Kokoro Connect Archives | 100 Word Anime

Top 5 Anime Confessions

Posted on February 10, 2022February 6, 2022 by Karandi

As much as I love a good horror anime, I will admit romance is a great binge worthy genre and is definitely appropriate when you are just in the mood to relax and be carried on a wave of emotions. However, with romance anime come anime confession scenes and a lot of these really stand out. Today I’m counting down my top 5 favourite anime confession scenes and I’d love to know what some of your favourites are.

By the way, there are definitely spoilers below particularly for numbers 4, 2 and 1. You’ve been warned.

Honourable Mentions:

Just the one honourable mention because I’m certain I will get plenty of others in the comments. I’m throwing Kokoro Connect in here mostly because of how grounded the characters were about the love triangle that actually resolved into an actual relationship with all of the characters properly acknowledging their feelings.

Number 5: Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

This one is representative of all those anime that shout their confessions aloud for the world to hear. It is a standard trope and yet Bunny Girl Senpai, in its usual fine form, managed to make this scene the climax of its first and strongest arc with Sakuta running outside the classroom and shouting his love for Mai at the top of his lungs at the building. I’m still left wondering why he didn’t end up in more trouble for that stunt disrupting all those classes but it certainly got the point across even if Mai didn’t actually accept the confession until nearly a month later.

Sakuta shouts his love for Mai at the School - Rascal Does Not Dream of Bunny Girl Senpai

Number 4: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood

What is more adorable than two dorks falling in love and fumbling their way through it? Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood gave us brilliant characters and action with a fairly epic scale plot but it was this scene at the train station right at the end, where Ed finally confesses to Winry (proposes actually), that really hit home for me and left me feeling like I’d just watched something incredibly special (okay, there were other moments in the show that did a similar thing but this has the advantage of being the point the show leaves us on). So happy this moment happened and so happy that Ed was true to Ed in how he did it.

Ed from Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood confesses to Winry

Number 3: Dakaichi

This one if it happened in reality would probably be a little bit on the creepy side (okay, hold the little bit – it would just be creepy) but as a well delivered line in an anime this one near stopped my heart and I wasn’t even a big fan of Junta. However, when he stares right at Takato (and at the audience) and declares ‘I want you’ there is no doubt that this is a clear and straightforward declaration of love and one we don’t get very often in anime where so many characters blush and stumble their way through confessions. Seriously, this one can give you shivers.

Now if we just take away the lack of consent earlier and the possessive nature of this relationship we could have one of the most beautiful love confessions ever.

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Attack on Titan – Levi (Re-run)

Number 2: Chuunibyo Demo Koi Ga Shitai

Again, what is more adorable than two dorks in love? You have to admit, this particular moment between Yuuta and Rikka, or rather the Dark Flame Master and the Keeper of the Tyrant’s Eye is spectacularly adorkable. hiding behind their personas, or in Rikka’s case for awhile her umbrella, this sequence under the bridge is one of those moments that just leaves you wanting to hug both the characters and never let them go. Sure, they’ve still got a long way to go, but seriously this moment was absolutely delightful.

Chuunibyou Confession between Rikka and Yuuta

Number 1: Angel Beats

This one is notable for a couple of reasons. Firstly, it doesn’t happen at either the beginning or the end of the series but is more of a mid-season moment. Secondly, it isn’t the main character confessions that stopped my heart cold, it was actually the support characters, and one in particular who prior to this had mostly been comic relief, who really stepped up and delivered a scene that can literally melt your heart. As Otonashi is trying to help Yui cross over, after a lot of mucking about she admits she wanted to fall in love but no one would have loved her because she was home-bound when she was alive.

Normally you would suspect the main character would reassure her that someone would love her but Otonashi freezes and in that moment Hinata steps up to the plate delivering one of the most unforgettable confession speeches of all time and over-ruling any objection she might have. He plans out how they would have met and how their relationship would have gone. He declares he would have stayed with her. He takes away all her fears and ultimately helps her find peace. It is beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.

Angel Beats - Yui passes on after Hinata's confession

And there we have it, my top 5 favourite anime confessions. So now it is your turn. Confess.

Which anime confession made your heart go doki doki?

