(L) Kokoro Connect [anime]

[Lantern]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I don't find the "5 Dads" thing especially trivial at all - it's very drama of the week for me. And the huge gap in seriousness between the three girls (to some extent excluding Inaba, who really is overstating her own problems) and the guys is pretty exasperating.

Hmm I feel like Iori's problem wasn't aimed directly towards the 5-Dad scenario. The episode stated that she's more worried about "Which is the real me?" added to the hint given in episode 2. To me, that doesn't feel like something a normal teenager would care about and she might be making it too big of a deal. But that's just me.

I dunno about the guys yet. We haven't seen much about them except a little bit of Taichi, I'm sure they'd be brought up later. I have a feeling they might not be as angst as we'd believe they'd be.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Haak

It's kind of ironic because the anime that I find myself comparing this to the most is Ano Hana and that was the exact opposite: All the guys were screwed up whilst the girls were relatively more sane. But Ano Hana didn't have any white knight selflessly helping everyone. They all got over their own problems through the shared goal of helping another.

I can't say I'm annoyed that it seems to be a a very typical set up similar to a harem VN, but there is definitely room for improvement. I suppose I'm just somewhat more optimistic because there are hints that they plan to give Taichi more depth and I'm also optimistic that there will actually be an interesting romance between Yui and the clown (I can't even remember his name).

I honestly don't think AnoHana is a good comparison, except as an example of a show that does it much better. The girls may not have had issues as dramatic as

Spoiler for AnoHana spoilers:

a dead mother or Okada cross-dressing to impersonate a dead friend,

but they were quite screwed up in their own way. And more importantly, they were explored with enough depth to make their less "dramatic" problems seem anything but trivial.

What I really want to see is the more natural interaction of the second and third episodes, which interestingly drew more of their drama from the body swapping than this one did. The bigger hill to climb is to give the guys something resembling real personalities and real problems, and not leave them as a masochist obsessed with his equipment a a general doofus who may as well be drawn in crayon.

[Sakanaka Shouko]

The episode was good, nothing too amazing, but quite enjoyable. Himeko's confession made me have an outburst of laughter.

[Vena]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

The bigger hill to climb is to give the guys something resembling real personalities and real problems, and not leave them as a masochist obsessed with his equipment a a general doofus who may as well be drawn in crayon.

I think its more that they are just focusing in on the girls first as they are, as presented, the more vulnerable of the parties involved. That isn't to say that there aren't hints of problems for the boys though, they are just not being played on yet. This episode was certainly tonally different from its two predecessors and, in the void of the current 4 episodes, it does come off as a bit odd but I'd like to, for now, look at it as a base builder.

I do agree, though, that we're pushing on a bit too much drama/drama/drama rather than the characters themselves as a driver for the show.

[Kanon]

That's the first time I've ever seen anybody confess to somebody they masturbated to them. Outside of porn, that is. I was so taken aback I had to rewind to make sure I read the subtitles properly and that it was not a translation error

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Truth be told, I had some serious issues with this episode.

I admire the fact that Kokoro Connect is setting its sights higher than its competition in many respects. This is a show that’s really trying to tell a serious story, and to craft something that’s both plot and character-driven into a cohesive whole. It isn’t just trying to be fun, or funny, or create a whimsical and relaxing atmosphere of innocent times at school. But the downside to that is that there are times when the show’s reach exceeds its grasp, and this week was definitely rife with examples.

I found the "confessions" to be totally false and artificial - for the most part the situation with Yui last week felt natural and dramatic, but this never moved past the actors reading their lines. They were also way, way too self-aware for most adults, never mind teenagers. The format was also a problem - it had a very "Now, it's Inaba's turn!" feel to it.

I'm also quite dismayed at the gender stereotyping that this episode seems to be setting up. That kind of stuff is one thing for a silly harem comedy, but for a show that has aspirations to be a serious character drama it's totally unacceptable. So the girls are all tortured souls dealing with deep personal traumas. And we have one guy in Aoki who's a straight-up buffoon, and the other who's been set up as a father-confessor who's go-to approach to dealing with deep emotional issues is his junk. Seriously?

I really, really liked episodes 2-3 here - but this one had some serious warts. It's not likely the show is going to step back from the serious issues, so the only hope is that it regains its footing in dealing with them. And getting past the insulting gender stereotypes would be a good start.

QTF. As good as their seiyuu are -and they are really good- Iori and Inaba's confessions failed to invoke any kind of emotions from me. The exposition of their respective situations is much too flat and artificial. It doesn't help that Inaba's big problem was very weak compared to the other two girls. She's simply anxious...

