Kino's Journey - Emerging Lanes (Vol. 2)

Rating:
Summary: Chaos Still Reigns...
Review: Once again we find Kino and Hermes on the road. This disc features three episodes. The first is a set of small travels, begining with a trek along a railroad. They encounter a series of men along the rails, one cleaning them for use, the next dismantling the old track that has fallen into disuse, and the third rebuilding the tracks for future use. Kino relates a story of a country where people no longer have to work, but do in order to maintain essential stress. Then they come to a nation that has pushed the law of majority rules to a horrid conclusion.
This also features a two-part story, with Kino wandering into a nightmarish land where travelers are forced into a series of gladiatorial games by a cruel and insane king. This is the first time that we see Kino take a proactive stance in a country that she is visiting, and it is a powerful act at that.
There are those who decry this series as being empty and useless. Some of them have even reached for their thesauruses in an effort to sound superior and important. They accuse devotes of this show of following the crowd and jumping on the bandwagon.
As for myself, I had read no reviews, been told nothing by anyone, and had no preconcieved notions when I first encountered this series. I first discovered it due to a promotional insert in Newtype magazine featuring the first episode, and I was immediately hooked by the soft narrative style. And for the record, of the dozens of free inserts that I have recieved with Newtype, I have only been moved to buy two of the series they've previewed. This was one of them.
Kino's Journey is not for everyone. It isn't fast paced action and mindless pyrotechnics. It's a character driven peice, and if that doesn't appeal to you, you'd be best leaving this alone.

Rating:
Summary: Philosophy and the Art of Motorrad Maintenance
Review: The second disc of Kino's Journey continues much in the same way as the 1st disc, save a small twist. In many ways, you know what to expect: Kino and Hermes travel to different countries and spend three days there. This time, Kino comes across three workers on a railroad, each with a task they have spent their lives involved with. Next, Kino is tricked into a duel where people are forced to fight to the death to gain citizenship to a country. Both stories (the latter spread over 2 episodes) deal with the kind of morality plays that the first disc had, but with a little dealings with Kino's character and abilities as a marksman.
This is a quiet, thought-provoking show. There is a subtle tone to the series, one that boarders on disturbing at times. Hermes, the talking "motorrad" (motorcycle), provides a bit of comic relief, but in general there is a quiet feel that may require some thought afterwards. At times it comes off as a little self-indulgant (Kino seems a little too calm, collected and mature for the supposed age we are to assume Kino is)

Those who are fans of calm series like Haibane Renmei, or mental exercises like Boogiepop Phantom or Lain may really find something to enjoy here. Personally, I see this as a combination of the slow going Yokohama Shopping Log, and the surreal Serial Experiments Lain.

Rating:
Summary: A LITTLE LACKING IN PACE AND IDEAS
Review: The second volume of Kino's Journey doesn't seem to be up to the quality of the 1st volume. Actually, since the 3rd episode, the storytelling has taken a plunge. The first episode on this volume is entitled "3 Men Along the Rails". Afraid of getting lost in a forest, Kino and Hermes decide to follow an abandoned rail line that seems like it hasn't been used for years. To their surprise they come upon a guy polishing and refurbishing the line. He says he's been doing it for 50 years. The old man asks Kino to tell him a story from one of his travels and so he tells him the story about a country where nobody works. What follows as they go along the line and through stories Kino tells is the pointlessness of work, or rather, how people occupy their lives with some sort of action, whether they like it or not to make life worth living.

"Coliseum" is a two part episode in which Kino comes to a country which is segregated into two classes. First class citizens live on the surface and have all the luxuries of life while those that are not citizens are little more than slaves to them and must live underground in horrible slums. People who are new to the land must fight in gladiatorial battles or face slavery. Whoever wins the contest becomes a citizen and is allowed to add one law of their choosing to the country. Kino decides to fight.

The first episode seemed very disjointed because it did not focus on the main story enough. It told a number of shorter tales within its 22 minute timeframe at the expense of focus. The Coliseum episodes were better and had some good action scenes but suffered because the whole gladiator thing has been done to death so many times. This dvd was still a lot better than most of the anime out there though. Kino is a great character. Also, the theme song is a beauty. Hopefully, Volume 3 will have more episodes with a single storyline, instead of mini-episodes within episodes.

Some production sketches, Clean Openings/Closings. Not much in the way of extras.

Rating:
Summary: From Railroad To Coliseum
Review: There are two tales on this DVD - a single episode that focuses on a series on conversations along a railroad track and a two-part story about a country where citizenship is bought at the price of entry in a 'winner takes all every one else dies' contest which has been created to satisfy the tastes of a whimsical and cruel king. In many ways the stories in these episodes are much more chilling than those on the previous DVD, although they add little continuity.

Both stories raise the question of what is a healthy form of government, which is an unusual issue for an anime. But Kino's Journey is hardly an average anime series. It tends to bite down on philosophical and ethical issues, with a heavy dose of irony. Kino wanders down a track talking to workmen who seem to be at counter purposes, always leaving the inevitable 'where are you going?' question unanswered. And yeat we do get told in a way - Kino is looking for an unreachable perfection, hence the repeated rejection of all offers to stay for a while.

For US viewers, this is the first time we find out that Kino is a young woman. She is cerefully presented neutrally, and it is only from conversation that we find this out. The behavioral stereotypes of Kino's character are masculine - wandering on a motorcycle, sharpshooting, etc. Obviously this is intentional, but I'm not sure if it is part of the plot or simply a statement of Kino's universality.

For all that there is action in the story, Kino's Journey is very understated and thoughtful. It's interesting, but not really compelling in the sense we normally expect from an anime series. Instead it appeals to the viewer's intellect, presenting ideas and the inevitable results of their misapplication. Hence, it walks a thin line between thoughtful and overly dry. Keep this in mind when making your decision.

Rating:
Summary: Whoa! Violence, politics, and social commentary
Review: When my friend Troy spoke to me today, he said, "I will *NEVER* challenge your taste in anime again". He was talking about the first volume of Kino's Journey.

This one is similar in quality, but slightly different structurally, mainly because the second story, "Coliseum", is split over two episodes. "Coliseum" is the better one, because it takes what could be a Ray Bradbury short and twists it into the contextual fabric of the rest of the series. "Coliseum" is, in part, about choices-- hard ones-- and how to deal with them. It could have been done clumsily, in the vein of American film blockbusters like Deathrace 2000 or The Running Man, but the writing, direction, and visual choices in this version come together to make a subtle commentary about what we value in entertainment and government.

In conclusion, I have one eensy nit to pick. Kino's gender is already known, since Episode 4 of Vol. 1, Idle adventurer; why, then, is it still necessary to keep the mystery alive (in "Coliseum", some refer to Kino as "Missy", "Miss Kino", etc., but the fight announcer consistently says things like, "Mr. Kino-- you're up!")?

Rating:
Summary: Whoa! Violence, politics, and social commentary
Review: When my friend Troy spoke to me today, he said, "I will *NEVER* challenge your taste in anime again". He was talking about the first volume of Kino's Journey.

This one is similar in quality, but slightly different structurally, mainly because the second story, "Coliseum", is split over two episodes. "Coliseum" is the better one, because it takes what could be a Ray Bradbury short and twists it into the contextual fabric of the rest of the series. "Coliseum" is, in part, about choices-- hard ones-- and how to deal with them. It could have been done clumsily, in the vein of American film blockbusters like Deathrace 2000 or The Running Man, but the writing, direction, and visual choices in this version come together to make a subtle commentary about what we value in entertainment and government.