Anime: Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World 4u2y1c

Una vez dije que Mushishi era un anime único al que no le encontraba equivalente. Pues parece que se me olvido la existencia de esta serie. No es que sean idénticas en temáticas y elementos, pero en cuanto a estructura si son parecidas, razón por la que es un producto con ideas interesantes pero con ciertas cosas que merman todo, pero me estoy adelantando. Kino no Tabi es un anime que se ha hecho un muy buen espacio dentro de los círculos de los fans más veteranos y especializados del anime, catalogándola como toda una joya muy infravalorada. Y no es por nada, el mero concepto da cabida a múltiples temas interesantes que están lastimosamente más apegados a la realidad de lo que creerías.



La premisa es esta, una chica llamada Kino viaja con su moto a través de múltiples países en los que dura unos días y noches para conocer sobre cada uno de ellos y proseguir con su viaje. Con todo esto, la serie logra meter una infinidad de ideas en cada una de las sociedades a las que Kino viaja, las cuales poseen características muy distintas las unas de las otras. Es posible que existan civilizaciones tan avanzadas que existan robots u otras más primitivas regidas por cosas como el feudalismo o la tiranía. El concepto, como les he dicho, es fenomenal, ya que es a través de dichas sociedades, de su cultura y su población se ponen de manifiesto distintas críticas con respecto a sus tradiciones, que aunque a para los habitantes sean normales son en realidad una serie de construcciones sociales por las que cometen toda una serie de actos de dudosa moralidad, aun si poseen una aceptable lógica detrás. El mensaje que se supone quiere dar es como la sociedad se va volviendo cínica y miserable por el estilo de vida de los pobladores que los condena a ser infelices y no arriesgarse a buscar una solución más practica a sus problemas y en lugar de eso prefieren mantener dicho sistema porque no conocen nada más. La serie además posee un ritmo lento para que te puedas sumergir más dentro del show y sentir que las cosas van de manera natural, que sumado a una buena atmosfera que da una sensación de calma y relajación hará que la inmersión sea mayor, no al nivel de Mushishi pero si a uno muy respetable, además que no es repetitiva o cancina y sí que es disfrutable.

El manejo de la dirección y la banda sonora van por lo mismo. El director es el mismo que el de Lain, así que ya puedes acerté una idea de lo genial que fue en cuanto al manejo de la atmosfera y los planos. Además se las apañó para darle un aire distinto a cada capítulo, dependiendo de su temática. La banda sonora no es algo espectacular pero queda con la serie, con el uso de guitarras, flautas o pianos enfatizan bien el tono calmado y melancólico de la serie. Lo más que le podría criticar a la serie son sus bajos valores de producción, no son malos, pero son limitados, además el dibujo no es muy consistente. Fuera de ello me agrada, tiene un estilo caricaturesco que contrasta con lo truculento de la historia (como con kaiba del 2008). Los colores marrones y verdosos le sintieron muy bien a los escenarios, los cuales son muchos he de mencionar, y todos son muy buenos e inmersivos, gracias a la buena ilustración y la creatividad de las ciudades, las vestimentas y el ambiente. Es algo que pese a sus notables inconvenientes es competente.

Ahora, como es posible que con un argumento tan lleno de significado, que se expande a temas socioculturales, religiosos y políticos con un contundente mensaje y una limitada pero bien manejada presentación visual y musical no solo me desagrade, sino que me parece una mala serie?. La respuesta es simple, y es que las ideas están ahí, pero su ejecución es vaga, por no decir deplorable.

Esto se debe a que lo único interesante es el setting y su funcionamiento, ya que no tiene nada más. No tiene personajes, no tiene trama, los temas son mal desarrollados, no tiene resolución y hay muchas cosas que no tienen sentido.

