A little bit of the truth slips out while the five find that the swaps aren’t limited to two at a time.
What They Say:
The Student Cultural Society members have a problem and it seems to be escalating. The group doesn’t know what to do until a mysterious figure explains almost everything.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
While I had fun with the first episode of Kokoro Connect, I also had a fear that it’s going to be hard to get to know the characters and their names if they’re constantly switching bodies. The fun of two pairs switching at a time and going through the cuteness of it all with the gender swaps certainly had its allure, but things change up a bit more this time around as three of them swap with each other, leading to more confusion. Of course, there’s also the problem that some want to be in particular bodies if they’re not going to be in others, since there’s some definite attractions going on there. This time though, Taichi and Iori are watching on at first as the swap goes along for a little bit.
Because of the nature of the changes overall, we do get the guys (and some of the girls) doing a little self exploration when they switch. It’s not a surprise that the guys would take advantage of at least a little of it, doing some breast handling, but you also know that the girls are getting a little wigged out about the whole thing. In a way, it makes me wish for a mature not hentai series to be done like this with some real gender exploration issues. While it’s been amusing watching the kids go through this, the show also goes and messes with the adults a little when their advisor and teacher, Goto, shows up in the classroom and reveals that he’s part of the swap as well. The idea of one of the teachers getting caught up in it is amusing at first, but the truth is something else.
Goto’s body is just being used by someone who wants to be known only as Heartseed. He’s acting as an observer during this period in which the five of them will go through the swap, though he is giving them some privacy. While he doesn’t explain much about what’s going on, there are some basics that do come to light. It’s amusing that they get this bland kind of simple explanation that isn’t really one but also to see that there’s real power and intensity behind things that keep them all off balance. While it started off as a strange and simple game of sorts that left them all uncertain, now it’s taking on a more menacing tone.
In Summary:
While the show starts off with playfulness, it gets pretty serious in the middle. It also turns to a bit more of a playful and awkward direction towards the end as the five of them try to set some rules about how they have to behave both when swapped and not swapped. A lot of it comes down the private parts issues, but there’s also just general security and safety factoring into it as well. While I’m still not finding myself terribly invested in the cast at the moment with who they are, the names are starting to sink in a little more and some of the personalities are getting more distinct, though when they swap it gets hard to tell, which is good and bad. I’m really curious where the show will go since it does have this creepy aspect to it with the observer now introduced, but I suspect the majority of it will still be filled with silliness and sexytimes as well as a dose of heart to keep it all real.
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.
