I have this on the list. Found it after kissanime recommended it
Apparently it's good 
Korokoro connect I think it's called.
Spoilers ahead -- Be prepared.
I've actually seen this anime when searching for shows with the "body swap" story device, which seemingly is something one would find in a lot of Saturday-morning-western-cartoons. It's about a bunch of friends, running a high school club, who suddenly find themselves in each other's bodies, which leads to embarassing, humorous & perveted moments. That's not all though, because a couple of episodes later they'll find themselves going through more ordeals, like spontanously reverting back to childhood, reading each other's minds, or having their impulsed desires released. All of that crazy stuff, you know?
The idea is to provide a somewhat dramatic story, by having these plot devices convey growth upon the characters, making them experience each other's lives, facing their own demons and coming to terms with their own flaws.
It actually does this quite okay, there's a certain point in the show (about 5 episodes into it), where things start to heat up between the friends, feelings are being hurt, hearts are break, and certain reonciliations are in order and some characters actually achieve development. There is even a subplot about a rape for one of the characters, but the way it was handled and tied up was quite jarring and superstitious.
I think when the show tries to approach serious topics like that it sort of falls flat on its back, when ultimately trying to confront the issue -- it doesn't quite treat it with dignity or careful consideration of what such an experience must feel like to a person. At least not to adequate satisfaction.
Now, all of this supernatural stuff is apparently brought about by an enigmatic, godly implied, entity who calls himself Heartseed. Perhaps an allusion to the fact that he can litterally toy with the hearts and minds of the people he so chooses. Why does he do this? Well, in somewhat traditional Japanese myth fashion, the underlying implication of his motives seems to suggest it is to teach humanity a lesson about the importance of kinship, and being true to yourself, understanding the truth about not surrendering yourself to the expectations of others etc. Usually these lessons are provided in such an estranged and harsh fashion, you'd think you're being lectured by a Drill Sergeant at a military school for fat kids.
The Good PartsHere comes the parts I liked about it.
Ultimately, I think Kokoro Connect pulls its dramatic moments off rather nicely, and the female characters are quite well rounded -- The one who utters the masturbation line above is probably my favorite among them, one being Luci Christian's voice acting, and the second being that she has some adorable and nice moments that pave way for plenty of character progression for her.
There's a particular cute moment happening I liked simply because it provided an interesting perspective on the girl character I mentioned above, who comes off as rather typically cruel & distant on the outside. It showcases a more innocent side to her which was nice.. and cute.
I did mention the drama -- As we've already established, I've said that Kokoro does this well when not trying to approach sensitive topics like rape --
It make a bit up for it but it, when driving some of its other dramatic points home, and manages to be subtle and well-written in that regard. It still has a bit of a problem with “show don’t tell”, but it brings a lot to the table as well. It has a few funny jokes that are well thought-out.
The Bad PartsThe downside is that Heartseed is an awful character -- I didn't particularly liked how he just suddenly shows up and is like "I'm the guy responsible for everything, and I like fooling around with human children like I'm playing some sort of twisted version of The Sims, because it makes my willie go hard.... scratch that.. Like I'm playing The Sims".
His motivations are skewered and terrible, almost as if his sole existence is for plot convenience alone.
Secondly, the supposed main male character, who is so butt-numbingly awful, that he sucks my very soul out of everytime he appears on screen. He's the sort of character who is all action, with no personality to boot, like that clueless berk protagonist from Future Diary -- They both share the trait of being about as bland as a card-board cut-out could possibly be, and inexplicably popular with the cute girls, because someone has to be, and he drew the short straw again. The anime doesn't bother characerizing him at all -- He's kind of a nice I guess, and he likes WRAAStling, so he's generic and self-lessly-heroic, whoopty-******-Goldberg. Feel free to line up on the wall for generic protagonist number 180 billion, as you are verbally asassinated by me. Please?
Let it be known that I have no problem with self-less heroes. I think of myself as someone who helps out anybody in need, or go the extra mile if it'll help someone, but I like to think that we all think like that about ourselves. We are all human and we all realize we have flaws, and we are all equally capable of hurting people as we are of helping them. It won't always be on purpose either and we accept this.
All the main character in Kokoro has is this whole self-less act, and thus the show feels like pointing attention to it in such a vast fashion that it tries to make it out as a massive character flaw, when it really isn't.
There's no pros and cons to help balance out what we, as the audience, have to think about him as a character.
The worst part is that the show doesn't exactly implicate too strongly whether the focus should be placed on him, or whether the actual main characters are the girls of the show. But when this guy is acting as the catalyst of their psychological issues, then it goes from frustrating to irritating and only adds up to the reasons of why the main character, who is named Taichi btw, is so incredibly dull.
Come to think of it -- The good parts of Kokoro actually reminded me a bit of the Persona games, or Atlus' Catherine. It was mostly in regards to the psychological traumas of the cast, and the presence of a supernatural entity being the conductor of their grief. It doesn't take any risky steps, however, and the overall subplot and writing mount up to let such a comparison come full circle.
Let it be said that Kokoro was an okay anime to watch. It was a little bit cute there, a little bit dramatic there, a little sad there, and Inaban is great. In fact, she might be the best part about it
Retour en haut
