Kotoura-san (The Troubled Life of Miss Kotoura)

Since childhood, Haruka Kotoura's classmates have seen her as a creepy and monstrous person. This is due to her ability to read other people's minds—the same ability that drove her parents away, leaving her alone with her grandfather. As a result, she has grown accustomed to the bitter treatment by the people around her, becoming completely cold and unsociable to others.

However, everything starts to change when Haruka transfers to a new school. While most are off put by her as usual, she meets Yoshihisa Manabe, who finds her power astonishing. Yoshihisa then proceeds to befriend Haruka, promising to never leave her no matter what happens.

Haruka's new experiences of social belonging thus begin, meeting new friends and learning to open herself along the way.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:	Kotoura-san
Side story:	Kotoura-san: Haruka no Heya

Nakano, Yutaka
Japanese

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Staff

WEST GROUND

Producer

Ougi, Jiyuu

Producer

Oota, Masahiko

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Aketagawa, Jin

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"Sonna Koto Ura no Mata Urabanashi Desho? (そんなこと裏のまた裏話でしょ?)" by Megumi Nakajima

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Ending Theme

	1: "Kibou no Hana (希望の花)" by Haruka Chisuga (千菅春香) (eps 1-4,7-12)
	2: "ESP Ken no Theme (ESP研のテーマ)" by ESP Kenkyuukai (ESP研究会) (eps 5)
	3: "Tsurupeta (つるぺた)" by Hisako Kanemoto (eps 6)

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Mar 29, 2013

Infinite

Not Recommended

Kotoura-san has the makings of an exceptional show. It has the ambition to be both an emotional drama and an uplifting comedy, to be an experience full of highs and lows to keep you engrossed to the end. It even has an intriguing premise providing a solid foundation for its narrative. Regrettably, it is clear from the very first episode that not only is Kotoura-san plagued by atrocious writing, it furthermore has the entirely wrong attitude when it comes to the use of drama in general.

Kotoura-san tells the story of Kotoura Haruka, a girl with the power to read people's minds. Whilst one would expect ... such a power to be a gift, this unfortunately couldn't be further from the truth for Kotoura, who goes through tragedy and strife. As more and more people reject her, she sinks into the depth of loneliness. Abandoned by her parents and afraid to get hurt, she moves from school to school, keeping people at distance. But upon transferring into yet another school, she meets Manabe, a perverted yet honest individual who accepts Kotoura for who she is, and tries with the help of others to get Kotoura to accept herself.

With such a promising premise, how did it all go wrong?

Kotoura-san, bless its poor, forsaken heart, knows nothing of subtlety. When it comes to the drama, the show's writers want you to know for certain what's happening on screen is tragic, and they are not leaving it up to chance. Kotoura-san makes sure you know by shoving it in your face, being incredibly melodramatic, and blaring histrionic orchestral music at your ears. You can practically hear the director shouting "ARE YOU SAD YET? BE SAD NOW!". The writing is so heavy-handed in its approach that the scenes often don't even make sense, as elements designed to make the scenes even more full of anguish are carelessly introduced without proper thought. At worst, things get completely out of hand as you are bombarded with one melodramatic scene after another.

The very first episode is a perfect example. Kotoura's tragic backstory is told, where each depressing event in her life is immediately followed up by another one, aiming to be even sadder than the last. Eventually it escalates into a ridiculous scene in which Kotoura-san, previously finding her only solace in a stray kitten, breaks down because she is informed that the cat has been taken away, leaving her alone. This would be acceptable, however the woman who informs Kotoura proceeds to shout at her, telling her to "Leave and never come back!" for no apparent reason. This is one of the many contrivances used to easily make the scene more emotional, which are the defining hallmarks of Kotoura-san.

The complete lack of subtlety in Kotoura-san's drama is replicated in the fanservice as well. The fanservice consists of eponymous Kotoura being cute, a rather innocent and likable form. However, when the show wants you to notice how cute she is, it again makes sure this is impossible to ignore; once again you are assaulted with one cute scene of Kotoura after another. Kotoura would be more endearing if not for how persistently the show confronts us with it. That said, the fanservice is still a relative highlight of the series, even if poorly executed like the other aspects.

