Have you ever had that one anime that hits you right in the logical boundary where you start to question how you would truly react if that particular situation were to happen to you? Well, this show made me think and reevaluate how i would hold up if I were one of the main characters, and my own philosophy made it a day long thing. Anyway, welcome to Kokoro Connect, where you can easily be swept up in the laughter, happiness, and of course the feels.
Story: 9
The story behind Kokoro Connect is that on a very average day, a club full of 5 friends start experiencing something weird going on. When I say weird I mean switching bodies kind of weird. This is all due to a supernatural being named Heart Seed out of nowhere got bored, and decided to screw with some humans just for his pure amusement, which is kind of a dick move in my opinion, but hey im not completely judging, okay maybe a little. The story takes a good hard look behind the way that a unnatural phenomenon in between very close friends can make any water that was quelled in the past start to seem a bit choppy and divided. The story for all it is worth was well written and well versed in dialogue that all of the story is understood quite easily and beautifully. The main brilliance goes mainly into the characters and their different faults, because we as humans do have those even if a little or many.
Characters: 8
I'm going to start off by saying that the characters I think made the show what it is and what you should expect it to be. With that being said, all of the characters work so well with each other to instill either comedy or drama into our experience due to all the conflicting personalities and emotions, from the typical nice-help-everyone type of guy Taichi, to the super-hyper Iori, to the strict Inaba, to the expressive Yui, and finally, Mr calm, cool, and collected Aoki. The main conflict is that you can never know what a person truly is until put into a bad situation, some change, some don't, and that's kind of the gist of what this show presents the characters with. The thing I like most about the show is that even though it is 17 episodes (including OVA), it presents the story and plot points in such a way that it moves quicker than some other slice-of-life shows feel with 24-26 episodes. In my opinion, there is not a character that I can say that I have disliked even the trouble making Heart Seed, even though he started all the nonsense.
Art: 8
The art was very fundamental to the story in that it doesn't restrict the character personal outlay and movements that would take away from the experience from small changes on their faces to grand movements and gestures that Iori loves to do. The color span is colorful and refreshing even among the advancements in animation in the new line of shows coming out recently.
Sound: 8 I personally had a neutral reaction with the opening and ending, but what I liked about the music is that it matches the feeling you should be preparing yourself for before the episode comes on and tries to lighten or lift up your dampened spirits from the day you just had to put you in the right mindset to get right back into the kokoro connect world.
Enjoyment: 8
I loved almost every part of this show from the music to story to characters, Starchild records worked really well together to portray the intensity of what the manga was trying to lay down. I couldn't stop after the first episode, it drew me in and wouldn't let me go. If I had to pick one thing that I liked about the show is the raw emotion that they had each character portray in their own way. My enjoyment was from the start and beginning with Aoki, he was my favorite character because he is the calm and collected that I represent myself as to people that know me, and he is probably one of the main reasons that I liked this show as much as I did.
Overall: 9
All in all, this show is meant for anyone who enjoyed shows like Golden Time, or, at an extreme perspective, Wandering Son. This show brings to the front line of slice of life anime a story line that will provide intrigue, comedy, and maybe a few hidden tears. If you are even the slightest bit interested in the idea of this show, then you shouldn't wait a minute more to start enjoying this twist on a topic that is kind of tip toed around in modern shows.