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Karandi James

Top 5: Supernatural Anime – They aren’t always creepy but these anime all do something a little beyond the ordinary.

Posted on September 18, 2021September 11, 2021 by Karandi

I am a big fan of horror and supernatural stories in general and I do love a good horror or supernatural anime (for the sake of this list I’ve excluded stories that deal with Japanese folklore as that is going to be a whole other list at some point). So this list is my top 5 favourite supernatural anime. I’ll definitely do a horror one at some point and there may be some cross over.

Before we get into the top 5 supernatural anime, how about some honourable mentions?

Baccano (more gangster than supernatural), Dance in the Vampire Bund and Black Blood Brothers (while both would appear on a list of vampire anime they just didn’t stand up here), Ao No Exorcist (feels more action than supernatural), Fruits Basket (romance more than supernatural), Ghost Hunt and Another (lost to another ghost story), Death Parade (other than the characters being dead didn’t have a lot of supernatural going on) and Inu X Boku (focus on Japanese folklore so will probably show up on another list at some point).

Yes, that is a lot of honourable mentions and that’s the cut down list. As I said, I’m a big fan of the genre.

Number 5: Dusk Maiden of Amnesia

While I get this isn’t the single most amazing anime in the world (and a lot in my honourable mentions are actually better as stories), this one made my list because the supernatural is at the front and centre of every single episode. Yuuko also made my list of characters with convenient missing memories.

The characters form the Paranormal Investigation Club and the club president is literally a ghost with amnesia. Also, the story doesn’t fit any genre except supernatural. There is romance, there is coming of age, there’s some detective and mystery work, there’s some horror, but it isn’t any of these. Dusk Maiden of Amnesia just a good supernatural anime and that’s why I put it on the list.

Number 4: Kokoro Connect

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Kokoro Connect starts with a group of friends who are literally jumping into one another’s bodies and have no idea why. Even when the culprit appears, they are no closer to figuring out why or how. When that phenomenon finally stops (in a manner that I will not spoil, watch the anime), it isn’t too long before another challenge awaits them.

Kokoro Connect is heart wrenching, funny, touching, and generally just a great character piece even while it plays with most of the common tropes of highschool kids in a club doing not very much. While the supernatural element is never really explained that actually makes the story work because it kind of makes sense for beings that can do the sorts of things that are being done to these kids to not bothering to explain them.

Number 3: Angel Beats

Another heart break anime. Okay, there really isn’t a way for this to not break your heart given the characters are all young and all dead and really haven’t got anything left except for this insane desire to fight against god who they aren’t even sure exists.

What drives Angel Beats are the characters and the way each of them dealt with tragedy in life and deal with their own tragedy and the tragedy of their companions in the afterlife. Yeah, there’s also a lot of high school hijinks and the usual running about doing silly things but ultimately the situation these kids find themsleves in is tragic and the final episodes place that tragedy front and centre and make you embrace it even while offering hope.

Oh, what’s supernatural about it other than the characters being dead? Just a possible angel, guns being made out of dirt, hypnosis, an inability to die, and having your personality overwritten by a potential computer virus.

Number 2: Death Note

An excellent combination of mystery, crime and the supernatural, Death Note is kind of all of my favourite genres in one. A death god drops a notebook on earth and it is picked up by Light, who it turns out wants to change the world by killing every single criminal and now he has the means to enact this. It’s a great story with some really compelling characters and the entire thing is driven by the fact that Light is able to commit crimes without leaving any physical clues because all he is doing is writing names in a notebook.

Number 1: Black Butler

Making a deal with a demon? It doesn’t get more supernatural than that and Black Butler does is one superb supernatural anime. Even though Ciel’s story of revenge (being enabled by his demon butler) sits at the front and centre, there are a host of other mysteries and supernatural beings to be found. From the peculiarities of the servants, to the mysterious Jack the Ripper case, to the story of the missing girls, and then demon hounds, every episode delivers something fun and tragic simultaneously.

I know I have missed a lot of great supernatural anime when I made this list (even with the honourable mentions) so feel free to add your choices in the comments below. What would you have included and your list and why?

