Forum - View topicREVIEW: Kotoura-san
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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Even if Kotoura didn't have a baseline for normalcy, it strikes me as heavily implausible that a child couldn't pick up on things and learn from them. Children are very perceptive - they have to be - and yet Kotoura was shown to not understand that other people constantly 'speak' without moving their mouths, and that whenever she reveals someone's close personal information that person's feelings are hurt. And I've said this many times before and I'll repeat it here: of all people, a mind-reader is the best possible person to ascertain what people are thinking (duh) and so Kotoura should have easily known what the matter was. People around her must have thought to themselves that they wished she didn't speak secrets out loud, and Kotoura must have been able to read how upset people became when she started blabbing.
Glad to see that the opening ten minutes are listed as a negative. Hated how Kotoura's character development basically went in circles for the entire show. She would get better, then get depressed and blame herself, then get better, then get depressed . . . But hey, the rest of the show was mostly okay, overall I liked it. |
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jymmy
 Posts: 1244 |
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Kotoura-san was very uneven, but at the end of it I'd enjoyed it and followed the threads of the characters' stories with interest and sympathy. Kotoura-san and her mother aside - the reconciliation there seemed a bit forced. The show varied between very good and kind of crap, but was quite good overall, I thought.
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walw6pK4Alo
 Posts: 9322 |
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Kotoura-san always felt like a show I could have been watching in 2006, like Kamisama Kazoku or the like. One of those shows that came and went, but never attracted much attention of the fans or licensees. I wonder if anime would have kept on like that, with some series just remaining entirely low profile if not for legal streams leading to more press coverage and reviews, such as this. Ultimately, it felt disposable.
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KentaMaeba
 Posts: 121 |
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Even though it stumbled in it's execution from to time, Kotoura-san turned out to be a true gem. Quite similar to works such as Sankarea and, this anime took what could've been an easily exploited gimmick (mind-reading), and presented it in a serious, thought-provoking manner.
It sought to be more than just simple entertainment, and in many ways it succeeded. The anime constantly kept the audience engaged by defying expectations, subverting common tropes and scenarios, deconstructing and reconstructing the actions and motivations of the characters, and slapping the viewers in the face by showing what might actually happen if you could read minds - that the power to invade the personal, private and precious sanctuary that is our minds comes with the ultimate price of solitude. Or so it lead us to believe. (Subverted) There's so much depth to be found in this anime. It's still a shame that it's is constantly being marred by moments of bad execution and a lacking climax. If not for those, this could've been a contender for best anime of 2013. More anime needs to be this deep. 
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methedemon
Posts: 112 |
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nice
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1528 Location: Sunny California |
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I was pleasantly surprised by this show. I agree it isn't a masterpiece, but I enjoyed it. I have to admit a lot of that was because of Daichi's quirky personality and design. I love his relationship with Mifune too.
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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I keep asking myself if this was another one of those gimmicky anime. It's hard to tell until you've reached a point where you can look back on it, which occurs well after the time period that it's still fresh in your mind and you're processing all the different details that made it good or bad.
Two shows that I compare this with in trying to see if they fit in the same category of gimmicky are Karen and Midori Days. The former about a blood-spurting vampire and the latter about a boy who's school crush becomes his hand. They were fine; both funny and heartwarming when I watched them but neither of them deserved as high a rating as I gave to Kotoura-san. So what set Kotoura-san apart and avoids the label gimmicky? Well it definitely had its serious moments. The "gimmick," Kotoura's mind-reading ability is a big part of the story, but in other shows where the gimmick might hook you into watching it and wander onto other things, maybe its okay in certain anime for it to be a central theme. Overall, I'm not sure. But I liked the pacing and the breaking of expectations and tropes that KentaMaeba mentioned. And the double punch of two major tear jerking moments at the end; the first regarding Kotoura's mom and the last being the very last scene, just won me over in overlooking some of the flaws namely the lame climax (plus I knew the criminal was spoiler[the lady detective] all along); was the sole reason I rated it Masterpiece. And so what maybe it is gimmicky. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5420 Location: Iscandar |
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Whaaaaaat??
