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刻刻
12
TV
Finished Airing
Jan 8, 2018 to Mar 26, 2018
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]
7.3/10
Average Review Score
65%
Recommend It
20
Reviews Worldwide
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.
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.
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
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.
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.