I see so many people liking this, but honestly, it's a bigger disappointment than Tokyo ESP (and that's no easy feat). Like Tokyo ESP which offers us a first episode of mindless violent badassness, Kotoura-san starts by telling the story of... You guessed it, Kotoura! The girl was born with the ability to read minds, except she didn't know she was differnet to begin with, which led to a lot of complications. She is called a freak, everyone hates her, her parents get divorced after she accidentally reveals that they had been cheating on each other, her mother (who was in charge of her)grows to hate her (and show that in no unclear terms) and abandons her too, the one pet she finds (kinda) to keep her company is taken away from her and all the while she can hear everyone both physically and mentally blaming her. The coloring is done brilliantly, starting from colorful at her first days, gradually becoming darker and darker. Mere words cannot describe how amazing a villain set this is. In less than 12 minutes the show has created the background for one of the best psychotic monsters in media history. The girl had amazing potential for evil incarnate, one of those creatures beyond hope, wearing the shell of a human, wanting nothing but watch the world burn, utterly consumed by the pain inside.
Well, apparently she wasn't "beyond help" after all and in fact hadn't yet developed any psychotic tendancies. In all that self-isolation she apparently kept hidden a very loving and caring character instead of deep all-consuming hatred for everything that is humanity. After the first 12 minutes of holy-s#%t-hardcore drama the show throws at us, Kotoura (now 15), rerolls at her new school where she meets a MORON who apparently doesn't care about her mind reading abilities and starts thinking "funny" goofy things that cheer her up and make her a happier person. By all means male lead, go jump off a cliff. After that the whole show turns into a comedy and Kotoura's background is gradually explored. Kotoura also starts developing feelings for the retard that stopped what could have been abyssely evil. Sorry but I just cann't let it go! He's like a cockblocker for psychos!
The show goes full cliche after this. In fact it annoyes me a loooot that Kotoura doesn't have any major traumas. She does have occasional awkard moments but nothing serious.(Spoilers alert) At some point she even finds her mother (who was a total bi#%^ to her) and forgives her without a second thought. IT DOESN'T WORK THAT WAY. Or more importantly, you can't do that show! You just can't! You can't just write off what you have shown be to be completely horrible and dark experiences that would drive anyone insane in a month, let alone 15 F%$@ING YEARS.
The art is incredibly cutesy, especially for Kotoura-san (who's more or less a loli) but makes the males seem somewhat silly. The music fits and with the exception of the main male lead which I would like to choke the voice acting fits good.
If the show had started as a comedy I propably would really like it, but by the gods, you can't throw so much hardcore drama at us and then go full comedy/slice of life.