Se preguntaran, como es posible que no haya personajes si hay gente dentro del show. Simple, es verdad que hay mucha gente dentro de la serie, de hecho son cientos. Pero ninguno de ellos tiene relevancia como personas sino más bien su estilo de vida. Es lo único que importa aquí ya que tiene que ver con el setting, pero como personajes individuales no tienen nada, su “conflicto” es el mismo para todos los habitantes, gran parte de ellos cumplen más con la función de representar conceptos o de suministrar información del mundo que de ser personajes en sí. La protagonista ni siquiera tiene personalidad, solo está callada y reacciona cuando hay peligro. Fuera de ello, solo va por ahí viajando y siendo testigo de las atrocidades que comenten los habitantes de dichas sociedades y conocer parte de su cultura para que de tal modo entre toda la información en el show, y su moto es exactamente lo mismo que ella. Lo que me caga aún más es que no hace absolutamente nada, solo presencia y ya. Tiene un poco de profundización en un capítulo, pero aun así no posee nada más. Bastante flojo, blando y aburrido el reparto de “personajes” que tiene.

Y si tuviera que contar a cada uno como algo que contar no podría. Los “personajes” aparecen a penas en un solo capitulo y desaparecen salvo Kino y Hermes (la moto). Así que aun con lo que exponen carecen de cualquier ápice de relevancia y presencia real. Es como Mushishi pero aun peor ya que repito todos son herramientas argumentales, portavoces o representaciones.

Ello se debe a que es episódica, no importa lo que ocurra con la gente en el capítulo uno, porque en el segundo no existirán. Lo que me lleva a su otra gravísima contra, no tiene trama. El desarrollo de las distopias o las situaciones no se mantienen, de nuevo lo que pasa en el capítulo X no importa en Y y Z y viceversa. No sirven los capítulos para desarrollar un mundo inmenso como en Planetes, o para conocer más de los personajes como en el inicio de Haibane Renmei, ni siquiera están conectados temática como con Cowboy Bebop que también era auto conclusiva. Y se debe a que; primero, no existe un mundo que englobe todo y mantenga la construcción; segundo, los personajes como les dije son una mierda y no tienen relevancia; y tercero, aunque se supone que hay un mensaje principal, esto solo es deducible, no es como en Bebop donde todos los temas tenían un único mensaje que dar, aquí tienes miles de temas con mensajes propios disconexos los unos de los otros.

Y lo de episódico le causa más problemas si recordamos que nunca concluye todo lo que hemos visto de manera en que no sea un tremendo desperdicio, lastima. Pero al menos no sería tan malo si por lo menos desarrollase algo dentro de dichos capítulos, como en Mushishi, donde los personajes episódicos al menos se desarrollaban o maduraban, y le dan una resolución al problema presentado. Error, la serie ni siquiera desarrolla sus ideas. Lo que dije que lo único que importa era el funcionamiento de las distopias no era mentira, ni siquiera las desarrollan, no los exploran a profundidad o siquiera hacen algo con ellos.

El show no es pretencioso, por el contrario deja muy en claro sus puntos con respecto al mundo, que en verdad te pueden hacer replantearte diversos aspecto de la vida y la sociedad. Pero más allá de eso no hay nada, pongamos de ejemplo un evento histórico importante de la historia, como no sé, la revolución sa. Que la ocasionó? Por qué se produjo? Quienes la promovieron? Quienes la realizaron? Que posiciones e ideologías lucharon en ella? Qué resultados tuvo? Como afecto esto a Francia a largo plazo? .Eso y muchas otras preguntas lo puedes saber buscando en la internet o un libro, conoces todo el espectro sociopolítico, económico e histórico que la generó y sus repercusiones en la sociedad. No puedes hacer lo mismo con las distopias en Kino, que apenas conocemos las ideas para que funcionen y poco más, no el porqué están ahí o desde cuándo y un largo etcétera. Si comparase las distopias de Kino con kaiba, shinsekai yori o para irnos a las grandes ligas con LOGH, Battle Angel Alita o Eden: it’s an endless world! la violación será arrecha.

