Kokkoku Archives | 100 Word Anime

Kokkoku Series Review: An Unexplained Mystery Wrapped Around An Uninteresting Cast

Posted on April 23, 2018April 23, 2018 by Karandi

This anime starts out with a promising mystery even if the pace is slow, and yet it never quite manages to deliver. What were your thoughts on Kokkoku?

Review:

Kokkoku is one of those anime that on paper looks like a pretty good idea. You have a mysterious organisation kidnapping a family member to motivate the protagonist into action whereby a supernatural ability is revealed leaving the main characters in a frozen moment that they can navigate through. It seems really promising and full of potential. So where did Kokkoku go wrong?

While I was drawn to the premise of this show and it was the ideas and where they might go with the mystery that kept me watching past the point where I might have dropped it, the characters are really not interesting. Juri, her grandfather, Takafumi (her father) and even her brother and nephew are incredibly dull and have no chemistry as a cast. Part of that is because they are trying to build up the idea of family dysfunction before they go into stasis, but at no point in the following 12 episodes do they manage to build anything from these characters. This kind of makes it hard to particularly care about any of the dangers faced by the family and that unfortunately makes even the few moments that might be tense fall kind of flat.

When we add in that the initial motive for action is more or less resolved three or four episodes in with the nephew retrieved and yet for some reason they stay in stasis, you start wondering what the point of the anime actually is. Keep wondering because it is unlikely you will find yourself with a satisfactory answer to that one.

The introduction of Sagawa as a genuine villain and potential threat had possibilities for a moment at giving them something new to rally against, but that was also a plot thread that kind of went nowhere and by the time we got there a lot of viewers had ceased to care or were just kind of bemused by the explanation.

And that takes us to the deal breaker for this anime. While the other points are possibly off-putting depending on your preferences, the way this anime explains things by simply having a character assert them and then never providing any justification or evidence is frustrating. The rules of stasis, how some weird transformation is occurring, and even the ultimate plot breaking move in the final episode which seems to undermine most of what you’ve watched, all just have an ‘explanation’ muttered by a character in a disinterested fashion and the other characters all just kind of accept that it is true and the audience is kind of forced to as well. It makes for an incredibly unsatisfying viewing experience.

There are too many inconsistencies, illogical moments, and just plain random events for this anime to really be considered recommended viewing for anyone. Couple that with an incredibly slow pace and the tiresome cast and really there is very little left that could be positive about the review other than the OP is kind of weird in an interesting way and the premise sounds good even if it doesn’t quite work out.

I haven’t really touched on visuals and that is because characters are pretty ugly to look at and the world of stasis is pretty colourless and dull. While there are at times some interesting visual effects used when expelling characters from stasis, for the most part the visuals are either bland or borderline ugly.

I really wanted to enjoy this. I did. And yet week after week I kind of felt my hope for this show turning things around dwindle and by the time episode 10 rolled around I gave up even pretending there was hope for this series to end on any kind of positive.

That said, I’d love to know your thoughts on the series if you gave it a watch so be sure to leave me a comment below.

Episode Reviews:

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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Kokkoku Episode 12: Happily Ever After?

Posted on March 29, 2018March 28, 2018 by Karandi

We’ve reached the end and if you just take the end credits at face value the family have all reconciled and gotten over their pettiness that was plaguing them prior to their stint in stasis. Though how that transformation came about, I don’t know given they all still seemed much the same as they were forcibly removed from stasis. And Juri isn’t apparently mentally scarred by her longer stay in isolation.

I wouldn’t mind the notion that the family did transform through these events, if we had actually been witness to a transformation. But the brother remained kind of a slacker right until he started becoming a Herald. Takafumi was an opportunist and incredibly poor decision maker. The grandfather just kind of dithered about without any real authority or purpose. And yet, they are all back in the real world and happy.

