Kokoro Connect 03 — Mr. Nice Guy

Taichi takes the ideal of the nice-guy harem lead to its logical conclusion. He’s such a selfless person that his role models are “jobbers” in wrestling, who let themselves get beaten up. This is not what I was expecting when I heard he liked wrestling.

Inaba has a problem with this, but I don’t. Ok, admiring people who let themselves get beaten up is a bit strange, although I can see where he’s coming from. But who wouldn’t do whatever they can to help their friends? I don’t find this trait of Taichi’s strange at all.

What I do find a bit disconcerting, however, is his belief that he can solve all his friend’s problems. When he discovers Yui’s fear of men, he confronts her and asks her how he can help. Taichi believes that this is a problem that he can solve. And that, in my opinion, is a form of pride and vanity.

Yui has had a fear of men since middle school due to a traumatic, life-alerting experience. It’s such a deep fear that it’s built into her body, not only her mind, as attested to by Yoshifumi. And Taichi thinks that he can solve it in one night?

But the worst part is, he does. All it takes is a kick to the balls. This was a bit frustrating for me. It trivialized Yui’s deep psychological problems into something that can be easily solved through physical violence and power. But hey, that kick was pretty funny.

Back to Inaba’s accusation that Taichi is a selfless freak. In the same conversation, she tells Taichi to “bag” Iori before Fujishima beats him to it. I don’t think that these two parts of the conversation are separate topics. Inaba tells Taichi to “bag” Iori because Inaba herself is a selfless freak. She’s in love with Taichi too, but is selflessly letting Inori have him. Inaba is a selfless freak, and she hates herself for it.

General Thoughts

This show’s setup is built for comedy gold. The possibilities for crazy hijinks are endless when you can switch bodies at any time. The format is a vast improvement over the more common permanent body switches because there may be unexpected retribution when you switch back.

My favorite character at the moment is Inaba. She’s self-assured yet awkward, straight and to the point yet dishonest, and generally more complex than the type of anime characters we’re used to. I’m still supporting Iori in the love triangle though… Inaba’s not the best match for Taichi.

12 thoughts on “Kokoro Connect 03 — Mr. Nice Guy

  1. I really can’t stand Taichi’s character at all. He’s so much like the main character in Da Capo to the point that I’m finding the crazy lesbian more interesting than him. And yes, Inaba is awesome.

  2. I usually dislike White Knight figures but in Taichi’s case I don’t feel that way. He is not risking his life for some girls he barely knows a la Touma Kamijou. He is just trying to help his friends. And there are people who feel better for helping others (volunteering for cleaning, etc) so he is not at all unrealistic.

    1. Exactly. Who wanted try to help their friends? And I was always the guy who volunteered for that kind of stuff too.

  3. Excellent post, Draggle, on an excellent episode!

    “This show’s setup is built for comedy gold.” I expected (and wouldn’t have minded) some random body-switching comedy but it turns out to be so much more. This show rose much in my appreciation after the creepy Heartseed in ep. 2 and this ep.3. As they start touching some serious issues I’d feel that too much comedy would be misplaced for now. I’m looking forward to some drama!

    “It trivialized Yui’s deep psychological problems into something that can be easily solved through physical violence and power.” I couldn’t agree more. Although, I suppose her problem was not lack of ability to fight in the first place. Someone (girl or not) trained in karate should be able to fend off an untrained aggressor and her karate looked pretty impressive last ep. Further, the trick Taichi taught her is the oldest one in existence; if she didn’t know this one she’s blind. So imo it was a super cheap and hardly credible solution to Yui’s trauma. I appreciate that this show picks up serious issues but I’m somewhat disappointed w/ this solution.

    “My favorite character at the moment is Inaba.” Mine as well. Up until now I thought she would be like a catalyst for the other couples w/o being involved herself (similar to Remon-san in AnoNatsu) but after your comments I realized that she has her own love interest, as well.

    1. They have struck a good balance of seriousness and comedy so far. The show’s managed to walk the line and do well at both. I hope they can keep that up.

      I appreciate that this show picks up serious issues but I’m somewhat disappointed w/ this solution.

      Same here. A few people I know are dropping this show and accusing it of all these terrible things because of this, but for me it’s disappointing but not the end of the world. It’s certainly not enough to ruin my enjoyment of the show.

  4. I dunno. I was fine with Yui having her fear of men broken by a show of power. The core source of her fear initially was about not being able to fight off her attacker, compounded by the failing of her strong background in martial arts. For Taichi to simply lend her a strategy to restore her confidence in her self-defense skills I think is pretty decent writing.

    1. I guess that’s possible. I find it hard to believe that she wasn’t aware of the balls-kicking technique if she’s so good at martial arts though.

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