Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Let’s talk about Kino’s Journey. Based off a light novel written by Keiichi Sigsawa in 2000 and still continuing to this day, Kino’s Journey on the surface, seems like a simple story about a girl who travels from kingdom to kingdom but in truth there’s actually a deep and underlining philosophical theme to this series. The series actually explores the themes of loneliness, love, nonsense, tragedy, and beauty that we see in the world and explores all this stuff in a philosophical manner. Over the years the series has gained quite the following and in 2003 the series got an anime. While many people didn’t watch the anime, those that did watch it praised the series greatly. But sadly, it wasn’t enough to warrant a second season until 2017 when Lerche (Assassination’s Classroom) took my advice and decided to bring back the series to the modern era and today we’re here to look at it. Many people were confused on what to call this season. A remake, reboot, or a continuation from the first season? Whatever people called it, they tuned in to watch and loved it. Let’s head off on a journey, this is Kino’s Journey.
Opening and Ending Theme
The opening is “here and there” by Nagi Yanagi who is in my honest opinion is one of the best singers in Japan. The song is sung wonderfully, the beat is set to the right tempo and matches up perfectly with the opening animation to convey the theme of the anime and that is the world is beautiful. Though it can be tough, hard, unfair, and tragic, if you look hard enough, you’ll find beauty of it.
The ending is “Satoutama no Tsuki” by Nagi Yanagi. One of my favorite endings from 2017. Once again Nagi’s majestic voice just takes me on a journey this song fits perfectly with the series. The song is very calm and is asking you to not only take in everything you just watched but to think about it as well. This song is a perfect representation of Kino’s Journey. You watch it and then you take a moment to think about what you just saw and ask yourself questions.
Episodes 1-4
We start the anime off with Kino voiced by Aoi Yuki (Diane from Nanatsu no Taizai) talking to Hermes voiced by Sōma Saitō (Tatsumi from Akame ga Kill) where she wonders what kind of person she is (a person who’s a witness to the insanity and stupidity of the world. Welcome to the club). As she talks, she comes to the conclusion that she continues to travel because she seeks to understand herself and the world she’s in before falling asleep (scene here: https://youtu.be/k5AYf7WMrVA). The next morning Kino and Hermes are driving on the road to the next country where they stop to talk to another traveler who’s also heading there and informs them that the country allows its people to freely murder people without any repercussions (so it’s like the Purge only all year long). The traveler plans to move there saying he hated his old country because everyone was so uptight about following the rules. Kino and Hermes arrive in the country where to their surprise everything is normal and peaceful (this is. . .shocking. In a good way). Despite the fact that murder is legal in the country and everyone carries a gun around, everyone is very kind and welcoming, and don’t seem to have any malice in their actions (scene here: https://youtu.be/eo3YYBiJVKw). Keeping to her 3-day rule, Kino stays in the country for 3 days taking in the sights and talking to citizens (also, everyone can hear Hermes and aren’t the least bit shocked or scared by a talking motorrad. Well at least we know Kino’s not crazy now. In the 2003 version it was unknown if Hermes could really talk or just a figment of Kino’s imagination. Here, they establish that he can talk and be heard by everyone around him). On the third day, Kino is about to leave when all of a sudden that traveler she met on her way here tries to kill her in the middle of town but she gets saved by the townspeople because he’s disturbing the peace (everybody in that town has killed before and want to stop killing and live a peaceful life. And there’s this dumbass trying to disturb the peace over some petty shit. Also, just because a country allows something doesn’t mean it’s okay to do it). The townspeople kill him and Kino leaves the country with Hermes where she sees another traveler heading toward the country not because he wants to kill people but because he wants to live peacefully. He came from a country where he was forced to kill other people in order to live and now he doesn’t want to kill anymore and just live a peaceful life. Kino tells him to head towards the country saying he’ll fit right in and then continues on her travels.
