Post by Grey on Feb 1, 2015 17:02:10 GMT -8
Yep, well, it's like the best show ever so go watch it.
I wrote this a while ago for a class assignment so my writing is kind of... rough in some places. It's also the first review I've ever written. :U
As a result of the discussion earlier tonight I decided to post it here and hopefully influence everyone +1 to view it.
But yeah, Kokoro Connect so good, go watch it.
The seventeen episode long televised series known as Kokoro Connect is, in essence, a relatively realistic show of five people and their path to find homeostasis within their lives, as they face multiple obstacles and challenges not associated with everyday life. As a summary, five people (all teenagers in high school) are faced with various supernatural phenomenons such as body swapping or regressing physically and mentally to their past childhood states due to interference from an otherworldly antagonist. They must then rely on each other to overcome these peculiar occurrences while each and every one of them struggles with their own unique trait or trauma and the decision to trust each other.
I was initially disinterested with the setting, as there is usually a repetitive trend to these types of school situations, however I discovered that instead of being exacerbated, I became pleasantly surprised with how the story unfolded and how easy it was to relate too. I also was especially pleased with the individual character designs. Each of the five main characters contain a thorough back story, unique personal trait, and typically a trauma or bad experience that haunts them. While most of these things are common in media today, each character showed tremendous amounts of growth and acts upon that growth to help each of the others grow themselves during a roughly year long progression of time. The problems each character was forced to deal with were generally just a slightly more intricate variety of problems common to most people, causing at least one of the five main characters to contain a high chance of being relatable to the viewer.
On a more plot oriented tangent, the antagonist of the story reveals himself by “possessing” multiple absent minded, static characters during various times and chooses to identify himself as the uncommon plant known as “Heartseed.” While he is definitely the antagonist of the story, he maintains the role of an observer, and outside of causing and explaining the supernatural phenomenons that take place between the five, he bears no ill intent towards the group. Even though Heartseed often says that the strange occurrences are for his own amusement, it could easily be speculated that it is for the groups own benefit as after each arc is concluded (with one phenomenon per arc) at least one character has their trauma or bad experience “cured” and they themselves grows exponentially.
This mystical antagonist brings me to the classification of the series. I would consider the genre of this story as a “Romantic Comedy” more than anything. I decided to portray it this way instead of a “sci-fi” or “magical” depiction mostly due to the fact that there is an abundant (but not invasive) source of comedy, and because one of the members of the group that the story tends to revolve around more than the others, almost like a main character, does eventually end up together with a love interest towards the latter parts of the story. I would also like to point out that even though the romance setting is present, there is little to no drama or hostile intent (outside of anything spurred by a phenomenon) that relates to the romantic aspect. There is most definitely dramatic and nail-biting moments, but nothing that would generally cause the viewer, or me anyway, that feeling of mixed regret and disappointment when a character makes a mistake or a wrong choice.
Another aspect I would like to bring to light is the intensifying plot line. While the story tends to stick to it’s chosen route of a lax situation, creating a phenomenon, identifying a problem, and then solving the problem while the strengthening of bonds between characters takes place and the phenomenon ends, there are multiple parts of the story that contain major plot twists and completely unforeseen cliffhangers, which, I say so with humiliation, can tend to make a viewer want to skimp out on anything they need to take care of and watch the next episode instead. I recently analyzed a variety of stories and have come to the conclusion that I personally think the biggest emotional connection and response emitted from a viewer is caused due to a story progression of happiness to shock, shock to sadness, and sadness to hope. I believe that when this development is implemented in a story, viewer reactions reach a peak and the show or story becomes that much more enjoyable. A lot of the plot twists within this series tend to revolve around this concept.
This brings me to my final topic, emotion. In all honesty I think that the best aspect of Kokoro Connect was the expression of emotion. Each and every feeling that a character experienced was brilliantly portrayed, whether it be embarrassment, fear, love, sadness, anger, or anything else. This excellent vocalization of feeling creates it’s own bond between the viewer and the characters, which makes it that much more enjoyable to watch. I found the influx of raw emotion to be quite adorable, and I personally found myself constantly pausing and replaying scenes to watch one character blush or cry just so I myself could laugh giddily over the sheer personification of human expression.
If you, the reader, haven’t yet identified my view of Kokoro Connect, I will say that I very much enjoyed the entirety of it. The few negative aspects I found measured little to none, and I would say that the only major drawback I noted is that the place setting had little variety. There were one or two arcs where the characters took a trip or moved to a specific area, but the majority of the show took place in a clubroom on the school campus. However, this itself can create a comfortable atmosphere to return to after each arc and makes me debate whether this negative is actually unfavorable at all. But even if I did consider the place setting to be a con within the series, the pure emotions I experienced while watching this show greatly outweigh any small negatives that may remain and when the series was finally over, I felt happy and content rather than regret or attachment. All in all, Kokoro Connect is an exemplary show of human instinct and emotion as well as affection and the necessity of other people. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in a well developed story with a unique concept of struggle and a beautiful portrayal of individual characters.
