I hate to have circumstances force me to be so rushed in discussing Kokkoku, because this is a series that deserves a fair amount of analysis.  It’s good, very good – a very interesting premise that’s well-executed, featuring a cast of characters who aren’t cast from the mold used by 90% of anime.  Most of this season’s shows have hewed pretty closely to expectations, but two of them have definitely outperformed them so far – this one and Koi wa Ameagari no You ni.  If they can maintain that level, it would do wonders in lifting the assessment of Winter 2018 on the whole.

It may be the only way I’d compare them, but Kokkoku reminds me of Just Because in a sense – just because there are two narrative tracks running more or less side by side.  The more obvious route here is the sci-fi plot, and it’s a damn good one (just like the romance angle in Just Because).  But the complicated family dynamic among the Yukawa clan is not to be dismissed lightly – these are interesting people, and their interactions have the ring of truth to them.  A juxtaposition of normal and extraordinary is often an effective dramatic device – because it’s easy to imagine how we might react if we were put in the same circumstances.

One thing that’s becoming clear as we wade deeper into these waters is that there’s quite a bit to this mythology.  This “True Love Society” seems to be at the heart of a lot of it – clearly, they see the Stasis ability as an opportunity for either world domination or fiscal profit, or most likely both (so, pretty much like every greedy despot in the world today).  There are actually any number of fringe quasi-religious groups in RL Japan that see the paranormal as their path to dominance in the world, but hopefully none of them have latched onto an actual superpower the way the TLS has.  And obviously, the Yukawa are they key to their hopes – they have what seems to be some sort of mock-up of the Master Stone, but lack Ojii-san’s full powers to manipulate it.

The other major new concept introduced here is the “Handler” – or “Herald”, depending on which branch of the religion is doing the talking.  As with much of this mythology it’s largely a mystery, because Ojii-san – who probably knows more about it than anybody – doesn’t really understand it himself.  There’s a vague notion that the Yuzawa who “mess around too much” turn into Heralds (or become part of it, more likely) after they die, and it seems as if the Handler acts to protect only those who are “stalled” (which is an inconvenience to the Yazuka-like True Love goons).  And it seems to be made up of the “squid things” which inhabit the bodies of the Yuzawa (at least some of them) and may or may not be the source of their Stasis power.

This is a lot to consider, no doubt about it – the source of Stasis could be anything from Shinto Kami to aliens.  But the most engaging part of the story right now is the hapless and very ordinary Yuzawa trying to come out of this unscathed, which is a challenge given that they’re in different “frames” – timelines which seemingly never overlap.  And right now Makoto is the only one in his, since one of those squids seems to have pulled Tsubasa out of it and he can move again.  Complicating this is the presence of Majima Shouko (Seto Asami), who was somewhere for 17 years – adrift from her own timeline, perhaps – and somehow got back and teamed up with the TLS, giving them the info about Ojii-san and his family.  It’s a bit of a tangle for now, but the good kind – and I’m I’m very much looking forward to seeing unraveled.