After presumably failing 19 job interviews in one day, Juri Yukawa's dreams of moving out of her parents' home are utterly dashed. Stuck living with her working mother Nobuko, NEET brother Tsubasa, laid-off father Takafumi, and single-parent sister Sanae, the only hope for this family to raise a decent adult is her little nephew Makoto. However, this struggling family's life takes a turn for the worse when Makoto and Tsubasa are violently kidnapped by a mysterious organization and held for ransom. With only 30 minutes to deliver five million yen to the criminals, Juri's grandfather reveals a dangerously powerful secret to her and Takafumi.
By offering blood to her grandfather's mystical stone, the three enter the world of "Stasis," a version of their world where time stops for everyone but the users. Having arrived at their destination, their rescue efforts go awry when they are assailed by a surprising group of people who are somehow able to move around within Stasis. While all hope seems lost, a monstrous giant known as the Herald appears amidst the chaos, its intent and motivations as cryptic as the very nature of this timeless world.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
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Comentários
RebelPanda
Kokkoku is an ambitious failure. It failed to understand the limits of its budget, taking on far more than it could handle. Its story is illogical, the art is ugly as sin, the characters are frustrating, and its glacial pacing makes it one of the most boring thrillers I've ever seen. The many interesting themes it juggled are freezing time, a dysfunctional family, and psychic powers, but Kokkoku wastes them on mediocre execution. The dysfunctional Yukawa family are our main characters. It would be an understatement to say they don’t get along. They hit, yell at, and curse at each other. The main character andolder sister in the family Juri is the most put-together of them all. In the first episode, we’re introduced to Juri's NEET older brother Tsubasa, slob father Takafumi, her nephew Makoto, and wise grandfather. She’s usually the one who has to take care of things like picking Makoto up from school, making dinner, and taking care of the family while her sister goes to work. It's understandable why Juri's searching for jobs to move out, but sadly she has yet to be accepted after many interviews. Her living situation is well detailed early on and gave me enough to want to see her family grow and change, hopefully becoming tolerable enough for her to happily live with them.
What better of a catalyst to kick off all of their character arcs than a kidnapping? An unbelievable tragedy that happens to two of the family members, but I was intrigued by how Kokkoku would answer why this would happen to such a mundane family. Little did I know, there wouldn’t be any logical answers for the many questions that are continuously piled on top of one another all the way into the final episode. After the two are kidnapped, the family receives an impossible ransom request and is unable to ask the police for help. Knowing they would have to take matters into their own hands, Juri’s grandfather reveals his magical time-freezing rock, hoping that they can use it to save their family members. The rock gets only one partial explanation at the end that handwaves away any need for logic and chalks it up to ’it just works that way’. This is only the first of many gripes I have with the woefully underdeveloped sci-fi setting and spotty world logic that plagues Kokkoku at every turn.
Juri, her father, and grandfather enter the frozen time world of Stasis. Once entering, the three of them find it won’t be as easy as they thought to retrieve their stolen family. They would go on to fight against the evil criminal group responsible for the kidnapping who also somehow accessed stasis and entered it at the very same moment as the Yukawa’s… Um… What? How? These plot issues crop up everywhere while watching Kokkoku, and the show doesn’t even acknowledge them. Repeatedly it bends our suspension of disbelief, with no care if it breaks or not. The ridiculous setup at least quickly introduces us to the leader of the group and cruel antagonist Sagawa. Coincidentally, the criminal group is looking for the magical time-freezing rock so they can use it to commit crimes and what-not.
Stasis is a very intriguing idea that thankfully does get some moral exploration, but from a logical perspective, Kokkoku rarely makes an effort to be more than nonsensical. When a story wants to be mature and realistic it cannot have such glaring plot issues. It's so difficult to be immersed in this anime when the story is so unbelievable, no matter how maturely it presents itself. Despite this, the show offers up some intriguing moral implications. The grandfather states how this world can lead to people losing all sense of morality while they know there isn’t any consequence. It’s a thought-provoking moral quandary to put forward right away; what would you do if you had this power? Adding to the moral intrigue are the giant tree-like monsters known as Heralds. These frightening creatures enforce the rules of Stasis by brutally killing anyone who dares to break them, namely no killing allowed. Sadly we don't get much more in terms of moral intrigue until the end, instead, the show tries to distract us with a shallow but occasionally entertaining mystery.
Plagued with horribly inconsistent pacing, the mystery story becomes nearly impossible to get engaged with. Most of the show takes place in an alternate reality. The Yukawa family plans what to do next rather than doing the thing. It's like the show stretched its content to be 12 episodes. Most of the time is wasted on backstories and boring conversations that are barely relevant to the story. All of this presented as crucial information. After watching it all, I can confirm it's all filler. Almost nothing that happens in Kokkoku actually matters in the end. It is just a collection of speed bumps trying its best to distract you from how poorly written the story and characters are.
As a mystery, it'll keep you guessing. Sadly the story isn’t good enough to justify the many cliffhangers. Let alone provide us with more than one satisfying payoff. The final shot of episode 12 is satisfying because it ended. Instead of giving us even one answer for one mystery, it simply ends. That’s it. Kokkoku spits in its audience’s face and says "You got what you came for, now leave." Maybe if the characters were better I could have gone a little bit easier on the terrible story. The idea of a dysfunctional family being forced to put aside their differences in the face of grave danger is cool, it was easy to connect with their arguments. But my problem is that there is nothing to them beyond those frustrating fights and annoying personalities.
Juri is strong-willed, but there’s really nothing else to her. She's a likeable character for these traits but lacked the characterization beyond surface-level information. The rest of them are just annoying. Makoto nags about wanting things because ‘he’s a kid and doesn’t know what’s going on’ only existing as a plot device to be kidnapped and add stakes (which works but is a cheap trick). Takafumi stays a stupid slob for the entire show, never changing, only adding frustration. At least Tsubasa's character had major growth thanks to the low point in life he started on, sadly we don’t see much of him in the show diminishing the impact of his arc. And the grandfather’s only purpose is to be the wise old guy, which is a lame excuse to get some random family involved in Stasis.
We occasionally see the characters tested by the events that occur throughout the show, but that often felt like the writer shifting them around to keep the plot moving when considering how little (if at all) they change. They start as a dysfunctional family and for all, we know they still are one after the show ends. There is one definitive change made to some of the Yukawa family members throughout the show, some of them get psychic powers while in Stasis. As if pulled out of thin air, for unexplained reasons certain characters have abilities like teleportation and sending people out of Stasis. These powers seem like little more than plot contrivances added so the Yukawa's can get out of dangerous run-ins with the crime group.
The menacing villain at first made up for the family's overall annoyances; that is until he got a development episode which just boils his mysterious presence down to a pretty pointless and irrelevant explanation. I really couldn't figure out what the point was to him getting an extensive backstory when all it did was take was to extinguish his intimidation and replace it with an interesting but ultimately irrelevant story. His story is meant to explain why he’s so evil and wants to kill people, but it feels like they forgot that important part of his character because it is in no way referred to in his story. You’re really going to tell me he just started killing because his childhood was a little different than everyone else’s? Why not Kokkoku, it’s not like I believed anything you were selling me this far into your shitshow of a story anyways. The issues don’t end here with the characters, both art and sound have their own problems too.
