Review of Kokoro Connect

I won't hesitate to say that "Kokoro Connect" is, as of this review, my all-time favorite slice-of-life anime. The premise is a well known cliche: the standard body-swapping plot device that filler writers turn to when they run out of ideas. But much in the same way that "Kimi no Na Wa" tells a captivating tale, "Kokoro Connect" uses the body-swap phenomenon to evolve the characters and their relationships. It's not just done to generate laughs (which it does). It helps to tell a story far more profound. The music and art were fine. Nothing amazing, but still good. The characters, however, never felt to melike one-dimensional archetypes but rather genuinely fleshed out people with their own interests, hopes, and fears. Since each character retains their voice actor no matter who inhabits their body, the characters (and audience) have to determine who is whom from their speech, mannerisms, and personality, a detail I appreciated. The plot is suspenseful and fast-paced, and the comedy at times is laugh-out-loud hilarious. Overall, a solid anime.

And then begins episode six.

Despite exceeding my expectations in almost all areas, I sincerely began to hate this show. It's separated into three arcs, each with their own strange phenomenon occurring to these unlucky teenagers. The first is body-swapping, but I don't even remember the last two because of how convoluted and uninteresting they were. Worse yet, the next eight episodes became like a game show in which the characters constantly tried to one-up each other with their "tragic" backstories and "crushing" traumas.

I finished the show, cringing and eye-rolling most of the way. But then I remembered how much I enjoyed the first five episodes. I believed from the generic plot summary that I was going to regret watching this. I didn't, but I easily could have. "Kokoro Connect" told a better story in five episodes than most anime do in twenty-five. Do yourself a favor and call it quits after the first arc.