Kokoro Connect Anime Review

KOKORO CONNECT SCORE: 7.8

INTRODUCTION & SYNOPSIS

Kokoro Connect is a comedy, romance, drama anime centered around the lives of five high school freshman and a strange phenomenon that occurs to personally intertwine their lives. When each of our five main characters find themselves in a club together, something very strange starts to occur... They all start switching bodies! The spirit/being behind the mystery takes over one of their teachers bodies to inform the group of what’s going on, explaining that this is happening purely because he finds it “interesting to watch,” and if they try to make it not interesting by staying home from school there will be “consequences.”

As the story progresses, due to the body switching and other phenomenons that occur throughout the story, secrets start to be unveiled, love triangles form, and resolutions are reached. As the title suggests, their “Kokoro” or in English, their heart(s) are connecting; they can start to feel the feelings of one another and know the innermost thoughts of each of their friends. If I do say so myself, this makes for quite the interesting story.

PROS

My favorite thing about Kokoro Connect was its story. The story line was enigmatic, emotional, funny, and romantic. I laughed and felt many of the characters dilemmas of unrequited love, fear, regret, and more. Speaking of characters, somewhere along the line it becomes clear that there is a main protagonist – Taichi. They are all main characters, but Taichi seems to be the focus and glue that holds together the group, and I really liked his character for it. He was a selfless and kind person that helps almost every other character along in reaching their resolution. Additionally, I loved the OTP (one true pairing) element the characters had in this anime. With the various character relationships you root for certain ones to develop and grow, which makes for an interesting and engaging watch. I personally, really loved the connection between Innaba and Taichi the most. I wish they would have focused a bit more on the development of their relationship, but we'll get to that in the cons…

Another pro for Kokoro Connect is it's great balance between drama and comedy. The show was never weighed down by the drama, and was never too silly from having too many jokes. It's hard to have that perfect balance, but this anime pulls it off. There's even a nice balance of male and female characters.

Lastly for pros, I really liked the opening theme; when I say that I’m actually not talking about the song – the song was pretty forgettable. However, the colors and animation in the opening theme were far better than in the show, and I liked watching them soar through the vibrant sky; very serene and fun to watch. The opening reminded me a little of “Love, Chunibyo, and Other Delusions.” Kokoro Connect's tone and feel actually reminded me of that anime a lot at times, and they even share some of the same voice actors.

CONS

As for the cons, I did actually have quite a bit for this anime. First off, the animation side was slightly disappointing and to be frank, lazy at times. The simple style works better for a comedy only. I felt as though the animation couldn't handle some of the more serious moments. The opening theme is the best animation you’ll see for the whole show. Secondly, I really don’t remember any OST’s from this show at all – it could have benefited from a better soundtrack to create atmosphere for some of the scenes.

The worst con for me is one of the main characters - Iori. I just didn’t like her. Her voice and character design were not good in my opinion. I like her voice actor as other characters in different shows, but as Iori it came off annoying and a bit screechy. Her character design was way off base; the whole first part of the show people would comment that she is the prettiest in her grade, she’s popular, so good looking, and all of that, yet her character design was (in my opinion) the least attractive of all of the girls in this entire anime. I didn’t feel for her because her problems seemed, for lack of a better word, kind of dumb. What’s worse, for the greater part of the second season the anime totally focuses on her, and our main protagonist Taichi is smitten with her for the greater part of the show. Innaba was the focus of the first season, so when it switched over to Iori, I was left confused. They shouldn’t have wasted so much time solving Iori's piddly problems, and rather focused on Innaba and Taichi’s relationship. When they do circle back to Innaba and Taichi, their connection loses its charm because of the fact that they cut Innaba off and switch focus to Iori for so long. We end up with a cheap and forced relationship that could have been really captivating had Iori not ruined it. The anime would have benefited greatly from a total change in Iori's personality, back story, and place in the anime altogether.

Another major con was this show's ending. After all of the buildup, and everything the characters went through, we don’t get answers as to why they had to go through this. It just kind of stops and everyone moves on, The End. What is that?!

FINAL THOUGHTS

Kokoro Connect was an enjoyable anime to watch, and the situations the characters got into were interesting. Although I had a lot of issues come up with this anime, it didn't outweigh the positives and I would still recommend it to a friend who likes Rom/Com Anime or someone who enjoys the supernatural element in anime. Thus, I have come up with a score of 7.8/10. Let me know if you have seen this anime, and what you thought in the comments! Did Iori bother you as much as she did me?

Watched On: dubs2go.net (freesource)