First things first: the story. It is worth mentioning that I came into this anime well aware of one of it's shortcomings, that being the fact that it starts to get weaker around the fifth episode. Due to this fact, I came in knowing that I had to keep my expectations in check. Perhaps that is one of the reasons I came out enjoying it more than a lot of people seem to. Something to keep in mind as I go over some of the main points of the story.
The show gets props for having quite an interesting concept. We've all seen mind reading used as a plot point in fiction, but I don't think I've ever seen it explored in this kind of way before. It's interesting to see something that seems so useful on paper being deconstructed like that, and showing how it ends up being little more than a burden for the titular character. The subject matter was an interesting twist that kept the show from seeming like an ordinary slice of life type show with nothing unique going for it.
The story has a tone that is all over the place. At times it's comedic while at others it is very dramatic. While I think it does drama better than comedy, I don't hold the opinion that the show should have kept going with what it was doing in the first 10 minutes. There is a show that focuses primarily on being a "forever alone" drama, and that is Watamote. Honestly, I got bored with Watamote after awhile. I empathized with the main character, but I got tired of the show never getting passed showing her misfortune and social awkwardness. If Kotoura-san went in the same direction, I probably would have gotten bored with it as well. I would take a little of drama and comedy over that option any day. Plus, I like arks that have a character start with nothing and slowly gather a circle of friends. That is one of the reasons I like Gaara as a character (oh no, he mentioned Naruto! Minus one hundred trillion credibility points!).
The beginning was undeniably the best part of the show as it did the best job keeping a good tonal balance keeping it from being too melodramatic or hammy, exploring the nature of Kotoura's power and its effects on relationships, and also had the best character interactions (Moritani was a great love to hate antagonist in the early part of the show). Unfortunately the middle was undoubtedly a step down in quality. While some seem to hold the opinion that the detective ark was one of the main weak points of the show, while I hold the view that it was a breath of fresh air compared to what came directly before it. Yes, the unique condition of the criminal seemed to be a cop out in a lot of ways, the identity of the crook was easy to determine, and the storyline as a whole seemed way too familiar to Persona 4. Despite this, I feel like more effort was put into it than the episodes that directly preceded it, primarily due to the fact that those episodes seemed to just be generic anime material to me. It had a beach episode! Beach episodes are one of the poster children of cliched tropes in anime. Additionally, some of the humor in the middle of the series just seemed in bad taste to me (I point to incestuous Grandpa and the time that Moritani and Manabe were hallucinating as examples of what I think count as this shows humor going too far). The last ark did a much better job of presenting comedy that didn't go beyond my personal comfort zone.
As far as the ending is concerned, I thought it did it's job well. I will agree that some things came off as rushed, but I feel that is to be expected to some extent considering we're talking about condensing volumes of a manga into 12 episodes. There was no plot point left open at the end of the day, and nothing that happened in the last episodes appeared to me to come from left field (yes, that includes the character development of Kumiko). The show tied up it's loose ends and ended in a way that didn't leave much in the way of lingering questions. I think the ending did it's job well. In short, the show started great, stumbled on the half way mark, and picked itself up near the end, though I'll admit it never reached the levels of quality it began with.
Now for the art and sound, which won't take up nearly as much time (I promise). The art past the first few minutes of the show was very moe (not a huge fan of that term, but it fits). Seriously, it seems like all of the female characters have a noticeable flush in their face throughout the entire story, and it would be a lie to say it wasn't a bit distracting. Other than that, I don't have a ton of things to say about the art. It did its job, but it didn't blow my mind. Same can be said for sound, as I struggle to remember songs outside of the opening theme. Little stuck out, but nothing got in the way.
Finally there is the issue of the characters. On the one hand, they can be a little archeytipical (there is the shy one, the pervy one, the smart one, the tomboyish one...), the vast majority of the cast gets some manner of character development, so you don't get the feeling that they are in stasis. I can only say I hated one of the characters when all was said and done (that being the grandfather). Even Manabe with his overly emphasized sexual mind comes off as ultimately being a likable character. The characters, while not anything that hasn't been seen before, were for the most part treated well.
Overall, I think the show delivered on presenting us with the familiar supernatural power of mind reading and putting it in a unique context.
While some of the more comedic points are groan worthy, I think I ultimately got more out of the show with them there than I would have without them. The show certainly had its shortcomings, but I walked away satisfied with the show in its entirety.
So that's the end of that. If someone reads this and feels like they could point me in the right direction with writing these things, feel free to critique me.
