(L) Kokoro Connect [anime]

[Lantern]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

In a harem series any guy besides the MC is fated to be forever alone.

Although, if that blush is any indication, Aoki might be able to pull it off. I'm not holding my breath though.

I think Yui's phobia is the only thing stopping her from giving Aoki a chance atm. I'm sure Aoki will pull it off in time.

Fight Aoki Fight!

[winkel]

If Taichi doesn't steal her heart first that is.

"Oh I know Taichi doesn't love me, but I still love him and will wait forever for him."

[Utsuro no Hako]

I thought the end was a cop out.

Spoiler for episode 5:

I was really hoping the show would take a turn for the dark and twisted, like maybe Taichi would say, "Hey, Heartseed never specified that it has to be one of us who switches. Let's make Fujishima to switch with Iori."

Yeah, I know, I'm basically looking for the Gen Urobuchi version of this story.

Originally Posted by GoddyofAus

I don't know how that would work. I thought the whole premise around this show was the body swapping thing, and without Heartseed, that doesn't happen.

Premise of the first arc. Right at the end, Inaba said there hasn't been any more body swapping since Iori went to the hospital, so that part's done. I'm sure Heartseed or a relative of his will show up with some new way to troll the cast.

[Guardian Enzo]

Like others I knew that Nagase was no way dying this early - but that didn't stop those scenes from being quite tense and gripping. KK does drama very well, especially when it isn't overly forced monologues like we saw last week - when the action drives the drama, things click very well. The series was in its sweet spot this week, and it showed.

I guess I’m going to have to accept that these kids are going to have impossibly sophisticated and insightful conversations and suspend my disbelief – when Nagase can toss off “sophistry” like it’s nothing and Taichi gets her point exactly, it’s obvious they aren’t going for hyper-realism here (another example is Fujishima’s preposterous monologue to Taichi when he’s chasing after Nagase). But the stylized dialogue sort of fits with the larger-than-life nature of the drama. I’m also going to have to accept – for now at least – that while the girls are characters, the guys are plot drivers. The fundamental difference is that while we’re always shown exactly why the girls do what they do, the guys simply do, because that’s what’s necessary for the plot. Taichi reveals himself to be, effectively, a masochist – but why? Who knows. Aoki confesses his love to Yui – but why does he loves her? Doesn’t matter, he just does – because that’s what the plot needs. It’s a shame, because this is a real opportunity being missed – Kokoro Connect is quite good at psychology and character deconstruction, and it would be nice if that was applied to all the characters instead of only three of them.

Heartseed is really a douchebag, that's for sure. Again I'm reminded of Nagilum from ST: TNG - he seems determined to put the kids under as much stress as possible to see how they'll react. So when things seemed to be going too smoothly - the right boys confessing to the right girls - he had to stir the pot (and boy, did he ever). Whoever he is, he has much more torture in store for them - and their non-magical adolescent dramas are far from settled, too.

[ThereminVox]

From what Heartseed was saying, it didn't sound as though he's finished with them, but I think the random switch (at least the "random" part) has run its course as an experiment. Based on when Heartseed decided to ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL of Iori, I'd say Taichi has been doing too good of a job anchoring everyone emotionally. While it's hard to tell Heartseed's emotional state (if he has one) I saw this sledgehammer intervention as a very petty dick-move on his part, as if he'd expected more drama, and was disappointed at how well the gang held together. Sort of like the kind of childish outburst you might see from Q in STTNG when things weren't going his way. I could be completely off-base, but it sure felt that way.

We finally saw the two things I'd been anticipating since Heartseed arrived: 1) Someone lying about swapping and 2) the idea that something awful could happen to one of them when someone else was in their body, and the crushing survivors guilt that follows. Fortunately in the latter case, Iori was able to make the decision to remain herself. Doubly fortunate that there were no lasting physical repercussions.

Aoki is one emotionally resilient guy, I'll give him that. He must have been a very boring test subject if Heartseed was looking for angst.

Also, Inaba... I love you. I love you so good. But stop accusing Taichi of being selfless. You're the one with the matchmaker crush who has been aggressively surrendering him to Iori for weeks.

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

Spoiler for episode 5:

I was really hoping the show would take a turn for the dark and twisted, like maybe Taichi would say, "Hey, Heartseed never specified that it has to be one of us who switches. Let's make Fujishima to switch with Iori."

Yeah, I know, I'm basically looking for the Gen Urobuchi version of this story.

