Holy- okay dang give me a minute, I’m gonna break it up by series.
Jyougaku: Okay, I’m just gonna count the roommates there because otherwise this is gonna get way too long way too fast.
Robert - Ah sweet child of mine~. Since getting their own series, Robert’s grown a lot as a person, I think, and the people they’ve met there have influenced him (in a positive way, I think). He’s always been a little arrogant (but come on, the person’s a genius, what do you want?), but they’ve got that insecure side that we see a lot, too, and I think it’s an important balance to have in a main character- it makes them more relatable, more real. And what’s really important about Boss is that they try not to let communication be something that gets messed up between them and other characters- they’ve gotten real good about asking permission for things, being careful about what to say, and making sure no one’s feelings are hurt and no one’s feeling bad. They have times where they mess up, but everyone does, and Robert plays an important role as a social leader with all of their friends. They constantly watch and communicate with others- they’re the thread that connects everyone and holds them together, in my opinion. They’re important, and they do what they do well, but imo they don’t always get enough emotional feedback from the rest of the cast- even Katie’s lacking a lot of the time (actually I want to say especially Katie, but that’s another meta for another time). I want Robert to get some R&R, to be able to step back from over-seeing all that they do and get cared for instead of being the one caring for everyone else, for once. Since they’ve been apart from Murga and Mugen, they’ve not had that close-at-hand connection (other than from Lee, he’s important), so I’m hoping that they’ll get some more them-time where the emotional focus shifts to them again (like that one scene during one of the episodes where Murga and Nate guest-starred and they all talked for a long while. That was good).
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Katie - I’m gonna go ahead and count her here. Katie’s one of those dynamic characters that certain people like, and other’s don’t. She’s got the cool part of her personality that we got to see grow from her self confidence all those seasons ago, and she’s really made an overall improvement as a person, I think. I still believe she’s got a long way to go as far as getting out her emotions correctly and responding to other’s needs correctly, but she’s getting there, I guess. Again, I could write a long meta about how I think Katie’s kind of emotionally detached most of the time, but she’s improving, so I’ll not go into it much here. Katie’s also got kind of that care-taker thing happening, but in much smaller doses than Robert. She mostly helps with Robert and Kacee’s thoughts and feelings, and she’s done a decent job of that. One thing I like about Katie’s character is her self-confidence, and mostly high self esteem. We’ve seen her have a generally positive outlook on a lot of things (even when the show throws some really sucky stuff at her), and she feels good about herself and compliments herself a lot of the time we see her. It’s important to have a character who doesn’t fit the societal norms and still loves themself, and I think we find that in Katie. She’s also good at lending some comic relief to tense situations, so there’s another point for her.
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Brett - Brett is excellent, just flat out. He’s got drive, he’s got a plan, he’s got that out-there sense of humor that he’s spread to other members of the cast; he’s great. It’s always awesome to have Brett walk into an episode because you know either something important is going down, or something really funny is about to be said. He’s been a really important character to Jyougaku as a whole, and tbh I think he’s one of my favorite cast members. He’s got that experience that he uses to effectively get stuff done, and I think that’s been good for the Jyougaku cast and will be good for Katie when she gets there. (Plus Jonathan’s cool, too, and I’ve liked seeing how their relationship has progressed through the seasons)
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Sarah - Okay Sarah is literally my queen. She’s got all this cultural knowledge that’s so varied- from anime to movies to philosophers, she’s got her fingers in a lot of different cakes and that’s awesome. Sometimes in shows you get that character that is just graceful and has presence and really adds to the cast, if you take that archetype and rough it up around the edges and dye it a few times, you’ve got Sarah. She’s this extra little bit of absolutely-excellent, a perfect cherry on top that lends herself to the apartment dynamic with ease and charisma. I still have my fingers crossed for a Sarah-centric episode (or another arc, oh be still my heart), but I love the day-to-day glimpses of her we get, and hope she’ll get featured a lot in the up coming seasons.
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Korogaku:
Murga - If Sarah’s my queen, Murga is some other member of high royalty because they’ve been one of the (if not the singular) most important and complex characters that Korokou has ever had. They helped Robert to understand their sexuality and gradually change their political beliefs, among a million other things. They’ve helped Katie to understand some queer concepts that she otherwise wouldn’t understand (and has also given her important life learning experiences; laughing about the karyn arc). They’ve gone through so much over the course of the series, dealing with internal and external pressures and difficulties, but they’ve stayed strong and survived through all of that, and it just amazes me how one person can be put through so much and still keep fighting to see another day like that. They’re a hero, in my eyes. I’ve said before that Murga’s one of my role models, and I’m gonna say it again because Murga’s taught me that no matter what life throws at me, I can make it through. I can stand up for myself because my feelings matter- because I matter. I don’t have to settle for things that don’t fit me- I can decide who I am, and I can change my labels or my name or my religion or my opinions if I want to, and I have that right, and that’s okay. Murga’s taught me so much and wow I didn’t mean to start crying about this I just have a lot of Murga feelings. Basically Murga’s awesome in so many ways and we’re blessed to have them as a character tbh.