TL;DR Kokoro Connect master anime let's all watch it together pls ily set the date kk
For the record Inaban is the best character. Soz. Also so adorable as a child- watitsokaytothinkthat
I wrote this a while ago for a class assignment so my writing is kind of... rough in some places. It's also the first review I've ever written. :U
As a result of the discussion earlier tonight I decided to post it here and hopefully influence everyone +1 to view it.
But yeah, Kokoro Connect so good, go watch it.
The seventeen episode long televised series known as Kokoro Connect is, in essence, a relatively realistic show of five people and their path to find homeostasis within their lives, as they face multiple obstacles and challenges not associated with everyday life. As a summary, five people (all teenagers in high school) are faced with various supernatural phenomenons such as body swapping or regressing physically and mentally to their past childhood states due to interference from an otherworldly antagonist. They must then rely on each other to overcome these peculiar occurrences while each and every one of them struggles with their own unique trait or trauma and the decision to trust each other.
I was initially disinterested with the setting, as there is usually a repetitive trend to these types of school situations, however I discovered that instead of being exacerbated, I became pleasantly surprised with how the story unfolded and how easy it was to relate too. I also was especially pleased with the individual character designs. Each of the five main characters contain a thorough back story, unique personal trait, and typically a trauma or bad experience that haunts them. While most of these things are common in media today, each character showed tremendous amounts of growth and acts upon that growth to help each of the others grow themselves during a roughly year long progression of time. The problems each character was forced to deal with were generally just a slightly more intricate variety of problems common to most people, causing at least one of the five main characters to contain a high chance of being relatable to the viewer.
On a more plot oriented tangent, the antagonist of the story reveals himself by “possessing” multiple absent minded, static characters during various times and chooses to identify himself as the uncommon plant known as “Heartseed.” While he is definitely the antagonist of the story, he maintains the role of an observer, and outside of causing and explaining the supernatural phenomenons that take place between the five, he bears no ill intent towards the group. Even though Heartseed often says that the strange occurrences are for his own amusement, it could easily be speculated that it is for the groups own benefit as after each arc is concluded (with one phenomenon per arc) at least one character has their trauma or bad experience “cured” and they themselves grows exponentially.
This mystical antagonist brings me to the classification of the series. I would consider the genre of this story as a “Romantic Comedy” more than anything. I decided to portray it this way instead of a “sci-fi” or “magical” depiction mostly due to the fact that there is an abundant (but not invasive) source of comedy, and because one of the members of the group that the story tends to revolve around more than the others, almost like a main character, does eventually end up together with a love interest towards the latter parts of the story. I would also like to point out that even though the romance setting is present, there is little to no drama or hostile intent (outside of anything spurred by a phenomenon) that relates to the romantic aspect. There is most definitely dramatic and nail-biting moments, but nothing that would generally cause the viewer, or me anyway, that feeling of mixed regret and disappointment when a character makes a mistake or a wrong choice.
Another aspect I would like to bring to light is the intensifying plot line. While the story tends to stick to it’s chosen route of a lax situation, creating a phenomenon, identifying a problem, and then solving the problem while the strengthening of bonds between characters takes place and the phenomenon ends, there are multiple parts of the story that contain major plot twists and completely unforeseen cliffhangers, which, I say so with humiliation, can tend to make a viewer want to skimp out on anything they need to take care of and watch the next episode instead. I recently analyzed a variety of stories and have come to the conclusion that I personally think the biggest emotional connection and response emitted from a viewer is caused due to a story progression of happiness to shock, shock to sadness, and sadness to hope. I believe that when this development is implemented in a story, viewer reactions reach a peak and the show or story becomes that much more enjoyable. A lot of the plot twists within this series tend to revolve around this concept.
This brings me to my final topic, emotion. In all honesty I think that the best aspect of Kokoro Connect was the expression of emotion. Each and every feeling that a character experienced was brilliantly portrayed, whether it be embarrassment, fear, love, sadness, anger, or anything else. This excellent vocalization of feeling creates it’s own bond between the viewer and the characters, which makes it that much more enjoyable to watch. I found the influx of raw emotion to be quite adorable, and I personally found myself constantly pausing and replaying scenes to watch one character blush or cry just so I myself could laugh giddily over the sheer personification of human expression.
If you, the reader, haven’t yet identified my view of Kokoro Connect, I will say that I very much enjoyed the entirety of it. The few negative aspects I found measured little to none, and I would say that the only major drawback I noted is that the place setting had little variety. There were one or two arcs where the characters took a trip or moved to a specific area, but the majority of the show took place in a clubroom on the school campus. However, this itself can create a comfortable atmosphere to return to after each arc and makes me debate whether this negative is actually unfavorable at all. But even if I did consider the place setting to be a con within the series, the pure emotions I experienced while watching this show greatly outweigh any small negatives that may remain and when the series was finally over, I felt happy and content rather than regret or attachment. All in all, Kokoro Connect is an exemplary show of human instinct and emotion as well as affection and the necessity of other people. I would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in a well developed story with a unique concept of struggle and a beautiful portrayal of individual characters.
TL;DR Kokoro Connect master anime let's all watch it together pls ily set the date kk
For the record Inaban is the best character. Soz. Also so adorable as a child- watitsokaytothinkthat
. Nice long written post :).