The newly founded Geno Studio gets off to a rough start with Kokkoku; which is worrying considering they’re at the helm of the much anticipated Golden Kamuy adaptation. Environments are made of dull colors and lack much personality. They were likely aiming to create a believable world, and they did, but the issue is how unappealing it is to look at. Perhaps if there were details added to the environment (ie: visual symbolism) it wouldn't feel tiresome to look at the thing. Characters look decent but in the later episodes, they frequently look off-model. At its worst we see them warped with just plain ugly looking faces. These flaws are so surprising in a show that does not require much animation, it takes place in a frozen world and most of the screen time is dedicated to conversations explaining what’s going on and planning what to do next. It’s hard to take a character seriously when their face looks like a potato. Most of the voice acting is suitably grating on the ears to fit the annoying characters. Juri is well voiced thankfully, a decent reprieve from the others. The opening song Flashback is fun, frantic, and wild. The song is unlike any this season, one of the best. The op’s visuals of it are great too, even changing slightly with the show's progression. Any tension from the cliffhangers is totally drained by the fanservice filled ED, it's kind of funny.
Kokkoku has lots of ideas, but it has no clue what to do with them. You’d expect it to make something of all of its pieces, but then it just ends. A collection of intriguing but mediocre parts doesn’t culminate into a good whole. It’s as boring and mediocre as it could be. Just skip it and listen to the op instead.
dadnaya
Let the time... STOP. You are now stuck in a world where everything is frozen, except you. What now? That's basically what Kokkoku is about, Juri and her group is stuck in the "Statis" along with the bad guys of course. Review will contain minor spoilers, I guess. Kokkoku started out as an interesting anime, interesting premise. Why are they stuck in the Statis? What is that world? And what is that huge creature shown in the OP (or the ending of the first episode?) Many questions, some answered, some not, but meanwhile- The bad guys are taking place. Well, they want to research this statis, so they're bad.Oh and they kill people too because why not.
The "bad" people REALLY weren't fleshed out at all, they felt like some random background characters, which maybe was true to classify them as background.
Kokkoku went from a mystery thriller anime of trying to unveil the mysteries of the Statis to.... Let's all fight the bad guy boss!
Well that sounds familiar right? Many anime and stories in general have this, which is fine. But it was nothing like what the premise showed, the start didn't make me think it'll be just going full force forward into the enemy. Oh and just you wait until you see his foolish backstory. It's better you don't know it though.
On the other hand, what I think was nice to see is the strong female lead. Juri, and later on Majima were a nice change of pace. Strong, determined, you don't see that in anime every day.
But... While many remained in the background, those who didn't remain in the background were... lacking.
Takafumi (dad) was always annoying and brought nothing except problems. I can deal with that, as they somewhat tried to make it funny. Well.. It didn't work.
The NEET brother was more on the side, but he didn't contribute anything too.
Makoto, the kid, was always the "prince"/"princess" of this show (aka PROTECT THE PRESIDENT), but oh btw he's also pretty strong it seems, because why not.
Now to the more main characters, It was nice seeing Grandpa in action, reminds me of Inuyashiki. But what was... weird? Is that he knew of this Statis from his father and yet never questioned it. So he was pretty clueless, except some useful abilities (ex: Aegis to prevent being thrown out) and teleport. But that's all there is to him. He's just there to save Juri whenever she needs to get out.
Majima... Gets some spotlight, she wants to protect/save her family, and she's a bit familiar with the Statis, Well I guess that works.
Oh also I want to mention, the OP and ED are top tier.
So... Did I enjoy Kokkoku? Kinda, I can also say that it's better to binge. Would I go out of my way to recommend it to others? Probably not.
It was really good at the beginning, but... failed and fell. Trainwreck. One weird thing after another. And yes that includes the bad guy's back story.
At the beginning every episode went so fast as I enjoyed it, I thought it would be close to AOTS (well after SoraYori), but nah, too many "fillers" if I can call it that.
Disappointment, yet still a honorable mention for the good first half.
Wotakunai
Why should you watch Kokkoku? The story is Outstanding (10). Kokkoku is one of those stories that you didn't know until it was adapted to anime form and even if it was it is usually got overshadowed by mainstream or fan service anime. You can put this anime side by side with the likes of Kiseiju (Parasyte) and Elfen Lied mainly because of the story. The premise of another world or dimension existing alongside our reality is something really interesting especially for me to dive into. The moment you watch the first episode, you will immediately get sucked into the stasis until the last episode. Believeme when I say you will feel autophobic when you watch this, so if you want to enjoy this anime I would definitely advise you to binge-watch this alone in an isolated room.
Art is Very Good (8). I could give it a 9 but it would be already biased on my side if I did. The art has a grungy feel in a good way that really sets the so phobic mood of the story. The direction they chose for the art of the opening and ending theme is superb and it contrasts the vibe of the series with sharp vivid colors which I adore.
Sound is Outstanding (10). One of the greatest things about this anime aside from its story is the soundtrack. Kokkoku has one of the best opening themes that I have heard in my entire anime life (Flashback" by MIYAVI vs. KenKen). The mixture of electronic/disco music with the art I have mentioned a while ago is a perfect marriage of two great things. The Ending theme is also something not to be overlooked as it eases you through the ending of the episode with its melancholic tunes. Everything in between balances the overall presentation of the anime.
Characters are Great (9). Of course, you can't have a great story with dull characters. The main character Juri, and her family are well made and easily distinguishable from each other. I did not feel there are support characters in the story as everyone is given a chance to have their own moment. If there is one complaint that I had while watching Kokkoku, it is that the main antagonist of the story (Junji Sagawa) lacked in the villainy department which affected my viewing of the story. He could have been more fleshed out and his character seemed a bit rushed in the anime. *I need to read the manga if they failed to adapt his character correctly in the anime.
Overall, Kokkoku is an experience you should try. If you are not into the mature psychological or supernatural genre I would greatly recommend you to watch it as a mild introduction to the genre. And if you are a hardcore fan of this genre I am dead sure that you would enjoy it!
9.4 Jelly Fish out of 10.
#Kokkoku #WinterAnimeRetrospectiveReview #AnimeMoments
CrimsonWanderer
Back in time, when I was wandering around at the anime list of what were about to air in Winter Season, there were an specific anime I got attracted to: Kokkoku, the PV, the art and the synopsis looked great and quite different from what we normaly watch. But is it being different what makes an anime good? Not in this case. This review might be heavy on spoilers. From my life time, I always wanted to stop time and do whatever I want, be it kissing girls, trying to finish my homework, trying to have more time at certain stuff, things like that. And whenI saw that this anime had this "time stop" theme on it, I wanted to check out what was it about and the logic behind it. And when I watched it, I have thoughts of being an Inuyashiki again, meaning that it would disappoint and suck, yet there was something on it that was relieving on that sense, we were having some explanations about the logic behind it, and even if some things were quite convenient, it had something that make me think: "Well this makes sense". But in fact, things weren't that far to become retarded in no time.
