Kokoro Connect

I've had my eye on Kokoro Connect for a long time. I kept catching myself tapping a bare toe against the table leg when reviewing thematically similar anime. I don't exactly put much faith in SILVER LINK's output. (Suffice it to say, for more familiar viewers, the most popular meme from their catalog is: "No, senpai, this is our fight!"), and I don't remember them adapting anything besides Non Non Biyori that has even a piece of the proverbial head to toe (at least an ear and a stubbed little toe; they should still be on the hook for Fate/Kaleid for years to come). That is, except for Kokoro. And what else, bodyswap is a great idea and can be played a number of different ways. I enjoyed a lot the opening 5 or so episodes, when the characters have to come to terms with the phenomenon, leading to some resigned and honest confessions from the corners of teenage souls, so much so that I even burst out laughing at the original and cheeky erotic confession. The series mixes initial lightness and good dissection of the plot; the characters aren't excellent, but they're by no means bad either (Inaba is a drag with a capital D), and their development is endearingly suited to that 5th episode, which also wraps things up subtly in an emotional mini-finale. But what next? 8 more episodes to go. If I wanted a steep slide, I'd go to the aquapark, but now it's come at a terrifyingly inopportune time. The writers thought they'd set up a repeat through their mouthpiece's cheap justification: "Because you just entertain me", they roll out a new repetitive but more heavyweight Bollywood melodrama and the triangle squeaks deafeningly. Oddly, the outside world takes no interest in what’s happening to our five ("If you tell anyone, it’s a big nono!"), the five aim monstrous elephant guns at their flyweight problems, and the denouement was about as satisfying as a hawaii pizza on my birthday. The puppetry fizzled, the massive potential was tossed in the trash, and my Kokoro remained disconnected. The whole thing then creates the sad impression that the initial, sweetly revealing depth of characters was false, because when we get to the crux of the matter, there's a relative scripted void. This theme could have been milked for a few extra buckets of classy ideas, and this way Kokoro Connect remains only a slightly above average, unresolved, and unsatisfying romance that Gandalf would have accused as having traded reason for madness halfway through. A better 3 stars (15/09/2021)