Review of Kokoro Connect

While overall enjoyable, this anime leaves a lot to be discovered. The titular theme of the show, connection, is explored through the characters' dealing with other-worldly "phenomena" from a mysterious being. Though connection and identity seem to be the major purpose of the series, a lack of character depth and relationship building cause this series to fall short. The viewer is thrown quickly into the dynamics of a group of students who already know each other and seemingly have pre-established relationships. The quick-moving plot fails to explore these characters, which means that the viewer hardly knows them before major conflict strikes. The show attempts toforce these developments, as each female character randomly confesses their deepest secrets to the MC for no reason, but this does not make the chracter feel more real. If anything, it makes them feel more like tropes. With this lack of character-depth, the motivations of the characters are unknown and the plot resolutions seem contrived. These resolutions are somewhat wasted on the viewer, as the investment in these seemingly plain characters is low.

It seems these conflict/resolution scenarios always go the exact same way. Someone starts acting different, they get sad and isolate themselves, and then someone monologues a cheesy life lesson at them (normally while yelling) until they realize that they were acting stupid. And now, just like that they are a changed person!

I could go on and on about my disappointment in the characters. I feel that if you are going to make one of your character's major conflicts that she feels like she doesn't have a personality, it would be good to make the other characters... have a personality! You know, for contrast reasons. Really, since 2/5 characters seem more like plot devices than people, Iori does not stand out for lacking a personality. The viewer wouldn't recognize it without her saying it. And I think that is the major issue with this series. Telling instead of showing. We don't get to know these chracters through their actions, but through their dramatic arguments and outright speeches. The characters don't come to realizations themselves as a result of consequences, but instead only learn from another character giving them a lecture.

I thought that Taichi was not believeable as a character either. The whole "all I wanna do is help people" thing can be done in a way that makes sense, but in this case, Taichi just seemed like a helping robot. I would have liked to see him struggle more with this proposed flaw in some way, (like putting others first to the point of hurting himself and/or sacrificing his values, or making others happy to fill an emotional void or something) but it seems throughout the series, Taichi can only do right by people. He shows few emotions other than content and I WANT TO HELP (which is a distinct Taichi robot emotion).

There are definitely some positives to this show, which are why I gave it a 6. The premise is interesting, and the pace will definitely not bore you. There is always some kind of drama, which may be annoying to some, but I quite enjoyed that aspect. It's not an eloquent show, but it will keep you entertained, and who knows, maybe for a younger audience this could help someone realize something about themselves that they didn't know. Oh yeah, and INABA. Inaba really carried the show for me. Honestly, I feel like part of the reason I wanted to keep watching was just so I could se what happened to her character. It's definitely rare for a tsundere to be my favorite character, but Inaba is a tsundere that makes sense given her circumstances.

Overall, I think this anime just tried to do too much. Exploring the character history and development as well as the relationships between them through seemingly endless internal and external conflict is simply too much for a 13 (or 17) episode series. My heavy criticism of this show doesn't come from a lack of enjoyment, but from knowing that this show had the potential to be so much more than it was.