KOKKOKU: First Impressions

It’s been awhile. Sorry. Life kind of does that. I’ve been kind of busy with real life shit but this anime season has truly revived my ambition to write. Especially the series I’m going to review for you today, Kokkoku. I spoke briefly about this series in one of the first impression post for this season but it just wasn’t enough. So without further ado, I bring to you my first impressions of Amazon’s new series, Kokkoku.

I gave a synopsis of this series with a quick review in my previous post. Check it out if you would like more info.

There are a few things that NEED to be said about this series. One thing I do want to say that doesn’t necessarily relate to the show is… It’s on Amazon Prime. NOT Anime Strike. So, if you have Amazon Prime, watch some anime Y’all!  This is the perfect time to do so. You get to catch up on all the Anime Strike backlog you missed and also check out this great series weekly! I swear, we’re not sponsored by Amazon in any way. I just want everyone to enjoy anime.

What makes Kokkoku so interesting? Haven’t we seen anime deal with time mechanics before? Well yeah, we have. One of my favorite anime of all time, Steins;Gate, is focused heavily on time but we aren’t really talking about time. We are talking about stasis. We are talking about a concept where time is stopped(not to be confused with the shitty Nickelodeon movie from the 2000s, Clockstoppers). I personally appreciate the small things like a character throwing a rock and it eases into a full stop since it is no longer in possession of the person who threw it or even when someone becomes a “Stalled.” It’s the little things the can provide a large impact on the viewer.

I can’t help but be a fan of Juri Yukawa. She is just everything I want from the main protagonist. She is funny, caring, just and a badass! Don’t get on her bad side. You find out about that when you get to episode 4. Also a big fan of character design. The animation is nothing special but I admire her overall look. Especially in the ED. OH BABY!

Speaking of the ED, very impressed with the music for both the ED and the OP. They are both songs that I can listen to on a regular basis and provide a ton of visual appeal. The OP “Flashback” is super fucking catchy. Don’t believe me? Listen for yourself and then come back to me.

I mentioned this before in my previous post but this is another series where I’m just OK with the CG. As much as I usually hate CG, this series seems like it just uses it because it needed to. That is how I feel CG should be used. When you have something that is super difficult to animate why not go for the cost-efficient route. It would also be cool if a director thinks of a neat way to redefine CG but that probably won’t happen for another year so… carry on.

If you haven’t watched this series, I strongly recommend giving it a shot. I very much enjoy the pacing but hate the hell out of the cliffhangers. I guess that’s a good thing right? I kind of just wish the series was completed so I can binge it. So as long as you give it a shot I’m happy whether you are watching weekly or binging 6 or so hours. Whatever works for you!

Thank you for taking the time to read this and please let me know what you are watching this season!