After SAO, I never expect to find something better, but I was wrong. Kokoro Connect is amazing in many ways. Besides the very nice art work and music, the story itself is very interesting as well. It has to do with 5 highschool students from the same club experiencing some weird phenomenons e.g. soul exchange, thoughts-transmission...etc. During the process, the 5 of them really got to know themselves and one another better. They also grew in terms of maturity and character. The character-development is really great.

For those who are looking for elements of romance, Kokoro Connect will not disappoint you as well. The way two of the main characters finally came together was really cute and wonderful. If only real life romance is the same. :) (show less)

This Anime came from nowhere, there was no build up to it like many of the good animes and it came as a delightful surprise.

It is a must see for anybody looking for something different, beware thought it comes to an abrupt conclusion at episode 13, due to the show being cancelled through the actions of the voice actors who play the roles of the student council. I don't recommend you try look for the video of the incident, it might sour your entire disposition of the anime.

Kokoro Connect is undoubtedly the best dramatic anime I've seen in a good couple of years, for an anime that has no fight scenes in it, i found myself avidly awaiting the release of the episode each week. (show less)

For those who heard of this thing being 17 eps and now are wondering where eps 14-17 are, those won’t come out until the DVD/bluray is released. This anime got cut short. More info here: http://www.houkagoblogtime.com/kokoro-connect-news-updates-thoughts-on-this-seasons-ends/ . Not my blog so don’t give me the credit. :P

That being out of the way, the anime being complete for now, and me being pissed that it’s not going to get the closure it deserves, on to the review.

The main problem’s just been noted. Considering that the whole anime got cut on short notice, the for-now ending is decent enough, but for those who haven’t yet started on this anime, it’s something to count in. The last arc’s potential basically got crushed, and the last episode feels rushed as a few things don’t have any closure and others get resolved far too easily. Resolving things easily is the way of the story, anyways, so it might not disappoint the fans too much, but the fact remains that there’s far more potential than this anime eventually displays.

I’m rolling this thing up from the end, however. “Kokoro Connect” can be neatly divided into three arcs, each of which has the five main characters go through different supernatural occurrences and their effects. It’s something that results in inconsistent pacing, seeing as the arcs are kind of disconnected and could stand on their own, but it’s also something that makes the whole thing a lot deeper and more dramatic than your typical body-switching slapstick show, especially in terms of getting to know the characters and watching them grow throughout these arcs. That being said, however, there is a dragging point at the very beginning, with the start being quite typical except for the underlying heavier feel; a few episodes in however, once the drama kicks in and the characters become more intriguing, it becomes evident that in all its standard-ness, “Kokoro Connect” managed to step aside from generic.

All that being said, what about the characters? The protagonists are standard, known archetypes -- but at least they’re clearly defined, with core personalities, predilections, and conflicts being shown in detail. Characterisation is solid, with an unusual emphasis on family life, and although the whole anime is just a little too short and a little too standard to allow the viewers to entirely empathise, characters and development turn out strong. And then we’ve got the antagonist, Heartseed, who is probably one of the craziest unarmed antagonists of all time. Still, the problem remains that a handful of things get resolved far too easily, and not only at the end.

There we are with character interaction, which is… quite odd, to say the least. The first two episodes are standard, and known enough for me to roll my eyes; but those aside, the dialogue is refreshingly frank, if a little forced, at times. Humour is effectively placed to lighten up serious set-ups without ridiculing too much, and the voice-acting is without a doubt excellent, especially so where it comes to individual speaking patterns.

Animation, music, and art aren’t quite as great. All of those are without a doubt above average, as the visuals are high-quality, and background renderings and animation are up to date. Problems here lie in typical animation shortcuts and inconsistent quality in character design. The music is standard, count out tiny dissonances here or there (which obviously don’t help it), and the character design… only let me say this much, our protagonists without exception look like they belong into K-ON! (*groans*).

