(I'm writing this after I have watched the last 4 episodes, or apparently called the "special." I recommend all of you to watch the ending immediately after episode 13 because it is essentially concluding the anime. Episode 13 does not offer a concise conclusion in my opinion.)
Before I go any further, I would give a cautionary recommendation for this anime. It's good, really really good, but some parts of the "good" are hard to swallow, especially if you are like me, too used to the typical path of anime storylines. It has a huge dose of realism, which is good to bring us back to reality, but not the best if we like to stay in anime heaven.
Story: 9/10
There is not much of a "story" since it is more like the everyday activities of high school students (with the addition of magical elements). There is no intended goal at the end like finding something or saving someone. Rather, there are many smaller stories intertwined together. Most of the stories arise from the main characters exposing their struggles and the other characters' attempts to ease and eventually eliminate such struggles.
It could be argued that the main goal/plot was to philosophically answer such questions as: if the outside part of us was completely changed, would we still be ourselves? Would people recognize us for who we are, not what we look or seem to be like? It is true that all of the supernatural happenings deal with characters either switching or exposing parts of themselves, which in turn questions what/who a person really is.
Another possible purpose could be to examine the effects of destroying the status quo. If our lives were drastically changed, would be willing just like these characters to easily express our doubts and personal struggles? Would our friends and family be like the group in this anime, offering advice and help, even going so far as to sacrifice time and emotions to save us? What if the anime wanted us to stop going through the motions and realize that everybody has something they want just as much to hide as they want to heal?
It is very interesting how every character's struggles could be considered the main plot, or at least a sub-plot. There is no explicit "main" story, simply an array of stories that comprise the entirety of the anime. This may seem confusing at first, but they have a lot of connections.
I do realize I started off saying there was no plot, and then continued on giving possibility of certain plots. If an anime focused on many plots, is there a plot at all? I hope that paradox helps settle my contradictory tone.
With that in mind, I find there to be a huge connection between the storyline and the characters themselves.
Character: 9/10
The characters are immediately forced to lead two-faced lives (regardless of how many faces they already had before :O) because of the supernatural occurrences that are affecting them directly. Although there is very little or no transition from one supernatural phenomenon to the next, what it does very well is subsequently build character development.
As soon as the supernaturals came to be, the characters became three-dimensional. This I can relate very well in reality. I find a huge struggle in everyday life is being more than just a shallow, quiet entity. If we constantly lived in our own little worlds and followed the status quo, would we ever consider opening ourselves up? This anime beautifully portrays what we ought to do when our world turns upside-down. Perhaps beforehand, we never thought about sharing our deepest, darkest secrets with anyone. We would rather die than do that. We would live in our comfortable reality forever, with no thought of trying to change.
That is, until the world forces us to change. That is what happens in Kokoro Connect. Before the supernatural occurrence, it is implied that the characters never shared their troubles. They simply went to school as everybody else did, going through the motions. Everybody seemed "happy" when in reality all of them were going through difficult things. It was only when the so-called antagonist came and ruined their lives when they finally became human. Imperfect humans.
But I know I would prefer anime humans over anime robots.
It's interesting to note that there really is no antagonist in this story. That entity that is the closest to be considered the "bad guy" actually helped the characters see themselves and others in a new light: a light that exposes instead of hides away.
Sound: 9/10
It is the amplifier of all events. It brings the normalcy in normal school activities, pain in grievous moments, and laughs in humorous occasions. It is always there to make everything seem so much more real. That itself is ironic because real life never really has a soundtrack (maybe play your iPhone during a romantic dinner).
Art: 8/10
I am not a good judge on art and style, but I'm sure it's not out-of-the-box to say that this anime is very pretty, both in its people and its environment. It's nice to note that important scenes brought more memorable scenery, while not-so-important scenes brought more forgetful scenery. Perhaps this happens in every anime, but it is the first time I noticed it.
Enjoyment: 8/10
I forgot to mention the romance the love present in the anime when talking about story and character, so I will place it here. There is a lot of romance (perhaps that is another plot possibility...), but I find it hard to call it "romance." Just as the 3-dimensional aspect of the characters were created through the supernatural events, so too did the romantic feelings. If we placed the romantic feelings out of the context of Kokoro Connect and in the context of another anime without weird things happening, would there still be a romance at all? Is that a question worth answering?
Before I go too deep in ponderous questions, I do want to point out that the anime seems to have two contradictory definitions of love; love is fragile, yet at the same time it seems to bring "happily ever after." It easily crushed two people's romance when it built another seemingly indestructible romance between two other people. I was greatly confused at the purpose for that, and at this time still do no fully understand why they did what they did. Perhaps love is like that, sometimes there for only a while, sometimes there for eternity.
I really enjoyed the anime because of its huge variety of emotions it expressed. There were the funny moments and the sad moments, the times of revelation and the times of hiding, the fighting and the healing. Some things changed that I didn't like, but it's not like everything in life is preferable.
Overall: 9/10
I almost hesitate to give it a 9 because of my adverse feelings toward the anime after my first watch-through. However, before I decided to write a review, I went back and re-watched it, and found out that the uncomfortable feelings the anime gave me were actually blessings in disguise. They were the golden nuggets of life-lessons we can apply for ourselves.
So if any of you are thinking of watching this anime, by all means do so, but do so with an open mind. Some parts may seem different than the cliche anime, but that's what makes it so amazing.
Kokoro Connect - Our Hearts have Connected~
