Kotoura-san

Since childhood, Haruka Kotoura's classmates have seen her as a creepy and monstrous person. This is due to her ability to read other people's minds—the same ability that drove her parents away, leaving her alone with her grandfather. As a result, she has grown accustomed to the bitter treatment by the people around her, becoming completely cold and unsociable to others.

However, everything starts to change when Haruka transfers to a new school. While most are off put by her as usual, she meets Yoshihisa Manabe, who finds her power astonishing. Yoshihisa then proceeds to befriend Haruka, promising to never leave her no matter what happens.

Haruka's new experiences of social belonging thus begin, meeting new friends and learning to open herself along the way.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kotoura, Haruka Main

Kanemoto, Hisako Japanese

Manabe, Yoshihisa Main

Fukushima, Jun Japanese

Muroto, Daichi Main

Shimono, Hiro Japanese

Moritani, Hiyori Main

Kubo, Yurika Japanese

Mifune, Yuriko Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Kotoura, Zenzou Supporting

Nishimura, Tomomichi Japanese

Kotoura, Kumiko Supporting

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Tsukino, Aki Supporting

Watanabe, Akeno Japanese

Oshou Supporting

Nakano, Yutaka Japanese

Onozaki Supporting

Ookawa, Tooru Japanese

WEST GROUND Producer

Fukuda, Jun Producer

Ougi, Jiyuu Producer

Oota, Masahiko Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Feb 2, 2013

onesnowyday_

Recommended

Our childhood is often filled with many blanks and not much memories. The few you might remember are some friends you made or games you played.

But, what if the memories you remember most vividly were the ones filled with bullying,ignorance, and broken hearts?

Kotoura-san starts off as a seemingly sad and powerful drama. Maybe a bit generic. What throws people off is that after the first half of the show, it just hits you with all this comedy that you weren't expecting. This is probably what caused the downfall of the show. I can't say I exactly disliked the comedy, but it would've been better ... if the producer had focused a bit more on the drama. Still, there were some good comedy moments, and the drama was well played.

The art is nice and fits the mood of the story. It is a bit generic, but if you're a fan of moe, then the artwork might be something for you. There sad and happy moments of the story are portrayed pretty nicely, the coloring and shading helped the mood.

Character development has its sweet and heat breaking moments. From Kotoura starting to learn to trust her friends and deal with yet, more bullying, to Moritani learning to deal with jealousy, it was pretty nice to watch. And so...friendship is building up between Moritani and the rest of the ESP Research Club. One thing that did kinda bug me was that the relationship between Kotoura and her mom was not really in depth. It seemed like they introduced her in the beginning and just decided to put her off for a while.

Overall, the drama mixed with comedy makes this show pretty enjoyable. (Manabe having pervy dreams of Kotoura really makes this worth watching lol) Of course, I'd love to see Kotoura overcome more challenges as well. This show left me with mixed feelings. There were some moments I really enjoyed, yet some I felt kinda bored with. Nonetheless, I still think the drama part of the show displayed some pretty valuable lessons.

It seems the biggest problem the show is having is the transition from hardcore drama to just plain comedy. I don't find this much of a problem since I think a show that's too serious is just plain boring. I recommend that if you're expecting Kotoura-san to just be a really good drama, then it's best you don't watch it. Of course, this is just my opinion.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by onesnowyday_ (6)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Apr 1, 2013

tomislol

Mixed Feelings

Well then.
First off ill give a short reason why i decided to pick this up.
I absolutely love watching RomCom's so i decided to watch this. Simple as that. But what intrigued me was that the main heroine had psychic mind reading powers, i somehow thought that having that kind of thing in the anime would have delicious drama involved. And i was right.

Story: 7
The way they started this anime, on episode one, i somehow thought it was going to be an amazing anime. The first 11 minutes was just crazy, incredibly tragic and sad. And somehow in the same episode it turned from crazy ... dramatic-ness into something pretty damn hilarious. being a some what veteran of anime watching it was seriously easily predicted that she would get a few friends that would support her regardless of her freakish powers. Even though i knew that i still felt happy for her when she made her first friend.
Overall the story started out kind of nice i suppose but it started to feel a little bit awkward. I cannot really explain how but it just is. The story had potential to be something better but then it went downhill and then it went up hill but then downhill or some thing like that. But overall the story was not bad but at the same time not something spectacular.
A lot of things seemed really sudden, at least to me it did. One particular scene was the rooftop scene with Tsukino. I've seen many scenes similar to that, where the main characters win their battles by just talking and pleading. But man did that happen so quick. She started her plea and within 30 seconds it worked. What the flying F**K? Maybe it's just me. Maybe i just don't like things happening so fast.
The process is more interesting not the result.

Art: 4
I gotta say the art for this is not to my liking. I won't go as far as to say that it completely sucks. Maybe it is a sort of art style, a new style that i have not seen much before. I just think that it feels lazy.

Sound: 5
I almost never even notice the background music playing because i feel that it just isn't that great. It doesn't really stand out. There are only 2 tracks i liked, the ending theme song, which was pretty nice and peaceful and had a lot of great meanings behind it , and the track that played during the serious moments.

