Kokoro Connect - 11 - Lost in Anime

[CR] Kokoro Connect - 11 [1280x720].mkv_snapshot_10.37_[2012.09.15_11.13.19]

[CR] Kokoro Connect - 11 [1280x720].mkv_snapshot_13.56_[2012.09.15_11.16.56]

[CR] Kokoro Connect - 11 [1280x720].mkv_snapshot_17.24_[2012.09.15_11.20.24]

“Give me the child until he is seven, and I will show you the man.”

– Francis Xavier

Kokoro Connect is a pretty tsundere show. It has a way of royally pissing me off when I really start to love it, and pulling me back in with a fascinating twist just when I’m really pissed off at it. I can say with certainty that I find this series to be extremely good at setting up a premise that asks interesting questions, which is a rare skill for anime or any narrative fiction. In practice KC is generally better at coming up with the idea than executing it – that was certainly the case with the first two arcs, which were quite uneven as a result. It remains to be seen if “Kako Random” will follow the same pattern, but – like the first two – this arc is off to a good start. Perhaps the fact that this will be the shortest of the three will work to its advantage.

The new hook, in brief: between 12-5 every day (apparently every day, anyway) the club members will revert to younger versions of themselves. There don’t seem to be hard and fast rules as to how far back they go, although the girls have reverted father back than Aoki so far (with one exception). They have no memory of those five hours, though they wake up with vivid recollections of the age they reverted to. Interestingly, though, there’s one club member excluded – Taichi, naturally, gets a “green card”. This is interesting, as it’s a sort of tacit acknowledgement of his role in the story as an avatar rather than a true character. Of course acknowledging a flaw doesn’t make it any less of a flaw, but at least the author gets credit for admitting it.

In point of fact, the series even goes so far as to actually acknowledge Taichi’s “white knight” persona in addition to his avatar status. It’s funny that the terminology is exactly what the fans have been saying all along, and this gives me hope that there might be some deconstruction of Taichi’s trope before the arc is done. The most interesting aspect to come out of this isn’t so much Taichi’s exclusion from the fountain of youth, but the fact that it was another Heartseed (via his imouto) who told him about it. Another Heartseed – the same, but different? Hmmm – perhaps another Kami, though I wonder if the two Heartseeds are working together or in opposition, and if there are in fact even more of them. “This won’t last long – but if you tell anyone about me, it will never end.” So thus is Taichi charged with making sure everyone doesn’t become children, which is an enigmatic assignment in and of itself.

This scenario, like the others, is rife with possibilities. It’s ~~Nagase~~ Aoki who asks the interesting question, “Are my feelings gone, or do they remain?” The question of how much of ourselves is pre-formed by the time we’re small children, and how much our environment changes us is obviously going to be central to the arc, and it’s one people have been asking for a very long time. So far we get a chance to see everyone revert back. Inaba is a shy and frightened little girl, though even as a seven (or so) year-old she’s completely smitten with Taichi. Nagase shows signs of her personality shifting from an early age, and we finally get something to work with for Aoki – he mistakes the present-day Yui for the big sister of a girl named Nishino Nana. Turns out he was in love with this girl and dated her in seventh-grade before she moved away. It’s not much and still directly connected to his infatuation with Yui – the only thing that defines Aoki as a character – but at least it’s a twist. We should now find out once and for all if Yui really feels the same way about Aoki as he does for her, because his feelings are being seriously called into question.

As always with Kokoro Connect the devil is going to be in the details, but I’m very curious to see how this storyline develops. It’s irritating that we’re once again going to be robbed of the chance to possibly see what made Taichi the way he is by seeing him as a child, but perhaps his outsider status will end up enlightening his character in a different way. Nagase talks about how she’d live her life differently if she had the chance, but if she thinks this is such a chance I believe she’s wrong – this isn’t a real second chance, merely a tease. For most people being forced to relive the memories of their earlier selves would lead to serious problems – it’s simply not natural, and we’re not well-suited for that kind of experience.

ED3: “Salvage”

[CR] Kokoro Connect - 11 [1280x720].mkv_snapshot_22.55_[2012.09.15_11.25.55]

[CR] Kokoro Connect - 11 [1280x720].mkv_snapshot_23.14_[2012.09.15_11.26.14]

[CR] Kokoro Connect - 11 [1280x720].mkv_snapshot_23.29_[2012.09.15_11.26.29]

13 comments

Ishruns

September 15, 2012 at 11:36 pm

I have a question: how long is Kokoro Connect supposed to be, because it certainly doesn't seem like it will end right now.