Though worse than the magical healing power of an adventure (even though it isn’t really justified) is the deus ex machina ending they pull out for Juri to escape stasis. The argument that this is foreshadowed in episode 1 isn’t a particularly strong argument given it still amounts to clicking her heels together at getting a wish.

Ultimately this show seems to have not really delivered on anything that it potentially could have, though I’ll save the rest of that for the full review.

Previous Review:

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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Kokkoku Episode 11: The Brain, The Spider Web and The Clean-up

Posted on March 22, 2018March 22, 2018 by Karandi

There was definitely a lot of potential in this anime and even until the last couple of episodes it could have potentially been very good. However their lack of ability early on to make me care about the characters has been a persistent problem and with a plot lacking substantial explanations that might hold it together and weirdness that occurs seemingly for the sake of weirdness but isn’t really explored, overall this story is kind of failing to keep me engaged at this point.

Sagawa as the villain has been a particular disappointment as he came along when the show desperately needed something to hook viewers in and it seemed like he offered some interesting possibilities. Silly fight sequence, lack of motive, and now transformation through being organs to being a cocoon, to whatever (no spoiler) at the end of the episode, he really is just another character I don’t really care about enough for this to have any impact even if it made sense.

However, the story is drawing to a close. I think the big problem with this show is there is no central idea going on. It started out with the kidnapping of the grandchild to force the family into stasis so the stone could be stolen. We’ve move a long way away from save the grandchild and the stone has been smashed for episodes now. While it would be nice for some resolution from this story, I’m really not holding my breath at this point.

Previous Review:

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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Kokkoku Episode 10: Stuck – Unstuck

Posted on March 15, 2018March 14, 2018 by Karandi

This anime is definitely maintaining that interesting in concept but not so much in execution vibe it has had since the beginning. The father pretending to have the power when really it was the grandson was just pointless given it was revealed to everyone less than half an episode later and genuinely served no purpose other than forcing the audience to endure the father’s gloating that he was needed for all of three seconds.

Outside of that, we had the seemingly inevitable fight with the bad guy who ultimately runs away once things turn against him and then, when tracked down, he starts reminiscing about his upbringing. This isn’t really the time to try to make me care about the guy’s backstory. Or really anything new about these characters given how little has been done to give them character up until now. Right now we should be answering the greater question of why they are listening to the guy ramble on, what Juri thinks is going to happen if they actually beat him, and what he actually wants at this point and time to happen.

However, this anime does not appear to be interested in moving the plot along and so we meander through his childhood trauma and then the episode ends. It isn’t exactly the episode that is going to change your opinion of this show for better or worse. It is kind of still progressing toward an ending but basically I still don’t know why the family minus Juri haven’t already left stasis and the anime isn’t really getting around to addressing that point.

Previous Review:

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Karandi James

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Kokkoku Episode 9: No Idea What The End Game Is Here

Posted on March 8, 2018March 7, 2018 by Karandi

Review:

So Sagawa wants to live forever but he’s going to waste time in a stalled world to kill the family that have no means of stopping him and don’t really care to try because…?

And Juri intends to get out of stasis, how?

As much as I love a good mystery, this one just seems intent on tying itself up in knots and at this point I can’t really understand why any of them are still in stasis given they have nothing to gain from it. Juri could send the all out and I’m guessing they continue their lives, unless of course they just stall and stay stalled until Juri gets out of stasis which seems to be impossible. And how exactly does Sagawa intend to get out of stasis?

It is messy and even the reveal that Makoto can use a power (though that was a reveal to the audience and not the other characters because of course you need to set up some dramatic irony for later) doesn’t really help the situation. If anything it makes things more confusing as a herald is now acting weirdly, a power hasn’t been properly defined, and if the tenuous rules of the stasis are going to be broken before they’ve even been firmly established this mystery is just going to become one throw explainer after another as the plot skates over increasingly thin ice.