The story goes around Juri, a Woman who one day got a call from kidnappers that kidnapped his brother and her nephew. Armed with a Knife (because reasons) she decides to go and set them free. Fortunately, Her grandfather stops her from doing a mistake. Here we are introduced to the "Stone" a Stone that is capable of stopping time. After some assurances, they decide to stop time. So, this is not your JoJo kind of Dio Stopping time, everything will stay still until they use the stone to go back after doing what they had to do. Unfortunately, when they reach the place were they have Juri's Brother and her Nephew, they found out that they aren't the only ones capable of moving while time is stopped, this is also where the "herald" appears, an omnipresent being that serves as an overseer of "Statis" (this is how the stopped world is called), this herald holds the power to instantly kill someone who is threatening the life of the "Stopped" (This is what the people that isn't moving is called) with a single blow of its hands. This is also the place were we see the grandpa using his teleport ability.
This pretty much sums up the introduction of Kokkoku, it was alright at this moment, but then, what went wrong?
On the first episodes, we are set on explaining how Statis works and how the abilities works. The abilities explanation is quite bullshit, as the grandpa just says that "it happens spontaneously", still the abilities aren't god tier. Grandpa's teleportation isn't accurate, and later on we are introduced to Juri's ability which is very practical for the situation she's in, her ability is to force someone out of statis as she touches the chest of whoever threatens her. I accepted the "logic" behind these abilities because they weren't good enough as an advantage against their enemies. We are introduced to another abilities later on in the anime, which I won't go into much detail to avoid spoilers (Potential spoilers for the end of the anime)
Then, we come to the heralds explanation. Oh boy, the Heralds were the thing that most sense had in this anime, the effort put into its explanation was noticeable. Apparently, when someone enters in Statis without concern and starts freaking out because they are weak of mind, the "jelly" of their body starts leaving it, transforming them into Heralds (In this anime, your "Jelly" is what maintains you in Statis). But then, the anime starts destroying its explanations attempting to do a more "complex" story and this is were Kokkoku throws everything they have done to shit. This anime suffered from a lot of twists on the main plot: it goes from saving your family from kidnappers, to fanatical people of the "stone" trying to claim what's theirs, to a "Villain" transforming into Hulk, to a "Villain" that wanted to stay in statis and "see the future" by himself, to a Evangelion kind of psycho shit. The amount of bullshit and plot conveniences thrown at your face starts increasing by a lot. And boy, it doesn't work.
It saddens me that they spent a lot of time trying to explain what Statis is and how Heralds works just to make it go full retard in no time. The main antagonist of this series tried to make himself a "conscious" herald with powers that exceeds humans. As I said before, this is supposed to make him live in statis to witness what the future holds, I mean, if he wanted to do that, why would he need to do a lot of killing in order to do that? As easy as he can go by himself and explain statis to Juri's family and see if he can borrow their stone for scientific purposes instead of threatening the lives of innocent people. But well, the anime decided to go for the most "complex" and ludicrous way in order to do that, which obviously backfired.
After the appearance of "The Hulk" this anime went downhill pretty fast as more and more bullshit were thrown at the screen because the plot demands it. This anime had the potential to be as good and interesting as Steins;Gate, but it went full retard like Inuyashiki. Hell, there's even an ability shown later in the anime that consists of CONTROLLING HERALDS as if they were pets LMFAO.
Probably, the only good thing about this anime is the Opening, which is very unique, there is nothing else left to speak on over the Art and Sound department.
Enjoyment 6/10: Even if things went retard, I must say that this anime can keep you entertained as long as you disconnect your brain from your logic data base.
Overall: 5/10
Pepino_curt0
I'm really struck by the unpopularity of this title and the relatively low ratings. That is why first I will describe all the advantages, and at the end I will move on to the disadvantages and try to suggest what someone might not like here. 1. Visual Very nice drawing. I never thought I'd be so happy to see characters' noses. Certain vibes of the nineties and early 2000s immediately appeared. In general, in general, the faces of all the characters are carefully drawn, emotions and all sorts of details are clearly visible. The environment is also well drawn. I won’t say much about the animation, it’snormal, sometimes you’re even surprised that the characters move (for example, when the scale is large and the characters are standing in the distance, or when the interlocutor doesn’t freeze and wait for the other to finish, reacting immediately to something). However, in several moments it was clearly visible that the animators had been lazy, and there was a feeling of static, as if you were looking at a painting. But this only happened a couple of times, and therefore was not too annoying.
2. I liked the music, but I didn’t find any favorite compositions for myself. Competent work with sound - in the last episode there is no music at all, and this incredibly immerses you in what is happening. This is exactly how the heroine saw everything around her. It is largely thanks to this that the last episode is so strong, I was naturally discouraged by what was happening on the screen, I could not take my eyes off, I could not think about anything else, I hardly even moved. It won't be a lie if I say this is one of the best final episodes, if not the best, I've ever seen.
3. Atmosphere.
I don’t know if this is a spoiler, but what I’m going to talk about happens already in the first episode, so I still think not. In addition, I will still describe the plot below, and without this information nothing will be clear. In general, when the characters fall into stasis, the viewer is actually transported there with them, and not just observing from the side. As I noted above, first of all it is dead silence. She is everywhere and with everyone. Further, at every convenient angle we are shown how people froze in a transitional state - just a moment before stasis they lost their balance or dropped something from their hands. Time stood still and they remained in this awkward position. (Here I will pick on the number of such people, as if the most clumsy people on the planet live in this city, but everyone understands that this is just an artistic exaggeration, and, moreover, it works as it should). In addition, you can interact with this frozen environment, which is what our heroes use, you can pretend to be frozen and carry out a vile attack from behind, when the enemy loses his vigilance, you can sit in the car and look like a passenger. The environment can be used as a tool, although there are caveats to this, which I'll cover at the end. A plus are incomprehensible creatures that prevent the disruption of the order of things in stasis. They look intimidating (although at the same time a little funny) and follow the main characters as invisible observers. The latter, in turn, should not forget about them and therefore they cannot feel like gods. This grounds them and makes them more realistic. And, of course, there are mysteries about the nature of this stasis, which are buried in the details and even in the characters themselves. In a word, the atmosphere is simply impressive.
4. Characters
Again, I said above that the atmosphere grounds the characters to make them seem more realistic. However, this does not work the same for everyone, it all depends on the character’s personality, his desires and dreams. I really liked the main villain, whom you can more than empathize with, who is not a danger from the very beginning, who gradually reveals his cards and increases his strength. He is also charismatic, cold and reasonable. Simply put, an ideal and perfect antagonist for a healthy person. Who is opposing him? No less pleasant is the character of Juri, who is dragged here against his will and forced to fight. Nothing is more important than family, as Dominic Toretto would say, and the main character completely agrees with him. She is ready to do anything to keep her family safe. She gets here without a clear goal in life, but in the end, after going through all the trials, she finds it, and what a goal! In her adventures, she is helped by relatives and other characters, sometimes the most unexpected. Each of them is strong in something and none of them can do it alone. With each new step there is more and more hope, but at the same time the path becomes more dangerous. ----This sounds very textbook, but it fits perfectly here and I don’t remember describing all this with such delight somewhere. Okay, let's continue. ----
In general, all the characters are well developed, interact well with each other, without losing logic and, most importantly, you want to empathize with all of them.
