The crowdfunding campaign to bring to Steam an all-ages version of the beloved visual novel Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien (also known as "Rumbling Hearts") has reached its funding goal this morning.
Publisher Anchor had asked fans to pledge 30 million yen (just north of $200,000 at the current exchange rate) on the Japanese crowdfunding platform Ubgoe, and the goal has been achieved and overtaken, with the campaign now at 30,620,790 yen.
There are 35 days to go left on the clock, as the campaign will end on December 29, 2023, so if you want to contribute there is still plenty of time. Fans from outside of Japan are encouraged to use PayPal as Ubgoe accepts only Japanese credit cards directly.
The first stretch goal has also been confirmed on the campaign's Discord server.
It'll be achieved at 33 million yen (approximately $220,000) and it'll involve the addition of the episode "Kanashimi wa Kaze No Yoni" (Sorrow is Like the Wind), which was originally distributed as a bonus for the launch of Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien: Latest Edition in 2008.
Now that the campaign is a success, the game will launch on Steam in a version for all ages in Spring 2024. It'll be exclusively in Japanese at the beginning, but a translation in English is planned and will come with a later update.
That'll be the first time this foundational visual novel that is beloved among Japanese fans is officially localized, and that's certainly a relevant event for fans of the genre.
If you're unfamiliar with Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien, it debuted as an eroge in 2001 in Japan, and is the visual novel that basically put the legendary developer Âge under the spotlight. It was then adapted into an anime in 2003, spreading its popularity even wider.
The anime was actually localized in the West by Funimation with the title "Rumbling Hearts," which is how many fans outside of Japan got to know its story and characters.
It's a beautiful, dramatic, tragic, and at times a little wild love story based on the triangle between Takayuki Narumi and best friends Mitsuki Hayase and Haruka Suzumiya.
It's set in the same world (and school) as the first visual novel of the Muv-Luv series that Âge released in 2023, and several of its characters also appear in the Muv-Luv visual novels
Incidentally, we recently heard that the original Muv-Luv trilogy is coming to Nintendo Switch, while the Muv-Luv Alternative Total Eclipse Prequel "The Imperial Capital Burns" has just been launched on Steam (where the entire franchise is heavily discounted at the moment of this writing due to the Autumn Sale).
The heroines of Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien are also prominently featured in the recently released mobile game Muv-Luv Dimensions and a dedicated crossover is in the works.
Full disclosure: The Author of this post supported the crowdfunding campaign for Kimi Ga Nozomu Eien.
