Random Review- Kokoro Connect

Today I finished rewatching kokoro connect plus the michi random section that I had missed earlier, and I have to say that I really enjoyed.  When I first watched kokoro connect before the second round, I had planned to drop it after the first episode.  The synopsis seemed quite interesting so I had picked it up and watched it, but found the first minutes of the anime too generic for my likings.  Saying that I'm glad I began watching it again after I heard the anime club at my school had watched it as well.  Picking it up again I began to realize that the anime is very well thought about and the characters are very well designed each with their unique personalities.  I even found the michi random ending to be quite satisfiable in a way that is acceptable given the setting, but I will not spoil.


Kokoro Connect
Michi Random Arc


Story 8
The story aims around a group of highschoolers whom are grouped together in a club because they were not able to decide for a club themselves.  They soon become great friends, but soon realize that being so close could actually be a bad thing given the situations they are thrown into.  The group is confronted by a supernatural being called cardiospermum or "heart seed" or "balloon vine" ranging from various sub group translations.  Heart seed is able to bestow a situation onto the group that will cause them to show sides of themselves that they don't really want to show.  The situations range from swapping of bodies, regression into a younger self(where memories are fresh in the mind during the time they are regressed), urges to do whatever they truly desire(defying manners and situational interpretation), and a projection of how they really feel.  Most of these situations are occur completely at random and during the period of times these situations are occurring, they have to work together as they are the only ones that are affected.  This may seem simple, but having a group of 3 girls and 2 guys spells trouble all over the place.  Some of the things they may not want the others to know are easily revealed in the situations that occur.  They can only rely on each other as getting anyone else involved can speculate consequences.  Because of the situation though, being together as a group may seem hard at times, but they only way to stop the situation(where heart seed becomes disinterested in the current situation) is to pull through together as one.

Characters 10

At first, it may not seem so as the anime feels very lighthearted at the beginning.  It is soon apparent that  each character is plays a unique role in the flow of things and will each be needed to accomplish certain weaknesses the other characters may possess.

Taichi Yaegashi
Perhaps one may view this person as the main character although this is not truly the case where the anime is mostly always in a 3rd person omniscient viewpoint.  He may seem to be the main character, because he seems to do the most "work" when it comes to fixing the situations at hand.  He seems to be the emotionally stable character and is deemed as a "Selfless Freak" and as his nickname suggests aims to help his friends as much as he can without regards to himself.  With this in mind he can get himself in tight situations where he does not think things through and just resorts in sacrificing himself as the quickest option.  He adores Pro Wrestling not for the action and the fight, but for the fighter who has the ability to endure all the pain something he wants to do for his fellow friends.

Himeko Inaba
Inaba during the first episodes can be viewed as a very cold character where she doesn't seem to care about the others too much at all.  She admits countless times that she is quite selfish and wonders how people could be so nice to everyone else.  Deep down though, she is actually a very caring person even though she doesn't really show it much.  Her character is very determined, yet at times we can see that she did things just because it would be a bother for her later.  At times she can push her ideologies onto another even though she doesn't do so for herself.  She does this in a way that may hide how she is thinking yet it hurts her deep down inside.  She is one of the more stable characters in and even when she is to breakdown, she tries to stay strong.

Iori Nagase
Nagase is a character that is very good at hiding what she really thinks.  She adapts to situations very well as she puts on various facades that suit various people.  She is probably the most eccentric character out of the bunch, yet we can only wonder if that is a facade itself(michi random arc works towards that).  She is usually very cheerful, but keeping deep secrets about her family and not wanting anyone to help her really kills her inside and she may break down when it comes towards the subject.  Even when all the members of the group seemed to be at a lost, she is able to try and lighten the mood with the help of her facade.

Yoshifumi Aoki
Alot of people can refer to Aoki as a useless character due to is workings in the anime.  This is not the case though.  Without Aoki himself the group wouldn't be much of a group.  The group don't necesarilly rely on him much and he can be seen as the carefree type of character.  I find that the carefree character is much needed in a group.  With the situations that are given to them, he stays lighthearted and is able not to be affected much by the problems.  This plays as a giant comic relief for the group and he is much needed.  The fact that he is a guy also helps fixate the the setting for the group.  Had Taichi been the only guy, I would have dropped the anime due to hints towards a harem.

