A 13-episode anime adaptation directed by Shinya Kawatsura, written by Fumihiko Shimo, and produced by Silver Link aired in Japan between July and September 2012.
The Kokoro Connect franchise was localized in North America by several companies: Seven Seas Entertainment licensed the manga, Sentai Filmworks the anime, and J-Novel Club the light novel series.
Kokoro Connect began as a light novel series written by Sadanatsu Anda, with illustrations by Yukiko Horiguchi under the pen name Shiromizakana.
The anime's screenplay is written by Fumihiko Shimo, the character designs are by Toshifumi Akai, and the sound director is Toshiki Kameyama.
Sentai Filmworks licensed the series in North America and released the first 13 episodes on BD/DVD on October 22, 2013,[40] and the remaining four on December 10 of that same year.
[44] At an advance screening of the anime series on June 24, 2012, voice actor Mitsuhiro Ichiki had supposedly auditioned for a character role and was invited to the event to allegedly be announced as a surprise cast member.
[45][46] The staff of the show posted an official statement on September 2, 2012 apologizing for "insufficient consideration regarding performers" leading to "widespread discomfort and misunderstanding," promising to seriously reflect on the incident in the future.
[48] Ichiki also posted a statement the same day, mentioning how he felt no ill will towards the staff as a result of the incident and denies any bullying or harassment taking place.
[53] Despite finding criticism in the "erratic artistic merits" of the show's overall aesthetic and the resolution of issues being handled "too easily and simply", he gave praise to the main cast for their deep characterizations, the first two arcs having "a good balance of light humor and varying degrees of drama" (singling out the second arc as the strongest), and the voice actors for conveying their characters during the first arc's body switching moments, concluding that: "Kokoro Connect is not an outstanding series so far, but it exploits its defining gimmicks effectively enough to avoid being labeled as a heavily-derivative, run-of-the-mill one.
"[54] Carlos Ross, writing for THEM Anime Reviews, reviewed the TV series and its continuation Michi Random: He was critical of Heartseed as the catalyst for the supernatural events feeling "contrived, artificial or outright cringeworthy" but was positive towards the "impressive character work" of the ensemble cast and their interactions with each other being "realistically fluid and constantly evolving" like real-life relationships.
[55] Ross wrote that despite a "superfluous" subplot, the underutilization of Yui and Yoshifumi, and some "blatant plot holes" towards the conclusion, he praised Michi Random for putting the focus on Iori and showing the main cast being "strong-willed and determined" in their latest predicament, calling it "a fitting endcap to a light, but likable school drama, and brings this saga to a satisfying close while hinting at more to come.
[57] She wrote that it felt "decidedly underwhelming" with CUTEG's "cute and attractive" illustrations failing to portray the "emotional pull" and body swap moments of the previous works, concluding that: "I really enjoyed the anime and was excited to read this, but it fell far short of the mark with confusing body switches and art that's more cute than useful.