Episode 2 is actually a remake of episodes 6 and 7 from the original anime (and they’re some of my favorite episodes). In the episode, Kino gets fooled into going to a country said to be prosperous and beautiful only to arrive and see that the country is the exact opposite. Not only that but she gets forced to fight in the colosseum and participate in a tournament where if she wins she’ll become a citizen of the country and be allowed to make any rule she wants (scene here: https://youtu.be/aIsqNcspvA8). Hermes overhears the guards talking about the country and finds out that the country really used to be prosperous under the rule of the old king who was a generous man except with his son who he was very strict with (tough love). The son no longer able to stand his father’s strict parenting finally snapped and killed him taking over the throne and killing off anyone who opposed him. His wife not being able to deal with the grief of his actions left the country with their children and out of anger the king created the colosseum in order to force people to fight for citizenship. At first the citizens were troubled by this (as they should be. I mean we’re not in Rome) but once the king allowed them to do whatever they want and live a comfy life their complaints soon went away and they accepted this new lifestyle (spoil them and make them lazy to get rid of their worries). Now unfortunately, the episode goes pretty much downhill after we find out all this information. In the first anime this was a two-part episode so we got to see some cool fights (which are impressive for a series that isn’t known for its fight scenes), got to learn a little more about the king, the other fighters, and the country as well. Here, we don’t get any of that. Because everything is crammed into one episode, we don’t get a chance to learn about the king or the fighters, see cool fights scenes, or learn about the state of the country. Instead, everything is rushed through up until the final part. But, here’s the twist to all of this, this episode follows the light novel. Yeah, Keiichi doesn’t give much depth or detail about the kingdom, the king, or the other participants in the tournament. All that stuff from the first anime was all anime-only stuff (so what we have here is another rare occasion where the anime actually did something better than the source material). After Kino makes it to the finals (not killing anyone and forcing them to yield) she fights against a swordsman named Shizu who actually has a talking dog named Riku (we have a talking motorrad so a talking dog doesn’t surprise me) and proves to be a match for Kino until she pulls out her second gun and forces him to surrender (otherwise she’s gonna blow your head off. Scene here: https://youtu.be/p_9p3TdcoP4). Once Kino is declared the winner she fires her gun off missing Shizu and killing the king with a massive headshot (his head exploded and everything). Kino then makes the rule that now everyone will fight and the last one left standing will become the new king. As soon as she says this everyone starts fighting and the country implodes (wow, Kino bought down an entire country with one bullet). Kino and Hermes escape where she vents her frustration for being tricked into going to the country by throwing rocks in a lake (take that water). Shizu and Riku show up where we find out he was the son of the king and was planning on killing his father to end his madness (too bad Kino beat you to the punch). He thanks Kino for everything, says he has no intention of becoming king, and offers to escort Kino to the next country but she declines (a boy and a girl traveling together. That usually doesn’t end well. (Yume): Hey! What about when we traveled all over Japan together? That went well. (Nitsuj): Yeah but half the time I was fighting my urge to cross the line with you. And that kiss in the park didn’t help the situation). So, they head their separate ways and Kino heads toward the next country.