Spoiler for episode 5:

The Gen Urobuchi version would have had Iori deciding that she didn't exist as a real person, leaping to her death on purpose, only to switch with Inaba halfway down. Then having to live the rest of the series with the guilt on top of everything that drove her to jump in the first place. And yes, this scenario did occurred to me briefly after last week.

[Flawfinder]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

I guess I’m going to have to accept that these kids are going to have impossibly sophisticated and insightful conversations and suspend my disbelief – when Nagase can toss off “sophistry” like it’s nothing and Taichi gets her point exactly, it’s obvious they aren’t going for hyper-realism here (another example is Fujishima’s preposterous monologue to Taichi when he’s chasing after Nagase). But the stylized dialogue sort of fits with the larger-than-life nature of the drama. I’m also going to have to accept – for now at least – that while the girls are characters, the guys are plot drivers. The fundamental difference is that while we’re always shown exactly why the girls do what they do, the guys simply do, because that’s what’s necessary for the plot. Taichi reveals himself to be, effectively, a masochist – but why? Who knows. Aoki confesses his love to Yui – but why does he loves her? Doesn’t matter, he just does – because that’s what the plot needs. It’s a shame, because this is a real opportunity being missed – Kokoro Connect is quite good at psychology and character deconstruction, and it would be nice if that was applied to all the characters instead of only three of them.

Same as this, only I'm not accepting the dialogue. I can tolerate the fact that the males are boring. I did tolerate Tsubaki in Mysterious Girlfriend X after all. However, I will never accept writing that feels like it was written by a Whedon wannabe who loves Code Geass.

Edit: I should point out that unlike GuardianEnzo I didn't like the episode all that much. I thought it had some good parts, but then they ruined it with stupidity. I didn't like how Heartseed forced drama on us in a meta way that's not really preferable to the contrived way I usually hate. I didn't like how he justified his intentions (you'd get arrested for that in real life). I didn't like how the episode kept on calling attention to my problems with Taichi whilst not doing anything meaningful with them. I didn't like how the over-calculation of this episode reached Monster-levels at time. Never was a fan of that aspect of Monster.

[Blonto]

Originally Posted by Lantern

I think Yui's phobia is the only thing stopping her from giving Aoki a chance atm. I'm sure Aoki will pull it off in time.

Fight Aoki Fight!

Honestly I'm rooting for Aoki just to see a relationship that has nothing to do with the male lead for once. And he might be persistent, but he doesn't seem like a creep. He still hangs out with the girls and talks with Yui normally, he's just too honest about his feelings sometimes.
At least it's a small step forward from the usual stupid best friends who only "loves" a girl because of her boobs/physical attraction/popularity and whose only purpose is to show that the male lead isn't that shallow.

[Marower]

Does anyone else feel like this light novel could've been adapted differently, perhaps just using the source material as a base, while fleshing it out and such?

It will be weird to see things go on.

[Saito123]

The end of Episode 5, sooooo creepy with her laugh

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Flawfinder

Same as this, only I'm not accepting the dialogue. I can tolerate the fact that the males are boring. I did tolerate Tsubaki in Mysterious Girlfriend X after all. However, I will never accept writing that feels like it was written by a Whedon wannabe who loves Code Geass.

Just FTR, I think Tsubaki was way, way more developed than either guy here. His motivations were always clear, and he had a long list of deceptively odd character traits.

[Marina2]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

The fundamental difference is that while we’re always shown exactly why the girls do what they do, the guys simply do, because that’s what’s necessary for the plot. Taichi reveals himself to be, effectively, a masochist – but why? Who knows. Aoki confesses his love to Yui – but why does he loves her? Doesn’t matter, he just does – because that’s what the plot needs.

I wonder if those things really need to explain in word. Or need any explaination at all.

Taichi did those thing because that is how he is. Try to find an explaination is like
try to think why some people born to be good or bad. It isn't necessary that everyone has to have some kind of past that drive them to be a person in present. For example: If I say I'm a kind person: Is this really need explainaton why? and........Actually, doesn't Taichi just explain himself in current ep.?

Aoki love Yui because he like her at first sight. That's an explaination in its own. There is no need to think deeply into "why did he like her at first sight"



.................................................. ........................................

Anyway, this ep. is a lot "softer" than its novel counterpart. I recommend to read the last chapter of vol.1 when you guys have time.

Spoiler for Something that anime cut out:

- Class rep. punched Taichi in face for making Iori cry
- When Taichi said he will sacrifire himself, Inaba told Yui to hit Taichi (and Yui did it in full force) to make Taichi stop thinking that. After they heard Taichi's reason, Yui cried and apologized Taichi.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Marina2

I wonder if those things really need to explain in word. Or need any explaination at all.