For entertainment? It’s a little standard, but it’s good at the same time. It certainly isn’t without its faults -- typical start, a cut-off end, stilted character interaction, problems too easily resolved… but at the same time, the characters, standard as they may be, are well-presented, the set-ups allow for both genuinely fresh and funny as well as for genuinely serious moments, and with varying degrees of drama, light humour, its supernatural touch, and its air of mystery throughout, it works. It’s not the best out there, but it’s a decent one. Personally, I appreciate that it made more out of what originally looked like a standard concept, standard characters, standard animation and music, and even if the characters weren’t entirely relatable to me, I found it intriguing to watch them unfold. At the same time, however, I felt like it didn’t display all of its potential; part of that is due to the fact that it got cut short, but even putting that aside, a lot of problems would run deeper in real life than they seem to do here. A bit standard, yet, but it is anime after all, and if you don’t expect too much, it’s a decent one. Some good supernatural drama/mystery, light cues of humour, decent characterisation and character development, and it certainly succeeds in stepping out of the shadow of its rather typical beginning concept. Though I still wish they hadn’t cut it off like that. (show less)

Note: This isn't quite a review, but don't go reporting me yet, it's not supposed to be spam.


Looks like Kokoro Connect was cut short! Meant to be 17 eps, but it's now down to 13, so, no kidding, we've got the final ep right beyond our nose. For now at least.


"Not too long ago a bunch of staff from Silver Link (The studio that produces Kokoro Connect) played a horrible and nasty prank on a seiyuu (Japanese term for voice actor) named Ichiki. What they basically did was tell him that there was a spot open for Kokoro Connect and he had a chance to audition and be in it. A fake script and instructions was pre-prepared for this prank and the entire prank was being recorded live and is also uploaded on NicoNicoDouga (Popular Japanese video site, similar to youtube).
The community found this to be very disgusting and saw it as an act of bullying. This caused a huge out roar or how Silver Link was full of scumbags. Many people gave Kokoro Connect a bad rating because of this and Silver Link was worried that because of this, they won’t get any BD sales. Fearing that they won’t get sales, they decided to cut the TV series short. Originally the series was supposed to air ALL 17 episodes on TV but now only 13 will be airing and the 4 leftover episodes will be included in the blu-rays."

Source: http://www.houkagoblogtime.com/kokoro-connect-news-updates-thoughts-on-this-seasons-ends/#more-142 . The original text's a lot longer, so if anyone's interested, go read the blog- I really didn't want to copy the whole thing. >.<


Anyway, I'm pissed. All the good romantic comedies end on a short note because sh*t's happening among the staff. (Same with Fruits Basket back in its time, and I'm pretty sure it happened to a few other animes as well.) I'm absolutely no manga reader, so I'd been happy when I heard about 17 eps a while ago- at least that's enough to make a decent plot adaption. So many anime end after 12 eps and then never get taken up again. That Kokoro Connect's now suffering the same fate is unfair. The last ep's sitting on my computer since this afternoon but I haven't even started it yet for fear it'll end on a cliffhanger and leave me high and dry. Sure there's gonna be the dvd but that's gonna be quite a while too.


For something resembling a review, my faith's been kinda shaken now, but so far Kokoro Connect's been a good ride. I was hesitant at the start since there's just so many body-switching-comedies out there, and even a number of jokes were kinda typical (yeeeah, the first thing guys do when stuck in a girl's body is fondle her boobs -.-), but there's been that rather dramatic aura behind that that kept me watching. Plus, that focus the show set on familial issues was pretty unusual. Kept me watching despite typical set-ups, and I'm glad it did. The "desires unleashed" arc was just amazing, and now the latest art kinda cute and kinda dramatic... got used to the tone by now, but it's still been a good one. Admittedly the arcs were kinda disconnected among themselves if not for Heartseed, but the drama managed to kinda gloss over that, so I'm not too bad with that. Well-established characters, interesting relationships, story-wise quite a bit deeper than I expected, no faults with the voice-acting, latest animation though sometimes slightly blurry artwork, and a good one to watch overall. If only they hadn't cut it short.


For the producing studio... No comment (Would only repeat what others said before). What's to be learned from the story? Pranks don't belong into business. Really. >_<' (show less)