Anime Review - Kokkoku - The Worth of a Timeless World

Winter 2018 was an exceptional season, with many of the anime series achieve ratings beyond expectations and I would say that the average rating for that season was higher than your average season. Another contributing factor to the success is how intriguing the premises are for the anime, especially the mystery ones - it really hooks people in to check out the anime. Kokkoku was one of these anime that reeled me in, even before the anime started. The anime trailer also helped it look super interesting. However, once we get into it, do we find that it was something not to be expected.

Kokkoku immediately brings the audience straight into the action in its first episode, and that's a good thing - no bullshit and just get right into the action as the explanations can be introduced along the way. The story tells us that there is a world of "Stasis", where people in this world are perceiving a world where time has stopped around them. The protagonists Juuri and Grandpa (Jii-san) enter this world to save their kidnapped family members, only to realise that there are other people in stasis with them, forcing Jii-san to show his teleportation powers to escape the scene for now. To be honest, since it's a supernatural theme anime, I'm not surprised Jii-san has teleportation powers and from that point in the anime, I wouldn't be surprised if the other members of the family have special powers since their family has powers passed down in their generations. We see the big boss - Junji Sagawa, who has a grudge against the family and is the leader of the cult that prophesise that there is a god in the Stasis world, who we eventually know as "Heralds". The Heralds protects the people not in Stasis from harm caused by the people in the Stasis world - to put it simply, they are the unwilling guardians of the world since they have no power over their actions. 

Praise the sun!

As the story progresses, we see that Juuri also has the power of "purging" people from the Stasis world, everyone except herself. We also realise that the Heralds are humans who have stayed too long in the Stasis world, and damn is it sad, because one of the support characters Shouko Majima, had her whole family "spirited away" in the Stasis world, because they were caught in the mishaps of Juuri and the Grandpa trying to get into the Stasis world. That is some FeelsBadMan, but after her family has been purged from the realm (Shouko's parents stayed too long and are dead, but her brother is barely alive), apparently there are no Heralds left in the world. I mean that's a fair statement since there's not that many people who has the requirements to go into the Stasis world. What I don't get is how the antagonist - Junji Sagawa is able to become a Herald and yet has the power to control himself to kill without a proper reason to kill someone in the Stasis world.

I feel that the later bits of the anime made me go "wtf" - Junji essentially becomes the Incredible Hulk and what's even more weird is that he becomes a brain that absorbs energy from his surroundings, and after the protagonists have defeated him, he is reborn as a baby. At this point I was questioning myself - Like what is happening? Did I miss something crucial? We eventually see Juuri have to purge everyone from the Stasis world, everyone except herself and baby Junji since the baby was too young to be purged from the Stasis world. The final episode is essentially a long timelapse but with an interesting perspective of living in a timeless world. Initially we see a sane Juri, but as time passes, she is losing her sanity - she has no one to talk to, no means of electricity, nothing to do other than caring for the baby. Surely anyone would lose their sanity in these circumstances and I'm sure a lot of people like myself, just want to live by themselves and not want people to disturb them, and even perhaps live in a world where time doesn't pass, so this scene showed that such a world is not what it seems. 

Juuri essentially undergoes the transformation to a Herald since she has lived too long in this world and from outta nowhere, ITS JOHN CENA. I'm joking but a savior from outta nowhere saves her, and the savior is the creator of the Stasis world's wife. It was just so random but if I remember correctly, the starting scene of the anime matched with that scene where Juuri bumps into the creator's wife and I found that pretty cool. And of course, you get your happy end, but unfortunately with unresolved questions - how was this world created? Perhaps this is a question that should be left unanswered but damn is it a major plot hole. Why didn't we ever see Juuri and Shouko reunite? I kinda felt a bit sad that they couldn't even have put a scene where we see these two together again in a non-toxic friendly relationship.

Overall, the art is not bad - it's not amazing but it's not to be frown upon - I have a feeling they used a bit CGI for the Herald, but hey budget costs so I can't blame them. This anime could have been so much better if the creation of the Stasis world was explained in the final episode, and they could have done this by cutting that long timelapse. Sure they are trying to create a more impactful scene to show how bad it is to live alone in a timeless world, but this could have been sped up faster so that there could have been at least some explanations to fill the plothole. BUT GOLLY, the OP and EDs are god tier, and perhaps the two best combinations of opening and ending songs I have encountered. Would I recommend? If you want to just chill, I guess, but if you want something with little plotholes, I would avoid this.

Score Summary (6.5/10):

Story: 5/10

Characters: 6/10

Art: 7/10

Sound: 8/10

Enjoyment: 7/10