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Kokoro Connect Light Novel #1
心連‧情結 1 五角青春
八重樫太一、永瀨伊織、稻葉姬子、桐山唯、青木義文——隸屬於文研社的這五人，面臨了奇妙的現象。
首先，青木跟唯在毫無前兆的狀況下，發生「人格交換」的情形。而且這個現象接連襲向所有社員，將他們拋進異常的日常。太一等人對這情況雖然感到困惑，卻也多少樂在其中。但是，心靈上的連鎖也讓他們隱藏的內心傷口浮上檯面……在平穩崩潰之時，五人之間的關係即將產生變化！
首先，青木跟唯在毫無前兆的狀況下，發生「人格交換」的情形。而且這個現象接連襲向所有社員，將他們拋進異常的日常。太一等人對這情況雖然感到困惑，卻也多少樂在其中。但是，心靈上的連鎖也讓他們隱藏的內心傷口浮上檯面……在平穩崩潰之時，五人之間的關係即將產生變化！
296 pages, Paperback
First published January 30, 2010
34 people are currently reading
199 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
May 14, 2019
Centers around a likable cast of teenagers, Kokoro Connect is quite a interesting exploration in to the insecurities and vagaries of youth and coming to age.
Predicated on the most classic of setups, the body-swap, Sadanatsu-sensei creates a very compelling view in to the inner turmoils of teenagers. While the writing can get rather crude and confusing at times, it's a page-turner enough to get me fully immersed in to the world of these five teenagers, tied together by chance at first glance.... yet as the story connects the dots, there might have been a larger at work.
That said, the contrivance of the major antagonist in this volume, with its omniscient powers does leave the readers hanging and raises a lot of questions, beyond the ken of the major conflict and its resolution of this volume. It's also the main reason to continue reading on this series, even though the volume is pretty standalone enough to be read by itself.
Predicated on the most classic of setups, the body-swap, Sadanatsu-sensei creates a very compelling view in to the inner turmoils of teenagers. While the writing can get rather crude and confusing at times, it's a page-turner enough to get me fully immersed in to the world of these five teenagers, tied together by chance at first glance.... yet as the story connects the dots, there might have been a larger at work.
That said, the contrivance of the major antagonist in this volume, with its omniscient powers does leave the readers hanging and raises a lot of questions, beyond the ken of the major conflict and its resolution of this volume. It's also the main reason to continue reading on this series, even though the volume is pretty standalone enough to be read by itself.
March 29, 2025
I was scared the story of Kokoro Connect would not hold up, a decade or so after I watched the anime, but I still really enjoyed it. It tackles some interesting themes, and while it certainly doesn't do it all gracefully, I still appreciate the things it touched upon, and understood once again why my teenage self connected (ha) with the story so much.
Back then after I had finished the anime, I liked it so much that I immediately went looking if there was a manga that continued the story. That's when I found out that rather than a manga it was based on a series of light novels instead. I'd never read a light novel, so I went looking if somebody translated it into english, and found a fan translation online (shoutout to fan translators). Sadly I could never really get into reading novels digitally, so I never went through with the journey, but it always felt like something I might want to pick up again one day.
So like a year ago I was looking for things to read and came across an officially translated e-book for Kokoro Connect volume 1, and decided to give it a shot. However, its digital nature still made me not actually start reading it until recently, after I finished the (physical) light novel for 86-EIGHTYSIX, and found myself in the train with only my digital collection of books, and remembered I still had this e-book lying around.
I was very aware of the passage of time since I'd first watched this story, so I was a little hesitant to start it, afraid it might not hold up, or I might not like it as much, but luckily I still really enjoyed my time with Kokoro Connect: Hito Random. I'm glad to say I'm invested in the story of these ordinarily weird high schoolers once more, and can't wait to continue reading it. Hopefully this time I will actually see it through beyond the parts I've already experienced in the anime, and to its eventual conclusion.
Also maybe somebody will actually release a physical version for the English translation in the meantime. Pretty please?
