(L) Kokoro Connect [anime]

[dahl_moon]

Originally Posted by Blonto

Taichi said "Demo ima wa, yappari Nagase no koto ga suki da." = But right now, I definitively love Nagase.
I'll concede if you're fluent in Japanese, but I don't see any big difference between the way "now" was used here and in English. In both cases "Ima" and "Now" could easily be at the beginning of the sentence, the only reason they're not is because there's a conjunction in the way. And in both cases, the sentence could've easily worked without "right now".

True, but I think there's a slight nuance to "ima-wa" verses "right now." Another translation could be "but now," which means that he might not have in the past, but things are different now, which is what Taichi is implying. He's essentially saying "sorry, too late," and Inaba is being overly technical about it. The English phrase "Right now," on the other hand, more hints towards change in the future.

For the actual episode, I'm glad we were able to see the acting skills of two quite talented seiyu, Toyosaki Aki and Sawashiro Miyuki. I especially loved the ending, when Inaba breaks out in embarrassment. That was absolutely amazing.

[Kanon]

The whole unleashing desires gimmick is already over. This was the perfect opportunity to let Iori's true character shine through but nothing much happened on her side despite the show hinting otherwise earlier. Her confrontation with Inaba was not really enough. That's kind of disappointing.

I'm not sure how to feel about the drama in this episode. It seemed artificial once again, and that in spite of the seiyuu's fantastic performances. Sawashiro and Toyosaki carried this episode on their shoulders. If not for them I would have definitely disliked it.

The conclusion Iori and Inaba reached was pretty bad. They are completely fooling themselves if they think they will be able to have a friendly competition. Nothing is that simple when it comes to love, and the whole thing could easily turn ugly. Iori is already showing signs of uneasiness. It's only a matter of time before this blows up in their faces. Iori should have just made it clear Taichi was her man and that Inaba should give up on him.

I'm curious to see what Heartseed is going to come up with next to screw with our protagonists. As of now, I have no clue.

[Arya]

Spoiler for speculations on the next gimmick:

Just few days ago I saw a movie with Mel Gibson that showcased a gimmick that could be used nicely by HS, and it would be very very helpful for our not-so-intuitive Taichi.

[Haak]

^ That might also help Aoki too.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Hell, that will help a lot of anime male MCs.

[s07195]

Originally Posted by TheEroKing

Freebies.

Claiming this one! Thanks!

[BladeEntity]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Just to be clear, I agree with you both. I think that Inaba has a definite and actually very cute/sweet dere-dere side to herself, and we really saw that highlighted well this episode.

But I think that Taichi is still largely oblivious to it. If and when he becomes aware of it, well... that could net Inaba the romantic victory that I hope she gets.

Nothing against Iori, but I do like Inaba a little bit more.

While I agree, I think Iori still has many facets to her character that has barely been explored, while Taichi has helped with her identity issues to a certain extent, we are still shone small scene that beg to differ.

As someone pointed out earlier, Iori is very good at saying what people want to hear and that and that probably applies to the conversation between Inaba and Iori while I do not doubt her putting friendship over love, I do think that unless she has an understanding of what she really wants and that it might not have anything to do with Taichi, this love triangle could get relatively detrimental to the group.

I feel that Iori needs to break the wall (lack of physical interaction) between herself and Taichi to further whatever stalled relationship it at. Inaba has 2 kisses and she frequently physically abuses Tachi.

Maybe she could develop a certain ass slapping habit... I'm sure Taichi will get a kick of of that or maybe a kick from Inaba.

Nothing against Inaba, but I prefer Iori just a little bit more.

Perhaps this is what Heartseed is attempting to do create, a love drama within the drop maybe he finds it entertaining.

[ThereminVox]

Originally Posted by Kanon

The conclusion Iori and Inaba reached was pretty bad. They are completely fooling themselves if they think they will be able to have a friendly competition. Nothing is that simple when it comes to love, and the whole thing could easily turn ugly. Iori is already showing signs of uneasiness. It's only a matter of time before this blows up in their faces. Iori should have just made it clear Taichi was her man and that Inaba should give up on him.

