Hello and welcome to another absurdly late post about Kokkoku. Id apologize and swear never to be late again, but I think we both know that’s not true. Life finds a way it seems. These past weeks in Kokkoku, the Plot thickens, Juri enters the running for Best Girl and the characters become even more endearing. Lets jump in!
Overall, these past two episodes were good. Kokkoku is managing to simultaneously answer questions about Stasis while introducing new ones. Everything, our characters, the plot, is moving forward at a good pace. The villains, while mostly bland thugs, continue to be largely intelligent. Using their surroundings and abusing the lack of time progression. It has also become clear that this entire adventure is going to be done in a single frame, a single snapshot of time. I am looking forward to the end of the series, where I hope we get to see time resume. Where we get to see the fallout of everything that has happened throughout the series. It has the potential, depending on what happens, to be a glorious finale.
As far as our characters go, I am quite happy with their progression and story. In particular, Tsubasa, Majima and Juri. The last two shouldn’t come as a surprise, but I am sure not everyone agrees on Tsubasa. The reason I enjoy him is that while he hasn’t had the most screen time, he has managed to subvert my expectations that most. Very similar to his father Takafumi, I expected them both to be simple victims. Side characters without much import, a sort of cautionary tale of what not to be. Instead they have both shown to be more. Tsubasa knows his mistakes and wants his nephew to be better, to avoid being him. Meanwhile Takafumi isn’t as stupid or gullible as initially thought, as he warns Juri about whats happening. Both clearly care for their family, even if they don’t care much for themselves.
Next up we have Juri, who with episode 4, entered the running for Best Girl. While I don’t like how simple the bait and switch at the start of episode 4 was handled, that doesn’t change Juri’s newfound spine. When push comes to shove it seems she isn’t afraid to stand up and do something about it. Her “fight” with the thugs, knocking each of them out of Stasis, was awesome. Juri cut a very imposing figure there. What interests me most though is that her white eyes are the same as when Majima and her family were getting “absorbed” by the Stasis. I am very curious why this is. Is she tapping into the Stasis’s power in some way, or does it have some negative consequences we don’t yet know about? With the Handlers revelation I would be disappointed if there wasn’t still more to learn about Stasis.
Speaking of that, Kokkoku managed to use Majima to simultaneously teach us a lot about Stasis and her past. First we finally got confirmation on what happens to people who get stuck in Stasis. They become Handlers. Not only that though, they must accept their place their, resign themselves to living there. Only then do they truly become its residents. I thought that was very interesting, that acceptance of their fate truly matters. This also gives us Majima’s motivation, sets her up as a potential ally and shows just how long this conflict could seemingly go for. It also revealed that more stones capable of this exist and how they do not require blood to activate. Just tears were enough for Majima’s stone to affect her family. It makes you curious just how many stones are out there and where they came from. Lets hope that mystery gets answered.
As far as mysteries go, Kokkoku has quite a few. The stones, family powers, the Evil Cult and the Handlers. One of these, the Handlers, was just recently answered but not in full. We know where they come from, but we have no idea as to their size or why they disappear. Is it directly related to their age when they accept their fate? Their time in Stasis? Or perhaps how deeply they accept their fate? How many Stalled can they protect before they fall apart and what happens when there are no more? These are all questions Kokkoku has plenty of time to answer and now they all directly relate to a characters arc. My biggest fear for Kokkoku at this point that these mysteries go unanswered as they are currently its biggest strength, supported by its characters.
All in all, Kokkoku has been doing well. For people who like mysteries, who are interested in an anime’s setting and how things work, it has had a constant stream of answers and new questions. The main cast are all interesting and look like they will have a part to play before its all over. The hard part is just finding things to talk about. Kokkoku is a solid anime, and everything works. It doesn’t have any glaring flaws, and a few obvious strengths. Its story so far has been clear and its presented everything well. I just hope it keeps it up.