I'm also really annoyed that Taichi alone is the one helping the girls with their issues (and as you said, why is it only the girls have issues?), not to mention he is ridiculously good at it. I thought they would all help each other out. I wonder if Aoki is going to play any kind of role... he comes across as a humongous fifth wheel right now.

[HandofFate]

hm, I liked episode 4.
I thought it made more sense and more interesting than Yui's standard female character "i almost got raped" trauma card.

Iori's problem is interesting, and makes me look back at all her scenes in the previous 3 episodes. Also makes us think back to the scene where she became all philosophical in Aoki's body. The 5-dads thing I had a feeling about, but the 'just living life to someone else's expectations' part I wasn't expecting.

Inaban's not trusting anyone was more a personality problem she didn't like about herself. Taichi's solution in sharing a secret was kind of random though, and I'm not sure what purpose he had in doing it...
I also remember a previous scene when Aoki mentioning something about "Mutual trust is important in these situations" to which Inaban kind of got a "oh..." look about her.
Some before thought that maybe Inaban's faint was because she switched with no personality replacing inside the body. Glad that wasn't the case, wasn't that big a fan of that theory.

Taichi also admitted he masterbated to Yui and Iori too, so its all the same to him lol.

Poor Aoki left to the dust, and Taichi is sneaking behind him setting off relationship flags with every female in the show. Hopefully from the previews, Aoki will get his time in the light sooner or later.

Also, Inaban's secret at the end was gold.

The way the girls suddenly end up confessing their trauma in a long almost monologue style reminds me of a few VNs games, where you slowly build up relationship events with a girl, then at the end, some event happens, and the girl ends up confessing some hidden trauma or quirk they been keeping secret.

[zeniselv]

im not usually into drama, but this is wonderfully executed and has a much more serious and dark tone than the majority, characters are compelling, it has a strong plot that makes things interesting, with a good pacing and still contain thrill, certainly a series wich gets better with each apisode.

[eupseudes]

You know the dialogue has been fumbled when half-way through you're thinking: "Wait, did a body switch happen and I didn't notice it?!"

Hoping this is just a nod to "well, we've gotta motor through the character setting before the interesting bits."

[SPARTAN 119]

Originally Posted by HandofFate

Taichi also admitted he masterbated to Yui and Iori too, so its all the same to him lol.

Poor Aoki left to the dust, and Taichi is sneaking behind him setting off relationship flags with every female in the show. Hopefully from the previews, Aoki will get his time in the light sooner or later.

Also, Inaban's secret at the end was gold.

I suspect Inaban's confession will give plenty of ideas for the doujin artists. There already is one Kokoro Connect Doujin out there. It isn't translated, but judging from the "gender swap" tag it was listed under, The pairing appears to be Inaban... in Taichi's body x Taichi.... in Inaban's body... So yeah, I suspect that would really put the "fuck" in mindfuck as far as Taichi and Inaban are concerned!

As for Aoki, all hope is not lost, Yui could still go deredere for him. That or, it seems unlikely, but it could defy all conventions and end in an Everyone x Everyone ending!

[zeniselv]

Originally Posted by SPARTAN 119

As for Aoki, all hope is not lost, Yui could still go deredere for him. That or, it seems unlikely, but it could defy all conventions and end in an Everyone x Everyone ending!

that would be one hell of a swindlers party

[DragoonKain3]

Well, latest episode settles it. Firmly in the InabanXTaichi camp, because as they did say, trauma can be cured but what Himeko has can only be slowly changed. So if it's anyone who needs Taichi the most, it's her. Plus she was so adorable when she said what if she falls in love with him too. <3

That said, I particularly didn't like it when Taichi said he masturbated to the other two girls as well. Like really, anyone would do for you, Taichi? You're more of a player than Aoki. >_>

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

That said, I particularly didn't like it when Taichi said he masturbated to the other two girls as well. Like really, anyone would do for you, Taichi? >_>

It would be a big fat lie to say that you masturbate to only ONE girl, amirite ?

[Haak]

Originally Posted by DragoonKain3

That said, I particularly didn't like it when Taichi said he masturbated to the other two girls as well. Like really, anyone would do for you, Taichi? You're more of a player than Aoki. >_>

If masturbating to more than one woman makes you a player, then I'm Casanova.