If by "bad" you mean "a precarious patch job" then I couldn't agree more. If anyone thinks that Iori is "fine" with this arrangement then you weren't watching the same scene I was where the camera lingers on her conflicted backwards glance towards the school for a full 5 seconds. Of course Inaba later confirms that Iori knows she's confessing to Taichi just then. Worth noting is that Iori lies to Aoki and Yui when they ask where Inaba and Taichi are, saying she doesn't know, but thinks they're with the class rep. You'll notice that whenever one of the KC characters starts lying, it's usually an indication that she's retreating into herself, and is due for major drama.

The ball is back in Iori's court with this. In a way, she did the decent thing, but "it won't be a problem" is demonstrably false. It would have been more accurate to say "it can't be helped," because it absolutely is a problem. Reassuring Inaba that her desires don't make her a bad person (while completely true) sets Iori back into the position where her own fears and insecurities will be preyed upon.

Some folks were discussing the technicalities of Taichi and Iori's current relationship, and those are key to why the final scenes played out the way that they did: Inaba would have definitely confirmed the status of the two of them with Iori, who would have told her that they had decided to remain just-friends for the duration of the desire-releasing emergency. This is why Inaba had to confess to Taichi immediately, or risk losing him for good, since the implication is that they would likely get together once it was over.

You could tell by how Inaba acted both during and after the confession that she wasn't entirely ready for that, but time was against her, forced her hand, and lead to her adorable "I-can't-believe-I-just-did-that" freak out.

This in turn re-complicates Iori and Taichi's relationship just as the previous barrier had fallen. I don't know how they'll handle it going forward, but I can see this really playing hell with Iori's resolve.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by ThereminVox

If by "bad" you mean "a precarious patch job" then I couldn't agree more. If anyone thinks that Iori is "fine" with this arrangement then you weren't watching the same scene I was where the camera lingers on her conflicted backwards glance towards the school for a full 5 seconds. Of course Inaba later confirms that Iori knows she's confessing to Taichi just then. Worth noting is that Iori lies to Aoki and Yui when they ask where Inaba and Taichi are, saying she doesn't know, but thinks they're with the class rep. You'll notice that whenever one of the KC characters starts lying, it's usually an indication that she's retreating into herself, and is due for major drama.

The ball is back in Iori's court with this. In a way, she did the decent thing, but "it won't be a problem" is demonstrably false. It would have been more accurate to say "it can't be helped," because it absolutely is a problem. Reassuring Inaba that her desires don't make her a bad person (while completely true) sets Iori back into the position where her own fears and insecurities will be preyed upon.

Some folks were discussing the technicalities of Taichi and Iori's current relationship, and those are key to why the final scenes played out the way that they did: Inaba would have definitely confirmed the status of the two of them with Iori, who would have told her that they had decided to remain just-friends for the duration of the desire-releasing emergency. This is why Inaba had to confess to Taichi immediately, or risk losing him for good, since the implication is that they would likely get together once it was over.

You could tell by how Inaba acted both during and after the confession that she wasn't entirely ready for that, but time was against her, forced her hand, and lead to her adorable "I-can't-believe-I-just-did-that" freak out.

This in turn re-complicates Iori and Taichi's relationship just as the previous barrier had fallen. I don't know how they'll handle it going forward, but I can see this really playing hell with Iori's resolve.

Something I've been noticing with this show is that some folks tend to take the "resolutions" at face value. It happened with Yui's resolution on the first arc and I believe it's happening here again with Iori's "acceptance" of Inaba's competition.

The series has shown that it doesn't claim that these emotional band-aids provided at the end of each arc are the ultimate fix and stuff gets lingering to fuel more drama further ahead.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I really hope we get to see why Taichi is so eager to sacrifice himself in every possible situation to patch things over and keep everyone acting happy. There is definitely something in his home life we have to see.

One of the themes of this show may be the falseness of the East Asian (and English, as it happens) desire to keep human relations looking okay on the surface. Heartseed helps, in a way, by creating such desperate situations that real feelings have to come out.

[Sumeragi]

Originally Posted by Arya

Spoiler for speculations on the next gimmick:

Just few days ago I saw a movie with Mel Gibson that showcased a gimmick that could be used nicely by HS, and it would be very very helpful for our not-so-intuitive Taichi.

Does that happen to be.....

Spoiler for Speculation on Arya:

What Women Want

[Arya]

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

Does that happen to be.....

