Posted by OP Sequence
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
OP: 「パラダイム」 (Paradigm) by eufonius
Watch the OP!: Streaming ▼
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
「気づいた時には始まっていたという話」 (Kizuita Toki ni wa Hajimatteita to Iu Hanashi)
“A Story That Had Already Begun Before Anyone Realized It”
Here I present a new supernatural/comedy/romance series that features a group of students who seem to swap souls at random. The story jumps right in by introducing the five main characters and together they form the Student Cultural Society at the school. Just like the title implies, the story has already begun and starting with the morning after Kiriyama Yui (Kanemoto Hisako) and Yoshifumi Aoki (Terashima Takuma) experienced swapping bodies in the middle of the night. There must be a lot to cover in this one-cour show because it seems like this anime does not take any time for breathers.
Although I can’t say the premise is very unique, I really enjoy seeing a fresh new set of characters and their unique personalities. If there’s one thing that I think a story like this should have – it’s different personalities that help distinguish everybody apart. After all, that’s what’s going to make the show humorous and easy for the audience to tell who is in which body. I loved seeing Yaegashi Taichi (Mizushima Takashiro) discover that he was in Nagase Iori’s (Toyosaki Aki) body. Obviously your first instinct to “verify” is to touch yourself…. (and I’m not even being sarcastic). I can only imagine what was going on through Iori’s mind when she realized that she had something “extra” between her legs. Taichi wasn’t (or was he?) as lucky when Fujishima Maiko (Itou Shizuka) walked in and offered to help him touch himself. I never knew girls could be so open about it… (clearly I went to the wrong school).
The anime not only shows and talks about big breasts though, there is a good amount of conversation going on in the episode – mainly discussing and verifying whether or not their souls did switch. There’s also some discussion about what the club actually does, but what really impressed me were the short family scenes that flashed in the beginning and end of the episode. I actually thought this was a great way to tie in the background behind each character. Iori being warm and cheery actually has an absent mother. Taichi (who is the “lead” character of the cast) has an adorable younger sister. Not much on Inaba Himeko (Sawashiro Miyuki), although she seems like your typical quiet, female smarty. There seems to be an ongoing pending relationship between Aoki and Yui too, so I’m excited to see how that’ll move forward. I don’t want to spoil too much for myself, however judging from the OP, there also seems to be a romance brewing for Iori and Taichi.
Overall, the series has a lot of promise in my opinion and although the idea’s not terribly original, I still enjoy the antics between our characters. There’s a deeper meaning besides their club activities and I’m excited to be given the chance to blog it… especially when I had no intentions to. It’ll replace Sankarea as my romance/comedy of the season and I already have high expectations for it.
In terms of production value – I’ve never seen anything produced by Silver Link (aside from Tasogare Otome x Amnesia). Everything is very simplistic, not huge amounts of details and some of the character designs remind me of K-On! actually. Not that it’s a bad thing; the anime focuses more on the happenings and plot rather than pretty scenery. Moving along… the OP is sung by eufonius whom I wasn’t a huge fan until I repeatedly listened to the Clannad and True Tears OP songs. I love her voice now and it’s such a soothing song to introduce the anime. I also love the ED! Not just the song, but also the animation and how it focuses on Iori; which I’m sure, can be seen as some form of foreshadowing? Regardless, I can just anticipate a great soundtrack, so I hope the anime can keep it up!
Full-length images: Boo… Not a lot of full lengths =(
ED Sequence
 |
 |
 |
ED: 「ココロノカラ」 (Kokoro no Kara) by Team.ねこかん[猫] featuring. 天乙准花 (Team.Nekokan [Neko] featuring. Junca Amaoto)
Watch the ED!: Streaming ▼
Preview
 |
 |
 |
I love how he went straight for the boobs. Haha
Come on, it’s what any sane guy will do in that situation. (^.^;) Admittedly, I don’t think I would stop there though…
Especially wouldn’t have stopped if another girl would be offering to help out 😉
That gave me a laugh.
Love how many likes these first two comments have haha.
I like this series. The body-swapping is indeed not new (it has been used in hentai also), but it is nice that this can occur at random.
