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Kokoro Connect follows the members of Yamaboshi High School’s Cultural Research Club, or CRC for short. Though formed mostly by happenstance, the five members of the CRC, Yaegashi Taichi, Inaba Himeko, Nagase Iori, Kiriyama Yui, and Aoki Yoshifumi, became a close-knit group of friends. For various reasons, they attracted the attention of a supernatural entity calling itself ‘Heartseed’, who, claiming to seek ‘entertainment’, subjects the CRC to a series of supernatural phenomena that forever change their lives.

Kokoro Connect is a story about the CRC fighting against their unfortunate supernatural circumstances, their bonds put to the test and their will pushed to its limits. If they ... can endure, however, perhaps they’ll come out stronger than they ever could’ve dreamed of.

Nearly a decade after the series first began publishing in Japan, Kokoro Connect received an official English publication starting in 2018, and with the series now available to such a wide audience, I felt it important to do my part in trying to convince anyone and everyone I can to read what became one of my favorite series. Prepare yourself, though: this is a long review.


As one would expect from a slice-of-life/drama story, the most important aspect of Kokoro Connect is undeniably its characters, and the series more than delivers in this regard.

Kokoro Connect contains one of the most memorable, likeable, and fleshed out main casts out there, in my opinion. Individually, every member of the CRC is excellent. Each has an endearing personality infused with enough unique flavor to avoid falling strictly into archetypal molds, and they, too, each possess a considerable amount of depth which is exposed and explored across the series.

Despite being solid from the get-go, these characters by no means remain stagnant. From a complete, reflective perspective, the amount of growth each member experiences is quite incredible, and only serves to make the main cast all the better. The pacing of growth varies by character and over time: some growth is slow and gradual (sometimes even stretched across multiple story arcs), and some growth arrives in a more desperate, immediate fashion as a response to events significant to the character in question. However it’s done, the development of each character is striking; at most points in the story, one could look just a volume or two back and notice significant changes in the characters.

To talk more about the intricacies of the main cast members would require going into specifics about each character individually, so for the sake of brevity and keeping this review focused, I’ll refrain from doing so (as much as I may want to). Needless to say at this point, but, in summation, I believe the five members of Kokoro Connect’s main cast to be quite remarkable characters deserving of much praise.

Now all that said, while I’ve talked extensively about the main cast members as characters, I’ve yet to mention what I personally believe is the singular best aspect of the entire series: how absolutely fantastic the CRC is as a group. While, standalone, each member is great, together they create arguably the greatest group dynamic in any series I’ve ever watched or read.

The sheer amount of chemistry between every single member of the CRC is astounding. A scene can bring together literally any possible combination of these five characters and it will work seamlessly. It doesn’t matter if the scene is serious or comedic, drama-filled or simple banter; these characters click so perfectly together that their actions in any situation are enjoyable. I can’t think of a single other group of characters that are capable of this to quite the same degree.

Kokoro Connect doesn’t even stop there, either, as it sports a lively, loveable side cast as well. Though it remains relatively light earlier on, the supporting cast grows considerably towards the middle and end of the story, both in terms of number and individual depth. Not only are most of these characters solid and likeable, but several also get significant character arcs of their own, and many play important roles towards the end of the story.


Although supernatural elements are a core aspect of Kokoro Connect, a big strength of the series is, in my opinion, its realism. While the supernatural phenomena themselves are obviously fantasy, most of the essence of the story is fairly realistic and relatable. Fundamentally, the story is about relationships: how they form, change, and incite change in the individuals within them, all of which are things every single person experiences in real life. In fact, a recurring theme across the story is how mundane and unimportant most problems a person faces are, and yet how they still carry much importance. Despite the supernatural elements, the real draw of the story is, ironically, these ‘normal’ events that everyone experiences. The supernatural phenomena add an interesting, unique twist, but they rarely interfere with the overall realism and relatability of the story (which is impressive writing, in my opinion).

Now that I’ve touched on the main focuses of the story, I’d like to talk a bit about the other story aspects. First off: comedy. Kokoro Connect is not heavily comedy centric, but like with most slice-of-life stories, comedy is essential to making individual scenes entertaining. A majority of the comedy in the series comes in the form of lighthearted banter, and given how strong the characters and their group dynamics are, this unsurprising works. Every character, main and supporting, brings their own type of amusing dialogue to the table, keeping the banter fresh and enjoyable throughout. The comedy ranges from charming to cringey (not necessarily in a bad way), and there are a fair few hilarious moments sprinkled about. It’s not the funniest I’ve ever seen, but it’s also not trying to be, and I found it solid overall.

Another important aspect I wanted to touch on is romance. Kokoro Connect isn’t a completely romance-focused story, but romance still plays a very important recurring role in the series. This is partially just because I personally like romance stories, but many of the romantic moments were among my favorite parts of the series. The lighthearted moments are exceedingly sweet and heartwarming, and the more heavy, emotional romantic moments are thoroughly tense and meaningful. The main romantic relationships in the series are solidly developed, especially later on, evolving over time as the characters within them grow and change.


Now, for as much (deserved) praise I’ve given in this review, Kokoro Connect certainly isn’t perfect, and I’d like to touch on my main issues with the series. For as realistic as the story is a majority of the time, there are a few moments that, unnecessarily, severely push the limits of the reader’s suspension of disbelief. There were two moments like this in particular that really struck me, and as both were key events, the random logical escalation they introduced couldn’t really be ignored. In both cases, they stand out as sore spots whenever I look back at the arcs they occurred in.

Additionally, for as much praise I gave to the main cast, I have to mention one character specifically for criticism: Aoki. While, overall, Aoki is a good character, when compared to the other four main characters, he’s severely lacking in depth and overall development. While the comments I gave on the main cast as a whole still apply to Aoki, it’s to a distinctly lesser degree than to the others. Arguably, there are even two or three side characters that receive more development than him, too. This is my largest critique of the series, as it was disappointing to see Aoki never really receive the full treatment the rest of the CRC got.


To finish off, I’d like to briefly note that the art in this series is great. Shiromizakana’s character designs are phenomenal and they fit the story quite well. I didn’t place heavy weight or emphasis on the art for this review because I generally consider the art in light novels to be a supplementary component more than anything else, but I still wanted to give a brief comment on it.

In conclusion, if you watched and enjoyed the anime series and want to experience the rest of the story, or if you just want to read a great series, I’d wholeheartedly recommend picking up Kokoro Connect.