Character: 7
Manabe:
Manabe is a pretty cool guy. He doesn't afraid of anything.
Even though he is seriously a perverted master of some sort he really does care about Kotoura which is pretty cool, a typical feature in all the main male leads in pretty much all animes.

Kotoura:
Her character was pretty interesting to watch grow. I know i made some kind of grammar mistake in that previous sentence....
ANYHOW. She had so much doubt in trusting people and in people trusting her and even decides to run away to prevent hurting others, but in the end she goes back. Good for her!

Yuriko:
I would say she's a bitch for trying to use someone just for her own selfish needs but in the end she is really guilty about it so i guess it's all yippy skippy.

Muroto:
Did i spell his name right? Ill just call him Megane-Kun.
Megane-kun was a really interesting character. For one he is small as hell and smart as hell. He always has that =3 kind of face on but whenever he does not have it on it means he is serious. I always enjoyed seeing his serious side. The stuff he says to Yuriko is really great, "I will neither help you or stop you, i am here because i choose to be" That's some pretty cool sh*t.

Moritani:
Truth be told, i really did not like this character. The show wudve been the same , if not better, without this character. She just .... sucks.... but at least she had the guts to confess to Manabe in the end. But still. she sucks.....

Enjoyment: 6
Ehhh this show was alright, it had potential to be a lot better but that's not to say that it was really bad. It is a pretty average anime, i probably would not recommend it to a random person, but if you kind of find this anime interesting from the given synopsis i will do nothing to stop you from watching it. But just a friendly warning , do not expect much from it.

~Til next time
Tomislol

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by tomislol (10)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Mar 29, 2013

Infinite

Not Recommended

Kotoura-san has the makings of an exceptional show. It has the ambition to be both an emotional drama and an uplifting comedy, to be an experience full of highs and lows to keep you engrossed to the end. It even has an intriguing premise providing a solid foundation for its narrative. Regrettably, it is clear from the very first episode that not only is Kotoura-san plagued by atrocious writing, it furthermore has the entirely wrong attitude when it comes to the use of drama in general.

Kotoura-san tells the story of Kotoura Haruka, a girl with the power to read people's minds. Whilst one would expect ... such a power to be a gift, this unfortunately couldn't be further from the truth for Kotoura, who goes through tragedy and strife. As more and more people reject her, she sinks into the depth of loneliness. Abandoned by her parents and afraid to get hurt, she moves from school to school, keeping people at distance. But upon transferring into yet another school, she meets Manabe, a perverted yet honest individual who accepts Kotoura for who she is, and tries with the help of others to get Kotoura to accept herself.

With such a promising premise, how did it all go wrong?

Kotoura-san, bless its poor, forsaken heart, knows nothing of subtlety. When it comes to the drama, the show's writers want you to know for certain what's happening on screen is tragic, and they are not leaving it up to chance. Kotoura-san makes sure you know by shoving it in your face, being incredibly melodramatic, and blaring histrionic orchestral music at your ears. You can practically hear the director shouting "ARE YOU SAD YET? BE SAD NOW!". The writing is so heavy-handed in its approach that the scenes often don't even make sense, as elements designed to make the scenes even more full of anguish are carelessly introduced without proper thought. At worst, things get completely out of hand as you are bombarded with one melodramatic scene after another.

The very first episode is a perfect example. Kotoura's tragic backstory is told, where each depressing event in her life is immediately followed up by another one, aiming to be even sadder than the last. Eventually it escalates into a ridiculous scene in which Kotoura-san, previously finding her only solace in a stray kitten, breaks down because she is informed that the cat has been taken away, leaving her alone. This would be acceptable, however the woman who informs Kotoura proceeds to shout at her, telling her to "Leave and never come back!" for no apparent reason. This is one of the many contrivances used to easily make the scene more emotional, which are the defining hallmarks of Kotoura-san.

The complete lack of subtlety in Kotoura-san's drama is replicated in the fanservice as well. The fanservice consists of eponymous Kotoura being cute, a rather innocent and likable form. However, when the show wants you to notice how cute she is, it again makes sure this is impossible to ignore; once again you are assaulted with one cute scene of Kotoura after another. Kotoura would be more endearing if not for how persistently the show confronts us with it. That said, the fanservice is still a relative highlight of the series, even if poorly executed like the other aspects.

Unfortunately, the comedic aspect of Kotoura-san is also lacking. The essential joke of the series is that the male lead Manabe has a perverted fantasy of Kotoura; who will then get embarrassed and annoyed at him. This joke is then repeated throughout the entire series. Funny as it was the first few times, by the fiftieth iteration of the joke it was getting incredibly tedious. It is fortunate that the show invested in other jokes, however these are also repeated frequently and whilst some of the jokes were funny enough to withstand constant repetition, the majority were not. The repetition of this poor comedy becomes a dull monotony for the viewer. Additionally the humour comes at often inopportune times, causing a large emotional whiplash when placed right in the middle of a dramatic scene, a problem that pervades the entire show. If you are the sort that likes "perverted humour" then the comedy will most likely be more amusing, and will sustain its freshness for much longer.