In episode 3 Kino and Hermes come across a country that is constantly moving (Howl’s Moving Country. The sequel to Howl’s Moving Castle. Coming next Summer and directed by Hayao Miyazaki who has come out of retirement for like the 50th time). The reason for this is because the country is very technologically advanced and the country’s core power needs to exert all that energy or it’ll explode. Kino and Hermes gain entrance into the country who are more than happy to let them in and show them around (scene here: https://youtu.be/R_FweFYXX2U). The people there live a pretty good life free of worries and problems thanks to their advanced technology and the people there are all nice and welcoming. But the one downside of this country is that they leave a path of wreckage to the environment. Where ever they go, they damage the environment around them. While certainly not intentional and something they do their best to minimize, the country unfortunately destroys the environment around them and does nothing to help fix it (most likely because they can’t stop but still, with your advanced technology couldn’t you make the country fly in the air or something?). The highlight of this episode comes when the country reaches another country and asks for permission to pass through. The other country says no and opens fire on them where their cannon fire does nothing and the moving country gains access into the country by using a laser to cut through the wall. In order to avoid harming people, the moving country travels fast and through the agricultural fields destroying them (and possibly the infrastructure along with starving God knows how many people). The other country tries to attack them again with smaller cannons which do no damage however they do damage the mural painted by the children as part of their graduation gift (now I don’t know who’s the evil country here). Kino helps out by taking out her snipper rifle and taking out their small cannons all while looking cool doing it (scene here: https://youtu.be/FB5AFFMLaZc). The moving country finally makes it out of the other country who demand compensation for the damages but the moving country doesn’t comply and continues moving forward. There are, a lot of ways to interpret this episode. Starting with the moving country, one can interrupt their actions as the drive to move forward while trampling those weaker than you (literally). One can interrupt the actions of this country as evil as they continue to travel with no sign of remorse for their actions and one could say their actions are bothersome to others (just like how one country decides to do one thing can affect another country). But on the other hand I can’t really see the people of this country as evil. While it’s true they’re harming the environment it’s not like they take joy out of it. Even the guy who shows Kino around says the people of the country feel bad about what they do and are prepared to carry that burden. The other country can have multiple interpretations as well. On the one hand you do feel sorry for this country as they just got invaded, had their farmlands destroyed, and are given no compensation. But on the other hand, the country kind of had it coming. We find out that the country’s wall stretches quite far meaning the only way to pass through the region is to go through their country and they use that wall to extort travelers (in a way the question we have to ask is who’s the lesser of the two evils here?). Once they pass through the country, Kino and Hermes take their leave where even Kino admits that the country is bothersome but not evil (pretty much sums up about 90% of the world).
Episode 4 takes us for a bit of a trip as instead of focusing on Kino we instead focus on Shizu and Riku, the prince and talking dog from episode 2 (you know, where Kino blew the head off the king and destroyed an entire country?). In the episode they board a giant ship which so happens to be a country (another traveling country? Well at least this one doesn’t bother other people). Once in the country, Shizu meets the Tower Clan, mysterious people who govern the country (Illuminati confirmed). They give Shizu the choice to either act as a lawman and help maintain order on the ship during his stay or work side by side with the people in order to pay for his trip. He chooses to work with the people, but they really have nothing for him to do so instead he just explores the ship with his guide Ti, a silent girl. While on the ship he discovers that there are areas that are submerged in water due to damages and figures out that it’s only a matter of time before the ship succumbs to these damages and sinks (it’ll be the Titanic all over again). The people don’t seem worried about these damages so Shizu directs his complains to the Tower Clan who say they have no intention of fixing the ship and if the people should die than that is their fate (uh no, this whole thing could be avoided if you stopped being cheap and lazy and fix the damages to the ship). A lawman comes out to fight Shizu where it gets revealed that it’s Kino and the two stop fighting. The Tower Clan believe the two staged this to happen as a way to overthrow them, so they stay course and refuse to go to land. This causes Shizu and Kino to team up and take out the Tower Clan where we find out that they weren’t human but instead an advanced computer program. Shizu steers the ship towards land and tells the people to leave the ship and live on land but they refuse to leave the ship. Even when Shizu tells them the possibility of the ship sinking in the foreseeable future, they still refuse to leave the ship and board it once again except for Ti who sticks with Shizu and stabs him with a knife (the fuck?). Through Hermes we find out that those people have lived on the ship their whole lives. Their parents came from another ship when they were just kids (the parents died from a plague). The Tower Clan (which as I said before is a computer program) found the kids and took them in. The Tower Clan had thoughts about sending everyone to land but was afraid the kids couldn’t protect and care for themselves so the program decided to keep them on the ship looking after them (an unknown prison at sea). As for Ti, she’s an outsider. Her parents were travelers and gave birth to her while they were in the country but soon abandoned her. Since she was an outsider nobody wanted to be bothered with her and everyone kept their distance. Now, she has nowhere to go and she blames Shizu for this (which is true, he did kind of screw her over). After taking the stab Shizu just hugs her and says that from now on she can travel with him promising not to abandon her. She accepts but it looks like Shizu will be breaking that promise as he’s bleeding out (liar). As Shizu slowly dies, Ti takes out a grenade and prepares to kill herself along with him (this is a dark ending) but Kino shoots the grenade away and performs first aid on Shizu to save his life in the nick of time (a little rushed, but still a good episode).