5. Plot
Firstly, the whole story unfolds precisely in one single stasis. At first it seems that this is somehow wrong and they are about to return, but with each episode this feeling goes away and the viewer begins to explore this small world together with the heroes without a second thought about the intimacy of what is happening. There are a lot of unpredictable moments in the plot, which makes it even more interesting to watch. There are no fillers anywhere, everything that is shown will be useful in the future and, one way or another, will play its role. The secrets are revealed gradually, at the perfect pace, when you are not yet bored by the amount of information and do not feel irritated by the fact that you do not know or understand anything. Well, the ending is unlikely to leave anyone indifferent, it’s the perfect ending to the story. The plot, the climax, the denouement: everything is carefully calibrated and will never let the viewer go until it shows everything it has to offer. There are no awkward moments, no illogical decisions. Everything makes sense and looks real.
Well, now we can talk about the shortcomings. You can find something bad everywhere and this series is no exception. The only thing is that there is so little bad here that I couldn't justify deducting a single point from my final grade.
I had a few questions regarding the physics of stasis objects - why they do not freeze immediately when contact with the characters is lost, but after a certain time. What determines this time period? I’m even ready to agree that this was done for beauty and effectiveness, but I would like at least someone to say at least some phrase about it (maybe I misheard? Then tell me, I’ll be very glad to read it)
Physics also includes food and water. How do they drink tea if it hardens immediately when it comes out of the bottle? It looks somewhat fantastic, as if they are drinking and eating in space. A minor quibble, but, nevertheless, I want to know this world and its laws, and this is precisely what is not said.
In Seko’s memories of 17 years ago, cars from the early 10s of the 21st century are driven (read - the seventh Golf and Honda nBox). Perhaps the action takes place conventionally in some year 2030, and then everything will fall into place, but from the surroundings it is clear that this is our time, that is, the release time of the anime is 2018 and then the temporal discrepancy is noticeable. But again, this is such a minor flaw that hardly anyone will notice it.
What could the beholder dislike? As for me, it is not entirely justified for some characters to have superpowers. But for me personally, this is not at all critical, otherwise they would not have had the opportunity to confront the villain.
Someone will probably note the presence of 3D animation. Yes, it is present here. But, firstly, there is very little of it, and secondly, it is made quite well and is not disturbing. Moreover, it expands the possibilities of showing stasis in all its glory. This is not a minus for me either.
Well, for some, fleeting stupid jokes or strange thoughts of the characters will be critical. But, most of them come from Takafumi and reveal him as a character with selfish goals, short-sighted, but also caring for his family. His thoughts and jokes are like his grandfather's wrinkles. Nobody scolds him for this.
That's all. I gave it a 10 without hesitation and added it to my favorites. And once again I was convinced that people with the same tastes as you yourself do not exist, and also that you should not blindly believe ratings and reviews. It's better to look and decide for yourself. I have no right to insist that you watch it, but I can give very strong advice you do. Cheers everyone and thank you for your attention.
LandingZone
This is my first time writing a review, so I hope this can be helpful for at least one person. To be completely fair, I am very aware that I probably have a dissident opinion regarding this anime. However, I think the other reviews paint this anime in particular in a bad light. I agree that the art is a bit clunky at times, the pacing is weird, to say the least, and the end is sort of tacked on. But all of that aside, I think that this is a great little anime to watch if you need something to tide you over between seasonsof your favorites anime.
At times, the connection between characters feels very thin, and it's a little hard to feel a connection to them, as the viewer. At other times, you may feel a deep connection to what the characters are trying to accomplish.
The story is fairly different, as compared to other anime that I've seen. Although I know for a fact that the premise of stopping time has been done before, I personally haven't seen it in an anime before. It is an interesting concept, however, and I'm glad this has explored it in the way that it has.
Overall, I enjoyed it, despite the flaws, and the janky art style. also, don't get your shorts in a knot about the ED, it's fun and enjoyable.
LaLeLuLiLo
Kokkoku is an anime that kind of leans heavily on the high concept side of storytelling. While the translation for the title is “Moment by Moment”, I believe that it’s better dubbed as “Moment” as everything takes place technically in one single moment. The reason why is because the concept of the show is “ what if we had an action/thriller story, but almost everything occurred when time froze”. Of course the show has its twist and turns, the inciting point, the characters, the development, and every other minutiae that i’ll hopefully get to later. Still it's high concept is one of itsmain selling points of the show, and means to draw in viewers. However its concept can only get it so far, and without well thought out characters and plot all that’s left is the concept and it’s wasted potential.
Family dynamic
Or maybe I should say the lack of? well, kind of. The main bulk of the cast of the show are the Yakawa family with Juri being the Heroine pf the story. Before the inciting point of the show happens the focus of the show is on Juri and the living situation that she and her family is in. While they are not living in the most dire of straits, they are not living the most comfortable life either. It’s during this time that you get a basic understanding of each person and their function in the family, and whether they are helping or hindering the family. This is all fine, however very little comes out of this. The most development to be had is just how each family member feels about each other, and they just roll with that, and not much really evolves for that. I’m fine if the family members don’t get along with each other, or that they have little redeemable qualities, but the problem is that they do nothing with it. Really the only characters that seemed to have some sort of dynamic going on for them is juri and her grandfather. It could easily be chalked up to the fact that they are the ones with the most screen time, but i don’t feel as that’s enough to discredit the fact that there was some sort of connection between them that really wasn’t there for the other family members.while their relationship may have been fine there’s still very little interesting character interactions between much of the cast which slowly unveils how lacking many of these characters are, with 2 specific characters being our prime example.
The Protagonist and Foil
The first one obviously being the Protagonist/Heroine of the show, Juri. As the proganist, she is the one that the viewer spends the most time with, and over time intimately learn many things about them that other characters don’t know and what we’ll never get from the other characters. Like most of her family she had the basics of her personality and backstory covered in the beginning. She is shown to be as sort of a headstrong women with a bit of sass, and it’s because of this she’s been having trouble getting employed. Add upon this her families living situational and it shows she’s not living the most happiest of life even feeling some contempt towards her family. However it’s also evident that she cares about her family since after the inciting point which was her brother and nephew being kidnap, she willing tries to go save them by herself with nothing more with a kitchen knife which does overlap with her headstrong personality. All of this shows that she really isn’t that badly written of the character. The problem is that after the plot starts, any sense of development goes out the window, with the only thing left is more backstory for her. She still does a lot of things, and shows different emotions throughout the story, but none of them really help define her personality or give us a new side of her to examine. It’s just her regular personality placed in a different context each time.