[viperdk1]

Originally Posted by Kanon

That's the first time I've ever seen anybody confess to somebody they masturbated to them. Outside of porn, that is. I was so taken aback I had to rewind to make sure I read the subtitles properly and that it was not a translation error

I wish I could say the same but... (yeah, one of my female friends said that to me...admittedly we were playing Truth or Dare at the time, but it still counts)

Honestly loved all four episodes - as much as everyone seems to be saying it's all drama, I think it hits the right balance between humour, drama and plain crazy. So glad I picked this up

[Kaoru Chujo]

Mark me down on the plus side. I thought this was a great anime episode. I could feel my body reacting emotionally, which is always a good thing.

I understand Enzo's criticisms, and they make sense as literary criticism. I saw many of those things myself, but I had no problem with them. To me, this is more a problem of insufficient "willing suspension of disbelief" than anything in the anime. To me, AnoHana ended up seeming a silly show. I probably had trouble suspending disbelief there. In any case, this has more emotional impact, for me, and shows me more about human beings.

I thought Iori's confession made a lot of sense. I sometimes feel the same way myself. Inaba's confession was subtle and unique. Treat her odd worries about the others as real, and they become food for thought and feeling. Are our best friends our worst enemies? Why would I feel that way?

Sure we can see the gears turning in the producers' minds. But there is a lot more here than just the normal pandering to the audience. The masturbation stuff was pandering, but it also got across some important stuff in an efficient way: about masturbation, about their relationship. And it did work for me in the way it helped form the trajectory of feeling in a couple of scenes.

And having so many dramatic talking-head scenes may be hard for some people to take, but I like that sort of thing and had no trouble with it. It did seem as if the scenes followed each other closely, but I personally didn't need any respite. I certainly didn't need any scenes of normal life to punctuate it and make it seem more realistic. I know it's fiction, and don't require it to trick me into thinking it's real.

As for gender stereotyping, this is nothing compared to most anime. We all have our hobby horses, but I think it's okay to let the producers ride theirs rather than forcing them to ride ours.

[Pen3]

At least we know he has a thing for all three girls. So there is a chance he could hook up with any of the three girls and Aoki has no chance if taichi puts more advance on Yui.

[Triple_R]

I guess I have to break with general consensus here, as Taichi's masturbation line almost ruined Episode 4 for me.

You build an episode up with loads and loads of serious drama, and then you pull that sort of line?

That sort of line would have been fine in a standard harem comedy, but here it just caused massive mood whiplash for me.


I also have to concur with what Flawfinder said. The dialogue in this episode is the sort of thing you'd expect people to say while getting help from a psychologist or a psychiatrist, not in conversations with their school friends. Also, the characters put themselves so "out there" that there's nothing left to interpret. There's just no subtlety at all. It's just heavy exposition.


That being said, the seiyu work is fantastic, and the characters do have interesting issues and problems... It's just that I'd rather have those issues showed to me rather than constantly told to me.

[HandofFate]

I feel the moodwhiplash on Inaban's 'secret' at the end was done on purpose.

and it works fine, especially since its the end of the episode.
Seems its the thing nowadays to end each episode with some sudden crazy line or lingering scene to make the viewer go "wahhh?!..*cuts to credits*

Well, we all know who I will be ******* to tonight...

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by HandofFate

I feel the moodwhiplash on Inaban's 'secret' at the end was done on purpose.

and it works fine, especially since its the end of the episode.
Seems its the thing nowadays to end each episode with some sudden crazy line or lingering scene to make the viewer go "wahhh?!..*cuts to credits*

It's Taichi's secret reveal that caused mood whiplash for me, not Inaba's. Inaba's secret reveal doesn't cause mood whiplash, imo, because it just picks up where Taichi left off.

With Taichi's secret reveal, it's also a question of how it was lead into, imo. The way Taichi was leading into it, you'd swear it would be something absolutely huge and scandalous. But no, it's just that he whacks off to attractive classmates. That's not exactly expulsion-worthy, imo.

[Chaos2Frozen]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

With Taichi's secret reveal, it's also a question of how it was lead into, imo. The way Taichi was leading into it, you'd swear it would be something absolutely huge and scandalous. But no, it's just that he whacks off to attractive classmates. That's not exactly expulsion-worthy, imo.

What are you talking about? This is probably the most scandalous thing given that it's high school Saying this much- especially when it involves people you know- it may not be expulsion-worthy but it is essentially putting your life on the line What's more he said it to the girl himself

This is something no man, let alone a teenage boy, would ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever ever do.

As I've said last week, there are worse things a guy can sacrifice for a girl than just his two nuts