Spoiler for Speculation on Arya:

What Women Want

Nope, I was referring to

Spoiler for movie:

the beaver






ok, I was joking ... it is What Women Want

[Forsaken_Infinity]

Derp. That's a totally trippy resolution they went for. I don't know if I liked the episode or not but because I have seen real girls go for this resolution, I can't claim that the author pulled some shit out his ass. I guess it's alright since it's only mid-story yet but I don't like crappy deals like this at all.

Iori's a lot darker than Inaba. Inaba really meant it when she laughed and challenged her for Taichi's love. Iori definitely was saying it for the sake of saying it and not because she was comfortable with the idea or anything remotely along the line.

I would totally love for this relationship to end in polyamory but I don't want that if its built around insincere feelings. If Iori is constantly putting on a front to keep Inaba as her friend, that's not gonna last long for one and will break lots of things when the jig's up.

I am not sure if I like Iori or Inaba more at this point. I liked Inaba more to start off because she was stronger, even if I knew that that was a facade. I don't mind fallacious characters like that. But she broke way too easily ;_; and took up a totally derpy resolution without thinking much about it. Iori is definitely darker, and I have a thing for dark characters in general, but she is dumb as hell and her facade is that of a cute girl and I can't say I am the type who likes girls who put up a cute front. At this point, I like Yui and Miss Class Rep more than either Iori or Inaba o_o

[MasterVampire]

I hope there will be enough episodes left to wrap up the romance love triangle stuff.

Isnt there 12 tv episodes and then 5 other ones?
But are those other 5 proper episodes or just extra ones?

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by MasterVampire

I hope there will be enough episodes left to wrap up the romance love triangle stuff.

Isnt there 12 tv episodes and then 5 other ones?
But are those other 5 proper episodes or just extra ones?

I think it's been explained a number of times now, but there are 13 TV Episodes. The next 3 will cover the third novel. There will be 4 additional episodes, and they will cover the fourth novel. As far as we know, none of these are "extra episodes", but all part of the on-going canon story.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Forsaken_Infinity

Iori's a lot darker than Inaba. Inaba really meant it when she laughed and challenged her for Taichi's love. Iori definitely was saying it for the sake of saying it and not because she was comfortable with the idea or anything remotely along the line.

I would totally love for this relationship to end in polyamory but I don't want that if its built around insincere feelings. If Iori is constantly putting on a front to keep Inaba as her friend, that's not gonna last long for one and will break lots of things when the jig's up.

Has anyone consider the possibility that the reason Iori had that look on her face had nothing to do with Inaba/Taichi, but rather the fact that even after this entire incident, she still hasn't figure out who she is yet?

She was hoping that this incident might shed some light about her true nature, but aside from two joke events, she never had her desires unleashed.

[Sumeragi]

Images

Girls' Slumber Party

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NSFW

Masochistic Bondage

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[Qilin]

I'm not sure how to feel about the ending of this latest arc. Like many other posters here, the whole conclusion seemed too naive. I mean, that's it? They're all friends again while they chase after the same love interest? Never mind naive, they're probably saints. Of course, it would all work out if the next arc uses this as fuel for even more drama.

Aside from all that, this episode brings up an interesting question. What constitutes a person's identity in the first place? Is it something as simple as an arbitrary collection of personality traits that can be attributed to a person? Is that really all a person amounts to?

[Liddo-kun]

Watched episode 10:

Spoiler:

Surprised that Iori is really a nice person, she's a true friend. Inaba must really like Taichi, to cry so much like that when she thought he really fell the cliff.

Also hard to figure out what Heartseed's true intentions are.

And lastly, I wonder who would Taichi choose in the end?
I used to dislike Inaba, but I now have a some respect for her after this episode.

[SPARTAN 119]

Originally Posted by BladeEntity

While I agree, I think Iori still has many faucets to her character that has barely been explored,

Funny, I did not think Iori's character had many faucets or plumbing fixtures of any description, let alone unexplored ones.

Perhaps you meant facets?

Originally Posted by Sumeragi

NSFW

Masochistic Bondage

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Hmmm... Didn't expect Watase to the one in the pic (I expected perhaps Inaban x Taichi). I, for one, suspect Fujishima's involvement, why else would Watase be so happy about being tied up?!