The other character worth examining is Shoko whoi believe is to be the Foil to the protagonist, at least what they were presented to be. Both Shoko and Junji have several things that compare and contrast one another that makes them a foil for the other character. They both a some history with each other, they both entered Stasis in order to “save” their family, and they both wear opposing colors with Shoko wearing black leather and junji wearing White jacket thing. There’s little to go on since almost all the characters just have the basics and nothing more. The only reason these to are worth standing out is with the whole save their family plot happens for both of them. They do conflict initially, but it’s not like they are against each other on a personal level, and after they do team up there’s really no dynamic between them. Even worse is after shoko completes her plan she just becomes irrelevant to the entire story, and is just there for the ride with her becoming more of another support character than anything else. So when looking at all the characters I don’t think there bad, just underwritten. Well except maybe one.
The Big Bad
The big bad of the story, junji, is really a character who’s appeal goes through a few ups and downs. Initially he was just a cultist leader whose only purpose in the show was to start and drive the plot. He came off as unassuming and kind of boring as he was just there for most of the show not doing much but giving commands to his henchmen. Of course he does change after a while figuratively and literally, and his intentions while given as exposition are more interesting than what would come from any other antagonist in his role. However that goes to a waste as he becomes another generic and uninteresting characters via his actions. They do try to reconcile it with some backstory for him but it just comes of needlessly and just makes him more boring,
World Building
The story for the show is rather uninteresting as stated previously that the antagonist was the main driver for the plot with the other characters just reacting to it. So out of everything that occured in the show one of the interesting parts of it was the stasis world. While not a world in it’s own right, it does still have it’s own set of rules that it goes by. The show never tries to go out of its way to explain how things work in stasis, as how it works is beyond the comprehension of the characters. Many things are better left unexplained like how they’re able to live in stasis, or what heralds or the jellyfishes really are. It gives the show a sense of mysticism and and need to explain it would ruin what it’s trying to present. They also do really interesting things in terms of animation when it comes to stasis, nothing really amazing but interesting enough that adds to the show.
Byakugan
Another thing worth noting in the story is a certain power that several characters have in the story. The reason i refer it as Byakugan is because the power is always associated with characters having full white eyes and the protagonists power in particular being very reminiscent of it. The powers take large leaps of suspension of disbelief as the show goes on. When it was first introduced it was tolerable much like the world they were in, it wasn’t really worth it do delve into what it was. However as the show when along and more people began also having powers did it feel like it was for the convenience of the plot and nothing much else.
Production value
Seeing as this is Geno studios first work who are basically the studio that rise after manglobe ended, the production value was okay. The character designs were fine, the background art was fine for contemporary japan, they did some interesting things with the stasis visually. Still the colour gradient for the show was boring and any sort of distant shots of the characters just looked terrible. The animation was passable, but nothing worth noting. The heralds actually looked good in CG as they have off this animousy otherworldly appearance, but only when there standing still or move quickly because they look laughable when they move for a long period of time. the soundtrack for the show was fine, nothing really stood out outside of maybe one or two tracks.
Despite how much of a mess it all came to be i still enjoyed parts of it. like the idea of the stasis world and i did become more interesting in the final episode, but it’s better left as a concept.some of the characters were fine and the family would be more interesting in another genre with another script. Overall i think the show is just fine where the pieces where underdeveloped, and are more interesting as pieces rather than as a whole.
PixEFit
Kokkoku has ended today and I'm sad to see it go. It was a wonderful concept with a wonderful execution. This anime is about a 20 something year old girl of a poor family named Juri. One day, her nephew and brother get kidnapped and ransomed an amount of money they cannot pay. Fortunately, the family holds an ancient relic in the form of a stone that lets them enter a world called, "Stasis". Stasis is a place where time has stopped in the exact same moment the Stasis spell was activated, only allowing people who has activated the spell to move around in thisstopped time. The Juri along with her Grandfather and Father to save her captured family members. But are there are others in the stasis as well...
This show, I felt, did very well in the execution of this quite unique concept. The family is interesting to watch, and they're logic on what to do next is sound. It almost feels like they're real people. What they do is somewhat realistic to what reasonable, rational people would do. The art is pretty, especially using the time where they stopped time effectively. The entire show takes place at sunset and the lighting reflects that beautifully in my opinion. The animation is alright, no dips, but lots of still images. Although, that's to be expected, they're in stopped time after all. Also, the show does this thing where when a character throws an object it just stops moving halfway through. It helps you remember this is a place of stopped time. The OP and ED are some of the best this season especially with the OP being a a mish mash conglomerate of colors, subtext, and symbolism precluding to the show. With all this great things to say about this show, the main, overbearing issue that I have with this show is the ending. The resolution came from an ex machina which I utterly hate. Although, this doesn't stop Kokkoku from being a great show. I give it a 9 out of 10, with a recommendation for everyone to watch. This has been your spoiler free but not really review on Kokkoku
synkonn
interesting story and not a bad cast of characters. the op and ed are dummy good and overall the concept of a world of stopped time hasn't really been explored much before sadly the story gets a bit weird in the final few episodes and a lot happens fast that doesn't really make much sense or doesn't get explained overall a 7/10, because although it was a pretty fun watch, the show had so much more potential and just didn't execute all of its ideas in the best way would recommend watching it if you like the concept, but i cant imagine ever rewatching it :)
Gundroog
Throw another one to the pile of “euh” anime. Kokkoku I think accurately gets across the feeling of getting a bus to go somewhere nice and then you miss your stop and get out in a place you don’t know and look pretty bad. What started out as an intriguing thriller that meshed the usual kidnapping scenario with supernatural elements turned out to be a weird supernatural drama that went all over the place instead of focusing what was good about it. I genuinely liked the beginning of it, first half of Kokkoku stood out to be as anime thriller done right. We kick offin a grounded setting with simple characters that should be easy enough to sympathize with or relate to for anyone with no shortage of empathy. Then something terrible happens and a family that was barely scraping by is put in a terrifying situation where their relatives are about to die unless they get a lot of money in unreasonably short amount of time. Spoiler: they have either and that prompts out main character Juri’s grumpy grandpa to whip out the ol’ time stop magic stone. When they use that to get to the meeting place they discover that they’re not the only ones walking around in the world of stasis. Unknown group set all this up to lure them out and get their hands on the magic stone. Juri and her grandpa get away but now the show is on as we know all the participants and the threat is established.
This constitutes for the huge chunk of my enjoyment of Kokkoku, it’s the usual story set in very unusual circumstances which forces things to change just enough to make me invested. As I said in Museum review, thrillers largely live on their execution and not the story and Kokkoku was largely amazing at it. Until bullshit starts happening and supernatural elements take over we’re watching two underdogs incapable of putting up a fight struggle against an overwhelming force in a stopped world rules of which they don’t yet know or understand.
Unfortunately this doesn’t last long and as the show starts to indulge in its own world and characters as the stronger aspects of the show slowly but surely peter out. This wouldn’t have been such a bad thing if Kokkoku could support either of these directions but it can’t.
Fleshing out the mystical world doesn’t actually add anything to this story. There’s a reason a lot of shows don’t explain the supernatural as it’s a mysterious force that nobody understands but can serve as a valuable catalyst for something actually interesting. Kokkoku doesn’t agree with that and dumps a bunch of information about the entities within the stasis, their roles and origin while simultaneously leaving out so much that what we got doesn’t pain a full enough picture to enjoy looking at it.
