Kokoro Connect - Episode 5

What a troll...

Talk about an emotional roller coaster. Kokoro Connect is definitely shaping up to be the show of the season. Throughout the episode, I felt like I was part of their world; their emotions and feelings seemed so real. It's not often a slice-of-life romantic comedy is able to add in an element of drama with such effectiveness; this traumatic experience for the five not only made for a great episode, but also brought out the very best in each of the characters. And even though, like Himeko said, the possibility of it all being a planned out from the start was there, the severity of the situation limited the degree to which the characters, and likely even the audience, doubted its realism.

In a sense, Heartseed's like a sociologist who's interested in the way a human's physical and mental identities relate and what would happen if they were separated. What we are able to learn from this experiment of his is that, even if identities of both types are mixed and matched, when it comes down to it, humans don't like the idea of separating the two. Cruel as it might have been, I think Heartseed's deception helped the group grow even closer to one another, enabling them to further appreciate one another's presence in their lives. It also provided for some emotional moments that brought me to the verge of tears, particularly the scenes where Iori had her "last words" with everyone. Even if it's just been five episodes, I've grown really attached to all the characters, so having one killed off would have been a big disappointment; I'm glad everything was just a scare. Still, the mystery remains: Just who is Heartseed and the "we" he referred to?

With this episode apparently signalling the end of the body swapping arc (according to LN readers), I await what Kokoro Connect will manage to impress me with next. To be honest, I think it'll be hard to top this arc as I found it be one of the best applications of the idea of body switching that I've seen. While most stories with body switching have the characters involved play pranks while in another body, Kokoro Connect took it further by adding a serious element to the premise. One thing I hope to see in the next arc is more development in regards to the romantic relationships between the members of the Cultural Research Club. Aoki x Yui is almost a given, even if Yui's not yet set for a relationship. The question now is Iori x Taichi x Himeko. Although the first two have expressed mutual feelings for each other, I still don't want to count Himeko out yet as there seems to be some chemistry between her and Taichi. What I don't want is for one of the three to end up heartbroken so the best route might just be "friends". With all that being said, I can't wait for next week's instalment of Kokoro Connect!