Review of Kokoro Connect
This series is absolutely phenomenal, even though it may not have the highest rating. Majority of the overall rating comes from enjoyment in my review, cause even if the story and character is a heaping pile of shit, if the anime makes it work, i'll give them creds. Okay so here goes.. Story (8) - The story is very interesting, in that you really don't know what's gonna happen next. The first story arc ended with a BANG and I was almost scared for a minute there. The biggest problem I can find with the story is that it is forced alot-Balloon Vine comes, does weird phenomenon, big life changer, goes back to normal and cycle continues. I really didn't know if the anime was supposed to be comedic or dramatic with this, and it became a pain to see the characters just go through the same thing all over again. It also suffers from a tell-all story, in which the characters have to say what they are feeling instead of it being understood by the viewer through their actions. That being said, the body swapping and and other little moments make the anime totally worth it.
Art (8) - I really liked the art, because it wasn't extremely high quality, and a bit fuzzy, which in a way resembled the relationships between the characters- nothing's solid and nothing's established yet, they're still finding out who they are.
Sound (6) - A lot of ppl like the soundtrack, but i found it pretty mediocre. It works occasionally but majority of the time the anime is held up by its story and characters.
Character (8) - This anime is really split into underdeveloped characters, overdeveloped characters, and characters somewhere in between. The UD (underdeveloped) characters would be Aoki and Yui. The OD (overdeveloped) characters would be Taichi and Nagase. The in between would be Inaba, which is really the sweet spot of the series. I'll go down the list.
Aoki is the most bland character in the show. We only get some form of development for him when he thinks that he doesn't really love Yui, which was his only defining characteristic in the first place. We get occasional moments of his interactions with Taichi as well, but he has little to no moments with Nagase or Inaba, which probably gives him the least development. He loves Yui unconditionally, but the anime leaves out one key component to this love, why. In the entire series, Aoki gives no solid reason for loving Yui except that she's cute and has a nice personality - which personality? Ultimately, gets a little better but that was from being a horrible character so not much improvement.
Yui is a pretty interesting character in the show. The show starts off its problem solving with Yui's fear of men-which only pops up at certain times to raise suspense, its extremely inconsistent. The reason for her fear is good (almost raped), but the anime doesn't even address that seriously, which couldve given it so much more depth. Aoki loves her, and she loves him too, but why? This relationship is definitely forced in the show, and there is only one major detriment to it later on. However, Yui does have a good, developed relationship with Taichi and Nagase, which redeems her unrealistic relationship with Aoki. However, she has little to no interaction with Inaba (which could've saved her character, explained later).
Taichi is supposed to be the main character of the show, but that spot really should go to Inaba. He is tagged early on as the selfless member of the group, he loves to solve people's problems. This made me dislike him out of all the members the most. I would've been 100% good with taichi if inaba didnt label him as the savior so early on, it wouldve been to nice to see that trait represented through his actions. It wasn't tho and as a result the show goes to far in this trait and overdevelops him by having him solve everyone's freaking problem in this show. I never really liked his relationship with
Nagase, they are set up by everyone in this show, but they dont click, and for some reason the show thought differently. However, he gets better as the show goes on, and his unrealistic relationship with Nagase is resolved in the 4 episode extra arc.
Nagase is, sadly the receiver of all the horrible things in this show. Balloon Vine manages to make her already crappy life even more like hell with each of his pranks. Her characterization is one of the most sad yet beautiful things in the show, we learn that she still doesn't even know who she is yet cause she has been concealing her real self all these years. When she changes to who she really is people shun her and tell her to go back to being herself, but she still doesn't even know what that is yet. Her relationship with Taichi and Inaba complicate this even more. Inaba forces them together, but we learn later that Nagase doesn't really think they fit. Even though Taichi is supposed to be the main character in this show, the title really should go to Nagase.
Inaba is the saving grace of this show. She's easily one of the best developed characters alongside Nagase. Her main problem is that she suffers from know-all syndrome, which means she KNOWS EVERYTHING ABOUT WHATS GOING TO HAPPEN. She knows that the phenomenons will either destroy or connect them, which just kills any sort of suspense made. Apart from this, her intuition is one of the best devices in the show to advance the relationships between the characters. If you look at the other characters, and how developed they are, that being Taichi and Nagase on the top, they interact a lot with Inaba. Inaba herself isn't overly developed but serves as a vessel to develop the other characters. Her attraction to Taichi is an interesting way to develop her character, but the show doesnt do so in a way that makes her seem mindless like Aoki.
Enjoyment (10) - Absolutely loved it. All of the components, while not perfect individually, fit together in a way that gave me maximum enjoyment. Can't reccomend a better show to get the feels out.
Overall (8) - A great series that is essential to become an expert anime watcher. Warning tho: you'll be stuck wondering what happens next so don't binge on school nights :p