Back then after I had finished the anime, I liked it so much that I immediately went looking if there was a manga that continued the story. That's when I found out that rather than a manga it was based on a series of light novels instead. I'd never read a light novel, so I went looking if somebody translated it into english, and found a fan translation online (shoutout to fan translators). Sadly I could never really get into reading novels digitally, so I never went through with the journey, but it always felt like something I might want to pick up again one day.
So like a year ago I was looking for things to read and came across an officially translated e-book for Kokoro Connect volume 1, and decided to give it a shot. However, its digital nature still made me not actually start reading it until recently, after I finished the (physical) light novel for 86-EIGHTYSIX, and found myself in the train with only my digital collection of books, and remembered I still had this e-book lying around.
I was very aware of the passage of time since I'd first watched this story, so I was a little hesitant to start it, afraid it might not hold up, or I might not like it as much, but luckily I still really enjoyed my time with Kokoro Connect: Hito Random. I'm glad to say I'm invested in the story of these ordinarily weird high schoolers once more, and can't wait to continue reading it. Hopefully this time I will actually see it through beyond the parts I've already experienced in the anime, and to its eventual conclusion.
Also maybe somebody will actually release a physical version for the English translation in the meantime. Pretty please?
July 17, 2021
Assisti ao anime e como estava incompleto, decidi começar as novels para conhecer a continuação da história e para entender os pontos em aberto, mas fiquei decepcionada. Gosto do plot, porém a escrita é muito mal feita e o excesso de sexualização das personagens femininas me incomoda - algo """"normal"""" para o que estamos acostumados em mídias dese tipo, até porque a maior parte dos animes ainda sexualiza as mulheres, mas não é um ponto que posso deixar de comentar sobre. O anime também enxugou alguns diálogos e os tornou um pouco mais interessante. Como eu disse, a história em si tem uma premissa muito boa e foi bem desenvolvida como audiovisual, porém a leitura e chata e demorada, os personagens parecem rasos e os diálogos são estranhos. Recomendo muito mais a adaptação para o anime do que a novel.
October 7, 2025
Really great. The story and the characters deserve a 5/5 but the pacing is what knocks it down. If this were a 500 page book or spread out over 2 books or maybe even 3 then it would have been perfect. You get to know the characters and their problems and have them dealt with quickly so you get a better attachment to them but its done TOO quickly. I have a feeling later books will be more enjoyable
August 6, 2019
An journey of self discovery for the members of the CRC.
January 13, 2020
Very nice story
December 15, 2021
Is really funny
March 4, 2024
fun low stake high school melodrama but Inaba is there so as long as you ignore everyone else it's enjoyable
April 23, 2020
How close are you to your friends? Well, the three girls and two guys of the Cultural Research Club are about to get really close…as in “we’re in each other’s heads” close. Or rather, in each other’s bodies.
Kokoro Connect is a rather unique take on the body-swapping genre. Instead of two people switching, the five members of the club jump between the other four for as little as a minute all the way up to a few hours. So they’re lucky to not only not have the threat of these swaps being permanent but also discover the culprit: a mysterious being known as Heartseed.
The protagonist of the story is Taichi, an overly nice guy and wrestling fanatic. The rest of the club members include the energetic president Nagase; the strict, scary, and smart Inaba; buttmonkey Aoki; and tough-as-nails but lover of cute things Kiriyama. They’re an eclectic group of friends who, just like everyone, has things they don’t want exposed, making them perfect targets for Heartseed.
Of course, there’s the usual body-swapping antics and risque content. Although as for the latter, there’s a decent amount of gender-bending aspects and risque content. But since these swaps are rather short, the characters don’t have a lot of time to get caught in compromising situations. In fact, a lot of swaps happen off-screen, so this isn’t a gut-busting comedy or even full of bad cover-up stories. Much of the novel is just Inaba’s aggressiveness and/or pragmatism behavior going off on whatever target is making her mad, from Taichi to Heartseed.
Which leads into the main problem of the novel: it’s too short. It feels too fast-moving once the switches are established. I imagine the author stuck with Taichi’s point-of-view as to not reveal everyone’s secrets beforehand, but that comes with two downsides. First, this means everyone must expose their hearts to him rather than showing their private struggles during the swap. Second, it feels like it just moves on from solving (or at least exposing) one person’s problem before moving on to another. Plus, the five friends (particularly Inaba) talk a lot of smack, so when you take out jokes about Taichi’s wrestling obsession or Aoki’s flirtatiousness, Kokoro Connect feels even shorter.
