Thread: Licensed Kokoro Connect [anime]
View Single Post
Old 2013-01-02, 19:20   Link #2498
Triple_R
Senior Member
*Author
 
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Newfoundland, Canada
Age: 42
Send a message via AIM to Triple_R
Quote:
Originally Posted by papermario13689 View Post
I never actually considered Nagase to be a moe girl;
Really? You never found Nagase moe from the very start of Kokoro Connect? I definitely think that Nagase was meant to be perceived by the audience as a very moe girl. And I think that what this narrative has aimed for is to (hopefully) show that there's an interesting contrast that lies beneath the upbeat and sweet exterior.


Quote:
she puts forth a lot of positive energy, but it's not for the purpose of being appealingly cute, but to be at least marginally accepted.
Well, whether she was aiming low or high, she achieved high - She achieved appealingly cute. This last arc made it clear how Iori was very popular with her classmates until this latest arc caused her outward personality to change.


Quote:
It's strange, Aoki and Yui as individuals characters rather bored me, but their potential relationship remains interesting to me. Call it a quirk for the unknown.
I should be clear that in saying that Iori's four friends are clearly anime characters that I'm not saying that their bad characters. I myself found them reasonably likeable. But they do have certain quirks, and tendencies that just shout "anime character". Iori doesn't have that in quite the same way - She feels more like a real person to me.


Quote:
The rate the others picked up what was going on (especially after Nagase used the same words over and over) was actually quite jarring. Nobody listens to each other, and they keep trying to "force ideals" onto Nagase, who is already sick of it. Personally, I think they should have let her cool down a little bit, then considered some better choices of words before diving in.
Agreed. It's interesting that these characters never really consider the fact that people sometimes do need time to themselves. In fairness to Taichi, though, I think he's grown a bit here. In previous arcs, he'd always be the guy leading the charge to try to fix other people's problems, but now he's become a bit more cautious, to the point that Yui actually chided him for not doing more.


Quote:
The scene where Nagase retorts to Inaba caught me by surprise, because she was 100% right. If you're going to play cupid, you don't do so one step in front of your targets. It did however lead to one hell of a moneymaker shot of Inaba quivering in embarrassment. Couldn't have sold that better myself.
I'm glad that the absurdity of the love triangle situation was made clear in this arc.


Quote:
This has a modicum of truth to it, definitely. All in all, the phenomenae were just getting to Nagase, and she began to snap under the pressure. However, I don't think it was established that she went back to being her usual "cheery" self, in my opinion.
That final shot before the ED of the last episode was pretty suggestive to me. The one with the cheerful Iori in front of The Undertaker poster.

It had a touch of "Don't worry, fans, your 'normal' Iori is back! Just like you and Iori's friends wanted!" to me. And maybe that's fine, but if so, I think it could have been executed a bit better.


Quote:
She had one moment of releasing all of her pent up frustrations and then she'll try to be more normal. I think the problem is that no matter what was going on in her life, Nagase was forcibly acting cheerful to keep everyone from hating her, but from now on she'll act as she's feeling. If she's upset, she'll have off days. If she's with her friends, she'll likely be enjoying herself. A bit different, but not too much.
Well, it's just that Iori has one identity crisis after another in Kokoro Connect, and at some point the authenticity of them becomes questionable. I mean, it seems to me like the old Iori keeps reasserting herself after each identity crisis.

Does there come a point when you've been wearing a certain mask for so long that this mask now is you? I think that's a a question that Iori's character implicitly raises, and I find it to be an interesting question.


Quote:
They managed to sway my previous opinion of TaichixNagase, so that's something. If Nagase's not 100% invested, I have no problem with Inaba filling the role, since she's in it 200%.
A madly in love Inaba is an extremely cute Inaba. The depth of her feelings for Taichi really is something to behold. Very few anime romances reach this level of explicit love and passion. I definitely do think Inaba/Taichi is one of the standout strengths of Kokoro Connect.
__________________
Triple_R is offline   Reply With Quote