Kokoro Connect

Kokoro Connect is a slice of life psychological drama based on the light novels of the same name.  There is also a manga adaptation of both the novel series and the anime.  The anime originally aired in Japan during the summer off season in 2012 and ran for 13 episodes.

    The story follows 5 high school students who end up forming a club because they don't fit into or refuse to join any other activities.  Their new found friendship and camaraderie is put to the test when a mysterious force begins playing games with them.

    While the series can be said to be from the viewpoint of Taichi Yaegashi, I would argue that its really about another of the five characters, but this won't be apparent until the very end of the series.  There are essentially 3 arcs after the first episode.  Each arc deals with a different challenge the group has to face.  In the beginning, most notably, this is a light hearted comedic romance.  But as the series progresses more somber tones take over, with the final arc being full of brooding and moodiness.  This was, in general, a quick and entertaining series.  My biggest complaint is with the 2nd arc, it was rather boring and seemed to take to long.  I enjoyed the first arc the best, it was the most entertaining.  The final arc really clamped down on the characters personality traits and the drivers for their actions.  The ending made the entire series fall into a different light than up to that point.  Well, perhaps light is the wrong way of saying it, it brings up a different set of conclusions and ideas about the entire series and the events that transpired.  In the end though this is a coming of age story with a dark side, driven by paranormal activity.  It reminded me of Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, in that the focus of the story was character introspection.  Unlike Kimi ga Nozomu Eien, it wasn't very moe...thankfully.  There was also very little in the way of fan service and generally seemed to be a well put together series.  The animation wasn't half bad, the voice acting was pretty well done and most of the writing was interesting.  There is however one problem...upon researching some of the info for this post I discovered that 4 more episodes were released in the winter of 2012...I will update this post after I have tracked down and watched those episodes.

    It would be cool to see a movie made that follows up, perhaps 10 years in the future, the group having somewhat split off, as happens when you become adults, and they are drawn together again by another trial.

    All in all, good series and worth the time.  It's like a blend of Suzumiya Haruhi no Yutsu, Kimi ga Nozmu Eien and in some respect,  Bokurano.  The original 13 episodes are available via streaming on Crunchyroll and on DVD and Blu-Ray in North America.  It does not seem that the final 4 episodes are available in North America though...