Story - 9/10
The story of Kokoro Connect centers around a group of fives friends, in a High School club, known as the Student Cultural Research Club. What they do in the club in unimportant, it’s what happens to them that is. One day, a supernatural experience happens to them, known as a phenomenon. The phenomenon they experience are swapping bodies, performing their innermost desires, reverting back to a younger age and reading each other’s thoughts. All these supernatural happenings have something in common, it’s all random.
The story focuses on how the characters face the phenomenon, how they handle it. The big overarching theme of the story is, ‘Trust.’ Such as, when switching bodies, can they trust each other not to do anything, that’ll effect their social life, while the original is not in control with their bodies. Or when they can read minds, can really trust each other, after hearing what they said, but the thoughts in the mind is completely different.
Because the phenomenon are random, the plot can get confusing. It’s kind of hard to sometimes tell when a character switches bodies. And the mind reading can happen so fast, it’s possible to miss something. Some of the writing in the plot, can be very over dramatic, which can be annoying. However I think the concept is indeed interesting, trying to go on about your normal routine life, but then suddenly something supernatural happens to you, and you’re completely thrown off.
Characters - 9/10
Taichi Yaegashi, is the main protagonist of the 5 characters. Well he is somewhat a stereotypical protagonist. When it comes to helping others, he cannot resist lending someone a hand. However it’s because of that trait, it’s considered his fault. It explores on his character, if he really wants to help people, or is it just because he can’t help himself. However he’s also the most reliable because of this trait.
Himeko Inaba is the Vice President of the club. Because she is portrayed as somewhat lonely girl, she is distrustful of the others, however she does worry about them a lot, because she doesn’t want to lose them as friends. Because she has trust issues, she doesn’t really know who she is actually, she begins to question herself, if she does things to make others happy or to make herself happy. I love it how her character doesn’t really fall into any stereotypical character traits. Although she is somewhat a lonely girl inside, she has a sense of seriousness, confidence and even humorous personality side to her.
Iori Nagase is the easy going President of the club, wait easy going? Oh no, after her initial appearance, you think she falls under the stereotypical character trope as being the happy go lucky girl. However because of her past experience with her fathers, she has learned to change personality to fit the situation to make everyone happy. So is she who really who she says she is? Again, they take a basic character archetype and they explore the idea of that character type, because honestly, no one can be easy going all the time.
Yoshifumi Aoki is the other guy member in the club, and also Taichi’s best friend. He has an obvious crush on Yui and always confesses to her. He is actually the only member, the others can truly trust. Because his personality is so expressive, he actually usually does thing care freely. He lives life to the fullest, and brings positive energy to the group. However because he is willing to stay positive throughout the situations, he can be the least interesting of the five.
The last of our five is Yui Kiriyama. Yui has androphobia after she was almost raped in junior high school, so she doesn’t trust the boys. So overtime, her friends help her gain the confidence to hang around the guys. Her personality and trust issues get worse as the story progresses, because even though she learns to trusts the others, its herself she cannot trust.
What I love about these characters is how they’re developed. When there is drama, the characters react perfectly, although some maybe dramatic more than the others. When character interact with each other, it makes sense on how they interact with each other. And it’s good to see their relationship improve after learning more about each other and helping each other. I also love how the character may seem stereotypical at first, but then the plot and writers take their personalities on a whole different angle.
Animation and Sound - 7/10, 7/10
The art style is rather standard. It works well at looking clean and smooth, but other than it’s not really that interesting or unique. Because most of the time, the characters are just talking with each other, they don’t perform too many action for the animators to drastically do much. However the lighting in the anime looks gorgeous and fits the mood and setting very well. The characters designs are a bit different than other animes, but not too much. Plus it doesn’t get distracted by fan service too much.
The soundtrack fits the mood and setting of the show, however it is really low so it’s very hard to hear. However when you do listen to individually, it’s not too bad. The voice acting is fine, especially Heartseed’s voice, who is the one controlling the phenomenons, he has a very monotone tired voice to suit him. In terms of the Opening and Ending themes, they do their job, only the recognizable themes were the first opening, the michi random, and the first ending themes.
Enjoyment - 9/10
I enjoyed this series because it reminded me of a similar series I previously watched, however with more drama and less humor. I enjoyed the story and concept, I thought the characters were refreshing in a refreshing concept and plot. Although it can be over dramatic at times, it’s when it’s not, it flows so well. I also enjoyed a lot of the humor it had, the humor didn’t distract from the mood too much, and I think the jokes were clever and smart, really fitting for a teen setting. I really loved watching how the relationships unfolded, plus there was an actual love story, that ended in one of the characters actually dating the other, and not going back to the status quo thing. The ending was satisfying for me. It felt like a proper ending, tying loose ends and you can see the characters changes.
Verdict - 8/10
For the story of Kokoro Connect gets an 9 from me. I love that the story was interesting and unique. I love the different situations the characters were put in and thought they were paced quite well. Plus the ending was satisfying. Little problem was following the story, at times it will be confusing, because the phenomenons jumped quite a bit and can be over dramatic.
The animation and sound both each gets a 7. The art style is nothing special, however it is cleanly and smoothly animated. But nothing special really happens. The lighting is fantastic however, it really suits the mood and settings of the show. The soundtrack suits the atmosphere very well as if you can hear them, it’s a bit hard to hear. The themes are nothing special, they do their job, and they are a good listen.
As for the characters they get a 9 rating from me. Because I found them all interesting and unique. I loved that the writers made me think the characters were stereotypical, but then really change their personalities up to make them unique. I think they were well developed as well. Their interactions and reactions with each other made sense. I think they the whole cast is likeable in one way or another.
For my own personal enjoyment, I give it a 9. Because it really reminded me of Haruhi in a way. But I enjoyed the concept and loved the characters. I think the humor and writing was smart, they made me really love these characters and the genre. I thought the series was paced well, with a satisfying ending.
So after rounding that all up, I give Kokoro Connect an 8/10. It’s an interesting concept with a cast of interesting characters, who are well developed. However the animation and sound is rather standard. I recommend this anime to fans of the slice of life, drama, romance and supernatural genre. I think because of those storylines, the plot can really appeal to those people. However if you’re not into that, it’s fine to skip it, but’s worth your time if you watch it, just don’t expect too many things to happen, because the animation is rather standard. I love the characters, and I believe you love the characters.