None of this necessarily makes this terrible to watch. It just kind of means that this show won’t be climbing up my list any time soon. It remains watchable and thinking about the mystery is fun, but at this point there just isn’t enough known that the audience can actually actively participate in figuring out where the mystery is going or why. And I suspect this story is quickly going to become a monster smack down which would be kind of disappointing.

Previous Review:

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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Kokkoku Episode 8: Sagawa Is A Man on A Mission

Posted on March 1, 2018February 28, 2018 by Karandi

Review:

While it took a fair while for Sagawa’s motives to become apparent, and even now his final goal is still a little hazy, he has been shaping up over the last two episodes to be a fairly solid antagonist. Not so much because he actually seems to care about the protagonists and their goals, but more because he is utterly indifferent to anyone or anything that isn’t helping him to accomplish his goal in the moment. That’s actually more affective than a villain that just seems to want to see the family (that were already struggling) brought down.

Still, his callous disregard for his own subordinates does cement him as a villainous character and I suppose I should want him to fail at whatever he is planning. However, it is so much more interesting than what Juri and the others were up to that I’m just kind of hoping he keeps going for awhile.

Meanwhile, Juri’s father demonstrates exactly what unconscious incompetence looks like as he genuinely doesn’t seem to realise just how pathetic he actually has been.

Still, now that there is an antagonist to care about in this story, and with yet another cliff hanger ending on this episode, I guess I’ll be waiting for next week to find out if they can continue to bring things together.

Previous Review:

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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Kokkoku Episode 7: All Their Reasons

Posted on February 22, 2018February 21, 2018 by Karandi

Review:

After wondering in my episode 5 review what the characters of this show actually wanted, the last two episodes seem to be making a determined effort to answer exactly that. And while some of the characters’ motives are kind of silly, it actually seems to make sense because sometimes people do in fact want silly things.

That said, my suspicions from episode 6 that ignoring the father was probably a bad idea seem to be confirmed this episode as the Grandfather and Juri continue to exclude him from their planning and discussions giving him ample time to start trying to think of his own plan. Clearly that is not going to end well.

I am, however, curious to see if they explain why the brother who was a herald survived when the others didn’t. It seems like such an anomaly that it kind of needs an explanation. Otherwise it happened just because they decided killing a kid would leave a sour taste in the viewer’s mouth and while I’m not actually wanting the kid to have died, a reason for him to still be alive would be nice.

That said, this show is starting to address my concerns that it wasn’t going to give us a proper explanation of the mystery. While we’re not there yet, the last two episodes have taken huge steps towards revealing key bits of information and it is starting to feel like there might be a satisfactory resolution in there which makes the overall viewing experience more enjoyable.

Previous Review:

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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Kokkoku Episode 6: The Plot Thickens as the Brother Gets Thinner

Posted on February 15, 2018February 16, 2018 by Karandi

Review:

A terrible post title, I know, and yet such an apt description of this episode. While there still hasn’t been anything overly amazing in terms of character development, and that is one area that continues to be a problem given I still don’t really care who comes out on top in this conflict, the mystery itself just keeps giving us a little bit more intrigue. There is still certainly the possibility that it will all amount to nothing but I’m starting to feel like we are definitely headed somewhere. Besides, the intrigue is really working.

The first part of this episode continued the struggle from last week and to be honest they really over-played the music here. It was almost like watching a black and white Hitchcock with the way the sound went crazy during this sequence. It kind of took away a lot of the tension and drama of what was otherwise a fairly tense sequence.

I suspect that Juri’s overall attitude to life is going to bite her sooner or later. Basically she and the grandfather did rescue her father, and her father is kind of horrible, and yet they’ve more or less ignored him and made no attempt to actually explain the situation to him. They are treating him like baggage. To the point where they miss what is probably going to end up being a significant comment about the brother maybe looking thinner after Juri expelled the spectre from him. Juri also failed to get Majima onside and didn’t even really try which just seems like a wasted opportunity.