Y ni siquiera es que tengan una construcción de mundo plausible. Muchas de las ideas son locuras que ni te las creerías. Como esa distopia del poeta melancólico donde todos están tristes por el canto de una mísera niña que lo hace por una especie de tradición masoquista con poca lógica, o la de la democracia donde todos los habitantes fueron ejecutados por votación uno por uno hasta que no quedó nadie. Acaso está serie no conoce lo que es posible y lo que raya en lo ridículo? Entiendo los mensajes, que el despotismo causará un daño a su gente o que el exceso de libertad sumado al populismo son dañinos o por lo menos asi lo interpreto, pero coño, al menos dale una buena justificación a esos temas, no los manejes con la primera tontería que se te ocurra. No es algo que diré sea terrible, algunas distopias pese a lo ridículo de sus conceptos son algo (y digo ALGO) creíbles, pero la mayoría tienes que apagar el cerebro para no darte cuenta que la gente aquí es imbécil.

Además la sola premisa tiene muchos huecos argumentales, como la falta de explicaciones que les he dicho, o por qué no, como carajos es posible que todas estas naciones (algunas súper violentas e imperiales) no se hayan comunicado las unas con las otras?. Y ya que hablo de inconsistencias, como no decir las más obvias?, el montón de momentos convenientes o sin sentido en las que Kino se salva de la nada (aka deux ex machinas). Un ejemplo es cuando ella está en un coliseo, y de la nada mata al rey con un cañozado de su pistola que al parecer siempre tuvo, a pesar de que ni siquiera se habían dado pistas, o cuando Hermes cobró vida de la nada, sacadisimo del culo, y salva a Kino de una turba furiosa, o que el viejo Kino (el verdadero dueño de Hermes) se dejase apuñalar para salvarla a ella. Y cómo es posible que una chica que no había tenido entrenamiento militar o lo hayan mostrado sepa usar arsenal armamentístico y sea diestra en lucha cuerpo a cuerpo, sepa usar vehículos tan finamente o ande por ahí sola y aun así segura?

Y yendo directo al mensaje, no me agradan. Lo único que pude sacar es que todos estamos condenados a tener vidas miserables sin cambio. No estaría mal si al menos hubiese alguna catarsis o que los personajes intentasen resolver eso, pero no, el show simplemente no lo hizo y solo deja que todos somos una mierda y siempre lo seremos. Qué clase de mensaje pedorro es ese? Y piensas dar un mensaje pesimista al menos justifica el por que como con Berserk o Texhnolyze. Y el mensaje que lleva Kino consigo me parece contra intuitivo. Se supone que es sobre inspirar a la gente a dejar sus problemas, ya que como vimos en el primer capítulo, un hombre triste y solitario permanece dentro de su casa sin compañía, solo para que ella llegue y veamos como ella al estar consciente del problema decide simplemente no dejarse llevar por él, así que podemos ver que la gente debería ser como ella, que está consciente de los problemas y no vive una vida mediocre como el resto soportándolos. Sin embargo, esto solo es puro escapismo, ella no hace nada y prefiere no resolver los problemas, sino que los evita viajando, no es un mensaje de auto superación y concienciación, sino que es uno de evasión disfrazado del anterior. Bueno no se ustedes, pero preferiría afrontar al mal en este mundo que solo evitarlos y andar por ahí sin responsabilidades.

A la final Kino es un show interesante que uno disfrutable o de calidad. Si bien veo buenas intenciones en él y entiendo algunas decisiones sobre los personajes y las distopias, su ejecución es bastante decepcionante. Es una serie que si bien no es muy conocida, el nicho que se formó a su alrededor me hacen considerarla un show bastante sobrevalorado. La recomendaría específicamente por sus temas, pero fuera de ello es un show desagradable que me dejó un muy mal sabor de boca.