As I think my favourite show for the season I'd like to think there's a second cour or season.

admin

September 15, 2012 at 11:50 pm

12 TV eps, plus a bonus arc on Blu-ray to bring the total up to 17.

Ishruns

September 16, 2012 at 1:31 am

Great, didn't know about the bonus arc. Sounds like enough to cover the full story.

Helen

September 16, 2012 at 3:50 am

Huh, I guess that means one bonus arc episode for each DVD? Any idea if any of them are out yet?

admin

September 16, 2012 at 4:18 am

First volume was delayed a month (till late Oct) due to the bullying incident.

Aoki fans :D

September 16, 2012 at 1:39 am

It’s Nagase who asks the interesting question, “Are my feelings gone, or do they remain?” ? isnt that Aoki question? he ask that question to Taichi!! im xure of it 100%

Anonymous

September 16, 2012 at 3:20 am

Yeah, I thought that was Aoki. Not too important though.

admin

September 16, 2012 at 3:25 am

Nit pickers…

Anonymous

September 16, 2012 at 4:20 am

so…SOOO CUTE :3

Beckett

September 16, 2012 at 8:26 am

This arc makes me question just what these Heartseed(s?) really are. Now all of a sudden they show the ability to manipulate the physical structure of things instead of just their mind. I feel like this arc is an interesting concept but it may have felt more… internally consistent, I guess, if they changed age mentally only. The physical changes almost seem like a ham fisted way to shoehorn in some fanservice and the standard comedy tropes that come with it. I dunno, since this arc is short maybe it won't end up bothering me.

At some point I do have to question though why these Heartseed(s?) keep targeting the same group of kids, couldn't they at least spread their potentially life ruining experiments out instead of making these kids roll the dice every time? Seems only fair.

xRichard

September 16, 2012 at 7:08 pm

This episode was a big treat to me. I was able to anticipate that there was going to be a second Heartseed at some point.

Here's the theory I came up with regarding about him and KC in general after EP5. (Copy pasting from reddit)

——————-

In the last thread, someone said[1] that Heartseed was the definition of forced drama. From that, I came up with this interpretation of what KC may be trying to do with the writing. It's kinda meta.

Thinking outside the box, Heartseed would be the author self insertion, a game master of sorts. And these episodes were his story. And we see him forcing drama into the boring lives of his characters with his god powers. Once he's satisfied with the tale he's written, he stops. This brings ups the possibility of "new authors", with different personalities, to do different things to these characters to write new tales.

A twisted story about writers and their characters.

That's one way to look at it. Force drama being the real core of KC. An intended effect. I can live with that.

But what I don't like about KC is that it's unnecessarily set in High School. With the story set in HS, it's way easier to make the characters meet more often and drama to develop. But I don't think that kids in puberty are more self-aware than many grown up adults. It does happens in real life, but in KC we have a group of 5 who are all like that. It kinda breaks immersion that an adolescent starts spouting her existentialism philosophy while waiting for her train to arrive. Then again, this could be related to the idea I wrote above.

KC is quite unique, it doesn't seem that it wants to be an orthodox drama anime. Maybe it doesn't know itself what it wants to be and this is, again, part of the intended effect. The only way to know is to keep watching.

source: http://www.reddit.com/r/anime/comments/y1tid/how_do_you_feel_about_kokoro_connect/c5rk27s

Anonymous

September 16, 2012 at 8:11 pm

I'll say this the cuteness proximity got me too not just the characters. The kid form was so good I feel as if my heart was pounding twice the amount. Oh God…

djmaca

September 16, 2012 at 11:49 pm

I can't say "Himeko is KAWAII" enough….

Anyway is this arc supposed to be 2 eps only? Or is it 15 and a 2 eps bonus episode? I'm really confused because people keep saying different answers and all. Damn producer + staff, this is all their fault.

Kokoro Connect – 11

Guardian Enzo

13 comments

Ishruns

admin

Ishruns

Helen

admin

Aoki fans :D

Anonymous

admin

Anonymous

Beckett

xRichard

Anonymous

djmaca

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Lost in Anime

Guardian Enzo

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13 comments

Ishruns

admin

Ishruns

Helen

admin

Aoki fans :D

Anonymous

admin

Anonymous

Beckett

xRichard

Anonymous

djmaca

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