Review of Kokoro Connect

This review contains some spoilers. I picked this up thinking it comes with the warm-and-fuzzy, slice of life package like AnoHana (AnoHana has lots of problems but I really dig the world it's set in and how it's presented to us), coupled with enough emotional drama like Kimi no na wa, but nope. Didn't happen. ----------------------------- Story - 3 Kokoro Connect has a solid premise—that's partly what drew me to it in the first place. The main issue is that it didn't quite meet my expectations, because although it touches upon deeper topics specific to the experiences of older teens (the light novel is categorized as seinen, which Isuppose is fair), it nonetheless does so in a sorta halfhearted manner. Although the meat of the plot stems from a supernatural element, it's clear that the creator was attempting to use this supernatural quality as a way to explore "realistic struggles." But unfortunately, these attempts fell flat.

Listen, realism isn't constructed through cherrypicking a couple of the "personal struggles of the youths," attaching them to each character, and then info-dumping your way to resolution with the occasional deus ex machina intervention to speed things along (but more on that later because omg, the characters). That's not realistic at all. That doesn't make me feel like I'm watching something real and worthwhile and relatable. In reality (see what I did there?), the story of Kokoro Connect feels like an empty shell of what it could have been. Sure, characters wax philosophy about the self and their love for one another, but it feels like it's coming from a textbook and not from the heart. The storytelling is just, simply put, kinda lazy. Taichi's reasoning for loving wrestling, for instance, is told to us almost like a lesson, as if he's just rattling off facts of Taichi 101, which is hilarious because the piece of information is presented LITERALLY AS EVIDENCE, as a piece of information to affirm Inaba's theory of Taichi's freakish selflessness, rather than as a piece of character subtlety. All the "secrets" of each character are just straight-forwardly revealed in a "Fine, I'll tell you my secret" kind of way—there is no initial intrigue, no poking around needed. Instead it's a boring ask-and-you-shall-receive type of conflict (which isn't really a conflict?) They might as well just give us a Handbook to All the Characters so we can just read about them instead of watching the story unfold.

Heartseed's presence is absolutely nonsensical. He's just a one-dimensional catalyst. It'd be so much cooler if he were some uber mysterious, unapproachable mega-being, but instead he's just...kinda there. Initially he shows up, messes with things for "fun" (uh, sure), info-dumps some random bits of information about his abilities and his plans and his thoughts or whatever, then disappears again. Why?? What's the point?? (I mean, thanks for conveniently being there I guess).

I mean I'll give this show props for baffling me in the first few episodes with all the personality switcheroo—that was pretty fun. See? The premise works guys! But the execution is horrible! And amidst all the chaos, that was when the character dynamics really stood out. But then came everything else and I, uh, lost interest really fast.

Art - 6

The show's got some cool color schemes and lighting in key moments of emotional drama which I appreciated. Those were the very few moments when I felt some things—mainly just, like, shock or horror at certain instances of the plot, and only in the beginning. The character artwork is distinctive enough for me to remember who's who, which is...good. Too bad Taichi looks like your classic self-insert hero, so eh.

Sound - 3

It's sad because part of the reason AnoHana works is that it has a great OST. Kokoro Connect's soundtrack is pretty nonexistent if not just forgettable. If it had better music, I'm sure I would have felt more things. Music is magical.

Character - 2

OH BOY, HERE WE GO. Where do I begin.

Taichi is a dud. His personality is hardly a personality. At one point Inaba accuses his selfless nature of actually being selfish. Well...yeah. Anything anyone does can be taken as a form of selfishness, this is not an original piece of information, okay. Taichi, you idiot. His very presence makes me think that this is a borderline harem anime, which kinda takes away the realism it seems to be going for, and inserts an unbelievable amount of silly optimism into the conflicts as a form of feel-good (but lazy) resolution. And this show is supposed to be seinen.

Inaba seems to be the only level-headed character here, the only one I even remotely cared about, but even then, SOMEHOW, she becomes reduced to a simple personality "type." Dude, she had so much potential, and it was all ruined. I guess this kind of oversimplification and making characters flat and recognizable by one trait is the best way to keep the characters organized as their personalities jump around, but still. Plus, her personal philosophy about her personality is sort of hard to believe and doesn't really make any sense. At one point, she talks about how she was born distrusting others, as if there is a gene that causes you to be distrustful or something, but what? Trust is a social trait, it's born from social interaction and observation, created after birth, not during it or because of it or whatever. It should vary accordingly as you age and meet new people and spend time with the people around you—family, friends, strangers. It's hard to believe that Inaba hasn't changed at all since birth, just as it's hard to believe that Iori seems to cling onto the idea that her initial personality at birth (or as a child) is her "true" personality. That also literally makes no sense. This show might single-handedly kill the nature v. nurture debate.

Yui's issue was really interesting at first, but it got resolved WAY too fast. Like WAY TOO FAST. It's a serious trauma—it should not be even remotely resolved in the form of a few kind words and sketchy promises from Taichi, ESPECIALLY when said words are spoken and said promises are made in the middle of the night in an empty park (apparently Yui's trauma isn't traumatic enough for her to be triggered by such a setting, which I find hard to believe) with a man, no less. It's just much too unbelievable, and I was left thinking that the creator didn't understand, at all, how to write characters who are emotionally and psychologically damaged. Yui is the result of a halfhearted attempt at constructing a (SPOILER) victim of sexual assault, as in that her actions and shifts in emotion are not believable at all.

Aoki is just kind of there and ultimately forgettable.

Enjoyment - 3

By episode 5, I was basically done and ready to move on. This was a major wtf moment for me. The characters were way too chill during a moment of extreme crisis; Heartseed had revealed to possess an extremely disturbing motive, and everyone just kind of rolls with it? Okay? Yes, tears are shed, but it's portrayed in an almost blasé way, as if the characters are just miming the actions but not really living through them. To be honest, that basically sums up the entire show. Like I said before, there is no heart. Regurgitation of bits of philosophy will not make me feel things. I can get that at school.

Overall - 3

I think I know what the anime is trying to be, maybe, but its execution leaves something to be desired. It sort of becomes a hot mess of random moods and genres, oscillating drastically between a lighthearted slice-of-life/romance/comedy harem and supernatural drama in a way that gave me whiplash. Basically, it has an identity crisis of its own (if this is in fact intentional it would be ironic and admittedly ingenious). There are actually some serious moments that can't be taken seriously at all, moments that I actually found to be low-key hilarious, even though I'm pretty sure this isn't supposed to be a dark comedy, so... The show gets some points for its art and the excellent voice acting especially during the personality switches. But not enough. My recs: Go watch Clannad or Nana or Toradora.