When it tries to focus on characters it doesn’t work either cause none of them are that complex, they don’t need to be. Once again, a thriller or a mystery show can survive of off the thrill and mystery. We don’t need a character study to enjoy something like Redline or Mononoke. Yet once again we take quite a few hikes off the main path to learn more about the past of people which won’t be playing that big of the role in the narrative.
I still think there’s a bit of enjoyment to find in seeing the ideas author had for this setting but these ideas aren’t worth much in the big picture because of how sloppily they’re tied to everything else.
The ending is also a huge asspull that comes out of nowhere but at least the emotional payoff at the end was pretty sweet.
Overall Kokkoku is just another show that can’t seem to understand its own identity as it keep going somewhere without knowing why and eventually stops to wave goodbye. Is it worth a watch? I don’t know, while it’s pretty easy to say that it doesn’t seem to success in doing anything it set out to do Kokkoku is still eccentric enough to stand out from other anime in an endearing way and as such I don’t regret my time with it a single bit.
P.S. - If you’re not going to watch it I at least implore you to check out OP and ED, s’good.
MoodMojo
In a sense, this has been such an amazing experience. I'm glad to find some improvement in psychologicals nowadays since they've been overwhelmed with the fanservice-themed anime these days. However, don't worry, even if you're not a fan of psychological anime you'll still enjoy this in most cases. Story The family enters Stasis in order to save a NEET and a little kid who were kidnapped on their way home. Stasis is like time travelling, but very detailed. Every thought about how it would be to leap through time? Well, I know I did and this anime incorporates it magnificently. What's even more amusing is the factthat they had such tight bounds to logic all-throughout the anime. They never used the common anime logic. No peculiar instances that only convenience the MC or anything alike. It's a fair fight with no villain or hero, just people with different interests that intervene with one another.
Furthermore, it didn't feel anime themed at all. What I mean by that is the whole thing when they have a 5 minute tea break with the viillain discussing their interests out of the fight, promising not to let anyone die and all those Shounen bull. Instead, it feels more natural as if a normal family was suddenly trapped in time and facing these peculiarities and that's absolutely amazing. The one thing I can complain about here is the ending. It felt too forced towards a happy ending, but that didn't affect the story as a whole.
Art
Didn't impress me that much, but didn't disappoint me either. The animation felt a little bit awkward or, how can I say this, laid-back. But in overall it didn't demote the experience of the anime as a whole. In fact, you might as well say that it fits the anime itself since it wasn't all that serious in either case.
Sound
Probably one of the best in the season. The OST is magnificent and fits with the atmosphere; never skipped the opening. The voice actors also did a fine job, sometimes they felt comic, sometimes oddly serious, but always felt natural.
Entertainment
The whole anime was amazing, but I really hated those cliffhangars every episode. At first, they were indeed interesting and added some thrill, but later on they started getting annoying. You don't have to worry about that if you're planning to binge it, though. The plot is non-linear so be ready for plenty of plot-twists which really makes it all the better. In other words, you'll enjoy this anime if you like laid-back action and some slice of life comedy.
YarrickOE
I had never heard of Kokkoku when I watched the first episode, but I was hooked afterwards. Now, here at the end, I definitely enjoyed myself, but I can see it probably isn't for everybody. Art 3/5 Well drawn, the action scenes do a good job of communicating the speed and impact of every action, and the cast are all distinctly designed without having to resort to goofy hats or anything. In fact, kudos to the animators for keeping the details of the time stop in mind when lots of small objects are flying or falling. However, it makes extensive use of CGI for several elements -personally, I think it blends well enough with the more traditional animation, but if you strongly dislike it in your anime, its going to annoy you frequently.
Sound 4/5
Much like the animation, the sound effects do a great job of putting oomph behind the action scenes. Most of the music, when there is any, doesn't stand out too strongly, but I think "Flashback" is the best OP of the season - its a great song and the visuals accompanying it are really slick. Like a friend of mine said: "You gotta respect someone who can turn 'punching a man's heart' into a beat drop."
Character 3/5
I think Juri makes for a good main character. She's got some playfulness to her, but she's mostly a serious woman who gets stuff done. Like the show's description says, her response to the yakuza kidnapping her nephew is to grab a knife and get ready to cut some fools. As things progress, she shows little hesitation in getting things done when push comes to shove, but its obvious the situation is wearing away at her and you wonder if she can hold on.
Her grandpa is cool, and is similarly willing to step up to the occasion in a crisis. The rest of the cast is kind of hit or miss; the brother and father wear on my nerves, and quite a few are just kind of there.
Story 4/5
The show starts off with a really interesting premise, that being the time stop spell. From episode 2 onwards, it expands on this premise is some interesting directions. Without spoiling anything, let's just say the spell has some rules and exceptions that play heavily into the advancement of the story, but don't feel broken or unnatural.
That said, I feel like I need to dock points for the ending. Not that its bad -just that they REALLY needed another episode or two to smooth it out. It feels very abrupt.
Enjoyment 4/5
Kokkoku moves slowly (not because of the time stop, hur hur hur) but I enjoyed the ride all the same. The first episode made me want to see where it was going, each episode ended at the perfect cliffhanger to keep me interested, and in the last third, s*** gets crazy and I wanted to see how it would one-up itself.
Overall 4/5
Kokkoku feels unique and is a fun experience - the action scenes have some good brutality to them and some of the imagery is hilarious in how bonkers it is. Unfortunately, its pacing is definitely not for everyone and its story has some major rough edges.
henkuku
Here we go again, another one of those which you either love or hate. No in-between. We've seen plenty of instances in the past in which anime series have utilized time-related concepts as their main plot device, and more often than not it may be confusing and over-complicate matters. Kokkoku, for me, is one of the better series to have handled the concept well. The story basically sees all our characters enter the strange and mysterious world of "Stasis", which is a version of the real world stopped at a single moment in time. As usual, conflicts between two factions occur and everything starts happening.If you're already having trouble figuring out what "Stasis" actually is, trust me, you don't have to worry, because it really is a simple concept to understand, and they explain it fairly well.
The story and its execution is really what makes this show for me. Every episode reveals new bits of information or action, and ends with frustrating cliffhangers which just makes you wonder more, want more. As a result, the entire flow of the series was really solid and in no way episodic. Amidst all the seriousness, they also managed to add in humor at appropriate times which wouldn't turn the viewer off. The ending may have been somewhat predictable towards the end but I thought it was well done and, most importantly, it gave the entire case a good, simple closure.
Compared to the story, however, everything else was just about decent. I felt the mature art style actually really fitted the show. Like, if there were beautiful or moe girls in this show I don't think it would be possible to take the plot seriously. In addition, the characters in the show were mostly grown adults, so naturally a more mature art style would be suitable for it. Music wise, I just want to point out that the ED and its animation is really good and you should check it out regardless. On to the characters, unfortunately we really got to know more about only three of them with regards to their backstories as such. However, I felt those three alone were enough to drive the story forward, and any extras would have thrown it off its track.
Overall, I really enjoyed this series. They made use of one single concept to propel the plot forward right till the finish line, and they executed it well. If you're planning on finding a show to binge at one go, Kokkoku would be a suitable candidate for sure.
