Kokkoku - Time Stopping

[Dave Baranyi]

“Kokkoku” is a fantasy/suspense story that is adapted from a seinen manga that was published in the “Morning Two” seinen manga magazine. A relatively ordinary Japanese family that is struggling with contemporary problems suddenly gets involved with a surreal situation when a little boy and his uncle are kidnapped and a huge ransom is demanded from the family. But the Grandfather in the family has an ancient secret – he can cast spells that can stop time while allowing him and other family members to move about in the world where time is stopped. However, others can also do the same and can interact with the Grandfather and his family while they are in the time-stopped world.

I first ran into this plot concept many, many years ago when I read John D. MacDonald's light-hearted comic mystery “The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything”, which was MacDonald's sole foray into the Thorne Smith style of fantasy writing. (I still recommend the book highly – it's a lot of fun despite being over 55 years old.) However, “Kokkoku” does not appear to be taking a light approach with the topic – the show also gave me vibes of the “Sci-Fi Harry” anime from 2000. (Another story that I recommend highly, although it is difficult to find unless you have the Japanese DVDs as I do.)

Not a lot happens in the first episode, other than the set-up of the situation. The animation is appropriately murky for this type of story, the voice acting is quite good, and the direction is reasonable considering that there has to be a fair amount of info dump to go along with what the viewer can establish from the visuals. (“Show, don't Tell” doesn't always work well in this kind of story.) I've given the first episode a “B+” and we'll see where it goes from there. In any event, it's worth trying out.

Dave Baranyi

[Bobbie Sellers]

Post by Dave Baranyi
“Kokkoku” is a fantasy/suspense story that is adapted from a seinen manga that was published in the “Morning Two” seinen manga magazine. A relatively ordinary Japanese family that is struggling with contemporary problems suddenly gets involved with a surreal situation when a little boy and his uncle are kidnapped and a huge ransom is demanded from the family. But the Grandfather in the family has an ancient secret – he can cast spells that can stop time while allowing him and other family members to move about in the world where time is stopped. However, others can also do the same and can interact with the Grandfather and his family while they are in the time-stopped world.

Dave, I guess you never watched the KOR TV anime series all the way
though. The Grandfather has a gold watch there which stops time and the
protagonist overuses it and he has a little fugue. He does use it
to save the girl from a traffic accident who confuses him about his love
for Ayakawa. The whole family has a strange and confusing relationship
with time even into the second movie.

Post by Dave Baranyi
I first ran into this plot concept many, many years ago when I read John D. MacDonald's light-hearted comic mystery “The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything”, which was MacDonald's sole foray into the Thorne Smith style of fantasy writing. (I still recommend the book highly – it's a lot of fun despite being over 55 years old.) However, “Kokkoku” does not appear to be taking a light approach with the topic – the show also gave me vibes of the “Sci-Fi Harry” anime from 2000. (Another story that I recommend highly, although it is difficult to find unless you have the Japanese DVDs as I do.)
Not a lot happens in the first episode, other than the set-up of the situation. The animation is appropriately murky for this type of story, the voice acting is quite good, and the direction is reasonable considering that there has to be a fair amount of info dump to go along with what the viewer can establish from the visuals. (“Show, don't Tell” doesn't always work well in this kind of story.) I've given the first episode a “B+” and we'll see where it goes from there. In any event, it's worth trying out.
Dave Baranyi

bliss

[Dave Baranyi]

Post by Bobbie Sellers

Post by Dave Baranyi
“Kokkoku” is a fantasy/suspense story that is adapted from a seinen manga that was published in the “Morning Two” seinen manga magazine. A relatively ordinary Japanese family that is struggling with contemporary problems suddenly gets involved with a surreal situation when a little boy and his uncle are kidnapped and a huge ransom is demanded from the family. But the Grandfather in the family has an ancient secret – he can cast spells that can stop time while allowing him and other family members to move about in the world where time is stopped. However, others can also do the same and can interact with the Grandfather and his family while they are in the time-stopped world.

Dave, I guess you never watched the KOR TV anime series all the way
though. The Grandfather has a gold watch there which stops time and the
protagonist overuses it and he has a little fugue. He does use it
to save the girl from a traffic accident who confuses him about his love
for Ayakawa. The whole family has a strange and confusing relationship
with time even into the second movie.

Yes, I did watch KOR to the end. I didn't enjoy it enough to remember details.

John D. MacDonald wrote "The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything" in 1962. I read it in the late 60s. I enjoyed it enough to remember details still...

Post by Bobbie Sellers

Post by Dave Baranyi
I first ran into this plot concept many, many years ago when I read John D. MacDonald's light-hearted comic mystery “The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything”, which was MacDonald's sole foray into the Thorne Smith style of fantasy writing. (I still recommend the book highly – it's a lot of fun despite being over 55 years old.) However, “Kokkoku” does not appear to be taking a light approach with the topic – the show also gave me vibes of the “Sci-Fi Harry” anime from 2000. (Another story that I recommend highly, although it is difficult to find unless you have the Japanese DVDs as I do.)
Not a lot happens in the first episode, other than the set-up of the situation. The animation is appropriately murky for this type of story, the voice acting is quite good, and the direction is reasonable considering that there has to be a fair amount of info dump to go along with what the viewer can establish from the visuals. (“Show, don't Tell” doesn't always work well in this kind of story.) I've given the first episode a “B+” and we'll see where it goes from there. In any event, it's worth trying out.
Dave Baranyi

bliss
--
bliss dash SF 4 ever at dslextreme dot com

Dave Baranyi