I did like how the characters, overall, have good self-inflection. Even though they know they have some emotional baggage or personal issues, it’s often easier to just ignore them or work around them rather than deal with them. And it’s easy to see someone every day and yet not see them, a fact that ends up smacking characters right in the face. And as Taichi and the others face a horrible decision at the end of the story, we see both aspects come to a head. It’s a nice change from how many stories paint teenagers as having no idea as to who they are while still showing they have plenty of room to change and grow.
Kokoro Connect is an intriguing supernatural mystery, but I kept waiting for some wow moments to last longer than a page or two. The pieces were all there, but I just wasn’t blown away.
- Krystallina
Kokoro Connect is a rather unique take on the body-swapping genre. Instead of two people switching, the five members of the club jump between the other four for as little as a minute all the way up to a few hours. So they’re lucky to not only not have the threat of these swaps being permanent but also discover the culprit: a mysterious being known as Heartseed.
The protagonist of the story is Taichi, an overly nice guy and wrestling fanatic. The rest of the club members include the energetic president Nagase; the strict, scary, and smart Inaba; buttmonkey Aoki; and tough-as-nails but lover of cute things Kiriyama. They’re an eclectic group of friends who, just like everyone, has things they don’t want exposed, making them perfect targets for Heartseed.
Of course, there’s the usual body-swapping antics and risque content. Although as for the latter, there’s a decent amount of gender-bending aspects and risque content. But since these swaps are rather short, the characters don’t have a lot of time to get caught in compromising situations. In fact, a lot of swaps happen off-screen, so this isn’t a gut-busting comedy or even full of bad cover-up stories. Much of the novel is just Inaba’s aggressiveness and/or pragmatism behavior going off on whatever target is making her mad, from Taichi to Heartseed.
Which leads into the main problem of the novel: it’s too short. It feels too fast-moving once the switches are established. I imagine the author stuck with Taichi’s point-of-view as to not reveal everyone’s secrets beforehand, but that comes with two downsides. First, this means everyone must expose their hearts to him rather than showing their private struggles during the swap. Second, it feels like it just moves on from solving (or at least exposing) one person’s problem before moving on to another. Plus, the five friends (particularly Inaba) talk a lot of smack, so when you take out jokes about Taichi’s wrestling obsession or Aoki’s flirtatiousness, Kokoro Connect feels even shorter.
I did like how the characters, overall, have good self-inflection. Even though they know they have some emotional baggage or personal issues, it’s often easier to just ignore them or work around them rather than deal with them. And it’s easy to see someone every day and yet not see them, a fact that ends up smacking characters right in the face. And as Taichi and the others face a horrible decision at the end of the story, we see both aspects come to a head. It’s a nice change from how many stories paint teenagers as having no idea as to who they are while still showing they have plenty of room to change and grow.
Kokoro Connect is an intriguing supernatural mystery, but I kept waiting for some wow moments to last longer than a page or two. The pieces were all there, but I just wasn’t blown away.
- Krystallina
March 14, 2015
In a nutshell, Kokoro Connect is an inferior version of Utsuro no Hako to Zero no Maria. Similar premise, and still quite good, but in the end where I would give most of Eiji's novels 5/5 stars, I'll just give these 3. The translation not yet having been thoroughly edited didn't help, though this is a problem with most translated novels I've read especially on the internet. (I tried out help out a bit and do respect those continuing to do so, it's a big job.)
February 17, 2013
Cerita tentang tukar badan antara 2 org bkn hal baru, tapi kalo 5 org sekaligus, kek mana jadinya? Ide cerita sih oke, tapi jalan ceritanya agak-agak datar dan membosankan.
November 24, 2016
Its nice and Taichi is cute.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 8, 2021
I love the ideas in the story, but the writing is really weak. Or perhaps that's just the translation. Either way, it averages out to a middling score.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews