Yep, the obvious, see how well they masticate. Read it again, what were you thinking of?
Kokoro Connect revolves around the daily, not so normal lives of Taichi, Iori, Himeko, Yoshifumi and Yui and their encounters in the Cultural Research Club. Up until recently they thought that they and their friends lived normal happy lives, but now the Heartseed is pulling their lives apart and exposing their inner secrets through body switching, urges and age regression.
The love and teen pentagonal comedy follows the strange phenomena at the Yamahoshi Academy's Culture Club, starting with the five male and female club members switching bodies with each other.
Mix two parts school uniforms and setting, two parts moe, and one part original detail. Blend thoroughly. Serve warm.
Production values are quite good, and there's a good level of detail to go around most of the time. Some scenes are picturesque. At other times, there's an unfortunate loss of detail in mid-ground elements that makes it difficult to focus, but this doesn't happen very often over the stretch.
While this is not a show whose events are ever intended to push aural or visual envelopes, Kokoro Connect is well-animated, and there is never a point where this show looks anything but nice. There is a bit of fan-service here and there but nothing so intrusive that it distracts from the relationship dynamics.
In terms of the animation, I am personally getting tired of the K-ON-like moe look; whether you like how the characters are designed is really based on personal preference. As for quality, Silver Link doesn't offer anything as stunning as a P.A. Works anime, but it manages to hold its own. There were no noticeable mistakes in body proportions, angles, or object size and the quality remains consistent throughout the series.
I have to commend the main cast for the first arc they essentially had to act as five (and in some cases six) different characters, since each character used the voice that went along with the body when they switched, and they all did a rather good job. I've heard some complaints that this studio Silver Link isn't known for hiring really great actors but I think they did a mediocre job this time.
Both OPs and EDs are quite catchy and serve well as introductions to the series though nothing to memorable. Sound effects are nothing remarkable but do their job throughout the series.
Everything this series does is for the emotional and dramatic effect, and thus the characters all have very interesting backgrounds. What the show does do a good job of, however, is not washing over things. Whatever happens to the characters their pain isn't easily fixed like some anime likes to do. Throughout the series you still see traces of the pain in the characters and that everything that has happened has strongly affected them one way or another.
They're forced to develop at a rapid pace is a direct product of the supernatural elements of the plot. The point can definitely be made that these elements are a contrivance. When it comes to the concluding arc I'd even tend to agree more often than not. That doesn't entirely eliminate the effect of more than half a season of strong build-up, however the worst thing for me was that, despite the title, I couldn't "connect" with any of the characters, they was more like actors interpreting their roles. Almost everything they said or did felt like forced for the sake of the plot, and Taichi out of them all, is just a place holder for a proper main character, as his personality was not actually explored.
I appreciate that it had the guts to go for actual drama and to ask interesting questions. Ultimately though, you have to deliver results. I also think the series suffers quite a bit due to a cast that’s fairly weak in the final analysis. Taichi’s issues I’ve already covered, and with Inaba the problem was simply that I never liked her very much – she’s easily the most clichéd member of the cast and I never really bought into her self-important self-pity and overcompensating and overbearing arrogance. Aoki and Yui had a definable plot arc, at least, but they were largely plot devices, as Taichi was. It was really only Nagase that emerged as both a likeable and well-defined character, and she too tended to be manipulated for the contrivance of the plot far too often.
Interesting, original premise. Strong opening. Mediocre mid section. Poor ending. It's a downward slope all the way past the first arc - which is a real shame, because the initial episodes hint at the potential for a truly exciting series. Instead we're left with an unfinished mess that takes those pieces that had a chance at greatness and just kind of drops them on the ground.
So does will this series connect you your heart? Possibly. Perhaps not.
Will I stop with these stupid puns? Never.
