Friday, September 21, 2007 - ANIME REVIEW: Kino's Journey

Ok, here's marathon review #2: Kino no Tabi (Kino's Journey).


Title: Kino's Journey (Kino no Tabi)
Genre: Adventure
Episodes: 13
Year: 2003


Animation
Kino's Journey has an animation style all its own. The characters all look just a little different than you're used to, but not so much as to look bad, just unique. The backgrounds vary in this anime, from being very detailed and picturesque, to being sketchy. However, the latter is only used when the background is an unimportant part of what is going on. When Kino is driving around, finding new places, detail is important. When dramatic scenes are unfolding, and memories are being revealed, the focus is on the dialogue, and so the background becomes less important.

When the detail is present, it is abundant. All of the countries Kino visits have their own unique feel to them, and the attentions to detail is what makes them so nice to look at. You'll rarely find a scene where you really hate what the place looks like.
14 / 15


Storyline
The storyline of Kino's Journey is definitely a unique one. Kino is a traveler, with her partner Hermes, and they travel to many different countries learning as much as she can about the world. Each country she visits is unique in its own way, and each time she comes away having learned something new.

The anime goes through several different countries in Kino's world, and uses Kino's inquisitive nature as a way to describe the history of each country, and why things turned out the way they did. This allows for a very fleshed-out world. The only thing that doesn't make sense is how little connection each country seems to have with each other. Sometimes, it seems like Kino is visiting a neighboring country, Sometimes, though, she might as well be visiting another planet, where conditions are almost exactly the opposite.

Quite possibly the best part about this anime is how it uses Kino's different experiences to analyze quite deeply many philosophical questions that can be applied to our society as well. Oftentimes, these themes are presented as extremes of topics we are familar with, such as morality and democracy. You can't come away from Kino's Journey without having put a little thought into each of the themes presented, and whether or not you form an opinion on them is irrelevent. Kino's Journey sets out to make the viewers think, and I guarantee you, it will. And it will do so better than most other animes, especially considering how many different ideas are explored.
29 / 30

Characters
Kino's Journey features a huge cast of characters, but because of the nature of the anime, most are temporary characters who Kino happens to meet on her travels.

Kino is best described as an optimistic realist. She keeps a positive outlook on life, and she deals with situations seemingly coldly. She doesn't have time nor desire to be compassionate, unless there's a good reason for it. But, this unreactive personality allows her to look at the different countries' policies from a neutral stance.

Hermes, Kino's traveling partner, is quite a strange one. However, his purpose in the anime is to allow Kino to discuss the different ideas they are exposed to. While Kino is optimistic and realistic, Hermes is more of the philosophical character; he is Kino's foil as a character. These two seemingly opposed personalities means that a theme can be explored from different angles, but they can still come to an agreement on some issues. This is an important part of Hermes' character. He also serves to a lesser extent as comic relief, but not enough to throw off the serious tone of the anime.

Temporary characters in the anime all play a very specific role, usually tied directly into the theme of their particular episode. These characters vary greatly, and offer Kino the chance to question the theme being analyzed, to learn more about the situation so as to have a good opinion on it when the episode is finished. In these roles, the temporary characters are often made very well, but some can be a bit on the unrealistic side. Sometimes, this is story-related. Sometimes, unfortunately, its just the way the character had to be to fit the role.

The only thing to be said about Kino's Journey is that there seems to be little character development across the episodes. Obviously, the temporary characters are going to show noticable change, because they're only there for one, or maybe two episodes. However, the main characters, Kino and Hermes, seem to go through the whole series unchanged. They have new experiences, they learn all sorts of new things, but they always seem to be the same. In an anime like this, I would deem development as an important issue, and I just don't see it in Kino's Journey, unfortunately.
23 / 30

Music
Music in Kino's Journey is done very well. The opening and ending themes will really grow on you, and stick in your mind. The music used in the anime itself is usually more subtle, and though you might not notice it directly, it almost always enhances the feeling of the situation.

One interesting thing you'll notice in this anime is the usage of silence to emphasize something important. It happens quite often, and usually one would expect very dramatic sound in the background. Here, often, the music is made apparent right up until that moment, at which it all cuts out, and all you hear is the dialogue. It has a surprisingly powerful effect, even though it happens more than a couple times in the anime.
13 / 15

Suitable Length
Kino's Journey spans 13 episodes, and currently has two small OVA movies and an extra episode, dubbed "Episode 0". The thing about Kino's Journey is that, since each episode is seemingly disconnected from the others, there is technically infinite possibility for episodes, as each one could introduce a whole new country with new ideas to analyze. However, if it was too much longer, Kino's Journey could very well feel like its drawn out. Kino's Journey may never end, but the anime has to eventually, and 13 episodes does give the anime time to examine many major themes. It also makes it of perfect marathon size, as well, for you marathoners out there!
8 / 10

GRAND TOTAL: 87 / 100