Review of Kokoro Connect

Kokoro Connect is among my favorite anime of all time. Essentially a slice of life with a supernatural twist, it does not appeal to the audience via action, adventure, or fantastic visuals. Rather, it is an exploration of the human condition. It deconstructs what humans consider their personal identity by exposing gender roles, emotions, and even innermost thoughts. Although it is saddled by some melodrama and several of the main characters have less than appealing personalities, Kokoro Connect appeals to me with its bravery and willingness to tackle uncomfortable issues. By now you should know the plot: a group of five studentsjoin the "cultural research club" for various reasons, basically because they are all slightly unusual in some way. Perhaps these idiosyncrasies make them interesting, because some alien entities then come and spawn supernatural phenomena to mess with them in the hopes of generating interesting behavior. For example, the first phenomenon has these high school students switching bodies, allowing them a peek into what life might be like for their friends. This includes exploration of what it means to be a girl versus a boy. It's entertaining at first and then takes a more dramatic turn as the characters begin to feel increasing stress as the different phenomena hit them.

What makes up a person? Is it how they behave? What they think? What they feel? Are we only defined by our relationships with (and to) others? This anime is willing to explore these issues in depth and even has the courage to take an optimistic stab at answering some of its own questions. Often in a "what-if" anime like this the show poses the questions but makes no strong claims, allowing the viewer to decide what they believe. Here, the show actually attempts to dispense advice on how one should live life. I generally found it to be decent advice, or at the very least innocuous.

This degree of daring would be enough to earn an above average score, but what puts this Kokoro Connect over the top is that the best girl wins in the romance department. I'm already a sucker for love triangles in anime, but what frustrates me is that usually the best girl does NOT win. Not so with Kokoro Connect; instead of the girl and boy getting together merely in service of the plot (Toradora, I'm looking at you), mutual admiration that just makes sense prevails. Even better, this best girl in THIS anime is easily the most interesting and lovable character in my opinion, showing vulnerability but also courage and inner strength. She is willing to see her own flaws and try to improve. The show doesn't make her superhuman either; at one point she too is depressed by the mirror held up for her to see the warts on her personality, but ultimately doesn't let it defeat her. While it's true I didn't love the main male character she falls for (he's a bit wimpy to be honest), she is tied with Kirusu from Stein's Gate for the title of Best Anime Girl.

It doesn't hurt that there is a scene later in the series where she is reverted to her childhood self, and the way she is drawn as a little kid is SO ADORABLE that it may induce cardiac arrest in the faint of heart. Watch at your own peril.

Note: I did not write a separate review for Michi Random because I consider that simply to be the final four episodes of the series rather than a separate sequel.