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 is an interesting and sad episode (it’s also the first episode where Kino doesn’t have to pull out her gun). Kino’s in a country and exploring the house of the country’s first president who overthrew the old government and established presidency. Much like Kino, he too was a traveler until he decided to settle down into the country and used his knowledge to make the country better (something I wish our president would do. Scene here: https://youtu.be/QxLP2estYx0) and just like Kino, he also had a motorrad and it talks (getting it to save money on gas is the trick). Once alone, the motorrad begins to talk to Kino and Hermes and he’s depressed. He hates being locked up and put on display, he desires to be ridden (understandable, he’s a motorrad. His purpose is to have people ride him). He begs Kino to break him out but she says no and then he begs her to smash him into pieces but she refuses again (let’s not try to piss off the country) and he just gives up (scene here: https://youtu.be/ejzvjZTILaE). The next day comes and before Kino takes off a little boy asks her how he can become a traveler like her (watch the townsfolk kill a traveler for no reason and while nobody’s looking take off with their motorrad. This comment will make sense later on) and she indirectly tells him to steal the former president’s motorrad (that can work too. Although good luck trying to return). In the second half, Kino enters another country where the first person she meets is a man asking if she’s seen his lover who spontaneously decided to go on a journey a few years ago and hasn’t returned (I’m pretty sure she either ran away from him or needed some space). While staying at a lodge, Kino finds out that the country used to be ruled by a tyrannical king until he was overthrown in the revolution (viva la. . .whatever the country’s name is) and the man was one of the leaders in the revolution. He met a farm girl one day (country girl. . .their natural beauty can charm even the city boy into submission) and the two instantly fell in love with each other. He hid the fact that he was part of the revolution from her, and on the day of the revolution he was the one who single-handedly killed the royal family by blowing up their car and inside that car was his lover who all this time was the princess in disguise (https://youtu.be/kdhhQhqi_AE). Not being able to handle the fact that the person he loved was the person he hated the most and said person was killed by his hands, he lost his mind and soon began wandering the streets asking where his lover was (her hand is stuck in a tree, her leg is in the bushes, I think I saw her liver in a bird’s nest, and the rest of her is buried in the cemetery). No longer able to watch the man suffer, a doctor lied to him and told him his lover left on a journey and that she would return one day. Since then he’s waited for her impossible return (I don’t see a zombie attack happening anytime soon) while the townspeople hired a young lady who was a traveler to look after him and continue to lie to him to this day. On the day that Kino is about to leave she runs into the traveler taking care of the man where we get another twist and find out she’s his lover. The people the man killed were doubles. The real royal family escaped to neighboring countries to live in peace but the princess couldn’t forget the man she loved and returned to be with him because she loves him and if she revealed her true identity the people would learn that the royal family is still alive and would go after them. After having some tea, Kino finally leaves the country where we get one final twist (this has got to be M. Night Shyamalan’s favorite episode), the man knows everything. He’s not crazy nor is he mentally ill, he is fully aware that the traveler is his lover and the townspeople are lying to him. Yet, despite all of this he is determined to keep up this act saying he likes things the way they are and doesn’t want to ruin it for anyone (it’s a country full of liars).