While my basic complaints about the lack of character development and some of the contradictions in the information presented remain, I cannot deny that I really want to know where this story is going. There’s definitely enough interesting material here and there’s a lot of potential for it to reach a reasonable conclusion. However, there’s also a lot of room for this to derail still and so I guess this one will have to be judged on the strength of its conclusion.

Previous Review:

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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Kokkoku Episode 5: Motives Matter, So What Do These Characters Want?

Posted on February 8, 2018February 5, 2018 by Karandi

Review:

With the exception of Majima, who laid out her motivation this week of recovering her family from stasis (which, probably shouldn’t be possible but more on that one later), I have to wonder if we know what any of these characters actually want. The family at first were trying to recover all their members from kidnappers, but since then, haven’t really seemed to be prioritising that objective. The cult guys all just seem to want to have sex or sexually harass girls in stasis, and the guys in charge want the stone but haven’t actually given us anything to go on as to what they want with it.

Now, I know the grandfather’s version of what stasis is isn’t exactly reliable given he is just remembering stuff he’s been told, but he described it like a still frame in a movie. And even suggested leaving stasis and re-entering it in order to leave the villains behind and then rescue the other family members. But what that suggested was that being left in stasis meant that you were stuck in that frame forever. Therefore, Majima entering stasis again shouldn’t bring her in touch with her family who should in fact be stuck in a different frame. So either the grandfather’s explanation was rubbish, or the heralds jump between different frames, or the story has a major plot hole that might push this mystery beyond repair.

The story also hasn’t fixed the issue of not actually having any characters the audience can connect to given so far they are all pretty bland, horrible, or undeveloped. At five episodes in, it really is time for the story to step it up and start filling in some of these cracks. As curious as I am about the mystery, I’m starting to wonder if the explanation will be worth it if the quality of the journey doesn’t improve.

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

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Kokkoku Episode 4: More on Stasis

Posted on February 1, 2018January 30, 2018 by Karandi

Review:

We’re slowly learning more about stasis and some of how it works, but there’s a lot that is still just speculation or unknown. We do know for sure now that Juri has not only been in stasis before and that it is possible to be trapped within stasis.

Though one would assume if that happened it would be permanent because as the grandfather already pointed out even re-entering stasis doesn’t re-enter the same stasis so if the person couldn’t leave on their own the rest of the world would leave them behind. It opens up some odd questions about the heralds being people in stasis given theoretically they shouldn’t be able to move from the stasis they are in to the current stasis which makes me wonder if stasis just ceases to exist if the person controlling it leaves in which case anyone trapped there disappears? Dies? Not sure and wondering if these are questions that will ever be answered or if we’re just meant to nod sagely at the half explanations we’ve got and pretend it all makes sense.

I genuinely don’t get what the grandfather was thinking taking a child into stasis to prolong the whole death of the dog thing or what he thought it might accomplish but I guess it was a reason for Juri to have been in stasis before.

Anyway, the kidnappers/cult/whatever are pretty much stuck unless they can capture the stone that Juri and the grandfather have and while that doesn’t concern some, others are less thrilled about the notion of being trapped in stasis. Meanwhile, a little bit more is revealed about the heralds but not enough to actually give us an answer. Just enough to make us want to watch more to find out.

I’m kind of enjoying this show but the characters are still a fairly weak link and it makes it hard to take the drama overly seriously.

Thanks for reading.

Karandi James

If you enjoyed this post and would like to see more great content on this blog, consider becoming a patron for as little as $1 a month.

Kokkoku

Kokkoku Series Review: An Unexplained Mystery Wrapped Around An Uninteresting Cast

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Kokkoku Episode 10: Stuck – Unstuck

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Kokkoku Episode 9: No Idea What The End Game Is Here

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Kokkoku Episode 8: Sagawa Is A Man on A Mission

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Kokkoku Episode 7: All Their Reasons

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Kokkoku Episode 6: The Plot Thickens as the Brother Gets Thinner

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Kokkoku Episode 5: Motives Matter, So What Do These Characters Want?

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