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Kacee - Here we’ve got a character that’s similar to Murga in some of her concerns/ways of being, but who’s overall personality and approach are very different. For the most part, Kacee is a soft-spoken person, but she’s got a very animated aspect of her personality, and that’s where she finds her strength, I think. Kacee’s been through a lot, and I think that when she stops for too long, some of that comes back to get her, which is why I’ve been happy to see that she’s doing things over the summer like working and community service. An important part of who Kacee is, is how she connects with people. Katie and Rachel are the two big influences on her, and as her relationship with Rachel strained and might continue to strain- (TPTB forbid), she’s started to need to find ways of being on her own (excluding the sophomore Rachel and Meg). Now, it’s my personal hope for Kacee that she gets some good character growth and develops less dependent relationships and starts to come into her own a little more. In my opinion she’s the character that seems to be the most successful (in terms of working + schooling + other things), but there are still things that hold her back, and I hope that the things she’s done and will do can help her continue to rise up past her struggles so that she can pick them in the pants and take her throne like the strong independent person she is.
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Rachel - Rachel has always been someone who was funny, and needed humor and fun in her life. She still does, and I think it’s part of the reason she’s flocked to a new circle of friends- which is her right to, I’m not saying Rachel can’t have other friends besides Kacee, but a lot of the strain that we saw from the kachel relationship was because of miscommunication (/lack of any communication) and there was good bit of that on Rachel’s end. I’m really glad they talked it out, and I hope they continue to talk it out because communication is going to be key with them in the upcoming seasons I think. Rachel’s done some important character growth and change recently, too, and I think what she’s learned and gained from everything will help her grow more as the seasons continue. Basically I’ve got hope that the kachel relationship we saw in the earlier seasons might come back.
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Mugen - Mugen~. She’s been Robert’s diary, and Katie’s crush (among others, lbr), and just a generally cool person that we can look up to. She’s humble, too, which is kind of the kicker. Mugen’s a really interesting character in that she has this cool-as a cucumber look and sometimes that attitude, too, but then other times we have this quiet, soft-spoken person that isn’t going to compliment themself or anything like it. She’s been a role model for cast members, and has changed quite a bit since we first saw her (let’s talk about Gaben, shall we?), but she’s still just as cool as when we met her. (I have a lot of hopes for Mugen, but a bunch of them are headcanon and shipping preferences so /shrugs.)
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Korokou:
Sara + Catrina - Sara is comedy gold turned into a person, I s2g. She’s boisterous and friendly and funny and wonderful seemingly without trying, and I’m really glad that she and Catrina were the main stars of Korokou for its final season. I really think they did it justice, you know? I wasn’t often able to catch every episode, but what I did catch made me really happy to see (can we talk about the Halloween episode omg). Catrina’s wonderful in her way, too, funny in a different way from Sara, with a little more femininity and just a little more maturity. She’s a great character, and I really need to go back and watch this last season again before the finale so that I can look back on her and Sara and see how they reacted to the same things (and different things than) our other stars did. I’m happy to see them moving on up, and they’re going to be great additions to Korogaku and Jyougaku.
Seeing as the last relatively large group of original Korokou cast members have moved on from their high school, that particular series ends its final season on June 1st, when the current seniors graduate.
However, the spin-offs Korogaku and Jyougaku will continue to air, and have been renewed for their next seasons, with the Jyougaku regular cast expanded to include Katie, who is leaving the Korogaku cast entirely. Murga, Mugen, Kacee, Rachel, and Catrina will be the stars of Korogaku, and that series will flip between the Berry Campus in Rome, the GSU campus in Atlanta, and the CSU campus in Columbus in order to give us a glimpse of all of them.
Jyougaku will continue to have its focus on the UGA campus in Athens, with most of the cast being enrolled there while Katie takes time off to get a job. Next season promises to be an interesting one, as this is the first time that a Korokou cast member (from any of the series) has taken time off from schooling that wasn't during one of the summer movies.
The next seasons of Korogaku and Jyougaku are sure to be exciting, with new jobs and clubs to be joined and new experiences to be had all around- How will our casts deal with the changes in their lives? Find out this fall on Korogaku and Jyougaku!