Unfortunately, the comedic aspect of Kotoura-san is also lacking. The essential joke of the series is that the male lead Manabe has a perverted fantasy of Kotoura; who will then get embarrassed and annoyed at him. This joke is then repeated throughout the entire series. Funny as it was the first few times, by the fiftieth iteration of the joke it was getting incredibly tedious. It is fortunate that the show invested in other jokes, however these are also repeated frequently and whilst some of the jokes were funny enough to withstand constant repetition, the majority were not. The repetition of this poor comedy becomes a dull monotony for the viewer. Additionally the humour comes at often inopportune times, causing a large emotional whiplash when placed right in the middle of a dramatic scene, a problem that pervades the entire show. If you are the sort that likes "perverted humour" then the comedy will most likely be more amusing, and will sustain its freshness for much longer.

For the writers, all that seems to matter is the result. They appear not to care if the story makes little sense or is filled with plot holes; so long as the dramatic scenes are saturated with sadness and woe, they consider it a job well done. This attitude is ultimately what's responsible for the terrible writing. It is indeed unsurprising that the writer who was unable to come up with enough jokes to last the series, was also unable to write more than one pattern of character development. Kotoura-san is rescued from her depression by her friends (notably Manabe) at least three times. This wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact that it's the same issue every time, simply disguised by a different context. Ultimately what happens every time is that Kotoura becomes self-loathing and depressed because she blames herself for bad events, only to be "saved" by Manabe and the rest of her friends. Call me a cynic, but although it is clear that Kotoura suffered a tramautic past, the drama feels insincere when Kotoura is saved by Manabe through the same process multiple times.

The comedy, romance, and drama that make up the plot of Kotoura-san were in shambles. The quality of writing is dismal, it desired the story to end up a cohesive mix of these disparate narrative elements, but either they couldn't be bothered to actually put in the time and effort to make it work within a story, or they were simply unable to. Whatever the reason, the sheer quantity of inconsistent tone and plot holes is almost insulting- it's a depressing thought that this standard was deemed acceptable.

The art and character designs were of low quality, they both look messy and have very little detail. For the comedy segments this is not so much a problem, as the 4koma style character designs suit it well. However, when it comes to the dramatic scenes the character designs are in stark contrast to the melodrama, and appear incredibly awkward when the art gets in your face. The music is generic and lacks subtlety, dramatic scores being employed ruthlessly in every single scene bar one notable exception that verges upon melancholy. The opening is cute and likable, if not ultimately forgettable; the ending is simply nondescript.

On a more positive note, the characters are all pretty likable. They evoke sympathy from the audience even if they are well defined by a limited number of distinctive traits, and are at times enjoyable to watch; you certainly shouldn't have a problem with any of them. Well, perhaps apart from Moritani. She starts the series as an antagonistic figure, only to have her personality overhauled, leading to an abrupt and irrational character change that is poorly explained. Again, the attitude of the writing shines through once again. However, there is one facet of Kotoura-san that was done right, and that was the romance. The relationship that develops between Manabe and Kotoura was surprisingly well done over the course of the series, despite it's repitious nature. Their interaction isn't complex or deep, but in a show where characters can just change personality at the drop of a hat, it was a real highlight.

To conclude, the incredibly forceful attempts to evoke emotion in Kotoura-san is stifling, demonstrating an extreme example of the "tell not show" attitude to drama. If you can ignore poor writing, and relish heavy-handed drama and comedy, then this show will probably be of great enjoyment to you. If, on the other hand, you loathe over the top melodrama and care at all about plot progression, then Kotoura-san is nothing more than a trainwreck.

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Feb 2, 2013

onesnowyday_

Recommended

Our childhood is often filled with many blanks and not much memories. The few you might remember are some friends you made or games you played.

But, what if the memories you remember most vividly were the ones filled with bullying,ignorance, and broken hearts?

Kotoura-san starts off as a seemingly sad and powerful drama. Maybe a bit generic. What throws people off is that after the first half of the show, it just hits you with all this comedy that you weren't expecting. This is probably what caused the downfall of the show. I can't say I exactly disliked the comedy, but it would've been better ...

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Feb 11, 2014

aNinjaWithAIDS

Recommended

Wow... Just wow. This show easily makes it onto my highest favorites. There is nothing I can truly nit pick about the show that would detract me from my rating. It took me for a ride I won't soon forget.