Episode 6 takes us for another trip as we move away from Kino once again and focus on a young slave girl in the mountains traveling with this rich family. The young girl was an orphan in her country and since the country didn’t have enough money to pay for supplies, they sold the girl to the rich family where they treat her like crap. The kid throws rocks at her, calls her stupid, and even begs his father to let him kill her which he agrees to let him do (you guys are sick fucks). Despite the situation she’s in she doesn’t hate her owners believing that this is all a trial to test her fate for the future (scene here: https://youtu.be/ssPd1wTtcGU). At dinner as everyone is about to eat, the young girl realizes that the herbs they used to make the soup are poisonous (alright, divine justice). She tries to warn them but it’s too late as they chow down and die (serves them all right). One of them barely survives but is slowly dying from the poison. The young girl begs the man to kill her because she blames herself for the murder of the family (how is it your fault? They’re the ones who traveled in the mountains without researching the plant life in the area. Their deaths, were caused by their own stupidity). The man tells her how to use a gun where he tricks her into killing him leaving her alone where she hears the voice of a motorrad in one of the trucks. The motorrad named Sou talks to her, tells her it’s not her fault that everyone died (she gets it or he I don’t know) and convinces her to keep on living (scene here: https://youtu.be/HK0DwH_Yw6M). Sou teaches her how to drive a truck and leave the mountain leaving behind the dead bodies (I’m sure the vultures will take care of them) where Kino comes across them. Years later we see that the young girl settled down in a country where they gave her the name Photo because she’s a photographer and is living a happy life.
Episode 7 goes by quickly but at the same time is an interesting episode. This episode focuses on Kino’s master and her apprentice at the time (now in the original anime they never really talked about Kino’s master. Even her real name is a mystery to us. All we know is that Kino was warned not to mention her name or if anybody asked about her, Kino should feign ignorance and not know who she is. Just that warning tells us that she’s someone you don’t want to mess it and who has a made a few enemies in her travels). In the episode, Kino tells Hermes a story about her master’s past where the master and her apprentice entered a country with a corrupted government (just like real corruption it starts at the top and makes its way towards the bottom) where the apprentice is falsely accused for selling illegal drugs and thrown in jail while the master is told to leave the country. She leaves the country only to return to save the apprentice where she distracts the police force with small fires all over town (these guys have flammable garbage?). She rescues her apprentice and they decide to make a stand against the corrupt government by raiding the armory and locking themselves in the country’s clocktower which also served as the HQ for the government locking them all out. From there they would fire on the police but didn’t kill them (just shot them in the knees). The police tried to reclaim the tower, but all of their attempts failed until they finally cave in and beg for them to leave, promising no retaliation or consequences for their actions. The master however wants money and extorts the country for it where they have no choice but to give in and meet her demands (scene here: https://youtu.be/LcTxnXja-nM, that is one scary woman. I can only imagine what Kino will be like when she gets older). After the story Kino and Hermes make it to the kingdom where the story took place in and see that the place has changed for the better. The government is no longer corrupted and the master and her apprentice are hailed as heroes. The only change is in their story where instead of being seen as shivery cowards begging for them to leave, this whole ordeal instead open the eyes of the people to the corruption of the country and it encouraged the country to change for the better which they did (they turned themselves into heroes. Scene here: https://youtu.be/19Ffja-OgP4).
In episode 8 we return to Shizu, Riku and Ti. After Shizu’s injury has healed up, the group heads out to the next country which appears to be a metropolis country similar to the USA (which seems to have that pre-Trump feel to it). Shizu reveals to Ti that his ultimate goal is to settle down in a country and live out his days peacefully (unlike a certain girl who prefers to keep traveling). Their first day was good and they find out the place welcomes immigrants as long as they work and pay taxes (definitely pre-Trump USA). The second day was not so good. While the group is at a gas station a teacher comes out covered in blood and holding the head of one of his students (oh my God that’s some dark imagery). Shizu manages to knock the man out before he kills anyone else and they go to his classroom where we see he killed all his students. We find out that many centuries ago this country had slaves and they controlled them by planting tiny machines into their brains and using radio waves to tell them what to do. Centuries went by and for reasons still unknown to this day the slaves were freed and the country soon became the country it is today. The radio outpost is unfortunately still functioning and sends waves which causes the citizens to go on a killing spree (are you sure the guy just wasn’t mentally unstable?). The