SPOILER-FILLED REVIEW

A blank sheet. A few tiny words. Spaces and lines occupied through time. Overtaken by a handwriting that can’t be discerned.

Unveiling what’s hidden beyond the resident’s door and rearranging the contents and the clutter in an attempt to convey what comprises man (as a social creature) and their behavior in the face of life’s inevitable challenges collectively spread throughout functional entities in an attempt to give us an orb of knowledge focused on relationship and identity as a utility meant to be wielded for the neverending path to growth is what Kokoro Connect wishes to impart. Each and every phenomenon is geared to entertain the antagonist, Heartseed, by throwing the club members into an array of supernatural messes which gives them license to basically each other’s lives and we, the viewers, privy to the sensitive sides of high schoolers. As a result the characters were quite literally forced to confront their most pressing issues, many highly private, in front of everyone else. Everyone pulls through in the end and comes out a more fortified version of themselves as overcoming obstacles usually does.

But what if what doesn’t kill us just hasn’t killed us yet?

To feel weakness is painful enough, but showing it, especially having it dragged into the spotlight against one’s will, is debilitating. People are so immersed in putting on an act as if life is all starlight while burying the ashes of failures and disappointments that being vulnerable, which deviates from the norm, takes courage. At the same time, there are those who are empathetic enough to absorb the curse of pain just by being aware that everyone is going through something–ample reason to try their best to not be a burden by breaking the hard-earned air of lightheartedness through sharing a problem and asking for help. Leaked miasma will only serve to dampen the stage. Being out of script will only offend the creators. So keep your guard up as high as your smile, most especially in front of the people who care about you. Don’t be sad when loving eyes are there, keep that shit for when you’re alone. It’s out of their hands. It’s not their duty to help you.

Especially if the person is you.

Has the guilt sunk in yet? Playing the part of a human being under society’s rules so badly it’s laughable, not having Herculean endurance to keep up the act, inching closer to surrender from the boulders on our shoulders, is not something that should be seen from us–we are locked doors with gilded exteriors for a reason. Our expense is life’s profit–it is the truth of the universe. Such is the inner workings of a people pleaser tragically programmed to view life without self-love, without care for the self who lives the given life.

Michi Random was everything I ever wanted from Kokoro Connect. From the start, Iori’s friction of her identity resonated with me strongest and I was disappointed that it never had any magnification until the curtain call of the season. Whereas everyone stands on firm feet on the ground due to their confidence, nay, absence of issues on their identity, Iori floats through everyday life like a phantom with an empty husk. Certainty in one’s own agency ultimately dictates our confidence in survival. Iori does not have that, which is why Inaba remarked from the very first phenomenon that she is the most threatened by all of this. Why, she eventually and inevitably broke down like a robot low on fuel, resembled Heartseed’s emotionless demeanor, and became dead exhausted in this special. Let’s recount how each phenomenon affected Iori.

1. Body Swapping: A degree of worry of the club members learning of her family situation. Confronted with self-disappointment after not being able to see through Yui’s fear of men when all she is certain of is her ability to read people. Shared her trauma to Taichi against her will yet put her trust in him with an agreed promise which he broke right after. Heard that she’d die instantly right after the glimpse of hope she’s seen after all these years due to a play on fate orchestrated by Heartseed.
2. Unleashing of Desires: Extreme caution from the possibility that her true thoughts would be seen. With what we know of her by the end of Michi Random, I’ve come to believe that Iori has exercised colossal discipline to prevent that from happening. From my memory, I don’t recall any seriously negative outbursts from her, an exception from everyone. Her admonishing of Inaba discounting their friendship together seemed to imply that Iori indeed possessed genuine love for their bond. With that in mind, Iori has exploited a weak spot of the second phenomenon by overriding desire with self-control (something which Aoki believes to be possible), which must have taken great pains.
3. Time Regression: Relived the point in time where she had to carry the whole family because of her abusive father. Faced her fragility by involving the club with her family problems. Declined the chance to redo her life even if all she ever thought of it was a big mistake on her part. Casted doubts about her relationship with Taichi.

For a people-pleasing person with a cracking sense of identity who’s had to keep her chin up like everyone amidst the troubles they’ve been through, it comes as no surprise that Iori completely “changed” after knowing that they’re encountering another phenomenon, especially one that snatches their inner thoughts for others to know, now without control unlike the unleashing of desires. An infiltration to the mind, selective at that. Closer and closer everyone will come to know just how exhausted Iori is and what she truly feels, and how Iori is actually a prisoner of her own hazy self.