Yui Kiriyama
Yui is a strong willed character that can be decided as one who can fend for herself.  This apparantly is not so true in a sense and we can see that she is actually a very delicate person although she continues to put on a front.  It is later discovered that she has a light case of androphobia due to a past situation she had to go through.  She had taken up karate and was determined to be a strong person for herself.  She is able to cope with the group pretty well, but yet again she can clearly be seen as a fragile character.

Heartseed
Heartseed is a character that bestows upon situations for the group merely because he believes that it is interesting for the "interesting group" of which he calls the club where the main characters are in.  He often takes the form of Gotou sensei who he chose apparently because he is a kind of person who doesn't mind gaps in his memory.  Heartseed is able to possess any person at any given time and the person in possession will experience memory loss during the time he possess them.  While in possession the character is usually very monotoic and lifeless.

Music 7
The voice acting is very well done, and the op, ed, and insert songs are good too, but this is only typical of anime.  It wasn't particularly stunning to me, but that it's only true because that isn't the emphasis of the anime.

Art 8
The art was actually quite beautiful and I enjoyed the designs very well.  I would have rated it higher, but seeing that so many animes are doing a decent job with animations I don't ever rate animation too high unless it is something is extroardinary.


Overall 8.5

Random Review! K-ON! series

Lets start things off by saying that I for one am not into the whole moe or cutesy whatever type of anime sort of thing.  That's about all though that I'll have to say that initially didn't allow me to pick up K-On to watch in the first place.  As I am an avid music lover mostly alternative rock up into last year I'd say that I really enjoyed the music HTT had provided throughout the series.  Since this is my first review for this blog let me tell you guys first a little about myself.  Truth is I never really cared for anime at all until late last year.  I never really criticized the people that watched it, but I never really saw myself watching it anytime at all.  That really changed when I started college, which is sadly... not something I should have started at all.  I wish I hadn't started watching anime at all as it takes up a considerable amount of time and realllly affects my school work.  Still though no regrets!  Anime is like the best thing that's ever happened to me!  Really places myself in a whole nother world.  As of when I really started anime up until now I managed to cram 150+ anime series all in the course of this past half year.  In my opinion that's really going overboard, but what's to stop me now? ahha

WEll back to the review.  I promise I won't do that background thing again anytime in the future.  Since this is my first one I thought I'd throw in a little information.  So honestly after watching K-on the first time last year, I really wasn't hooked that much...  I even didn't go onto to season two even though it was available at the time.  The episodes just seemed so random and the girls did really lets see odd and peculiar things.  I found myself thinking...why would they do the things they did.  Especially Yui.  She is beyond words, I don't even know how she would survive college without her group(especially since her mature younger sister isn't there).  Last week I finally took to watch season 2 and thank god that I did.  After finishing the series, I felt such an emotional attachment to the characters that I realllly wished that a season 3 will air.  I suddenly realized that the odd group of girls that once eluded my interest had suddenly got me to want a lot more.  The character development for each character is so thorough that I can practically imagine given a scenario just exactly how each of them will act.  I was so emotionally attached to the series something I hadn't felt since the longer series such as ranma 1/2 and inuyasha.  How they managed to create a huge imprint on me with so little episodes is a huge success and I find this anime to be a must watch even for those who hate the moe stuff.  The emphasis of characters is the key seller for this anime for me as the animation is a bonus too.  The story is actually pretty intriguing as well although at times you wonder if the characters are progressing at all(this is actually because they are pretty lazy so a lot of unnecessary tasks are tackled)  I now suffer from chronic depression(just kidding, but I am really depressed) from finishing this anime.  I find myself listening to their songs millions of times and playing their songs over and over in Osu! the rhythm based music game.  There is now a deep wound placed upon me.

This is not an anime you can describe by just saying its synopsis and giving details.  People will just believe it's a stupid anime.  These are one of the animes you can only appreciate after following through and finishing.  Again I'm not into the whole cutesy anime girl stuff so for me to love this series so much is really something.

K-On! (Season 1)
K-On!! (Season 2)

Music 9
I'm seriously addicted to the music
Story 7
It goes wishy washy sometimes, but this is only typical in a average female highschoolers life, suprisingly very chronological with many situations and resolutions.
Art 8
The art style is pretty straighforward for modern anime and I enjoyed it alot
Character 10
I have a deep emotional tie towards these characters that can never be replaced by anything else.

Overall I give this anime an 8