Well, it’s no wonder that you’re reminded of K-On!; it is from the same character designer (Horiguchi Yukiko). He is responsible for the typical KyoAni-style, so if you didn’t know any better, this could have been just another KyoAni production…
sadly, after watching this first episode, i’m not terribly motivated to keep watching it. i’m very picky with my anime and the plot and animation of this particular series does not capture my interest =/ at least i gave it a shot. regardless, i hope u enjoy watching and blogging this Cherrie! I’ll occasionally pop in out and of the blogs for this anime to see if it picks up but i have 4 other animes to watch this season (which is a surprise due to my selectiveness) so i’m satisfied! i hope others enjoy this series though!~
Thanks! But sad to hear that you won’t be following =( The whole point of blogging a show (or doing series intros) is to try and get the audience interested enough to watch… so I hope you’ll reconsider once the series picks up =)
I hope that this is not a spoiler. As a light novel reader, I can tell you this series is more than just a normal romance series.
i’m quite sure there’s also going to be some amount of drama mixed in, if the second chapter of the manga is anything to go by (this first episode covered just the first one and a half chapters). or, if not drama, maybe mystery? either way, i don’t think there’s a chance that this show is going to stay cheery the whole way.
Whoever subbed this episode in my watch was a good person.
*Right after Fujushima happened* Taichi: “You’re right that it was about to get busy”.
bof
Not sure what I enjoyed more, Iori’s boxers or the surprise attempted yuri rape.
Did anyone else pick up on the creepy extraterritorial undertones with both the aerial zoom for the first and last scenes? And then the title for the next episode?
Enjoyable for the most part. I’ve always enjoyed bodyswaping because it allows actors to let loose and act out of character and the results are usually hilarious. A show with bodyswapping as its premise though, has quite some potential for interesting moments.
I hope I get to know more about the cast though, bodyswapping is funnier when character are well established, and this episode is a bit lacking on that department.
I believe they’re going to use the bodyswapping to examine and flesh-out the characters instead, which is most of the reason I’m still interested.
I agree with Bio D. This series is using the old phrase “put yourself in another’s shoes” for personal growth and development of the characters, and even the beginnings of love, and understanding between the genders. I hope it’s great and better with each episode. I hope his next publication Cherrie-sama XD (always wanted to say that XD haha.
my apologies, I’m wrong, is “her” not “his”. Cherrie-sama excuse me.
Haha! I am indeed female =P sorry to disappoint.
Nothing disappointing, it is by custom. It is refreshing to read the impressions of a woman, is a different perspective and a pleasant expression.
“Ongoing pending relationship” Hahaha, what a great way to put it! I’ll be interested to see how this show makes use of the body swapping as a plot device, hopefully it’s not just a gimmick of sorts!
Clearly the 1st thing you do when you ended up in a women body. Confirm it THEN freak it.
well cherrie…. as far as silverlink production has been thus far, this is their most tamest and most toned down…
in terms of artsy cut scenes and shaftiness…. or should i say silverlinkness….
i’m definitely sticking till the end… to see how it pans out
Another shows I expected this season out of curiosity. The body swapping may become important plot point in the next episode but I think I would enjoy this show even for the characters interaction only
ZOMG what is Azu-nyan doing here?
All in all I enjoyed the first episode, mostly because characters seem very likeable, and their interactions are great! I am sooo looking forward to Iori possibly ending in Himeko’s body and using the opportunity to snap a few ero-shots, and Himeko landing possibly in a boy’s body.
To all shocked by Maiko, some girls often do things we dont suspect them, just usually well out of sight of any males…
Taichi, that’s our man. Touch first, then freak out. (Though in his case, he didn’t even have time to freak out as Maiko actually wanted to join in on the touching. To make things worse, Iori (in Taichi’s body) resorted to “molesting” Fujishima, totally forgetting which body she was using to do so. lol
Toyosaki Aki in full Yui-mode in this series as Iori. I dare say her “Yui” roles are some of her best roles. (Yeah, I was one of the few K-ON followers that preferred Yui over Mio or Azu-nyan)
Somehow, I noticed that these youth school dramas (regardless whether they’re sci-fi or slice-of-life with no paranormal activities) work best with the “optimal formula” of 3 girls and 2 boys. Examples include Suzumiya Haruhi, Toradora, AnoHana, AnoNatsu, and recently Tari Tari.
