Kino is a traveler, one of the seemingly few left in the world, who’s journeying from country to country exploring their society and interacting with their people.
She traverses the land on her motorrad named Hermes, a sentient type of motorcycle who has a special connection with its rider.
He’s sort of her sidekick as she travels alone from one place to the next, giving her someone to talk to about the things they have seen and what it all really means.
Never staying in one place for longer than three days, Kino’s Journey chronicles her travels to a number of different countries and shows us all the wild and mad things that can happen when self contained societies go a tad bonkers.
From the country that got rid of government in favor of majority rule and ended up killing all its people but two, to the country whose populace decided it would be a good idea if they could feel one another’s emotions and ended up having to live alone and away from anyone else. It’s a messed up world out there, and Kino’s going to give us a glimpse into the craziness of man.
So...you know...I listen to my friends occasionally. I have given two people the same explanation of Kino's Journey, it is
about a girl named Kino...who journeys. And seriously, that's what the series is about.
Kino is a traveler (I honestly feel that would be called her trade) who
basically goes wherever she wants, wherever sounds interesting. Her only company is her motorbike.
That might sound like a pretty lonely life, and in some ways it probably
is, but she's not completely alone...her bike happens to be named Hermes,
and he talks.
Kino's Journey Anime Review
The series is an episodic adventure, focusing on Kino at different points
as she goes to various places. The places are called “countries” though really, they come across more
like cities, with their small size.
Each one is different from the next from the country with a library that
holds books from all over the world to the one with the exceptionally
excited people.
Not to mention the things Kino comes across in between countries, robots
and workers and bunnies. (No that's not a joke. There are bunnies. I swear
to you there are bunnies). Despite the lack of an overwhelming plot, it's very interesting to watch
Kino do what she does.
There aren’t many series like Kino’s Journey; one’s which portray an almost somber reverence for its main character and the stories surrounding her.
She travels from one misbegotten town to the next, identifying and understanding how the society came to be the way it is, but almost never doing anything about it. It’s not a travelers business what other countries are doing or what their laws are, and she does not believe it is her right to impose her own beliefs on other people.
This means there are often times when she could easily help out a person or two, but simply drives away into the sunset.
When she could attempt to stop one country from invading another on false words of prophecy, but instead just gets out of their way.
Even though it may seem coldhearted, it’s incredibly refreshing to watch a series where the main characters are not always meddling in other people’s affairs.
Almost every episode is stand-alone and self contained, featuring a new country and situation involving its people. There’s often a conflict but always a fascinating story to be had wherever she winds up.
As a woman traveling alone, for all intents and purposes, Kino is a well trained gunslinger, and is almost unparalleled in skill as she practices at her quick draw every morning.
She may not like to get involved, but when it comes down to a matter of her life hanging in the balance, she has no problem using her highly developed and unequaled skills to keep her would be attackers at bay. And no matter where she goes, there’s often someone looking to do her harm.
Such as when, after helping out a trio of stranded and starving merchants, she abruptly finds herself becoming their next piece of merchandise.
Not all stories result in violence though, and a number of them rely on the uniqueness of the country in particular to hold the viewers attention, which even then it achieves surprisingly well.
For its thirteen episode length its lack of cohesive storylines isn’t bad, but if it went on for any longer one may have grown tired of its unconnected nature. I got that feeling from its two extraneous movies (which are as long as a regular episode) and an unaired episode that’s about half as long.
While good all around, they’re starting to wear their novelty down. None of these extras are included with the R1 DVD release sadly. Unfortunately the animation is not quite up to the level of the series itself, but does its job well enough.
Problems arise when characters go into motion, and just in general Kino’s Journey can often seem like a bit of a head trip with the strange techniques they occasionally use. It’s not the type of series that needs to have an exceptional level of animation though, so it doesn’t really detract.
In terms of character designs, there isn’t much to complain about with a wide variety of regular and sinister looking characters.
Kino’s the type of girl whose gender is rather ambiguous till they tell you, since one can never be sure from the gender of the voice actor.
A predicament I blame Japan entirely for… So, for the record, Kino is a girl. You don’t need to be weirded out by the suggestive cover on the box set that I thought was a boy for the longest time…
Voice acting in both languages is up to snuff, so have at whichever one you prefer. Hermes does take a little getting used to in English though, and stands in stark contrast to his Japanese counterpart.
