Overview:
“The world is not beautiful, therefore it is.” A story about Kino, who travels around the world with nothing but her guns for protection and talking motorcycle Hermes. Kino travels to many mystical worlds, each with its unique customs and people, and learns about the world through their stories, at times conjuring humor and inspiration or other times piercing cynicism. However, Kino has her own custom, to stay no longer than three days in every town without exception, as it is enough time to learn almost everything important about the place while still leaving time to explore new lands.
– From Crunchyroll
Review:
Kino’s Journey wasn’t really on my radar but it came up on Crunchyroll and seemed like it could be a bit interesting, plus I read a couple of other blogger’s first impressions and it seemed like it would be worth trying. This first episode is slow and yet tells a complete story and is oddly compelling.
As a main character, Kino is still something of an enigma and in this episode acts largely as a passive observer. It kind of reminded me a bit of Mushishi in the way that events just kind of happen rather than the MC instigating things. My problem with that is I find these sorts of stories a little dull as a rule.
Still, for a first episode I enjoyed this. The country we visited was interesting and Kino encountered enough colourful characters to draw us into this world. I do want to know why the motorcycle talks and why other characters just respond to it as though that is perfectly normal, but even if that is never explained I somehow doubt that is going to make or break this journey. It seems like it will be pretty episodic given they’ve already established that Kino is only going to stay three days in each place.
All and all, I think this could be good, but we’ll see how the next couple of episodes go.
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Thanks,
Karandi James.
I’m a big fan of the original Kino anime, so I am a bit mixed on this. On the one hand I tend to be skeptical of remakes that don’t feel like they’re doing anything radically different, but the original is one of my favorites, and if they’ve managed to recapture that mellow, minimalist, idea driven style that the original executed so well, then I welcome the chance to return to that peaceful world, and hear more interesting stories.
Side note, fans of this series might also enjoy Ursula K. LeGuin’s Changing Planes, which is also an anthology of short stories where an outsider travels from place to place, marveling at the different ways in which people order their societies.
Loved the first episode and hope it will continue in this way ☺
It would be some nice and relaxing viewing for the season if it did.
Damn it… So much to talk about, but I don’t want to spoil anything for you.
Just know that it’s a very rabbit-hole kind of anime.
thought id check this out to see if the original adaptation was worth watching. i agree that it seems pretty interesting. i like the ideas that were brought up in the seemingly lawless country. it runs counter to our expectations of what would happen if there werent rules set by a higher order and makes me wonder how viable a society like that is.
I’ve been told I should watch the original but I’m just not sure where I would find that (other than kissanime which I was told it is on but I don’t use it).
i think you’re stuck with finding a dvd to watch the original legally
For what it’s worth, it’s totally worth the purchase.