Kokoro Connect

[shinta|hikari]

What I meant was Taichi was the type that does not go out with the friends of former lovers, at least not so soon. He was stubborn about such things. Now he has changed and is able to do just that.

I believe their feelings for each other were real too. They said as much in that white space.

[Ryllharu]

I don't quite get the fascination with Kokoro Connect. After the first arc, it has been extremely repetitive. New supernatural scheme, one character gets a minor bit of character development. First Yui, then Inaba, then Iori, then Aoki, and finally more Iori and Inaba. Tachi either got a smattering throughout, or none at all, depending on your point of view.

Only Iori has been an interesting as a character at all. Inaba hasn't really panned out to be much of anything. She has no personality to speak of. She's not tsundere, she's all over the board. The last four episodes were even worse in terms of a consistent characterization for her. Taichi is generic male lead #1254, and Aoki was generic male supporting character #45326. Yui makes next to no impression at all.

Throughout the series, I found myself wondering when each episode was ever going to end. I can't remember many other series where I've paused episodes for hours multiple times per episode.

It's a 6/10 series at best. I will forget I ever watched it in under a year. Hell, I forgot that I had never watched episode 13.

It has been Kaibutsu-kun, yet stunningly somehow blander, the supernatural element being the driver of any character development, rather than any kind of actual story.

[shinta|hikari]

I like Kokoro Connect because of the characters, particularly Inaba and Iori (who I used to hate until these 4 episodes). I can really relate to those two characters, so there is definitely bias there, but even putting that aside Kokoro Connect is much better than most other school comedy/drama shows.

Inaba is actually more realistic as a character because she doesn't fall into a single archetype. Taichi is probably the most generic and unrealistic of all of them.

[Buffalobiian]

I don't see the connection between Kokoro Connect and Kaibutsu-kun, but I enjoyed the former more because I feel that it actually did somewhere (even if the answer is "It's okay to be myself" most of the time).

I like Kokoro Connect because of the characters, particularly Inaba and Iori (who I used to hate until these 4 episodes). I can really relate to those two characters, so there is definitely bias there

Me too. If Kokoro Connect happened in real life, I would imagine I'd run into much the same problems as Iori here. I don't feel confident in saying that I could have reached a resolution.

As for my impressions on the last 4 episodes, it's pretty much as Barles says:

Well damn, those episodes are better than everything that came before, making for a wonderful end. I nearly choked while laughing when Iori started putting Inaban in her place in that first episode (episode 14). I'm a big fan of the new Iori, which frankly is really the same as the old Iori, minus the self-censoring. I also kind of feel bad that she didn't end up with Taichi, but by the time all of this was done, it just wouldn't have made sense for either of them.

I have some mixed feelings about how it finally ended up. It's entirely expected that Taichi/Iori's relationship would end the way it did. From a realistic point of view, I have no problems with it at all.(On a personal scale, I felt bad for Iori..) The main thing was that Taichi's words prior to the white-space talk gave me the impression that he not only still loved Iori, but he loved her to the same degree even now. "Betrayed" would be the best word to describe how I felt about the sudden "I loved you. Loved"

The "reset" also didn't end up rebuilding a love-triangle, which further supports the point that Taichi doesn't love the new Iori in the same manner he did with the old one.

Talking about old/new, what confuses me (and to a degree, pisses me off) is how similar New Iori is compared to Old Iori. If the "real" one was so similar to the ideal one, there wouldn't have been such clashes of dark thoughts in the first place. New Iori should have been someone more .. different.

[shinta|hikari]

I think Iori isn't really any newer than before. She just managed to recharge her acting gauge.

[Buffalobiian]

I think Iori isn't really any newer than before. She just managed to recharge her acting gauge.

I'm tempted to interpret it that way too, but then that would mean this was all for nothing (except breaking up Iori/Taichi).

One would also think that Heartseed would have had to be satisfied with some sort of resolution within Iori for him to feel like drawing the curtains..

The arc visibly changed the bully-girl more than it did Iori. :s

[Uchiha Barles]

Talking about old/new, what confuses me (and to a degree, pisses me off) is how similar New Iori is compared to Old Iori. If the "real" one was so similar to the ideal one, there wouldn't have been such clashes of dark thoughts in the first place. New Iori should have been someone more .. different.

Iori is only "new Iori" to everyone who is not Iori. I initially missed the point of what her problem was. I thought she had identity issues in trying to figure out who she really was. Going back to those episodes with the information from the last 4 we just got, it wasn't quite that. The whole time she was really worried about was how she was perceived by others. She was always crystal clear on who she really was. So in essence, she was lying about who she was.

This is why Taichi couldn't have possibly been in love with her anymore. Not because the "real Iori" is someone Taichi could not love, but because she's essentially a stranger. He doesn't don't know her, none of them do. I'm with you though, I felt a pang when Taichi said "loved". Such an unfortunate cost for the choices she's made. For what it's worth, she's awesome enough to not have to worry about finding an excellent mate.

[Ryllharu]

I just can't understand why any of you thought the last four episodes were good.

I still can't get past the fact that they used a great deal of the plot points right out of the Paint by Numbers Guide to Shoujo Manga, and it was even in order.

Some random bitch character appears, offended that her chosen random character loves one of the currently depressed or quiet female leads (here played by Iori), and proceeds to bully her to excess. Female lead shrugs it off, convinced they'll eventually get over it. The bullies even going so far as to destroy [club project] everyone has been working on, and they're devastated by it. Right on cue, the bullied female appears, gets all fired up about the injustice, and runs off in angry vengeance. Then the same tired, cliché role switches to Inaba, who, angry and fired up, finds the people responsible, who are of course delinquents...and promptly gets kidnapped and taken to a nearby abandoned warehouse/school building! At some point the delinquents threaten her with humiliation and/or rape. The whole group of friends goes to the rescue, bullying girl finds herself in over her head, and due to a creative bit of acting by the female lead (once again played by Iori), they're all saved and the bad guys defeated. Following this, thinking everything is over, one of the male leads gets attacked in revenge in a brutal manner, protecting one of the girls. The next segment of the series shows the repentant bullying girl now the female lead's closest ally.

Seriously...this garbage storyline is everywhere.

Even the most tame and fluffy shoujo manga series are better written than this. This last arc had quite possibly the most unoriginal plot I've seen in an anime created after 2003.

[Buffalobiian]

I just can't understand why any of you thought the last four episodes were good.

I don't know if I can objectively call them good, but they were personally enjoyable to watch - and I had a much better connection with these 4 episodes than I had with the earlier episodes.

Iori is a character I seem to empathise with (that doesn't happen often), and I found myself sharing her dilemma and frustration. Every time someone asks her where her "normal self" was, I was internally shouting at them to observe properly instead of using their definition of "normal". If I was Iori, I'd really feel like saying it all in their face, but I'd ultimately keep my lips shut like she did because I would perceive the explanation as futile and a waste of effort anyway.

I was also eagerly waiting for the resolution she'd reach, which is why I'm disappointed that the solution wasn't a solution at all.

O yeah, in short I liked the Iori angst, with Inaban Dereban filling some gaps here and there to balance things out a bit.

I'm also on the opposite side to you Ryll, on the Shoujo exposure scale.

[MFauli]

I´d give it a 5/10, tbh. It´s entirely generic, forgettable.

I kinda watched 2/3 of this anime while browsing the web or chatting with people, yet I don´t feel like I missed anything of importance. None of the characters made me care much for him/her. Nagase´s resolution was completely random, nothing that happened triggered anything that hadn´t been told to her before, yet suddenly she changed back from her emo-self. whatever.

I don´t regret watching it, but it´s not a must-see either.