The only other technical of note is the rather unobtrusive musical score, with the exceedingly beautiful ending theme The Beautiful World.
Kino’s Journey is a rare gem that breaks free from the typical anime mold and really gives us something special. With beautifully crafted stories, a wonderful main character, and a surreal self-awareness, Kino’s Journey is not a series to miss.
The Characters: Kino's Journey
I would first like to say that I like Kino. I truly do. She's the sort of person I want to meet, have lunch with once or twice a
year to hear about her adventures, and then write novels about. But I do have to say that as a lead character, she isn't anything special.
Sure, she's kind of badass, you have to be kind of badass if you want to
survive, traveling alone all over the place, especially if you're a girl
(I say this not because girls are weaker, but I figure girls are more
likely to be raped). And she's not a flat character; she is interesting. But there wasn't anything about her that makes me see her as different. Then there was Hermes.
A talking motorbike. That is awesome in and of itself. Hermes does not need anything else to make him interesting. But really, his personality amused me.
I'm pretty sure I have now seen what Kero-chan (Card Captor Sakura) would
be like if he randomly transformed into a motorbike one day instead of a
rather enormous cat. Those were the only two major characters.
Everyone else you saw for about the duration of the episode, sometimes
less, and I really don't want to go into detail on any of those people
because I feel like it would be too spoilerish of me to do so.
I will say though, that some of those other people who show up are
distinctly brilliant. Even for the characters that you only met for an episode, I felt like I'd
known them a long time. That's always a good feeling to get.
The Setting: Kino's Journey
In Kino's Journey, the setting is an extreme standout. If she just stayed in one place the entire series, then no, I don't think
any of them would have stood out to me excessively well.
Each place, as an individual location, while interesting, was nothing
special. It's like Clearwater, Florida versus Beaverton, Oregon (both places I have
lived, both places I have loved).
They're both interesting and great places to be, but they aren't anything
spectacular in comparison to all of the other cities I've been to or
passed through in my life. Taken as a conglomerate though, it's fantastic.
When you get to see all the different places in this single world, see
this one person travel to all of them and experience how different they
are with her, that's when it's something awesome. It's kind of beautiful, even when some of the places kind of aren't.
In one country, for example, the one with the library, most books are
restricted. It's a matter of the books you may read.
As a great lover of books, the censorship of reading material makes me
rage. But there is also a group in that country who is determined to make the
books accessible to everyone, and to me, that is spectacular. And
realistic.
In real life, you do have that combination of terrible and wonderful in
the same place heck, the same person. So for being realistic and harsh, but beautiful, I applaud the setting of
Kino's Journey.
Conclusion?
The best word I can think to use for describing this anime is unique. Honestly, I've never seen anything like it before. That's something I love.
These days it seems like everything is too similar to everything else. And I don't mean that as much of an insult to current anime, as there are
definitely series more recent that I love and enjoy.
But it seems like people are running out of creativity sometimes, so
seeing something like just made me so ridiculously happy I can't even tell
you.
I definitely recommend it as something you should go watch (Kino's Journey Crunchyroll) right now. I'm trying to think of comparisons here.
I can't think of any direct comparisons, but...if you like anime that is
simple, but also intense and powerful, you'll like Kino's Journey.
If you want a series that has just one primary plot, not so much (though
I'd still suggest giving it a shot) and...well really that's about it. This series was so...its own thing, that I can't even come up with
anything to compare it to. Intense, bro.
My rating: 10/10
Behold. That is how much I enjoyed this series.
Miscellaneous: Kino's Journey
The three extraneous episodes are called The Tower Country, Life Goes On, and The Land of Sickness. As I said before, these are not included in the DVD set.
Fan Art: Kino's Journey
Kino's Journey | |
| Episodes | 13 |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Adventure, Slice of Life (really MAL?) |
| Aired | April 8, 2003 to July 8, 2003 |
| Directed by | Ryutaro Nakamura |
| Producers | WOWOW, Genco, A.C.G.T., Studio Wombat (plausibly the greatest studio name ever) |
| Opening Theme | All the Way by Mikuni Shimokawa |
| Closing Theme | Beautiful World by Ai Maeda / Hajimari no Hi by Ai Maeda |
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