OH GOD, KINO IS HOT

Kino no Tabi is one of those series that I rarely see written about and it’s such a shame, it’s an amazing series and deserves more exposure. The series follows a traveler, Kino, and her talking motorcycle, Hermes, as they circle the globe visiting countries one by one, staying exactly three days in each one. The sort of slice of life-ish anime uses the cultural exaggerations of each country to examine the many facets of human nature.

Movie Rating: 9/10

The movie starts off with Kino and Hermes entering a new country, supposedly renowned for its advanced civilization highlighted by towering skyscrapers. So they’re rather surprised when the land looks barren and the first village they come to looks like run down farmland, to make things even more suspicious, it appears as if they’re being watched. However, it’s not long before they stumble upon the main city which is indeed a marvel of advanced architecture.

As with any country Kino and Hermes visit, they’re greeted with some odd customs, in this case, they must be cleaned and disinfected before entering the city. Kino is put through one of those airlock chambers that you would see in research labs and afterwards her clothes are returned, cleaned, pressed and sealed in vacuum packed plastic. Hermes gets treated to a tune up, fixing his broken clutch, filling his gas tank and gets retrofitted with a emission lowering and noise canceling exhaust attachment. These guys take their cleanliness seriously.

After settling into their luxurious hotel, which costs Kino a grand total of $0.00, she receives a request from the hotel’s owners. Their daughter has contracted a disease exclusive to their country and they would like Kino and Hermes to take some of their time to tell her stories about their travels, having been treated to a free stay at their hotel, they gladly accept. But before visiting her, Kino goes out to do some sightseeing, this main part of the country is a sealed off dome, isolated from the pathogens of the outside world. There are those who live in the country side, but a guide explains that they are actually considered the elite, those who have been chosen as cultivators for the outside lands.

Kino is then taken to the hospital to visit the hotel owner’s daughter, Inasha. After having dinner with her and her parents, regaling her with tales of their travels, Inasha speaks to them privately, telling Kino about the disease she has and the dreams she has for when she is cured of it, ultimately she wants to live in the countryside. Inasha takes Kino to an observatory to tell her a secret, the reason why she wants to go to the outside world. A long time ago she met a boy named Rogue, who she met at the very place they stand, after he vowed to make it to the surface. Soon afterwards his family was selected to become cultivators and the two have been corresponding by letters ever since, she wants to be cured of her disease so that she may one day be reunited with him. As a final request to Kino, Inasha asks her to deliver a sculpture of a wooden bird that she made after Rogue explained the existence of birds to her, the skies of the inside city being devoid of them.

After leaving the main city, Kino goes to the place where Inasha told her that Rogue lived, but finds nothing but the ruins of a village. Soon after she is approached by a man named Cole who identifies himself as part of the country’s special defense force. He gives Kino directions to the country’s border, assuming that she has become lost, but is surprised to hear that she is looking for a boy named Rogue. He brings her to an underground facility that houses a network of surveillance cameras scattered around the country, confirming Kino’s suspicions that she was being watched.

Cole explains the truth, the place where they stand is called the post office, the boy named Rogue has been dead for months, the letters Inasha has been receiving are written by himself. He goes on to explain the truth behind the cultivators, they are specifically chosen families who are healthy and have no relatives, they are then purposefully inflicted with the country’s disease and used as test subjects to find a cure. Rogue has been right under Inasha’s nose the whole time, in a research facility below the main city. It’s a cruel fate, but the sacrifice of few is the benefit of many so they will continue doing it.

Kino isn’t one to question the customs of others and calmly gets up to leave, but apparently this is not a secret that can be let loose, Cole attacks Kino. The fight doesn’t last long, ending off in head to head face off, pistols at the ready.

Meanwhile, back at the hospital, doctors administer a new drug that slows down the advancement of the disease, made from the research data gathered from experimenting on Rogue and his family. Along with the new medicine comes another letter from “Rogue” thanking Inasha for the present and awaiting the day they can meet and talk once again.

Elsewhere, we see Kino leaving the country of sickness with Hermes, pondering their next destination in their endless travels.

Thoughts

An interesting movie, to say the least. As with a lot of the other arcs in Kino no Tabi, I got sort of a bittersweet “end justifies the mean” sort of message from it. This story in particular runs quite parallel to real life, we don’t go as far as isolating ourselves in disinfected and sterilized domes, but if you consider the mass amounts of inoculations, vaccines, antibiotics, etc that are available to supplement our own immune systems, it’s a figurative rather than literal dome of protection that we encapsulate ourselves in. Whether this is for the betterment of the human race is questionable.

Also, with respect to human testing, that’s another moral issue that is often the center of debate. I’d like to think that basic human rights would prevent situations like the ones depicted in this movie, but reality might not be that convenient. Perhaps not in the current day, but there have been recorded cases where human testing has been done, specifically during WWII the Germans did a lot of inhumane testing on the prisoners in their concentration camps. When the war was over their research was discovered by the allies and despite how disturbing their methods were, the results were invaluable, they weren’t about to toss away the research data just because it was gained by immoral means, they used it and many medical advances were made because of it. Does the fact that the end result was achieved through malicious means make the results malicious themselves? Does the greater good of the end results mean that the methods used to achieve them were ultimately good? If you prefer to deny the fact that testing is done on humans, apply the same questions to animal testing.

With that in the back of my mind, another thing to consider is the fate of Cole and the origin of Rogue’s last letter. The nature of Kino’s visits, staying only for three days, often leaves the question of what becomes of the country after Kino leaves it, and this time is no different. Did Cole die in the shootout with Kino, because Kino obviously made it alive. Perhaps Kino merely wounded Cole and left him questioning the system that his country employs, supposedly for the “greater good”. Or maybe Kino spared his life but Cole continues to believe in their methods. Taking into account Rogue’s last letter, it would seem to be the latter. Since the letter mentioned that Rogue awaits the day they can once again talk in person, it suggests that the country continues to strive towards a cure through human sacrifice. However, yet another possibility to consider is that Cole died and it was Kino that wrote Rogue’s last letter as one final ray of hope for Inasha. But I guess thinking about all those things will do nothing but give you a headache, such questions are never answered anyways.

As for the technical aspects of the movie, they were so-so, nothing really special but they did the job. The short was produced by SHAFT so the animation quality wasn’t spectacular, but not bad by any stretch. I’m kinda pissed off that the fight between Cole and Kino was so anti climactic and not a proper shootout. Compared to the battles in the anime, especially the coliseum arc, it was really lackluster.

One thing that caught me by surprise was the ED song, which I thought was amazing despite not usually caring about soundtracks. I’ve been looping it ever since I finished watching and am currently looking for an mp3 of it =D

And so, my recommendation is a definite watch. Regardless of whether you’ve watched the first movie or the series, it’s surely worth your time to check this one out. The story, like all arcs, is largely independent of any overlying plot, so you don’t need to watch anything prior. And if by chance you like what you see, it’s a good reason to watch the rest of the series. The best way to experience the story, chronologically, would be: 1st movie -> anime series -> 2nd movie. I’d also go as far as recommending the novel, which gives a much more in depth telling of the events of the anime.

Kino is garmoe <3

~ Shirukii ~