Kokoro Connect Episode 1 Thoughts; “A Love and Teen Pentagonal Comedy”

It time for Kokoro Connect!  I’m not sure what made me pick this one.  It really isn’t the type of anime I normally watch/review but whatever.  What’s done is done; I’m reviewing this one no matter how it turns out, I’m not abandoning another anime like I did with Accel World. Lets get to the synopsis and see what kind of anime we are in for!

“The five members of the Cultural Study group that meets in class 401 have spent a lot of time wondering what it would be like to be in someone else’s shoes. But they’re about to learn that there’s a huge difference between thinking about something and literally BEING in someone else’s shoes! Because that’s exactly what happens when, suddenly and inexplicably, they each find themselves inside the body of the girl (or boy) next door!   What happens next? Well, besides bringing a whole new meaning to the term “Exchange Student” and the expected freaked out runs to the bathroom, it’s not hard to do the math: Take one wrestling geek, the resident cool girl, the class clown, the popular chick and one sultry maid of mystery, scramble thoroughly and divide, and you can bet that pretty soon they’ll be answering ALL of the questions they never wanted to know about the opposite sex in ways they never anticipated!” (Sentai Filmworks, Official Synopsis)

Well episode one turned out to be a lot better then expected.  I have never had much faith in Silver Link, they haven’t managed to impress me much yet.  The only full series I have ever watched by them is Dusk Maiden of Amnesia, which was all right, but their other anime include things like C3, not something for me.  I want to start with what I didn’t like about the first episode so I can quickly get it over with.  I was impressed with Silver Link’s animation throughout Dusk Maiden but it doesn’t carry over to Kokoro Connect.  It doesn’t look like this show has a very high budget.  There was very little movement throughout the episode and some of it wasn’t particularly fluent. There were many shot even in this first episode that were used to save money.  There were several far away camera shot that looked like crap.  The backgrounds were a little plain; there was very little detail.  Maybe I have been a little spoiled lately when it comes to anime but other shows this season like Tari Tari and even Arcana Famiglia blow it out of the water.  Enough about the animation lets get to what I like about this episode.

I found episode 1 to be funny.  I even laughed out loud several times, which has been rare for me of late when watching anime.  The jokes were mostly sex/dirty jokes, which surprised me.  I thought this was going to be a more kid-friendly show, maybe similar to Hyouka but it isn’t.  It was funny that the first thing that Taichi did when he switched into Iori’s body was grabbing her chest.  It was funny when Himeko asked Taichi what was the name of the last adult video he borrowed from Yoshifumi.  Maybe the jokes were not the most original, but there were worth a laugh.

Kokoro Connect has an intriguing concept.  I know they exist out there but I don’t think I have ever seen an anime about switching bodies.  I interested in seeing how these high school students will react to this. We have already seen Taichi act dirty, but I bet all the characters will be interested in the certain aspects of the opposite gender.  I can’t wait see what is to come from the body switching.  I wonder if the body switching will become permanent, we will just have to wait and see.

We were introduced to the five main characters in episode 1.  I personally like all of them.  I loved that Yoshifumi tried to join the “players club.”  I guess he has one thing on his mind; women.  Taichi is funny and a little bit of a smart ass, both guys will make for some interesting times.  The girls are a little weaker as characters but suspect as they develop more they will get even better.

I can’t wait until next week.  I hope it remains great!

Thanks you for reading!

-Xana