Kokoro Connect Discussion Thread

[Buckeye]

A high school comedy about a club whose members are switching bodies and everything.

Airs Saturday, July 7

Animation studio: Silver Link

ANN Entry
Official Site
Crunchyroll

The love and teen pentagonal comedy follows the strange phenomena at the Yamahoshi Academy's Culture Club, starting with the five male and female club members switching bodies with each other.

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[HitokiriShadow]

LOL Toyosaki Aki is Azunyan.

And oh god, she's amazing.

Too many clubs to choose from, its more exciting to leave it to chance. "120 yen for a peak." "Which of us would you rather see naked." And when he answers the question, she makes it into a news story that he demands two girls to strip.

Then a girl tries to molest and make out with another girl immediately after the eyecatch. Not exaggerating or reading way too much into it, she actually does.

I had high hopes for this show, but I went into this with some trepidation because of the body-swapping premise. The show hit it out of the fucking park. Surpassed my expectations by a huge margin. The episode was just fantastic on every level. The guys are good characters, the girls are fantastic, particularly Iori. The body swapping was fun. There's always some awkwardness when running into other characters while body swapped, not just for them but for me as a viewer. The scene worked out nicely and not just because I almost got some girl-girl kissing out of it. Inabat interrogating Iori and Taichi was one of the single best scenes this year. It did the "Oh fuck, I have boobs!?! *fondles self*" thing and it actually worked and didn't come across incredibly awkward or annoying.

I love this show. Iori is tied with Watashi (Jinrui) as the best new character of the season and everything about this was fantastic.

[Buckeye]

- At this school, everybody is required to join a club.
- A new club is formed out of those who don't fit in with any of the current clubs, dubbed the Stucs.
- 120 yen for a peak at Iori's shorts under her skirt? What a ripoff!
- Himeko is hard at work writing up a newspaper story.
- That was some wicked story written up.
- Wait a minute? What the heck is Taichi doing in Iori's body?
- That's one way to take advantage of a body switch. Groping "yourself".
- Now to verify if the bodies are indeed switched: "Iori", what was the last H-game you played?
- Not out loud, but Yoshi confirms it.
- And everything is back to normal, for now.

That was a great first episode, and certainly this body-switching ordeal was really funny. Next time, a three-way switch is happening. This is a show that definitely feels like a KyoAni production even though they are not the animators of this show. This show was the most anticipated, and the first episode definitely delivers on that anticipation.

[FUNiOP]

And now for a eufonius OP. Always welcome. And the series composition is by Fumihiko Shimo. That's promising as well. It looks pretty KyoAni, but not quite the same level of quality. Some of the better stuff I've seen from Silver Link, though. Like Tari Tari, it was a good first episode that has me looking forward to more.

[ookamigirl]

Well.... the body switch thing was interesting.
Wonder what triggered it in the first place.
Looks like they're jumping into whoever by accident.
It'll be fun when they learn how to control it.
Taichi seems to be the epicenter of it since he jumped twice.
This one has potential, so I'll give it a try.

[superdry]

So, was that suppose to be a poster of The Undertaker in the club room?

I found the episode to be enjoyable. The first-half was okay (second time watching and it was still slightly amusing), but the second-half really picked up. The body swap between Taichi and Iori was funny along with Himeko's interrogation (I can't wait for her to switch places).

I wonder if the show will explain how they are swapping bodies, but I feel like this is one of those situations where its probably best left unexplained and just use as part of the comedy in the show.

[nakimushi]

This was OK. The character set up was decent.

Personally though, I thought the recent body swapping in both Sket-Dance (Bossun/Himeko) and Nyaruko-san (Mahiro/Nyaruko) were a lot more fun than the swapping was in this episode.

But I guess they're trying to pace themselves, since the gimmick has to last more than just a couple of episodes. The other shows also both benefited from it happening much later on, as opposed to the first episode, and the characters and their situations were much better defined.

Also, was Iori wearing boxers or gym shorts?

[something]

Episode 1:

- Toyosaki Aki! I had forgotten who the seiyuu for this were. We also have Sawashiro Miyuki and Kanemoto Hisako... holy shit.
- Moles on girls Iori's age are unusual in anime. And a little distracting, especially right by her mouth.
- Toyosaki Aki talking to Yui. Yep.
- And a Eufonius OP! What the fuck this show is awesome.

- Five club misfits form their own club. Hilarity ensues.
- ¥120 a peek! a reasonable price.
- Oh my god, Iori is amazing. "No I'm the pure idol, you're the pornstar." Well, to paraphrase a bit.
- "Which one of us would you rather see naked?" ...There is no safe answer to that. At all.
- Ahaha, and of course they set whatshisname up.

- Now getting to the heart of the matter... of course nobody believes Yui and whatshisname#2.
- Until it's Iori and whatshisname#1 (ok fine, Taichi, whatshisname takes too long to type) who switch places. And hah, the switch is done so damn well. I love how sudden it is, and how Confused Taichi-in-Iori is.
- And, uh, Iori seems to have a fan. That came completely out of nowhere. I hope this show doesn't play up the "let's make fun of the crazy lesbian stalker" bullshit. Tired of that.

- Ahahaha, Iori is great but I think Inaba(n) Himeko is my favorite. Sawashiro + serious type who actually just gets angry and embarrassed easily = CUTE!
- So I guess they'll need to switch around instead of pair off strictly like these two, otherwise there's nobody for Himeko with an odd number.
- Everyone is terrified of HIMEKO. HIMEKO LOOOOOOOVE!
- Oh god, what did she tell Iori-in-Taichi? I must know.

- And suddenly back to normal. So wait what happens if, for example, Yui switches with Taichi-in-Iori? Does Yui becomes Yui-in-Taichi or Yui-in-Iori? If the former, we also get Taichi-in-Yui and a return to Iori-in-Iori. If the latter, then it's Yui-in-Iori, Taichi-in-Yui, and Iori-in-Taichi? But then... ::head explodes:: I assume the former, it's a bit more straightforward since you're switching "spirits", not bodies per se.

Fuck that was incredible in every way. Himeko is looooooooove, so is Iori. The guys are okay so far, though Taichi moreso than the other one. Yui will probably be fun but didn't get nearly as much time to shine as Himeko and Iori. The character designs are amazing per usual for Horiguchi, and the execution of the first episode was almost flawless.

I had high hopes for this and was not disappointed at all. Best first episode of the season so far without a ♪♪ in its name and certainly the best non-sequel first episode.

[HitokiriShadow]

Originally Posted by something

I had high hopes for this and was not disappointed at all. Best first episode of the season so far without a ♪♪ in its name and certainly the best non-sequel first episode.

I would be shocked if anything else changes your opinion on this. Er, on the non-sequel part, at least.

Best episode of the season, bar none, for me. I think there's only two more non-sequels yet to air that I have any interest in watching, and I doubt they'll be particularly amazing. The only other show that came close was Jinrui. BD solicitation where?!?!

[Ingraman]

Originally Posted by nakimushi

Personally though, I thought the recent body swapping in both Sket-Dance (Bossun/Himeko) and Nyaruko-san (Mahiro/Nyaruko) were a lot more fun than the swapping was in this episode.

I haven't see any of Sket-Dance, and only the first few episodes of Nyaruko, so the only body-swapping that came to mind was the Your & My Secret manga that was never finished in print over here. Have I seen any recently and forgotten? ^^;