Kokoro Connect

I used to hate slice of life. But then Sakamichi no Apollon opened my eyes...

and then along came Kokoro Connect!

Granted, it's not really just slice of life. It has the supernatural and genderbender genres to help it along, and that's really my favorite combination. Although the animation style/character designs might not be fantastic, the storyline is just...wow. It's fast-paced, but not rushed. It focuses on each character enough to develop him/her without neglecting the others, and it's just so emotionally charged. I could relate to the characters and understand their own brand of suffering. That's one of the rarer things to find in an anime.
Random Note: I really don't understand how SAO can have higher ratings than KC. It just blows my mind.

This review is really rushed and not very well thought out. Sorry. School sucks.

This show is a very, very solid work of character development, and odd, funny situations. Some watching would argue the main antagonists actions to "shake up" the characters lives are lazy actions by the writers to create action in the anime; or that it is a little too deus ex machina for the show to be believable. I disagree with 100%. I believe that the situations the characters are placed in are interesting and unique, and that the character's strength and development shine through the entire series of events. I loved these characters by the probably the third episode, and look forward every week to see what Heartseed will have them do.

If you are looking for a light, fun, and interesting anime with great characters, and a cool story, I wholeheartedly recommend Kokoro Connect.

Kokoro connect forcibly breaks down the barriers placed by society to show a brutally raw emotional journey driven by each individuals persona and intentions. Each character employs a unique yet familiar background leaving an enjoyable and interesting development. What's left is an emotional study of humanity in a social world that hits close enough to home to let us learn something about ourselves.

This is by far one of the best shows in 2012 that I have watched, along with Sword Art Online. The thing about this show that I like is every episode brings something new. Unlike most shows where you can kind of guess what the next episode is about, in Kokoro Connect, every new episode brings something shocking that I never would have expected. When I first saw the show with the kids in their uniforms (I was looking for a show to watch), I thought, "Hey why not try this show?" I was glad I did, this is an awesome show and I reccomend this to anyone looking for something slightly thrilling, that draws you into the storyline.

Excelente serie, la mejor o una de las mejores de esta temporada. Es profunda y bella, y en cada capitulo muestra lo intrincado del "ser" humano. Cada personaje se desarrolla sutilmente en cada episodio, mostrando el como las relaciones con personas diferentes a ti, te hacen crecer y de alguna forma conocerte a ti mismo. Es imposible mantenerte indiferente y no amar a cada uno de sus personajes. La ilustracion tambien es de lujo. En suma, Si les gusta este género....VEANLA, NO SE ARREPENTIRAN!

At a quick glance, it's easy to mistake this for your run-of-the-mill slice of life anime about friendships.
On a grand scale, it is exactly that. It's about ever-deepening friendship and hardship it comes with from forming such powerful relationships.
But this anime has a twist to the whole process.

Introducing, personality swaps.
One day, the group began to swap personalities at random. With no warning, their "souls" swapped bodies seemingly at random intervals and individuals.
With this strange phenomena happening, the characters are forced to learn of each others' insecurities and dealing with it as friends.

I will complete the review as soon as the series is over, but I am definitely looking forward to the end and how the friendship develops.

Episode 1-7

This anime is a shocker for me. From the premise, posters and trailers, I thought this was going to be a wacky, good time anime about switching bodies and I was also expecting a little bit of K-On humour (K-On and Kokoro Connect have the same anime illustrator) but oh no. Kokoro Connect is one of the deepest and thought provoking animes I have seen this year. It cleverly uses strange phenomenons to test the friendship and humanity of five friends and convey themes of identity and human nature and I was very surprised of how good this anime is.

PREMISE AND STORY:
Kokoro Connect follows five friends who are members of The Culture Research Club. As they go through their day to day lives, strange phenomenons occur to the five friends, which completely challenge and test their whole friendship and their lives. The phenomenons that were currently shown is the body swapping, which tests their trust, identity and commitment and the sudden desire which tests their emotions.This is more of a character study than a story centric anime as it thoroughly details the personalities and their relationship between each other. The most dominant type of relationship between the friends is romance as it mostly becomes a focal point of a phenomenon. This type of premise and exeution is a huge breathe of fresh air as this could've been easily a generic ecchi type of anime but thankfully it's more than that. While it is sometimes funny, the drama and tension mostly drowns the humour whenever it comes up but the comedy is very down to earth and very real, which complements the drama and doesn't ruin the consistency. The story in the long run is a battle against an unknown force but it is addressed infrequently as it is mostly about the friendship of the five friends but it never loses importance as it is a strong presence.

CHARACTERS:
The five friends, three girls and two boys, are a very colourful and three dimensional cast of characters. Taichi who is selfless which is a gift and a curse and loves pro-wrestling, Iori who is cheerful but has a troubled family life, Himeko who is stern and rational but has trust issues, Yoshfumi who is outspoken and honest and Yui who is joyful but fears men. Each of the five's personalities are a key part in demonstrating their relationship with each other and how the phenomenons affect them and as this anime is a character study, it is the key ingredient for the tension and drama. Their interactions and chemistry with each other are surprisingly natural even for an anime. It never feels forced or pushed in, which makes you more invested in their struggles and compelled to find out what happens to their overall friendship.

PRODUCTION:
Kokoro Connect is a more realistic and down to earth anime. It's not overblown or over-exaggerated, which makes the animation minimal. Thankfully, the art style and character design is very unique and makes up for the animation and no character looks alike. At first glance, the style looks exactly like K-On's but that's because it is illustrated by the same artist and it's appropriate to the down to earth nature of the anime as was K-On were. The music is unfortunately forgettable and that's all I have to say about the music.

CONCLUSION:
This is one of the best animes I have seen this year so far, up there with Kids on the Slope and I was genuinely surprised by how good it was. It has a great premise and a very likeable and easy to relate to cast of characters. The drama is very compelling and sometimes very tense and thought provoking. I always look forward to an episode and I always look forward on seeing these character's relationships evolve.

Para mi gusto y hasta el momento, la mejor serie de la temporada.
La historia es bastante original y te enamoras de los personajes desde el primer momento.
Inclusive la serie te deja picado desde el primer episodio lo que la hace más interesante. No es una serie cualquiera y además combina perfectamente la comedia con el drama y con el romance.
Hasta el momento la tengo en mi Top5 de la temporada, veremos qué pasa en los demás episodios.
No dejen de visitarnos en Phantoma Channel http://www.theevavillage.com.mx/wired

At first glance, this anime is a cheap, perverted anime with an overused concept. However, if you actually watch it, it is AMAZING! I'm really loving it! The characters are well rounded and show increasing development. The romance is realistic, and they don't take to long to get to the point, but no "love at first sight" nonsense. The humor is funny, and it doesn't use fan service( at least not too often.) And its not for perverts, it is for people who can handle dirty jokes.
I think some of my only problems with this anime are that the opening is awful, it can be hard to follow, and we aren't getting enough of an explanation, but that may be due to the fact that it's a new anime.
All around, an excellent anime.

I'm glad I stuck with it. The first episode had some lines that made me think it might focus too much on sexuality, but the second episode allayed those fears. Now that we're on the fourth episode the characters are getting deeper, and the conversations are serious discussions about identity formation and confusion.

The plot is promising. There's plenty of material to explore and every episode adds characterization and the potential for future scenarios.

That said, some of the interactions seem forced. Characters seem too calm and they take turns in tense situations. There's also not much going on in the background. It's still early though, and hopefully more characters will be introduced or become more involved in later episodes.