Few years into the future, I may not be able to remember everything about this series. But what I would remember, was that this was truly a dark horse of the Winter 2018 season. I hope this review has done enough for you to give this a shot, and I hope you'll enjoy it as much as I did.
bergars
What a sad watch, not because of the story, but the amount of wasted potential. Yes, I decided to watch this one because of its stellar intro. A mesh of interesting visuals, amazing song, colors, and the idea that it'll be a bit experimental, weird, but ultimately great, or so I thought. It directly began by changing what I expected. A story about a moment, and only that moment. If you could stop time, what would you do? It's such a monumental power that the head of a family, with his good heart, hid it away, knowing there are those who can, and will, use itto mold their surroundings with malice. Of course, a moment in the story calls for a use. A ransom, simple enough, makes a lot of sense, but it doesn't stop there.
That's just the beginning, and it had me hooked, even if it wasn't what I expected. From now on, it would be a story about fighting the bad guys, there are strange powers given to those built with certain bloodline. Mechanics that change, people with more purpose than we thought, cosmic creatures that seem to protect the time stream itself, and then… the plot seemed to lose itself.
A shift in the narrative, a piece of it, started to feel too, random? As if everything needed to change entirely every episode. As if the plot needed more of something at any given moment, and you can feel it. Some of these elements stopped the pacing entirely, or rushed it exponentially, just so they can explain or go to the next scene without much of anything. The relationships are leading up to a deep friendship that simply doesn't make sense. Of course, I decided to investigate. One look at the original manga chapter count reveals everything. A little less than 70 chapters, for just 12 episodes. Ludicrous, impossible to adapt in such a short time. The fight scenes ended too fast, the logic on the character's actions to win said fight didn't make sense. It was a rushed, unfinished adaptation.
The animation started falling over onto itself. It had such an ambition for coordinated moments of emotion, action, powers, struggling and winning. Sadly, it didn't have the resources to bring it to life. The original's art is great, amazing even. However, not even by comparison, it's sub-par. Too simple, when the plot needed a polished presentation to truly sell the best moments. Spotty CG (Even as a CG defender), unstyled character designs that won't age well at all.
The blocking on the fight scenes was downright atrocious. We were shown the horrors the villain can unleash, the violence he can cause. His powers are unrelenting, overwhelming, and they should be able to kill anybody. Thank you, series, for reminding me of my most hated cliché. Our villain grabs someone with the intent to kill, only for them to start monologuing for the hell of it. That itself ruins all immersion, the enemy becomes this incompetent dumbass that (SPOILERS) dies with a comedic moment. At least in the original manga, the villain remained scary until their deaths, even if there's still a slight touch of dark comedy to it.
In the end, this is a terrible adaptation, of a competent manga. Rushed, overly ambitious, well-acted, with some pretty good final episodes. However, even in the manga, it's just better. This remains a sub-par story, that I wish used a fun premise, with its emotional beats intact. If the original art was kept, at least the designs would've been much more interesting.
4.6/10. Read the original; I recommend it way more than this unfinished, rushed mess, with great potential.
TheHentaiKing
*Disclaimer* Just personal scratch. Advised, possible spoilers. Opinion & Informal Art: 6/10 Mix of standard art/animation and CGI. Anatomy believable. No impact art or scenes really found here. Animation: 5/10 Movements somewhat believable. Then again, they used the special world to get away with pretty much anything that might not be believable. CGI movements was average and nothing special. Special effects were sparse and uninteresting. Not much fluidity or impact scenes at all. Plot: 5/10 So I was expecting something a bit more based on the premise of the synopsis. This show was a letdown. It delivered something pretty mediocre and average. It had a lot of potential to flesh outsome really complex themes and ideas. However, it was really bland in its execution. There is no better way to describe the plot other than one dimensional. The show had the opportunity to introduce and explore some deep themes and ideas but it instead took a very predictable, cliche and risk-free route. It basically squandered its potential to explore some complex themes. The plot development was particularly stupid too. It introduced some interesting world and it dips its toes in special rules but ultimately the show fails to do anything with those. It introduces the world really plainly and that's about it. It's basically a stopped world. The show doesn't explore the intricacies of how and why. It introduces some sort of complexity with the rules about harming The Stalled but that's it. It doesn't take any of those things further than just a basic "oh yeah, here's some world and here's two rules about it"...that's it. The show doesn't go into how the world exists or was created.
Development: 5/10 To sum up the plot development the show fails to deliver any meaningful form of how and why.
Characters: 5/10 None of the characters besides the main girl were likable. All the characters including the main girl were bland and one dimensional. The main girl got pretty much zero development as a character, or another way to put it she didn't really get any meaningful backup to development. For example, in the earlier episodes she's afraid and hesitant but then all of a sudden she finds the resolve to be some spunky/leader type girl. The encounter where she becomes stronger as a person wasn't at all backed up with any meaningful reasons, development or plot. She basically became courageous because the rest of the story needed her to be otherwise the show would be going nowhere. The main girl was just a tiny bit likable. Everyone else I disliked.
Music: 7/10 The OP was super catchy and was the only real reason I picked this up. The actual show's bgm and sound design was unnoticeable and nothing special. The show didn't even really use the super catchy OP in any of the scenes to hype anything up which was a waste.
Conclusion: 4/10 Somewhat open-ended conclusion. Questions answered but a few more introduced that would leave a lingering feeling. Unsatisfying.
Overall: 5/10 Overall, the show threw away any potential it had at being above average or even good because it failed to take the opportunity it's premise provided it; the show didn't explore any interesting themes and concepts the initial plot provided it with. The show took a very one-dimensional plot and development route that is honestly a waste. The show could have done a lot more with the cards it had. The only redeeming thing this show had was the OP. The OP was cool af. 5/10
Its-Maki-kun
With people started to like those skip the opening button just to get into the point of some anime, an anime made us realize that you should not skip the opening just to have that hype so you can stay and watch a mediocre yet predictable anime like this one. While having the source material have ended long before the adaptation as an advantage, Kokkoku, an anime adaptation of a manga created by Seita Horio, did not manage to steal many hearts to invest and drive themselves into the world of stasis. The major flaw of Kokkoku lies in the very predictable and mediocre plot. Threeepisodes in and I already guessed how the ending will like. And... My prediction was not too far off. Even with this predictable plot, Kokkoku still did not manage to deliver their lore of the stones and the specters well and left me with lot of holes here and there. While I could not sense the rushy feeling inside this anime, I sensed that the timing of when they delivered the lore one by one was a bit off which kinda disappointing from my side.
While the soundtrack of this anime fits its bargain by being eerily perfect for a show with the theme of hide and seek between good, bad, and something other than that, what I should underline from this anime's sound of course its opening. I just can't stop listen that opening. This opening alone is an example of how an opening should have done : hype up the show in the beginning so people will stay and watch the show. The opening alone could be a reason why I choose to stay and watch the whole show.
To be honest, I have listened Flashback back in 2017 when it just came out (with other songs from MIYAVI's Samurai Sessions Vol. 2) and already guessed that sooner or later his name will shine in the community. If you said that "THIS OPENING IS MY JAM!", I suggest that you should listen to MIYAVI's other tracks. It's all worth it. Trust me.