ANIME MINOR JEWELS SERIES
Full list of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.sitesdebloques.org/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=page&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

TEASER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TABmuUHIRzs

Some girl and her bike travel around to weird places…

Kino no Tabi (KNT) is loved by many for its atmosphere and imagery, yet at the same time it is not a series for mass viewing. In fact, in some ways it is not even a series. Let me start by saying that I highly liked its concept and most of the countries in it were very interesting to look into. At the same time it is not a show you will watch for its plot or characters as everything is pretty much a ive observation of dystopian societies.

A very simple way to describe KNT is to call it INTERESTING but not ENTERTAINING. Although it can be entertaining by being interesting, it can’t be the other way around. You see, most people distinguish a series from a documentary by the simple fact that a series will have active characters, affecting the plot in one way or another, learning and changing along the way. KNT is not about that; it literally is a collection of unrelated stories and we are just witnessing the heroine ively observing the societies she travels through. They are interesting societies alright, making you think and ponder about the folly of mankind. And that is all they are. Nothing more.

Eventually, the thing I didn’t like at all in this series is its absence of characters. And no, I don’t mean there are no people in it. There are, hundreds of them, and they are all nothing but short termed peons, plot devises to tell a story without ever affecting it. Just look at the very name of the series. It is not called “Kino journeys the world”; it is “Kino’s Journey”. That means Kino is not important; her journey is. Meaning, people in this series have no control over their lives; they are just ively living their puny little lives and tolerating their pathetic lifestyles, die and fade away in cynicism. That makes the SITUATION interesting, the society or lifestyle, but surely you won’t give a damn about the characters living in them. Heck, you will barely their names or faces but their dystopia will be crystal clear. I understand that eventually all these societies were made by people and in a way it is mankind actively inviting its doom. Yet it is all completely faceless since you don’t care about the people. Heck, in real life social structures you can at least and study the founders and their main followers. Russian Communism for example has Marx, then Stalin and Lenin and Gorbatchof. Studying those guys is like witnessing the evolution and downfall of the ideal non-class society. It may be an idea but you still see the people behind it. Well you don’t see that with this show; you just see these political systems that appear to be there since the dawn of time. Who made them, why, where, how, all these are never explained.

Before you call me a snob, you must understand that I like unorthodox series and this is in many ways one of those. Many like it for its mature themes and as such more work should be used to explain its in-works. After all, it is supposed to be interesting, thus it has more to do with thinking and less with feeling. Yet eventually it doesn’t; it ends up being just another light show about unexplained situations. No matter how smart or interesting it appears to be, it still is nothing but vaguely presented good ideas. I came to view them as a “what if” series. Something like “What if Hitler had won WWII” or “What if I was an 80 year old rich black woman from Mars”. Yes, very interesting but that is all it is. Where is the development of the idea? Its roots, planning and results? Nowhere, it is just an idea.

The story itself falls under the same logic. It is a line of interesting “what ifs” and nothing more; unrelated stories of dystopias. Good in theory but nothing much in practice without interaction or development.

The heroine too follows the same logic. She is a girl who doesn’t like her simple boring life and just travels the world with her talking bike (lol, why was that even included?). Everywhere she goes by, she just witnesses the people living in weird societies that seem to have forgotten basic moral or logical norms and now decay in misery. I originally liked her motto in life. “If you don’t like your society, then travel”. Which is a lot harder than it seems as most people don’t want to leave their puny lifestyles and change even when they see their doom closing in. Again, it is interesting but doesn’t develop in any way since she is, too, nothing but a ive plot devise.

What is even worse about her is how she seems to have broken powers for no reason. How the hell did a little girl become so good in battle or in the use of weaponry? She had no training at all. How does a girl even manage to find food and shelpter if she constantly moves? It’s as if the scriptwriter himself lets her be almighty without excusing it, just so she will survive no matter what, throw out some moral monologue and then ride towards the sundown, making the viewers go wild with her cool attitude. Well excuse me for not falling for such cheap gimmicks. I don’t find her frozen personality or her Deus ex powers or her talking bike cool at all if she is unbeatable for no reason. Kenshiro, beat her up! In fact, I even ended up disliking the whole RUN AWAY FORM YOUR PROBLEMS attitude of the show. How about staying home and just dealing with them? What is this fear of responsibilities supposed to be telling us? Run away from your problems like some indecisive harem lead? Screw this neo-otaku attitude.