Taichi did those thing because that is how he is. Try to find an explaination is like
try to think why some people born to be good or bad. It isn't necessary that everyone has to have some kind of past that drive them to be a person in present.

Aoki love her because he like her at first sight. That's an explaination in its own.

Yet, we have detailed explanations for everything that Inaba, Yui and Nagase do. You don't think there's a difference in how much impact they make as characters in result?

There's something deeper here that applies to anime generally more than just KK, that's for sure...

[Haak]

You know I was really sure for a second that they aired the last episode instead of Episode 5 but apparently not...

[Kazu-kun]

Originally Posted by Marina2

I wonder if those things really need to explain.

It's a matter of balance. The girls are arguably complex characters. We get to know what makes them tick and all that. The guys are just there. They just do what the plot needs them to do, but we don't know why.

I'm going to be cynical here and say that this is due to the guys (and specially the MC) being proxies for the audience. The more "empty" they are, the easier for the audience to project themselves on them.

[Zeross]

at first i didnt like at all the way heartseed tow with them like a kid tow with ants. but well he realy is a master troll, and he did make thing move foward

i'm surprised the confession went so well, i hope they wont do a "forget all that and lets be friend" crap like most anime do on the next episode.

[Triple_R]

Well, I liked this episode more than last week's episode anyway.

On the whole, the first five episodes of Kokoro Connect do constitute a pretty good arc. In fact, those first five episodes might even work well as a short movie.

I agree with Flawfinder and Guardian Enzo - The dialogue is a bit too Whedon-esque for my taste as well. Still, while far from ideal, I'll take that sort of dialogue over your standard "It almost writes itself!" harem anime dialogue. Also, Episode 5 had a certain sincerity to it that I appreciated.

They showed the chief flaw to Taichi's quick and easy approach to resolving Iori's issues in Episode 4, and I was glad about that. This time Taichi had to dig a bit deeper, and actually reason things out a bit with Iori rather than just make promises he literally can't keep.

And the scene where Iori (in Inaba's body) said farewell to Taichi was truly beautiful, and it was a marvelously well-acted and well-wrote scene. This episode was an excellent episode for that scene alone, whatever flaws other scenes may have had.


Kokoro Connect will likely never be to me what True Tears or ef: A Tale of Memories was (largely because those two had teenage characters that I found easier to buy into). But this episode does make it clear to me that Kokoro Connect is genuinely trying at least, and doesn't want to be just another high school slice of life/drama show. It's digging a bit deeper, it's drama is a bit heavier, it's topics a bit weightier. And it leavens that all with generally likeable character personalities that have their lighthearted moments to act as something of a counterweight to the Whedon-esque dialogue.

On a side note, Iori's personality in Inaba's body would make quite the dream girl, imo.

[Blonto]

Originally Posted by Flawfinder

Same as this, only I'm not accepting the dialogue. I can tolerate the fact that the males are boring. I did tolerate Tsubaki in Mysterious Girlfriend X after all. However, I will never accept writing that feels like it was written by a Whedon wannabe who loves Code Geass.

As a 19-year-old I honestly think some of you aren't giving teenagers the benefit of a doubt. If I had someone to talk to about my problems and existential issues at that age, I would've sounded pretty much like that. One's issues can be hard to explain so you try to find suitable words in your mental dictionary, however complicated, to describe how you feel. (also keep in mind that a complicated word in English doesn't necessarily have to be so in Japanese)
I was stuck in a bad class, but if you were a good student (and the characters are) you would've known what stuff like "sophism" meant. And frankly, this knowledge will not magically go into your head once you're an adult.

However I agree that the conversations often lacked emotion and that they didn't have to come in the info dump format.

[HandofFate]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Well, I liked this episode more than last week's episode anyway.

On the whole, the first five episodes of Kokoro Connect do constitute a pretty good arc. In fact, those first five episodes might even work well as a short movie.

Yea, looking back the 5 episodes, they did come full circle pretty smoothly.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Kazu-kun

It's a matter of balance. The girls are arguably complex characters. We get to know what makes them tick and all that. The guys are just there. They just do what the plot needs them to do, but we don't know why.

I'm going to be cynical here and say that this is due to the guys (and specially the MC) being proxies for the audience. The more "empty" they are, the easier for the audience to project themselves on them.

That's the classic VN approach, basically. I don't think it serves the material well here, because there are many other things this show is doing very well.

[sandhy88]

WHY!!! why Iori must switch from Aoki -> Yui -> Inaba!!!

If She stay at Aoki's body, we can get Yaoi route!!