citizens are afraid to go near the outpost as the waves get stronger and drive them mad when they get close, so Shizu offers to handle this situation for them (free of charge. Personally, I would have charged them an arm and a leg to fix this problem). Shizu and the others make it out to the outpost where they find that it’s completely destroyed and has been out of commission for years (so the people of this country have been lying themselves in order to believe that everything in our country is perfect when really you have a few crazy people running around). Shizu takes pictures as evidence for the people (scene here: https://youtu.be/fjW6uBE0Xvw) and when he returns to tell the news they all turn against him (now we’re entering Trump USA territory). They refuse to accept the truth and believe that he’s now under the influence of the radio waves and needs to be contained as well as the others. This of course doesn’t sit well with Ti who grabs a baby and threatens to blow herself up with the child (holy shit this is way too much Ti. I appreciate the enthusiasm but still too much). Realizing that it’s time to go (you think?) Shizu pretends that he and the others are under the influence of the radio waves and need to leave the country immediately. So they take the sheriff as their hostage and leave the country where they drop him off and head on their way. In the third act of the episode the group is in another kingdom that has a high crime rate and while Shizu is out earning money we spend the day with Ti where we see that she’s slowly opening up to Shizu and Riku (plus, she’s just adorable. Scene here: https://youtu.be/2pukfF2g7SU). Now, a lot of people seem to take issue with episodes that take the focus away from Kino (I mean the anime is called Kino’s Journey for a reason) but to be fair the author did make some side chapters using these characters and they offer a different perspective than Kino. Kino acts as an observer whenever she visits a country. She doesn’t get overly involved in the dealings of the country unless she’s forced to. Even when she hears stuff that can very much change the viewpoints of people in said country, she keeps it to herself and goes about her business. Shizu does the opposite. He gets involved in the dealings of the country because unlike Kino he’s looking for a place to settle down in and believes that by performing these good acts he’ll earn the favor of the country who will be more open to his demands.
Episodes 9-12
We get a slew of stories in episode 9. We start with two bandits on the lookout trying to rob people. The young bandit spots Shizu’s group and says they should rob them (bad idea) but the older bandit stops him saying that Shizu is a skilled swordsman, sees the grenade in Ti’s hand, and because they have a dog with good senses, they’ll be spotted and killed easily (scene here: https://youtu.be/zIbD1LfYlkI, smart man). Sometime later Kino passes through (and 10 points to the young bandit for recognizing her as a girl. Plus, a bonus 5 points for calling her cute) and the young bandit says they should rob her but once again the older bandit stops him pointing out that the fact she’s traveling alone means she knows how to defend herself and has seen her share of fights (scene here: https://youtu.be/mZ_42vDn5mk, this guy has good insight). We find out a few minutes later that the reason the older bandit is so good at reading his opponents is because in the past, he and a few other bandits tried to rob 2 travelers and all of them but him got taken out. Who were these two travelers, Kino’s master and her apprentice (as you would imagine, the experience traumatized him). In the next story, Kino arrives in a country that values virtue. Using this virtue system, citizens receive points for their virtuous actions which they can use to get stuff and even use those points to get away with a crime (as nice as this system sounds, it’s very flawed). The whole idea of the system is to erase the delusion of if a good person does a bad deed than we automatically assume that person is bad, and if a bad person does a good deed we automatically assume that person is good (aka, one good deed doesn’t resolve a man of his crimes, but one bad deed is enough to condemn him). Kino is talking to a man who was once an inventor and president of the country. Through his years of virtuous deeds, he has accumulative enough points to where he can actually kill someone and get away with it without any repercussions for his actions and the frightening part is he wants to kill someone. He spent his whole life earning points just, so he can kill someone, anyone, and get away with it (you are a sociopath sir). His plan was to kill Kino, but Kino could sense this and has kept her hand on her revolver this whole time ready to fire should he try anything. Afraid of dying, he gives up on Kino and as he walks through the streets a lady comes up to him asking him to bless her child. At first you think he’s going to kill the baby (I seriously thought he was going to do it) but instead he blesses the child and whispers don’t become like him in the future. In the next country, the chefs of said country mistake Kino for a traveling master chef and beg her to cook for them. She makes them a dish and despite the fact that Kino’s cooking skills are lackluster and on par with that of Shizuku’s skills in the kitchen (*somewhere in the system Shizuku sneezes* (Shizuku): Someone’s talking about me. I don’t know why, but I think I need to punch Nitsuj later on) they seem to like it (scene here: https://youtu.be/nyRtkWyb3j0). We then