Anyways, it is not a bad documentary of fictional dystopias but it sure is an unexciting adventure series. The production values ain’t bad but definitely lack super slick filters or mindfuck imagery to be deemed great; such a show could easily hold a ton of those. The characters don’t matter, the plot doesn’t matter, the stories are just unrelated interesting ideas. Unorthodox in overall but definitely not a masterpiece without some sort of development.

Now excuse me as I dodge my responsibilities with uncanny skills, ride my talking spaceship, make fun of my country’s bad economy and run away to Mars. SEE YA IN THE FLIP SIDE SUCKERS!!!
… that is what this show is telling you to do. How interesting…

And now for some excused scorings.

It's incredibly difficult to describe Kino's Journey. At it's most basic level, it's about a young girl called Kino who travels from country to country on her motorcycle. However, this anime actually contains a lot of philosophy with a grim style. How can a story about a traveller be philosophical?

Well, one of the central themes of Kino's Journey is people. Like Serial Experiments Lain, Kino's Journey delves into the human psyche, the way that it controls a person's actions and morals.

The other philosophical side to Kino's Journey is culture. The countries Kino visits have varying customs and cultures, a few of them genuinely disturbing. But as Kino is just a visitor to these countries it's not her right to say what they do is right or wrong, because Kino herself comes from a country with it's own unique customs. It's always interesting to hear Kino's thoughts on her experiences as she converses with Hermes, her bike.

Yeah, her bike can talk, but don't get any pre-emptive ideas about this series. It's made very clear that throughout the series that Hermes is merely a machine. He cannot drive on his own, his speech is limited and his reasoning basic. This is one of the things that makes these conversations so interesting, as Kino explains her thoughts on a subject, Hermes will chime in with a simplistic view on the topic, giving Kino a extra outlook to consider.

The character of Kino is quite interesting. You can really get a feel of how being on the road and the various events Kino has experienced have shaped her as a person. There's a part in episode 2 where Kino helps a group of men stranded in a blizzard. As she's raising them back to health, one of the men offers Kino a ring he was going to give to his wife. Instead of doing the good-guy thing of "Oh no, I couldn't possible accept that!" Kino does accept it, as she feels it's adequate compensation for what she has done for the men.

Before I finish this review, here's a phrase to think about: The world is not beautiful. Therefore it is.

Kino's Journey reminds me of nothing so much as Star Trek - which only serves to highlight the implausibility of its setting. It makes sense that different planets would have vastly differing cultures and technology levels, but for the same to be true of neighbouring countries stretches belief.

Of course, the setting isn't really the point; the journey merely provides the frame for a series of vignettes. Each episode is really a philisophical experiment; a what-if scenario, and Kino's curious noninterventionism keeps our attention up by offering no easy solutions. This is a series to be watched time and again - at least, if it's worthy of watching at all.

Because this anime is lacking on other fronts. Kino herself is a strange, inconsistent mix; whimsical to the point where it overwhelms all other characterisation. She never interferes in a country's politics, except when she feels like it. She's careful never to kill, except when she does. She's painfully honest - most of the time. While leaving more questions than answers is in keeping with the spirit of the show, it would be nice to be able to get a handle on at least someone; Hermes' characterisation is shallow, and everyone else we see is justifiably flat (being a one-shot character, there to tell a story rather than let us get to know them).

The soundtrack is quite spartan - again, leaving the viewer to make up their own mind - but what music there is is superbly chosen. There's also less dialogue than one would expect for a show of this type; again, appropriate, but also suggesting budgetary grounds. Likewise the show's visual style, with flatter, desaturated colours and a lined "television camera" effect, initially seems like a laudable experiment - but it's concealing the pervasive low animation detail. It's hard to assess how much this hurts the show; by and large, Kino's Journey is about the stories, and overly slick presentation would only distract from this. But there are times when it feels like too many corners were cut.