While managed to sway me with MIYAVI's song as the opening, Kokkoku's story did not stand out very well and I will only say "Okay, I let it slide." just because the opening managed to keep me stay and watch all of them.
BlaxadowFire
I liked this anime a lot, It was my favorite anime of the winter 2018 ongoing anime. The art style was pretty nice and fit very good with this kind of story. The characters where portrayed in a good matter. At the start of the anime, you are kinda curious about what is going to happen. Then, it is starting to get interesting, and you want to see more. Eventually you'll be hooked to this anime, since it has this certain vibe. Then you realize this anime is almost to its end, and you are starting to feel a little sad.The story never got boring in my opinion, and was always very interesting.
This was one of the few anime's that I think had a really good ending!!!
Normally when an anime ends, I feel a little sad and empty because it's over, but in this case I don't mind, because of the good ending.
Some more story about the world itself could have been told in a spin-off, but that is very unlikely to happen.
I would definitely recommend this anime.
Demundo
I only wanted to log this series into what I have run through, but seeing top reviews actually make this series out to be bad and not well written, I can't stand by without saying anything. Let's be frank, this series isn't something you can really like/love at first sight. It's a mess and it happens in like, what the hell? Only 1 moment? Almost a day? Not to mention loop holes in writing are all over the place. Many explanations don't meet up with what they were supposed to answer, it's like they are not even trying to explain anything to be with...... Evenart style, sound, aren't that outstanding. So, what's there to like it?
Surprisingly, there is. Or in fact, there are.
As you can see in the synopsis, the main characters can somehow "stop time" and "move around when time and everyone else just "stop". It's a fundamental setting for this series' plot and as funny/surprising yet so natural as it is, this setting was put into question right the moment it was introduced, then, and there. Although it was lightly brushed off explanations come much later to give us the idea of how it works. Pay attention, and you will like it.
Moving on, story premises are all about reuniting family members. Yet, they keep running around to miss each other. Well yeah, that's how every story like this one go. But Kokkoku was different. They move around very much on their own, keep missing each other on their own. Very much like how it would be in reality where people do things how they see fit and end up making efforts of one another go to waste. For this one, it deserves points for the clever development method.
And then characters. One thing you can notice almost right away is that they keep switching. I mean, come on, a neet goes outside on his own for his nephew, an oldman who got laid off start talking about stuff very sciency all of a sudden, and later on, characters switching sides like it was nothing...... What's with the inconsistency? It's like the characters don't even try to keep to their own settings except for 1 single core reason of existence in the whole 12 episodes. Yes, only 1 core reason of existence. For the main characters, it was to protect their family, for the shitty oldman, it was to look as cool as he can, to others, faith, money, stuff.
But then, there was clearly 1 single character whose objectives changed over time. Then 1 more just lose their reason then picked up another right away. Then again, another who takes the middle ground with 1 core reason but somehow seems like it changed over time.
Their actions are also hard to read. You can imagine parts of it, but you can not clearly predict it all, just like how you can't predict what others will do but can imagine it in real life. That's unlike many other series where intentions are clear for viewers/readers. It makes characters moving from inconsistent to lively, realistic, complicated and extremely 3D. They even keep their promises just as they talked about it too.
As I mentioned above, there are stuff left not explained in the story writing. But if you pay attention, you somehow see hints everywhere. From how bad the family situation is despite all the power, to who the heck was mentioned at the end. It was fun thinking how it connects and would make room for many theories. I wonder if MatPat on Film Theorists would want to pick some up (lol).
For a TLDR summary, Kokkoku is a complicated, very mundane and easy to misunderstand series. But if you go into it, you might like it, but you will still have to admit that it's not that good. Heh, talk about how life like this series is.
Raggadish
When I was a kid I used to fantasies about being all alone in a still and quiet world. To just walk around in it and explore without disruption, gave kid me the chills and the feelings of excitement and calm at the same time. I don´t know where that fantasy originated from, maybe a book I read, but it stayed with me for a long time. So, naturally, I was very intrigued when reading the synopsis Kokkoku (Moment by Moment). An anime that bases in this frozen world concept, count me in! But did it evoke the same feeling my childhood fantasies? I willget down to that now.
Kokkoku take the concept still and quiet world and go all the way with it. The normal but a bit dysfunctional family Yukawa, are suddenly forced to use their magical heirloom to save two of the family members by stop time and enter what is called Stasis. Unlike me, they don´t feel excitement and calm when entering this quiet and still world. Which is completely understandable, because they are not alone. Other people also seemingly have the power walk around in frozen time, and monster-like creatures called Heralds are lurking around. And in this still and frozen world, a cat and mouse game for life and death take its place.
This was absolutely an interesting premise (at least to me for obvious reasons). But its just that, what I wrote in the section above is a pretty good summarize of all that happens in these 12-episodes long story. It does have its little twists, like some of the characters has powers, and of the mysteries of this world is explored. That was the highlights. Otherwise its pretty straight forward, family tries to save their family members and get out of Stasis alive, and a secret society that have their own agenda. It was absolutely refreshing several ways; 1) the main characters are not a group of high school students, but a normal family. 2) the concept of a frozen reality is not a concept used 3 times every season. 3) The only real fanservice is in the ending song. All plus in my book. But even do refreshing in many ways, it still kind of missed “it”, to really pull me in and looking forward to it. I can´t really put my finger on what, I just found myself mildly interested in the story.
The characters are just as the story kind of fresh and lovely under used. Useless overweight unemployed dad? Check. Sake loving grandfather? Check. NEET older brother in his late 20´s? Check. The voice of reason little sister? Check. Together they were realistically portrayed as dysfunctional family. I think that made up a fresh group of main characters in an anime, as far the family theme goes. But were they super interesting? Njaaaa… Not really, just fresh in anime, at least to me. They weren´t thought provoking, nor very memorable.
Kokkoku is the work of the newly founded Geno Studio, and the art animation is absolutely decent. The characters can look a bit sloppy at distance, and nothing astonishing otherwise. Backgrounds often looks good, depict the Japanese suburb nicely.
The VA´s (Japanese) all did their job without any complaints from me. Slow and uninterested voice of NEET brother? Its on spot. Annoying and loud voice of loser dad? Oh yes, they nailed it. Gruffy and hoarse voice of old sake loving grandpa? Yes, indeed. The soundtrack was fine, just as the characters though, not that memorable. The opening is however quite memorable, with a pop-rocky beat.
Did it entertain my as much as my childhood fantasies? Well, sad to say no. Do I regret my time? Absolutely no. Even if it became more of a chore then a pleasure towards the end, the interesting concept and the mildly explored Stasis world was enough to pull me through to the end. The cat and mouse game became e little dragged on as it was the main focus. I would´ve liked a bit more world exploring, such as the complexity of the Stasis world and its inhabitants, the origin of the magical stones and the power it could bestow normal people and so on. That would´ve made this more enjoyable to me. I can recommend Kokkoku to you that can coup with narrow storytelling and slow pace, its not a bad show, its just not a the brightest star in the sky.