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Join the discussion in the comments.
Karandi James

A Decade of Anime 2012

Posted on January 8, 2020January 9, 2022 by Karandi

Alright, 2012 was one of those years that I spent a fair bit of time short listing titles before finally deciding on my top from each season. Winter and Spring were relatively easy but wow Summer and Fall made it hard. The anime that didn’t make the cut: Sword Art Online, Humanity has Declined, Kamisama Hajimemashita, and Psycho Pass. Seriously, I love every one of those titles but I just couldn’t say they were the anime from that season that I would absolutely have to watch. That said, they are all brilliant and if you haven’t watched them, be sure to check them out… after you check out the list for 2012.

The Rules:

No. 1: No sequels of any kind.

No. 2: Only one anime from each season which gave me 4 picks from each year.

No. 3: Other than 2019 anime, no matter how brilliant an anime was if I hadn’t rewatched it since it aired then it didn’t make the list. If I don’t like it enough to watch it more than once then it doesn’t deserve to be on an anime of the decade list.

Incidentally these anime are not the technical best anime of their seasons but are the ones I would pick if I could only watch one anime from that season. They are anime I loved, for whatever reason, and felt deserved to be remembered.

Another

For those who have followed my blog for sometime, my predilection toward horror is pretty well known. That said, most horror anime are trash and few of them are even the good kind of trash. Here we have the second and final horror anime to make the cut for the decade that was and it is Another (which I’ll definitely be writing a review for soon). Another plays on a lot of cliches of the genre and also throws around buckets of blood. Think a really slowed down version of Final Destination crossed with the Grudge and you kind of have the idea. Honestly, the overall plot is a little dicey though does make sense but the atmosphere constructed through visuals, music and pacing are phenomenal.

Anyway, while not a perfect anime by any means, for those with a bit of patience and a love of horror, there’s plenty to enjoy in this story of a cursed class. Definitely do not watch if you are squeamish or if suicide is a trigger for you.

Jormungand

One of these days I’ll even learn to spell the title to this one correctly. However, Jormungand gives us the story of the arms dealer, Koko Hekmatyar, and her body guards as they travel about the world making deals for weapons and getting caught up in various regional conflicts and hostile business dealings. The series kicks off when Jonah, a child soldier, joins Koko’s crew and we see a lot of the story from his perspective as the outsider learning about the group. There’s clearly some touchy subject matter here and while the story does respect that it also knows not to depress its audience and provides plenty of lighter moments. The cast of characters are what will make you watch this more than once as they grow on you as you get to know them and with each watching it feels like you learn a little more about them.

With some great action, good music, and a solid cast of characters there’s little to complain about with Jormungand other than the occasional pacing issue. Well worth a watch and be sure to watch the second season to see the conclusion to Koko’s plan.

Kokoro Connect

You have no idea how hard this decision was. My initial reaction declared that of course it had to be Sword Art Online but as much fun as that anime is (and the first cour is great fun to watch), Kokoro Connect left a powerful impact on me when I watched it. Five students who through various reasons have ended up in the same club end up being used as experimental subjects in some weird intelligence’s experiments. They’ll be mind reading, body swapping, acting on impulse and so on and still trying to deal with their own identity issues and budding relationships. While this story could have gone further it certainly does enough and there’s some really powerful moments here.

This is an anime that you will have mixed reactions to and will probably connect or not with different cast members. For me, I found this anime delightful and while I didn’t necessarily relate with any of the cast members, I ended up emphasising with them as they went through an awful lot in this story.

Chuunibyou Demo Koi ga Shita

Where do you even begin with something like Chuunibyou? This is a series with a lot of heart that tackles serious issues of grief, growing up, identity and mental health but does it in a way that has you smiling every single episode. Rikka became one of the most identifiable protagonists of the decade with her eye patch and ridiculous poses and the rest of the cast are equally colourful and entertaining to watch as they stumble about their school live and adolescence.

This anime is a must watch regardless of the decade and while it has its silly moments, at its heart it seriously knew what it wanted to explore and it does an excellent job of it. The characters each carry their weight as they each explore the issues in their own way and draw their own conclusions but ultimately it is up to you, the viewer, to think about everything that is presented and to draw your own conclusion. If you want something fun that has a big impact, Love, Chuunibyo and Other Delusions is definitely an anime to check out if you haven’t already seen it.