check in on Shizu’s group where we see people writing down their wishes on paper and then sticking them to a statue. Ti writes down a wish as well which is having everyone’s wish come true (scene here: https://youtu.be/N8C3A4H_XYA, aww~, that was sweet of her). We cut back to Kino where she enters a country and then leaves not remembering anything because that’s the law of the country. Before entering the country, Kino was asked to sign a paper which said that she would be allowed to visit however she would have to drink a potion erasing all of her memories of the country (wow, a country so fun you forget about it). Hermes however remembers everything however he’s under oath not to tell Kino anything (that, and he loves messing with her). The final country is a special and takes place after the credits. Kino goes through the country of anime afterword. That’s right, Kino is actually traveling through the message of the anime’s afterword which was written by Sigsawa himself. He writes about how he’s always wanted to have an animated afterword, thanks everybody for watching the anime, and gives us words of encouragement telling us to follow our dreams and never give up on them (as you can see Sigsawa’s dream came true so why can’t yours?).
Episode 10 is a real tearjerker of an episode (and it was actually the last episode in the original). Kino and Hermes are heading to a country that has been known to be rude to travelers (https://youtu.be/73GOfY0Ab9g) and despite knowing this, Kino still wants to head there and see for herself if the rumors are true. Once they arrive, the country welcomes them with open arms and everything. They treat Kino like a celebrity and all throughout the episode you’re thinking something is up here, they’re up to something bad but no, they’re on the up and up. Hell, Kino enjoys the country so much that she’s even willing to break her one rule and stay in the country for another day or two (now this rule doesn’t come up in the anime often but trust me, it’s a big deal for her. No matter what country she goes to, she only stays for 3 days. It’s her golden rule and the one she refuses to break. The only time when she’ll break this rule is if she has no choice in the matter). On the third day she’s told to hurry up and leave where everyone in the country sees her off and even gives her a packed lunch for the road. When nighttime comes and she’s at a good enough distance from the country we finally see the twist the episode was building up to, the country being destroyed by a volcano. Yeah, no joke, a volcano erupts and the lava washes over the country killing everyone instantly and Kino sees the whole thing from a safe distance (oh God the feels). Kino sees a note in her lunch where it turns out that the adults of the country knew this was going to happen and refused to leave because this was their home and they had nowhere to go. In the past, the country did in fact treat anyone traveling through the country poorly and wanted to make it right by spending their last days making people remember their country in a good way but thanks to all the rumors nobody went near their country (even with a 10-foot pole). Until finally Kino showed up and gave her the best experience that she’ll never forget.
Episode 11 shows us the backstory of Kino. In Kino’s native country (where she had long hair, wore a dress, and had purple eyes) the children of said country undergo a surgery which turns them into adults on their 12th birthday. We never get to see the procedure but according to the adults, they literally go in, drill a hole in their head and suck out the child so they can grow up into proper adults (I don’t know about proper but they’ll definitely be adults. Out of all the countries we’ve seen so far this one is probably the most messed up and that’s saying something). With only 2 days until her operation, a traveler named Kino comes to her country (oh btw, Kino isn’t Kino’s real name. She doesn’t remember her real name) and he and young Kino hit it off well. While Kino is working on fixing up Hermes we see the young Kino and him talk about what it means to be a proper adult (that, and she sings for him. Scene here: https://youtu.be/fCs6QoZ81FI). To the young Kino being a proper adult means doing things you don’t like, doing the job your parents do, and not doing what you would like to do (well I won’t deny that being an adult means doing things I don’t like to do, but that doesn’t mean I have to give up the things I like doing. It’s just figuring out where they fit into my adult life. Also, do what you want to do not what your parents want you to do). Thanks to her talk with Kino, the young Kino begins to have second thoughts about the surgery and decides not to go through with it. When the young Kino tells her parents this they take exception to this (and by that I mean they fly off the handle calling her a monster for insulting the customs of her country. Your customs are messed up). The parents confront Kino about poisoning their daughter and while they won’t kill him, they ask that he leave immediately which he’s okay with. Young Kino however will be killed because she’s considered a defective product and considered the property of her parents so they have the right to kill her. Just before the dad can kill the young Kino, Kino sacrifices his life to save her. While everyone tries to pull the knife out of him, Hermes speaks to the young Kino and tells her to ride him if she wants to live. Following his instructions, she gets on Hermes and rides him out of the country (scene here: https://youtu.be/GiiN4kXdIJQ).
