Review of Kokoro Connect

Spoilers ahead, shouldn't ruin your enjoyment but suit yourself. It's not a terrible show, and some people will definitely enjoy a big part of it, because some aspects are genuinely well done. First off, what I liked about the show. And it's not a short list, the show has some enjoyable parts, even some kinda outstanding. First off, I have to mention the amazing voice acting, especially from Sawashiro Miyuki, who played Inaba perfectly, it was in all honestly one of the most amazing performances ever in a show like this. The rest of the cast is above average but they don't really come close to her. The artis also quite good, it never pulls you out of the show and drives the plot well, it was never jarring and I found it interesting throughout. Especially the animation was done well, I think it portrayed everyone's emotions very well and honestly, I could not be happier with the Art.

Sound was aight, nothing outstanding but it was serviceable, the characters are generally cliches apart from Inaba who seems to be the most interesting throughout, as a kind of lowkey tsundere. The rest was kinda meh, I guess Iori wasn't too bad though.

The idea was also good, but not overly explained too well, intersting enough to keep me engaged throughout though.

What I didn't like the show wasn't the weird cliche characters, or the fact that at times, they acted like total and complete idiots.

No, my problem with the show is that in the end, almost every single problem they had could be solved by simply talking about it. The characters are so reluctant to say anything they feel, and I don't even mean the very deep, personal things. The problems could've been solved by simply talking over what happened, and not even taking it to a deeper level. Like when they have to share their feelings, all Nagase had to say was "You're pressuring me into being a different person than I really am" this probably would've saved us, idk, like 2 episodes worth of content, because they beat around the bush a whole ton. Of course, this is a more forgiving example of this phenomenon in the show, as you could excuse it with her being vulnerable and sad, internalising her emotions or whatever. But when they were exposing their desires Yui just didn't say why she was holed up. She actively ignored everyone, she could've just texted them as to why she didn't want to, but no, they took 2 or 3 episodes to just get her to tell them why that was, not only that but after it happened, the problem was solved pretty much instantly. That's another problem: almost all personal issues, once exposed get solved in about 2 seconds taking out the whole buildup to it's reveal. Yui's problem got exposed and it got solved in almost a comically short time, in a stupid way. They were even pretending that there was something left like they were teasing us that it's not entirely solved, but hey, they forget about it completely and it just ends up being brought back at convenient times. Most annoying thing though is that even once the problems are solved and you would think the characters would change because of it, they just don't. They act the literal same way as before the problem was identified, apart from occasionally mentioning it. Most well presented with Iori who even after apparently 'showing her true self' acts the exact same as she did beforehand even though she stated that she's a 'cold hearted bitch' she still acts enthusiastic as hell. The forced drama is a whole issue entirely, but I think I said enough about the things I dislike about this show.

In the end, I know it sounds like I hated the show but I think that generally it wasn't too bad, boring and annoying at times, yes but generally enjoyable and it's not a pain to sit through, just disappointed because I think the story could've been much better had it been handled and paced differently. I recommend checking out the first 5-6 episodes and if you don't like it by then you never will probably. I'm giving it a 6/10, I wouldn't recommend it per se but it doesn't hurt to check out.