For the writers, all that seems to matter is the result. They appear not to care if the story makes little sense or is filled with plot holes; so long as the dramatic scenes are saturated with sadness and woe, they consider it a job well done. This attitude is ultimately what's responsible for the terrible writing. It is indeed unsurprising that the writer who was unable to come up with enough jokes to last the series, was also unable to write more than one pattern of character development. Kotoura-san is rescued from her depression by her friends (notably Manabe) at least three times. This wouldn't be so bad if not for the fact that it's the same issue every time, simply disguised by a different context. Ultimately what happens every time is that Kotoura becomes self-loathing and depressed because she blames herself for bad events, only to be "saved" by Manabe and the rest of her friends. Call me a cynic, but although it is clear that Kotoura suffered a tramautic past, the drama feels insincere when Kotoura is saved by Manabe through the same process multiple times.

The comedy, romance, and drama that make up the plot of Kotoura-san were in shambles. The quality of writing is dismal, it desired the story to end up a cohesive mix of these disparate narrative elements, but either they couldn't be bothered to actually put in the time and effort to make it work within a story, or they were simply unable to. Whatever the reason, the sheer quantity of inconsistent tone and plot holes is almost insulting- it's a depressing thought that this standard was deemed acceptable.

The art and character designs were of low quality, they both look messy and have very little detail. For the comedy segments this is not so much a problem, as the 4koma style character designs suit it well. However, when it comes to the dramatic scenes the character designs are in stark contrast to the melodrama, and appear incredibly awkward when the art gets in your face. The music is generic and lacks subtlety, dramatic scores being employed ruthlessly in every single scene bar one notable exception that verges upon melancholy. The opening is cute and likable, if not ultimately forgettable; the ending is simply nondescript.

On a more positive note, the characters are all pretty likable. They evoke sympathy from the audience even if they are well defined by a limited number of distinctive traits, and are at times enjoyable to watch; you certainly shouldn't have a problem with any of them. Well, perhaps apart from Moritani. She starts the series as an antagonistic figure, only to have her personality overhauled, leading to an abrupt and irrational character change that is poorly explained. Again, the attitude of the writing shines through once again. However, there is one facet of Kotoura-san that was done right, and that was the romance. The relationship that develops between Manabe and Kotoura was surprisingly well done over the course of the series, despite it's repitious nature. Their interaction isn't complex or deep, but in a show where characters can just change personality at the drop of a hat, it was a real highlight.

To conclude, the incredibly forceful attempts to evoke emotion in Kotoura-san is stifling, demonstrating an extreme example of the "tell not show" attitude to drama. If you can ignore poor writing, and relish heavy-handed drama and comedy, then this show will probably be of great enjoyment to you. If, on the other hand, you loathe over the top melodrama and care at all about plot progression, then Kotoura-san is nothing more than a trainwreck.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Infinite (15)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Nostalgic Feelings

by Santipaz8

37 Entries · 40 Restacks

It's Okay to not be okay

by RokkanShojo

50 Entries · 378 Restacks

Straight and gay anime with a lot of gay jokes.

by RobertBobert

18 Entries · 3 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for August

Here are the North American Anime & Manga releases for August 2015 Week 1: August 4th - 10th Anime Releases Cute High Earth Defense Club LOVE! Collector's E...read more

Aug 6, 2015 4:33 PM by trebmeg | Discuss (13 comments)

Q2 2015 Anime & Manga Licenses [Update 5/30]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of anime and manga licensed in the second quarter (Apr-Jun) of 2015. Spring anime which were licensed before th...read more

Mar 31, 2015 7:15 PM by Snow | Discuss (47 comments)

	Poll: Kotoura-san Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Mar 21, 2013	166 replies	by Extremo888 »» Nov 19, 8:26 PM
	Poll: Kotoura-san Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) Stark700 - Mar 28, 2013	276 replies	by Rudyanto13 »» Nov 18, 6:33 AM
	Poll: Kotoura-san Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Mar 14, 2013	120 replies	by _untitled »» Sep 28, 3:40 PM
	Poll: Kotoura-san Episode 9 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Mar 7, 2013	120 replies	by _untitled »» Sep 25, 3:11 PM
	Poll: Kotoura-san Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) niaxato - Feb 28, 2013	124 replies	by _untitled »» Sep 25, 4:52 AM

The Many Expressions of Anime Faces

Anime faces come with a huge variety of expressions. From the bizarre to the realistic, feel the depth of emotion you can achieve when you throw physical restrictions out the window.

by Littoface

304,038 views

CollectionArt

Top 20 Must-Watch Anime Beach Episodes

The wind bites at your skin, the snow soaks your socks, and no matter how many blankets you pile on you, warmth seems to flee from your body. Why not try warming up with these must-watch anime beach episodes! The weather outside may be frightful, but the beach is so delightful!

by TLBickler

156,304 views

Spoiler

RecommendationCollection