady. In fact, that’s exactly why he chose this specific school. Arisu suspects one of the girls at this school is the streamer, “Apollo”, who he used to listen to online before she suddenly quit streaming. During a lunchtime broadcast, his sharp ear recognizes Apollo’s voice, despite the bad audio quality. He rushes over to the broadcasting club, only to find four girls, each of whom sounds like Apollo. Upon direct questioning, none of them claims to be Apollo. Will Apollo find the courage to eventually reveal herself? Or will Arisu’s intimidating aura and gravitas prove to be insurmountable?

Arisu has to be the most unhinged main character I’ve ever seen in a romcom. He’s so cringe that he transcends the secondhand embarrassment zone and lands in the sweet spot where I can’t help but laugh at his shenanigans. Because of this, I could easily look past the slightly inconsistent art and animation. The only thing I’m worried about is whether Arisu will stay entertaining when the novelty wears off. As far as the mystery element goes, one episode is too little to say whether it will be interesting. Same with Shinobu, Nene, Iko, and Rikka. At the very least, I think the way everyone at the school takes Arisu semi-seriously could provide plenty of fun moving forward. I’m not the biggest fan of the genre, but as long as the anime doesn’t revert to the mediocre harem mean, I’ll keep on watching.

Tune in to the Midnight Heart is streaming on Crunchyroll.