Therefore I find it within the realm of reason (inside the sphere of fiction which takes emotional reactions to the next level) every action Iori undertook. Take off the mask and just not exert effort in upholding the cheery and agreeable atmosphere everyone loves and deserves. Be true to one’s own frustrations no matter the thorns it leaves after every footstep. Be tired, set boundaries, be contrary to what’s “fake”. Be annoyed that your friends can’t see past your act and constantly question your credibility; be annoyed that the ones whom you’ve shared your trauma with can’t even understand your behavior–here I note Taichi and Inaba constantly telling her “This isn’t you, where is the Iori we all know?” when God knows that Iori explicitly shared to her the foundational explanations. In that manner, I felt that the group is liable for further igniting Iori’s explosion just because of shoving into her face (minus the emotion transmission) that how she’s acting is as if she’s not Iori, not even leaving that out when put into spoken words.

But, well, it’s true. She doesn’t know how to act like the Iori that is not a caterer of people’s needs. And it isn’t the group’s fault that she’s been pushed to the brink, it’s Heartseed’s for involving them in his social experiment for plain entertainment (awful motives for someone unexplained btw). She’s already afraid of losing herself from the first phenomenon alone; she thought she could also face life head-on after seeing everyone do the same over the course of the season, especially at the end when she felt for herself the power of true friendship. But then it’s happening once again, it’s whittling against her once again, the onslaught persists and she has no control over her own person once again. The extreme circumstances are stretching Iori’s sense of identity thin when life has given her more than she could take at a set period. What all of this has come to is Iori being further taken away from her rights as the writer of her own story when it’s recently just been a higher being’s indulgence which blurs her originality.

Problems do not go away that easily. They linger like bacteria despite the strongest solution. The diamond trust built up within the group can sometimes have the opposite effect, wracking up guilt in Iori’s own helplessness instead. Taichi’s alright, Aoki’s alright, Inaba’s alright, even Yui is seeing a miraculous recovery from a phobia. Only Iori had something left clearly unsolved, something so simple and overlooked until Inaba made it visible: that her life is her life, and she can do anything she wants with it. What this ultimately means is that,

She recoils at the thought of something so simple. Truth is not easy to register even when it comes right at you and even if it benefits you, when you’re used to subjecting yourself to the whims of others, it’s hard to accede to the thought of freedom, kind of like a case of Stockholm Syndrome. And a simple, tiny truth against a towering, lifelong plight? It’s something unheard of! (And here I note Inaba’s body switch conclusion where problems become trivial when shared.) Despite that, she made a decision to heed her friend’s words and held onto perhaps the only thing that was certain was hers even before her rebirth: Iori’s connection with the Cultural Research Club members. Through this, Iori can finally be conscious of her innate ability to write out her own character as she fits and make it something genuine for her identity. To fill any missing space, allow time to be a companion in weaving any suitable origins or developments.

And it’s beautiful that in the end, Iori’s movements follow her lively personality, which shows that deep inside she isn’t a cynic nor was she ever a mere fabrication and an actress that fulfills the wishes of her surroundings, echoing Taichi’s words on the bridge telling her that all that she’s showing is indeed a part of her real self.

Kokoro Connect: Michi Random wraps up the series with a human being’s discovery of who she truly is: a person, one who can carve her own future and write her own tale with the support of the people to whom she shares mutual love with, people which, take note, are not perfect in the slightest. Together they have bested Heartseed’s ploys and colored their school year with 15 years' worth of growth.

With a talented set of voice actors, the series has been brought to life with brimming emotions that actualize the essence of the intense drama. How it all played out was perfectly fine to me for I see consistency in Iori’s character writing which isn’t really perplexing at all, along with the rest of the cast. Speaking of, bar Inaba, they remain like bland supporting characters due to the difference of treatment they had from the two girls. Not even Taichi was blessed with dimensional characterization. As for my comment on Kokoro Connect’s aesthetics lacking compelling attractiveness in the 13-episode package, I found no repeated problems in this OVA as they appropriately conducted facial expressions, atmospheric weight, pacing, and sound with appealing intelligibility.

For an encompassing statement, since reviews practically need one by convention, Kokoro Connect: Michi Random was a powerful presentation heeding the tense atmosphere of severed bonds and the pains of reuniting with one’s self and others, exhibiting the meaning of friendship anime-style, although not fully carrying the wisdom of past phenomena, yet directed with substance nonetheless.

In the end, what does Kokoro Connect comment on humans? That we are creatures helpless against life’s challenges when faced on our own. Manifestations of our shadows can and perhaps should be permitted proper disclosure to the people we wholly trust as it is proven that they can understand, simple as that. Lest we break down and explode due to testing our capacity, it’s healthier for everyone involved to just release it. We only have one life after all, better make use of it taking up space with authenticity–for how could it be called living in reality when we’re not living real?--and mind for what’s relevant that needs to be imparted whether that be lessons of trust, kindness, an ear or an eye or a voice, or a virtuous promise.

So cherish your bonds, write your own story, and then you will see that hearts connect naturally.