Story: This is among the most emotional stories I have ever had the grace and the priveledge of experiencing. I'm not lying when I say this: It deserves to be seated in the high heavens for the drama genre. Why? Haruka's backstory alone had me under emotional torture. The show itself proved how serious it can get when it wants to, and boy they wasted no ... time in doing so. I have never had a stronger first impression for any show of any medium (yes, even stronger than Clannad). That isn't the say the story is always dramatic; in fact the comedy was equally well done. I might have broken a lung in laughter. Even if it's the same gag, there's still the hint of freshness in that it's done differently each time in differently awkward, yet appropriate situations. Bottom line: If you have any sympathy in you, then this show will exploit every part of it. It's likely the show will crush your soul once or twice, but it also leaves you happy and satisfied. Kotoura-san is absolutely top tier in it's story, and it's not just a simple Romantic Comedy. This story is one for the ages! 10/10.

Art: It's simple, doesn't try to innovate, or invoke scenery porn all the time; but it's that simplicity which makes it very clear what we should be feeling and when.The graphics were very pleasant to watch, and I had no problem with it whatsoever (especially since I marathoned the show) .The special effects were also very pretty to look at and weren't overdone in the sense that they never distracted me from the one fantasy element the show focused on: the telepathy. The character designs were plain for the most part, but very cleanly done which is fitting for telling a story in an otherwise mundane setting. I didn't see any notably bad off modeling (QUALITY!!) during my marathon. I found all of the characters' movements to be enjoyable and sensible except for one: Daichi "fish lips" Muroto. His mouth was just too weird and strange for me to watch, and I can't see why they made that his default expression. He looks like a derp to me when he's supposed to be the smart one, and that doesn't register well with me. Still, the art overall is simple, yet elegant and vividly expressive. 9/10

Sound: The voice acting was absolutely perfect! The characters' emotions and personalities were portrayed in a very clear and concise manner on top of sounding their age. The characters' feelings can be readily felt in their voices, and each voice suited each character in each situation to excellent degrees. The opening and ending themes didn't catch on with me at first, but I grew to love them. As for the soundtrack, I didn't just hear the music, I felt it too. The classical music inspired soundtrack also accompinies the story to carry the appropriate emotions. Seriously, listen to the prolouge theme, as in right now. It is the most profound example of this phenomenon the OST can provide. Otherwise, the simplicity wins again, both in my heart and in it's catchy listening value outside the show. Pure ear candy 10/10.

Character: It's amazing how much I attached myself to the main heroine in just 10 minutes. She is among the deepest and most dynamic characters I've ever followed. Everything about her from her personality, motivations, and thought processes is perfectly justified and empathic to me. Manabe couldn't be a better foil for her, even if he tried. A guy who freely admits his perversion and an overall free and flexible thinker makes for the best long-term counter to Kotoura's telepathy in the most enjoyable way possible. Manabe may be an idiot, but his heart is definitely in the right place and he knows it! The guy definitely earns his balls as well as Kotoura's love by the end. The main supporting cast also develops surprisingly well and likable over, but some of those character's motivations were sold a bit short (I'm looking at you, Moritani, and your distaste for dojo inheritance). Muruto's neutral stance towards Mifune is also annoying and baffling to me, but not extremely so. Otherwise, the characters felt human and were dramaticly driven and they all had real power behind them. 9/10

Enjoyment: I marathoned the entire show in just one night. That alone speaks volumes how much I enjoyed this show: it was an insatiable addiction! 10/10

Overall: WATCH IT! I don't care who you are, or what genre you're normally into. Do yourself a service: drown in your own tears, break yourself in laughter, and/or just enjoy the ride. It's probably the wildest emotional roller coaster out there if you can stand seeing Manabe's perverted thoughts. 10/10

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Poll: Kotoura-san Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Mar 28, 2013	266 replies	by GakutoDeathGlare »» 51 minutes ago
Poll: Kotoura-san Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Jan 31, 2013	206 replies	by GakutoDeathGlare »» Yesterday, 4:41 AM
Poll: Kotoura-san Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Mar 21, 2013	162 replies	by Absolemnix »» Apr 19, 12:31 PM
Manga Adaptation Complete? Koichi23xKaneki2 - Feb 20	1 replies	by removed-user »» Feb 20, 3:25 AM
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