Review of Kokoro Connect

Kokoro Connect is an anime of the romance variety, in this anime 5 high school friends are cursed in various ways across the show by a supernatural being that possesses one of there teachers bodies. The curses forces the friends to reveal there secrets they would rather not tell which is entertaining to this supernatural creature. (before I explain my own opinion I would like to point out I'm also using the sequel episodes in my review) The story (9): of this show is actually really amazing, I always liked how they set up characters in the beginning so that we could see how they woulddeal with the curse later. the drama never really felt overdone, and they deal with mystery extremely well. I always liked how the mystical being was never really explained he came and went he was a mystery that was best left undiscovered which really speak towards the entire theme of this show. Finding others dark out secrets is something that many stories have done, but Kokoro Connect makes it fresh with it's very unique story telling style and the characters they have to display the theme. The problems I have with this story all seem to stem from the integration of the side characters they all feel like ways to get the story moving in a certain direction rather than actual characters with emotions and a personality, other than that my other problem with the story is how repetitive the story can get sometimes especially during the last few episodes, sometimes it feels like the characters were having the same conversation over and over and over again. my last issue with the story was just how much sexual humor was involved it felt like it didn't really serve a purpose and I feel like I had to ignore it to enjoy the story. overall the story of Kokoro connect has everything that you could want from a story and balances deep thought with high school humor exceptionally well.

Art(8): As someone who watches/plays many different forms of media I've never really cared how the animation looked as long as it didn't look bad and overall I think art of this show was very good but it never really did try to go above and beyond, I think all the character designs were amazing and nothing ever really felt out of place in the world from a color scheme/shape perspective, the high of the art for me is the lighting, it added to the dramatic effect immensely and I making important moments even more magical. overall the art and design of everything is great but nothing earth shattering.

Sound(8): similar to the art the music does it's job well but nothing super amazing, I never thought "oh I should find the name of this song for later". The music was seamless enough that it never felt out of place and it did well to make the dramatic moments in the show more dramatic. I don't have much more to say on this topic but know that the music amplifies the dramatic momentum in this show creating memorable scenes.

Character(10!): Kokoro Connect has some of the best characters I've ever seen period, which is a big claim to make especially given the genre of this anime. I am thoroughly shocked at how this anime took well known anime tropes and put there own spin on them. like Taichi who is meant to play the kind and selfless main character roll of the show, and while he serves that purpose well it makes sense as to why he's like this (but that is a spoiler). Kokoro connects characters are a perfect blend of cliché and originality which will please both types of audiences. Another point to look at is how all the characters develop both as characters and in there relationships with each other, and quite frankly the development of all the characters is down right amazing. As a result to how the story plays out, characters secrets are revealed which adds to their development in meaningful ways every time, none of the characters seem to do rash things without reason and furthermore even the cheesy high school romance things that happen seem to have reasons behind them (besides all the sexual humor), when a love triangle is revealed it makes sense for that happen not because it's a cheesy high school romance but because that what the characters would do in there complex situation. Heart Seed (the mystical being) has a level of ambiguity about him and his presence raises mystery both about himself and the main 5 and there relationship which I also like. What makes these characters all the better is how the story presents them using the idea of there dark secrets being revealed there are times in the anime where it feels like you are inside the characters mind and on the flip side there are times where you are wondering what the characters are thinking which I think is evident of well made characters. Without the characters Kokoro Connect would fall apart, the anime truly does pride itself on it's characters.

Enjoyment(10!): I personally was always on the edge of my seat while watching this anime, questions always swam through my mind as secrets were introduced and I had quickly combined philosophy with the highschool romance story telling elements, but most of all I always enjoyed the meaningful interactions between the characters, it is powerful and heartfelt. suffice to say I enjoyed this anime a lot.

Overall(9): While Kokoro connect suffer from a couple minor problems I think that overall the show is amazing, and I believe it to be something all should have a chance to experience for themselves. it takes new and old story elements and combines them to make something unique and fresh.