Kokoro Connect is a type of show that takes you back to the likes of Kimi no na Wa or any of the gut-wrenchingly bittersweet anime. One has to understand that the length of the anime (the number of episodes) sort of dictates the pace at which the anime's story should be pushed out. Any anime that stays at the 13 episode mark should have a relatively fast pace so as to be able to capture the audience well. The first and perhaps the most glaring problem about this anime is the bad pacing in the first 10 episodes.

The first episode throws a lot of information at you, ranging from a bunch of characters to what is happening to the members of the CRC. It set the anime up in a really strong manner and ensured that people had a lot to expect from that. Unfortunately, the following 9 episodes are not able to meet the standards that the first episode set. After the first episode, the succeeding episodes had a significantly slower pacing, something that was unnecessary despite considering the emotional and dark nature of the anime. Now it has to be kept in mind that anime that try to reach out to the emotions of the audience tend to draw out scenes so that the watchers can truly grasp the gravity of the situation but Kokoro Connect took it even further which made the episodes feel a tad bit boring.

If an anime manages to mess up their pacing during the crux of their show, it almost always means that they will have a rather disappointing ending. That was not the case here. The final 3 episodes ended up meeting the pace set by the first episode and managed to fit in a lot of emotion (the trauma, happiness, sadness, love) that the characters felt. To make it even better, it was portrayed in such a manner that even the audience could reciprocate and understand exactly how the characters were feeling (something that was not effectively utilized in the first few episodes due to their pacing).

Apart from that, the other glaring issue of the anime is how much it leaves unanswered. (Spoilers ahead). They show the members of the CRC going through several different changes thanks to Heartseed but that in itself leaves a lot of questions in our mind. For example, the anime never goes into who Heartseed is or how he is able to do something that is so inexplicably inhuman? From where does he get his powers from, etc. On some level, I understand that the anime wanted to focus a lot more on the emotional side of things so they did not delve into the sci-fi part of it but I still feel that some answers would have definitely made the series better.

All in all, this series was an absolute rollercoaster of emotions. It did not have any unnecessary elements and it was able to display the trauma that each of the characters felt pretty well. Everything considered, I'd certainly recommend you take the time to watch it (maybe at 1.15x speed) and I can assure you that you wont be disappointed.