Forum - View topicKotoura-San (TV).
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WhiteHairGirls
 Posts: 4713 Location: New York City |
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Kotoura-San
Genres: comedy, romance Themes: school Plot Summary: A school love comedy. Kotoura Haruka is a 15-year-old girl who can read people's minds. She has been suffering from troubles caused by her mind-reading ability, and her parents got divorced as a result. She moves to a new high school but tries to keep away from her classmates. Manabe Yoshihisa, one of her classmates, accepts and appreciates her ability and she begins to interact with her friends with his help. Episode 1 My god that was a brilliant first episode. That was definitely one of better first episodes I have seen. The first half of the show was so depressing for an anime that has comedy in its genre. I felt so bad for Kotoura in her childhood. spoiler[She has the ability to read minds, but it ruined her life. Not only did she get her parents divorced, she also got abandoned by them and lost all of her friends and was constantly bullied]. Little kids are awful in real life and this anime didn't bother changing that fact. They can do a lot of mean stuff and its worse because they do not understand the damage it can cause another little kid. After moving to a new high school, she meets a strange person, Manabe, who is actually amazed by her ability and not scared. Well he was scared that he couldn't think of dirty thoughts around her. I laughed when he used that to his advantage and got her to stop ignoring him. She finally got a true friend and most likely a future lover since there is romance in the genre. But if you think about that would be one scary girlfriend/wife to have lol. If this anime doesn't go in a downward spiral, it probably will be my favorite anime besides Boku for this season. |
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A Mystery
 Posts: 1888 Location: Netherlands |
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Episode 1
That was rather surprising. This show wasn't on my radar at all. I was so amazed that the series took the realistic, dramatic tour the first half, that I forgot to cry (because yes, I am a crybaby). The fluffy character designs made it a bit hard for me to take the beginning seriously, but probably make more sense in the overall tone of the show. It's going to be a (romantic) comedy from what I've seen and read. If it can do that just as well as the drama, I'll continue watching this! The spoiler['glassbreaking' effect in the middle of the episode] and the introduction of Manabe in the second half look promising in that regard. |
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3671 |
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Whoa.
That said, I rarely think this about an anime, but I don't think the VA for the male lead is up to the task for this one. Though maybe as it gets more comedic, I'll be fine with him. |
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Melanchthon
 Posts: 550 Location: Northwest from Here |
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Kurt Vonnegut's 6th Rule for Writing Fiction is:
Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them — in order that the reader may see what they are made of. The writers of Kotoura-san certainly took that too heart. It was wonderfully tragic, which is a strange thing to say, but the events were so heartbreakenly sad that you can't help but admire how brutally they destroyed this character. I'm used to having shows Break the Cutie over the course of several episodes, generally an entire series, but in about 11 minutes they managed to do one of the more masterful jobs at it. It is not as brutal as some I've seen, (I don't think anything can be more brutal than Onii-sama e...) but it is fantastically tragic. The director seems to have some skill, the atmosphere effects are simple, but effective (when things are good, everything is colorful and shining, but when things start to go wrong, everything slowly darkens and colors start to wash out). The director has had a number of credits to his name, but not many full directorships. Interestingly enough, he did both Mitsudomoe seasons, and I noticed that the young schoolgirls at the beginning had a resemblance to Mitsudomoe characters in their design. Anyway, this is really cute, and I think we have a keeper on our hands here. It's cute, it's tragic, and it's different from your generic rom-coms. I like it. It's got wings. Could be the surprise hit of the season. And I really thought we were going to have a despair event horizon there when spoiler[Kotoura lost her cat and looked like she would go all pyscho-killer or something]. So much rage and despair. Of course, this is not this kind of show, but that was a very memorable scene. |
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WhiteHairGirls
Posts: 4713 Location: New York City |
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Oh I noticed that too, but I forgot to mention that in my post. Funny how both shows had bullying, but this show took it to a different level. At least they felt remorse in Mitsudomoe and the bullying was usually just a misunderstanding and not actual ill intent. |
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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Okay, first of all...HOLY HELL. Seriously, I did not expect that at all from the beginning and like some people, I didn't even notice this series till just a few hours ago. I mean..this:
My heart  spoiler[I feel so sorry for this girl especially the way her parents treated her. I mean, she's just a kid]..and mistakes happen.
At any rate, second half was comedy and I expected that. Lol'd @ those "spoiler[lewd thoughts"]. Tsk tsk, gotta keep those thoughts in tact  At any rate, this first episode surprised me the most this entire season and is one of my favorites so far.
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 24165 |
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I liked it. Yeah, the first half really laid the pathos on with a trowel, but once we got into the comedy stuff, I relaxed.
