A promoted article from Lifesong!

[What is this? Even promoted blogs are getting the spread treatment? Goodness! Lifesong is back to tell us about an anime you may have been missing, so why not read up a little bit and see if it tickles your fancy! With February now upon us, we'll have another topic going up in the next few hours. Look out for it, and who knows, maybe this will be you in a week or two! - Chris]

Every so often an anime comes along that completely defies expectations. I watch a little bit of everything for this reason. I am always on the lookout for that one show that will slip past if I stop searching. I spend countless hours each new season, testing each show that might be interesting. The longer I do it the more I find that some stuff is just pointless. Perhaps this is an obvious statement but there are some things that I am not going to care about simply because I would never care about the original. 4-Koma adaptations are particularly adept at this.

Never say never. This season the number one show I've come to anticipate each week is Kotoura-san, an anime made by the not so prestigious AIC Classic. Kotoura-san is an adaptation of a 4-koma that I nearly didn't watch. The story follows a young mind-reader who has given up on having normal human interactions. It starts with her childhood and gives a very convincing testimony to how difficult such a power would be for a child and the people around her. She has been ostracized and bullied for as long as she can remember, but when she transfers to a new school she meets a boy who is unashamedly honest with himself. This boy befriends her and promises to stay by her side.

Should you read this and think that Kotoura-san sounds awful.. well I can't really blame you for that. I read the premise and thought the same thing. Romantic comedy 4-koma? Pffft not worth the time of a single episode. Those were my exact thoughts. What the premise doesn't convey is just how touching this story actually is. Soul crushing drama is not something I would have ever expected from 4-koma. While it is true that Kotoura-san is funny to say that it is a comedy is only half of the truth. Kotoura-san manages to pull at the emotions in a way that every drama hopes to achieve. It does it in a way that feels both human and distinctly original. Sure there are plenty of action oriented shows with mind-readers. Playing cops and robbers with mind-readers is common place. Even in comedy you can find them easily enough. How often have we taken a serious look at just how difficult it would be to be born capable of reading the thoughts of everyone around you as if they were words? It's a refreshingly different take for this to be taken seriously without giving the girl a super villain to prove her worth against.