The more things change, the more things stay the same.
What They Say:
“A Story That Continued Before Anyone Realized It”
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the way the show unfolded in the previous episode with Nagase at death’s door but recovering, we learn that in the three weeks since that things have gone spectacularly well. So much so that the body swapping stuff had stopped right away, Nagase’s recovery went quickly and focus on school work took priority. So while the swapping ended, everyone has continued on as friends and we see that the sense of humor, silliness and pervy nature of everyone involved is still there. In a way, its good to see thta events over the weeks have shown that they weren’t radically altered by their swapping experience. But then something happens. Of course. This time being that while Taichi and Inaba are talking in their club room, she begins to strip and demands he take off his clothes in a sultry voice.
Things get even stranger not long after that as Aoki and Yui both end up in trouble with the cops as Yui does the right thing in defending some fellow girls from her school from an attack by some punks. But as is the case with Yui, she goes too far and too violent, which leads to her being questioned by the cops. To make matters worse, Aoki arrives on the scene and goes off on the cops because of how they’re treating her, which leads to both of them being taken in. They get all of this from Fujishima who seems to have her own agenda with things as well. And of course, on top of that we get the return of Heartseed on the scene.
What they discover is that Heartseed hsa mucked with them some more, making it so their thoughts become actions in a way where things can change on them. Inaba’s aggressive sexual nature with Taichi is an example where his desire was made real. Yui’s aggressive nature had her beating up on the punks harder than she would ordinarily. And according to Heartseed, they can hide in their room for the duration of they want, but he’ll make it far more entertaining there. Inaba’s idea of trying to keep everyone’s emotions suppressed is an obvious and good one, but you know more trouble will hit because they are emotional teenagers.
In Summary:
Kokoro Connect puts things into a different light here as it moves the story forward a few weeks and then pivots with what the gang is capable of due to Heartseed. It’s hard to say how well it will work and there’s a part of you that feels the loss of bodyswapping for awhile will be problematic because that may have been the draw. At the core though, we still have the same characters and they have their things to deal with and go through as relationships are full of potential and interest is definitely there, whether romantic or just sexual. And exploring both, together and separately, could be really interesting with these episodes if Heartseeds ploy to unleash their deepest desires is realized. I’m hopeful, but wary.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