Speaking of Tari Tari, I am quite astonished that RC has not yet covered this. A series by PA Works surely could not be ignored like this? And Episode 2 is to air today already.
I believe Takaii is covering Tari Tari so it will be done! =)
@Kinny Riddle I’m a Yui fan too 🙂
I’ve been lurking here at RC for a months now, but it’s the first time I’m actually posting. I can’t help it, I love this series 😀 This is a good anime in it’s own right. I am really looking forward to this and I thank RC for covering this one.
And oh, I’ve seen up to chapter 18 of the manga, and you’re right Cherrie, the ED focusing on Iori is a foreshadowing….
Looks like this season is filled with a lot of Haruhi-group-like settings… Not that I’m complaining though.
I enjoyed it. It was better done than I was expecting. For some reason when I first heard of the show a while ago, I was expecting it to be done by KyoAni (probably because of the K-ON! artist), so I really had to lower my expectations when I realized it wasn’t. So, I guess while it exceeded those newfound expectations, it wasn’t amazing either. Definitely will stick around for the next ep.
So much fanservice potential, but unfortunately that doesn’t seem like the direction they’re taking this series.
I don’t know if that’s a good idea though. The series most probably wants to focus on complex characters and development. Fanservice wouldn’t pair quite well with that, I think.
Yeah, I initially thought that this series would be mostly easy comedy about the swapping, until the more serious bgm started playing.
So now I think this series has the potential to exceed all expectations and give us heartfelt development and warm fuzzies by the time it concludes!
Definitely on my watch list since A)I love how the whole thing started, and B) I currently have only 1 anime on my watch list; Accel World.
Can’t wait for the next episode.
You’re watching the only other show I’m blogging! Yay! =D
Hmm Kokoroco not getting as much love as it deserves? I definitely would rate this as one of the better premiere episodes out there (my personal favourite, above SAO and Rinne).
I just want to give a shout out to the female cast of Kokoroco because they are the true gems of this adaptation.
Toyosaki Aki with her Yui-esque voice.
Sawashiro Miyuki with her normal voice which is oh-so-rare to hear given how versatile she is.
Lastly Kanemoto Hisako for playing TOMONORI in Zombie!!!
Body-swapping isn’t the most original idea floating around but nonetheless still has potential going for it since it isn’t exactly common either in anime form, I know Natsuiro Kiseki was a recent example but eh I don’t really recall others, non H anime of course.
The comedy is an absolute winner though, especially with questions like “Who would you rather see naked” as well as “What was the last adult film you borrowed from him?”
I’ll give this one a shot. When I initially heard the premise, I was worried that it’d just be a composition of fanservice and sophomoric jokes. But, after watching the first episode, it seems that they’re doing a mature take on this body-switching phenomenon, and the jokes are original and well timed for effect. Family scenes show promise of character development outside of high school, and one of the PVs showed a very interesting scene, so I’ll definitely keep watching. I wasn’t planning on watching too many shows this season, hoping to get to my backlog, but in the end, I’m watching almost every show being blogged here, lol.
You’re right about the deeper meanings beyond their club activities. I’ve read the novels of Kokoro Connect before, and I’ll say this series is definitely worth the shot.
It does go pretty deep with the struggles that come from body-switching. The novels were unique in the aspect of illustrating the emotions and relationships between the five club members. It’s a good, youthful story of high school friendship, love, and bonds. I’m interested in seeing how the anime will bring that through. It’s all up to Silver Link now.
As for the unoriginal premise, here’s a spoiler on how it gets more interesting:
Show Spoiler ▼
K-ON! with boys at last!
I just started watch Kokoro connect today (my list this season: SAO,MLA:TE,Binbougami,Hyouka,KyoukaiII,Dakara,Hagure OMG! too many animes).Can’t believe this is only one romance anime from my list.Hope this be good anime.