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.