This show has many things to recommend it; it's elegant, and very consistent, in its focus, and manages to be genuinely thought-provoking. But this pure focus means the sacrifice of many of the things that make a more conventional anime entertaining, and the shortage of overall characterisation or plot beyond the episode-by-episode level will upset some. Fortunately, all these things make it very easy to watch a single episode and get a fair impression of Kino's Journey, which is the course I'd recommend.

Story

Kino's Journey is a brilliant and intelligent exposition of the many facets of humanity. The audience follows Kino and Hermes, her talking motorrad, as they travel through various fictional countries learning of other cultures and peoples. Each of the 13 episodes is one or more self-contained short stories which explore a particular idea or theme through the eyes of Kino. These short philosophical vignettes are shockingly discomfiting, as they push the audience to face up to many unpleasant aspects of human nature.

Sigsawa Keiichi deserves much credit for his courageous avant-garde style. Kino's Journey holds a mirror to its audience – a satirical reflection of humanity's shortcomings – surprisingly, not to criticise, but rather to pay tribute to the beauty of human imperfection. It is an oft-emphasised theme in the anime, and best expressed by the phrase "The world is not beautiful, therefore it is", which shows up several times over the course of the 13 episodes. It is important to reiterate that all events in the anime are seen from Kino's perspective – that of the detached observer. This is, in fact, one of the story's greatest strengths: Kino's Journey is not so much judgemental as it is expositional. It invites viewers to combine their own experiences with those of Kino to produce a unique interpretation of each vignette.


Animation

The animation quality is superb. Kino's Journey seamlessly combines contrasting visual elements to create the disquieting atmosphere of absurdity which permeates the series. For example, many of the vignettes are drawn to be evocative of fairytale settings and told in the structure of a children's story. Many parts of Kino's Journey are strangely reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland, only much more macabre. Thus, it is always disconcerting to realise that the original "fable" has somewhere transformed into a dark and disturbing tale resembling a nightmare. All this is achieved imperceptibly through the use of clever and provocative visuals.


Sound

The voice acting is an unforgettable part of Kino's Journey. Not because of any standout performance in a dramatic scene – there is little drama to speak of – but because the pacing of speech, the subtle use of silence and pauses add enormously to the sensation of surrealism when watching the anime. The soundtrack is pretty, but not memorable. Given the ponderous nature of this anime, the formula works exceedingly well, as an overbearing and catchy soundtrack is bound to detract from the most important part of Kino's Journey, the picture story and the brilliant dialogue. High quality sound effects give the different fantastic locations visited by Kino their authenticity.


Characters

Characters are not the main focus of this anime. Even Kino and Hermes are not so much protagonists as they are merely a lens through which the audience experiences the different events which occur throughout the story. Surprisingly, this lack of emphasis works incredibly well with the story. Kino adopts the role of the impartial and sagacious observer, with Hermes as a talkative sidekick and foil. In this way, the memorable duo travel from country to country, giving and changing as little as possible, and taking only their experiences and memories with them as they leave. A simple and elegant partnership which is surprisingly deep and well-developed over the course of the anime.


Overall

Kino's Journey is visual poetry. The thrill of continuing from episode to episode does not come from suspense or action; rather, it is inherently rewarding to be audience to such art and ideas. It should be abundantly obvious that Kino's Journey targets a mature audience looking for something clever and thought-provoking, rather than the run-of-the-mill combat anime. Therefore, even though Kino's Journey is not an anime with a wide appeal, it should delight those who give it a chance to shine.

Kino no Tabi has it all: The pounding action, luscious animation, riveting epic storylines, elegant character development, and most of all the constant cliffhangers make it a constant struggle to tear your eyes away from this fast-paced anime.

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Actually Kino no Tabi has none of those. What it does have is masterful understanding of anthropology and an uncanny ability to defy expectations. While not riveting material, Kino no Tabi's sheer intelligence and panache makes it very enjoyable.