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Keichitsu0305
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Episode 1:
I didn't even know anything about this series until I read Zac's review but I'm glad I gave it a chance. At first, I thought it was going to be an over-dramatic sob fest with the 'special child having the most miserable life in the world' concept played straight. But, when Kotoura simply blurted outspoiler[ "Dad, you going to meet Aika at the hotel?", I lost it!] And the cat scene...just...wow. I'm not going to forget that scene anytime soon. I'm glad that Manabe isn't a "noble, chivalrous knight who will protect her forever & ever" but, rather a guy who treats her like a friend and likes her ESP powers. Can't wait to see how this will play out. |
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Spastic Minnow
Bargain Hunter Exempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 4630 Location: Gainesville, FL |
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I absolutely loved the opening shot... did you notice it?
Kotoura surrounded by a rough, but perfect, circle of avoidance on the grey pathway. It was a great image. I kind of wish they had left a bit more of the first half as symbolic instead of explicit explanation. It really did get to be a bit much. And, like other people I've read reactions from here in the preview thread and at CR, by the time spoiler[she got the Higuarashi eyes and was crying in the street] I couldn't help but laugh unintentionally. "Realistic" was not the adjective I was thinking of. But when I see a show like this I think about how it is an adaptation, and I think about how this would play out in an opening chapter of a novel or manga and I think "Yeah, that would work great in print, and they're doing a straightforward adaptation of the material." So I forgive it's excesses due to adaptation. And it does serve as a good introduction. This is something you need to understand about the character going forth. But I'd warn others against expecting much more doom and gloom and heavy drama in the series. It's not like I'm familiar with the original work but as I see it, that's ONLY the introduction. No more dreaded alienation, we're moving onto the moe. "A girl crying is kind of a turn on" type of series from now on. Probably. Which I can personally appreciate and enjoy. I'm sure there will still be some chaacter development and depth, but I doubt we'll be seeing the full "emo" treatment again. |
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DuskyPredator
 Posts: 15576 Location: Brisbane, Australia |
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Episode 1
Holy cow, I expected a silly comedy with ecchi romance and moe characters, but the first half of the episode was so brutal. It started out so soft and happy with just a normal little girl that had a few things happen that the other characters shook off. But started to darken as a spoiler[childish talk about who the little kids like lead to her blurting out her friends' secrets, and called a compulsive liar]. Her mother trying to spoiler[find answer became continuously frustrated and started to fall into dispair. Kotoura became more and more ostracised, and her mother showed signs of loseing it]. Despite being dark there was a spoiler[seemingly happy scene with her parents, but she blurts out her parents secrets of how they had grown appart and he familly truely fell apart. The look on her mother's face as she left too] was just too cruel, and it really was sad. I had tears in my eyes as she looked for some spoiler[friendship in a cat that would not think badly of her, only for it to be taken away also, she was really pushed too far with that, her eyes looked dead]. The darkness did seem to break before the OP done half way. It seems Manabe can take this into comedy area, and he helped break Kotoura's shell. Seems an idiot is just what she needs. Can't wait to watch more and see this girl fall in love and all that jazz. |
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yoshiyukiblade
Posts: 305 |
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Amazing opening into the series. It really set the stage of understanding our heroine's position in life. spoiler[I'm glad it doesn't just start with her mysteriously pessimistic attitude, whose secrets unravel over time as the male lead (or whatever) eventually pries it out of her. It's all explained wonderfully in the 1st 10 minutes or so.]
Even better, that entire setting and tone in the beginning was literally shattered lol. The comedy is great and the art style compliments it well. I'm definitely looking forward to watch more of this. On a side note, I wonder if this story will switch between serious and joyful moments more. I love it when shows can pull that kind of stuff off, but the comedy alone seems sufficiently good. 
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WhiteHairGirls
Posts: 4713 Location: New York City |
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I think it was a one time thing, since it really is just a romantic comedy. There was no drama in the genre list on various websites. Although there might be some drama in the 10th/11th episode like most other 12 episode animes. |
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Ggultra2764
 Subscriber Posts: 3967 Location: New York state. |
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The first episode to this has the same problem that irked me with the opener to Michiko to Hatchin: overdoing things with showing the suffering of the female lead. How many times must you show off cruelty and prejudice to the lead to get me to want to care?
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trilaan
 Posts: 1079 Location: Texas |
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I felt the exact same way about the first episode of Michiko. Then I decided to have a look at more. Now I'm hoping it gets a US release someday. |
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ConanSan
Posts: 1818 |
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But massive props to the people working on this. They took something that could have very easily have been droned out with the standard bullshit and they went "No, we're doing this story and if you have a problem with that then you're a dumb pervert who's interests will not be catered to here" (See the preview). I wish this would happen just a little bit more often. |
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