{The problematic fave series i was going to continue but i legit have no time but wanted to semi finish this one since i already put a lot of effort into it}

I feel like this is the one that needs the most justification because I have posted more than once my distaste for the anime "Kokoro connect". I feel like the anime wastes a lot of the potential for character study by force feeding you their character outline, hurriedly building up drama,only for it to end in a too squeaky clean result with almost no stakes. and while I don't really mind the situations they get into ( in fact i love the idea of using switching bodies, mind reading, aging gone wonky etc to let the characters learn about each other) the way this happens is still pretty contrived. And I don't believe I'm being too harsh on judging the anime on it's character arcs since that is the main focus and attraction the anime is trying to give. But while I didn't like the show when I was finished I was haunted by a question. All the characters suffer from the aforementioned forced development and rushed resolution, Iori Nagase is no exception. So why do I like her?



*Note :mild spoilers*

So who exactly is Iori Nagase?

Iori Nagase is the class darling. People want to be friends with her, guys adore her, and she happens to be the rock for her friends during this whole debacle of an alien using them for social experiments. Connecting them all with her lightheartedness and giving them the much deserved scolding they need sometimes. Later in the show she starts to lose her cheer as the show's premises start to reveal things about her she didn't want the others to know. It turns out though that for the most part this personality is mostly a product of her instinct to get on people's good side due to a string of horrible boyfriends her mom has and a mom apparently unwilling to do anything about it. Additionally this has caused her self esteem be essentially nothing since she believes this means she was no true self or anything anybody would find worth loving since most of her is there to pacify people. The friends are miffed to be robbed of cheerful Iori. This is "resolved" in the show by them getting her to tell her mom that she doesn't actually like the abusive boyfriends she gets, mom says "why didn't you say so?! i didn't really like them either but i thought you wanted the awful father figures" and kicks the current guy out and she goes back to being her cheerful self. She can kinda be a jerk especially when she snapped during her centric arc but i like her.



Reason 1: The writing is a bit more constant with Iori

I feel like of the all the characters Iori's arc was done a little more subtly. Unlike Inaba who spelled out all you needed to know about her internal "struggle" and was generally a pain in the neck, Iori's arc starts from what is a simple conversation in the first arc and grows clearer what exactly her issue is as the anime continues. Building with prior foundation. The first arc is body switching and she asks about the sense of self and what happens if they don't go back. As the arcs reveal more of her almost zero sense of self worth it all culminates in the friends finally being forced to see all the signs for what they were. SIGNS THAT IORI WHO WAS FORCED TO TAKE CARE OF ALL YOU IS ACTUALLY NOT AS A-OK AS SHE PRETENDS. Even if in the end I feel like they still make her be the version the friends like best with a cop out ending to the issues she has the show does consistently forshadow and build on concepts Iori mentions in each arc. Does the sense of self matter in people accepting you? Does being what everyone wants you to be qualify you as your own person? Would people abandon you if you got a little to "real"?



Reason 2: She is not there to take Inaba's stupidity.

I hate Inaba so much. soooo much. She tends to get the worst of the writing and while fighting inner dark thoughts could be interesting she gives one character speech about it and basically acts like this makes her deserving of the most pity (not sympathy, pity) and is generally an a-hole making her a whiny and flat character. Iori is not about that life.Multiple times being the one to give her tough love and tell her to get over herself and think about who she's hurting. And I'm sorry but i give kudos to characters who are just not here for bs from characters i don't like. (i'm petty like that// the kudos counts even if the anime tells me apparently Inaba is likable to Iori)



Reason 3: I relate a bit too much

I think the real reason I like her is because I connect with her problems too much. This whole idea that people only like you for being what they need you to be without actually caring about how you feel or being there for you when you need them. I also tend to sympathize with how much the friends use her throughout the whole thing, Taichi confessing to her only to be a weak boyfriend since hey guess what he doesn't reaaaaally like her, people only liking her when she's sunny, all her friends being too willing to lean on her when they're in trouble but acting annoyed by her own internal struggle as if its an inconvenience, only accepting her after she regains her cheerful demeanor instead of being willing to acknowledge that her done AF side exists and is something that shouldn't be ignored. How's that quote go?

"If you don't love me at my worst you don't deserve me at my best."



idk i have a lot of complex feels about how she's treated. The show has this problem of portraying her actually hecka serious fear of abuse as "wow you were being mad about that :/ that's stupid just tell your mom to kick him out." Only to make it exactly that easy like wow if the mom knew it was bad and legit was brave enough to do it with barely a prompt like why the heck didn't she do it herself. There are victims who are scared of doing this but the mom portrays none of the signs of being that type of victim and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH.

(they also did this in Mayoiga with an abused character and heck even with another character in this freaking show like why didn't you run away/tell them to stop and you can't help screaming at the screen THAT'S LEGIT NOT HOW IT WORKS YOU UNSYMPATHETIC CREEPS) and if we're sidestepping realism it is underwhelming to say the least with no catharsis and i need to stop i will just rant about the stilted development of this show.

In a short conclusion Iori is a girl who has learned to be adaptable to survive. I can't help but sympathize and like her for enduring even if her source material (and sometimes she) is less than stellar. I can't help but get extremely protective of characters who no one will acknowledge actually probably needs therapy and a hug or just someone to actually care darnnit.