How can this uneven and mediocre show get and overall B+ grade. At most I would give Kotoura-san a C. The start was promising, and it hook me. But by episode 5 I realized that the writers of the show wanted to mostly rely on the same overused jokes, but I did not fall for this cheap trick. The only two things that I liked from this show were Yuriko's intriguing personality and issues and Haruka's cuteness. I had great hopes for this series, but it never constructed something worthwhile. I usually trust Theron's reviews, but I cannot agree with his kind grades for this show. |
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SquadmemberRitsu
 Posts: 1391 |
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I'm usually accepting of other people's opinions since I honestly don't care about what other people think half of the time. But I'm still totally confused that both Flowers of Evil and Kotoura-san got such high scores on this site. I'm very much aware of how ignorant it is to be confused at a different viewpoint. But I just can't stop myself from thinking that way.
Can't really say much about your decision though since I dropped it at episode 4 and can't remember exactly why I didn't like it. But looking at something I wrote back when I dropped it, it was because I thought it was 'amateurly written melodrama' with 'horrible characters', 'sub par animation' (Which you mentioned) and 'a really uninteresting school life setting'. Since I mentioned it, I must note that I didn't think it was nearly as badly done as Flowers of Evil (Not trying to go off topic, just using it as an example). It's not even that great an example of poorly written melodrama like Elfen Lied (Once again, just an example). It's just yet another weak and totally forgettable high school anime that couldn't succeed at distinguishing itself despite its best efforts. |
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invalidname
 Contributor Posts: 2439 Location: Grand Rapids, MI |
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Man, I like Theron's reviews.
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18166 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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EDIT: My apologies, guys n' gals. I was getting this discussion thread mixed up with one I was also following in the Shelf Life thread about a different series (PapaKiki). This comment is totally wrong. Last edited by Key on Fri Apr 12, 2013 12:19 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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jymmy
Posts: 1244 |
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I thought the first four episodes were the best third of the series, myself. The first two, the last and maybe one or two in the middle were the episodes I thought were the best. The last arc was pretty good but really felt at odds with the rest of the series.
I remain baffled by the "doesn't distinguish itself" comment - of everything it could be argued to do or be, it seemed obvious that Kotoura-san was very distinctive, and the question was whether or not this was in a good way. |
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RyanSaotome
 Posts: 4210 Location: Towson, Maryland |
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I would totally agree with this. I really liked the series early on... then it just kinda dragged on and did the same gags over and over again... and the forced drama at the end, augh. I only finished it out of obligation. |
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ChibiKangaroo
 Posts: 2941 |
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I will probably finish this show at some point because I was intrigued by the psychic/telepath powers angle. Psychic powers (like fantasy settings) are kind of a weak spot for me. However, I will certainly concur that the first 10 minutes of the show was a big turn off for me which made it hard to continue. It was just too over the top, where I think a more subtle approach could have been a home run (particularly given the unique theme of this show displaying the negative side of such powers, rather than making it out to be some world-saving blessing.)
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DKL
 Posts: 1938 Location: California, USA |
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Honestly, when people looked at the design of baby Kotoura's room, that should have been a very ample hint that the series probably did not have the ability to be very subtle. I started laughing when Kotoura's mother suddenly started hitting the bottle when she couldn't deal... it's like they couldn't figure out how to get here without the aid of over-the-top imagery like that. The heavy drama hit so hard that it would punch your kid sister in the face. That said, I watched the whole thing because there was hella friendship (and I had nothing better to do at the time), but god damn the show sunk to another level of suck during the serial attacker arc: no urgency, telegraphed ending, etc. Anyway, I liked the short dude with glasses. Also, the yuri fantasies were clearly the best fantasies. |
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