What They Say:
Because of Kotoura’s abilities she has never had a real friend or a loving family. But that changes when she transfers into a new school and meets Manabe, who gets too excited about her special talent.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the four panel manga series by Enogizu that began in 2010 in Manga Gccha and that has two compiled volumes so far, Kotoura-san is a twelve episode series animated by AIC Classic. A lot of four panel manga have been adapted into anime recently, but the majority of them have felt like they’re being done in the two to five minute format more than the full length episode form that we get here. Falling into the romantic comedy genre, the show has plenty t offer with an interesting look about it that certainly does give you a particular kind of feel as we’re introduced to a young Kotoura who is bright, outgoing and happy as we see here at the start.
What we see from here is a bit more than that though, as her childhood years show that she has a special ability. In kindergarten, she just seems lucky when it comes to games like rock/paper/scissors, but as they get into elementary school, we see that Haruka actually has a far different ability, one that lets her see into the truths of people’s minds. It’s reported to the adults as though she’s a compulsive liar because nobody admits what she says, and that leads to a whole lot of tests that don’t bear any fruit. For a young girl like Haruka, it just pushes her further and further out socially since nobody wants to do things with her. To complicate matters, her parents are struggling with their own issues and with Haruka, causing a solid family breakdown as time passes on. Even worse is when she starts pulling out truths from within her parents that make them even worse off.
The first half of the episode is brutal as we see the slow descent of Haruka’s life in a way that she can’t understand. It plays out with some good visuals in how it gets darker and darker, lonelier and lonelier for her. So much so that when we get a big emotional moment involving a kitten, it stands out in a way so few shows do. But her life can’t be all about this, and we do see a change happen when she gets older and goes into a new school. While everyone seemingly takes and instant dislike to her and she’s simply dour because of how her life has progressed, she ends up discovering something fascinating when she meets Manabe, a young man in her class. The symbolism is obviously blatant, but the way his mind shatters her world is just striking because of what the first half does.
While Haruka keeps her distance from everyone, she has no problem in just being a dour girl and answering the unasked questions that pop into people’s minds. But she does find that because of how some of them act, she slowly gets to know them, particularly Manabe and his odd ways. While everyone has an idea about what she can do, he’s the one that asks it flat out and is really curious about it. She tries to keep him at a distance, but he uses his imagination in order to get her attention in some fun ways, including an awkward moment where his dirty thoughts bleed out and she catches on, freaking her out. Though this does happen, it opens the door more for him to try and get her to understand that she’s not just some creepy girl but someone of value and worth, not because of her ability but because of who she is. It starts an intriguing friendship that has its challenges ahead because of what Haruka can do.
In Summary:
I really hate grading a first episode high because it can often just be downhill from there, and I can see that happening here but not in a bad way. The first episode of Kotoura-san hits some great notes to it, particularly in the first half, but it also balances it well with Haruka’s life chanigng now that she’s in a different grade and school, having been worn down by time and events but finding that it can get better. We only really spend time with her and Manabe here, there are others to come in more fully later on, but the first episode does a lot of very good things in it. The first ten minutes alone really defines the character in a way a lot of shows never really end up doing well and it makes me far more empathetic to her than I would have guessed. This could be quite the little breakout hit for me for this season.
Grade: A-
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.