With it's collection of short stories, Kino no Tabi dares to not tell the whole story, and it furthermore dares to have intelligent stories understood by its own intelligent characters, Kino and Hermes, a rare thing indeed. As a pair though, Kino and Hermes make odd main characters indeed. Since every culture they encounter is freakish by our standards, it falls on them to be the our proxies in being the outside observer. Yet they themselves are impossible to truly identify with because they're impossibly aloof, nonjudgemental, and lack standard emotional responses. This is made all the more odd by the fact that the actual direction of the anime is very much judgemental and strives to create the appropriate reactions in the viewing audience. This is in fact the very crux of the anime; the fulcrum shift that occurs from our judgements and emotional reactions based on our own societal mores emphasized by directorial manipulation, which is then sharply contrasted against Kino's nonjudgemental and rational view of the world, then further augmented by Hermes inquisitively view, untainted by humanity, which simultaneously questions the rationality of both the society on display and our own society.

Interestingly, One of Kino's principle qualities is the essence of raw practicality, yet Kino is on a journey which is defined by whimsy. Also, Hermes is talking motorcycle.
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(Hopefully in no way inspired by anything remotely related to David Hasselhoff.)
In spite of all that, both are eminently likable.

Yet, at the end of every story, it's difficult not to ponder the meaning of the story, as facets of human nature are revealed, often tragically. In the best traditions of science fiction, it indirectly raises disquieting questions about human nature and our own societies. Oftentimes, however, they're none to subtle about it by waxing philosophical in the show itself. For example, in the very last episode, it's very hard to miss the meaning of the constant bell tolling. Indeed, the title of the episode often gives the game away before the anime starts. Overall, the individual stories are almost uniformly excellent in their presentation of unique settings (though none are truly original) while being just self-referential enough to hold the overarching story together. There are minor problems is that minor characters will often break credibility in reactions to railroad the story along, but it's usually quite tolerable since the philosophy reigns supreme.

Sound
Sound is powerfully used in Kino no Tabi, to an extent not often seen in anime. Little is extraneous, everything was put there to emphasize a point, or to make the audience feel a certain way, etc, etc. I also enjoyed the opening song greatly, and found the ending song quite listenable. I thought Kino and Hermes voices were excellently chosen. One of the few times using a childish voice seems not only reasonable, but advantangeous to the anime as a whole.

Story
I often found myself discomfited at the end by an apparent lack of closure. Closer analysis showed that this was because there was a lack of closure because there was no conflict to be resolved, merely a story to be told. Or rather a country to be told. Interesting.

Character
I found that the conversational byplay between Kino and Hermes was one of the strongest parts of the anime, in that their discourse was enjoyable yet educational at the same time. Hermes as a virtual encyclopedia of knowledge combined with curiousity about all things human meshed so very well with Kino's introspective philosophy not quite understanding her own human nature and intrinsic altruism and goodness. Very necessary as a sounding board in any case, since it would have hardly been enjoyable to see Kino quietly philosophize to herself. I'm sure there's some standard philosophical term for their interaction, perhaps something derived from the Socratic method, similar but not quite alike.

Interestingly, while I call Kino to be aloof and nonjudgemental, my own interpretation is that really inside it's anything but. I feel that Kino internally does react strongly, but is such a thinking character that Kino undergoes the same rationalization process we do when watching, and as such presents a more neutral view to the world during dissection of experience. To a certain extent this is bourne out by Kino's occasional emotionally immature outbursts when very much taken by surprise. There's strong circumstantial evidence in any case, and very little against this point of view of Kino's character. A good example is Kino's namesake, who we can take to essentially be Kino in the future. Having decided to only stay in any given place for three days and not get involved with the cultural customs of any place, his sudden action speaks volumes of of their true internal conflict, and Kino, our main character, follows him in grand fashion by getting uncommonly involved in many of the countries' internal affairs despite supposed Traveler status.