In the final episode (no~ stay for another 3 days) Kino and Hermes are making their way through an open field full of wild sheep who begin chasing after them (those are some fast sheep. I wonder what Kino did to piss them off?). Kino and Hermes are forced to go off road to escape a pincer trap where they come to a ravine and Kino has no choice but to leave Hermes behind for the time being in order to escape. Kino climbs down into the ravine and starts making her way up the river in the hopes of finding a good way out all while some of the sheep follow her (man this is a little scary. Who knew sheep could be so dangerous. I mean, this is like something out of Resident Evil. Don’t tell them, they’re desperate for ideas). The next day, Kino gets to a spot where the sheep have stopped following her and climbs out of the ravine where she finds a truck and a dead driver (killed by sheep. Something I’m sure he thought would never happen). Kino uses the truck to mow down the sheep and make her way back to Hermes where she creates a wall of fire using a gasoline tank and begins shooting sheep (oh my God, this is way more awesome than it should be. I am watching a reverse trap character go Rambo on a bunch of killer sheep and I’m enjoying every minute of it. This has been a weird review). After shooting down enough of them, Kino builds a ramp and uses Hermes to make it to the other side and to safety (the vultures are having sheep tonight). Kino and Hermes finally make it to the next country where we find out the sheep came from them and they’re actually fighting sheep (oh shit). In the past, the country would have the sheep fight each other (I’m guessing cock fights got boring after a while) but some animal activists shut down the wooly brawls and the country released the sheep out into the fields where they would have plenty of food and live peacefully (and then along came Kino). Kino of course doesn’t tell them about the sheep genocide she committed and enters the country (in her defense, they started it and she finished it). In the last part of the episode, Kino just takes a nap out in the field on a warm day saying that her journey is at an end for now but when she wakes back up a new journey will begin (I would tell you to count sheep but you’ve pretty much killed them all).
Final Thoughts
And that was Kino’s Journey. It’s fantastic, thought provoking, engaging, and just a good watch. The anime does a good job pulling in to the world of Kino and making you feel like you’re there with her. The experiences she goes through and the things she sees can all be felt as you watch the anime. The stories of the side characters were also good and offer us a new perspective of the world that we normally wouldn’t get from Kino. It’s hard to put into words all the good things about this anime, it’s just something you really have to watch and see in order to fully understand why this series has such high praise. The animation is very beautiful, I like the new character design of Kino and how she appears more androgynous and mature as opposed to her child-like appearance in the first anime. Speaking of the first anime, how does this version of the anime stack up to the first? Well, it’s down the middle. Both seasons are good, and each one does seem to have their positives and negatives. This season has better animation, music, and shows off the characters more. The first season on the other does seem to be a bit darker and actually takes its time more with the stories and the countries Kino visits thus giving us a more philosophical story to explore and think about. No matter which season you go with I think they’re both worth checking out and good animes to watch.
Final Score
The final score for Kino’s Journey is an 8.5/10 with a must watch stamp of approval. If you haven’t watched Kino or picked up the light novel, I highly recommend checking this series out as it doesn’t look down on its audience and treats you like an adult. The stories and ideas presented throughout the series are thought-provoking and philosophical, the characters are great and offer a different perspective about the world, and the atmosphere the anime creates just pulls you in. For anyone at Lerche, if you’re reading this, please do another season as we need more animes like Kino’s Journey. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.
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