キノの旅 I

Kino's Journey #1

by 時雨沢恵一 (作者), Keiichi Sigsawa, 黒星紅白 (イラスト)

内容紹介
『世界は美しくなんかない。そしてそれ故に、美しい』--短編小説で綴られる、人間キノと言葉を話す二輪車エルメスの旅の話。シリーズ累計700万部の人気作品「キノの旅」が角川つばさ文庫版で遂に登場。
内容（「BOOK」データベースより）
世界にはなぜこんなにもいろいろな国があるのだろう。人の考えていることが分かる国、多数決ですべてを決める国、大人になるために手術をする国、平和のためにある事を考えだした国…。短編小説で綴られる、人間キノと言葉を話す二輪車エルメスの旅の話。キノとエルメスはいろいろな国を訪れ、いろいろな人々に出会います。シリーズ累計700万部の人気作品「キノの旅」が角川つばさ文庫版で遂に登場。小学中級から。

Genres: Light Novel, Fantasy, Fiction, Manga, Japanese Literature, Young Adult, Short Stories

238 pages, Paperback

First published July 10, 2000

About the author

Keiichi Sigsawa

Reviews

[Jacqueline · Rating 2 out of 5]

When I first watched Tabi no Kino the anime, I was moved to tears more than once. It is a poignant series that while disjointed on some level, still conveys a great depth of feeling and an insatiable need to know on the part of the protagonist. I'm afraid that I dislike the translation of the novel. I'm sure in it's original Japanese the books are as beautiful as the series, unfortunately certain aspects do not translate well.

One thing for example is Kino's androgyny. In Japanese there is a certain amount of gender neutrality when referencing a person. If one has watched the series than they would be familiar with the fact that Kino doesn't ascribe to any one definition of gender standards. While technically a woman, she is at an age where her body is not terribly developed either way and manner of dress also disguises her sex. This is important because it plays a key role in how people of various countries treat her and relate to her, especially when they realize that she is a woman. A series of judgments and assumptions are made based on sex and gender perceptions, which is part of the reason it just doesn't translate well. In English we only have sex specific pronouns, so there is no mystery.

Kino is not a man or a woman, Kino is Kino.

[*¨·٠•●♥✿LINLAN✿♥●•٠·¨* · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The World is not beautiful, therefore it is." This is the first line in this book that caught my eyes; that phrase is one of reasons why I read Kino no tabi. I also wanted to thank my younger sister who recommended and nearly forced me to read this book. I am so glad that she did since it is incredibly good book like she said.

I have to say that Kino no tabi is one of those book that worth to read. The story in each chapters is the best social reflection however some part of it is surreal. It still effects my thought. For the eight chapters in this book (including prologue and epilogue), I love 'Land of Adults' the most. It is because it is the story before Kino became Kino and it is also because of all of 'adults' in this chapter (it reminds me of many adults in our world).

For the characters, I do love Kino and Hermes (but now I cannot pinpoint why I love them). Maybe it is because they both are awesome (especially Kino) and they make the story more interested. That's all I can say about them right now.

Kino no tabi is the first light novel that I've ever read and I'm sure that this light novel will always be in my heart.

[jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't know anything about this book before I cracked the cover. I picked it up when I breezed through the YAF section of the library looking for easy books to hit my 2011 reading goal. (i'm a little behind on my goal.) I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this little book. Apparently there is an anime series, and possibly also a movie about Kino. I'll watch them... someday. Anyway, this kind of reminded me of a gender-fucking Little Prince but without the mushy stuff, and a lot more guns.

The basic plot:
This girl lives in a town where, on your 12th birthday, you have an operation that makes you into an adult, which basically means you are able to tolerate doing things you do not like or want to do all day, every day. A strange traveler comes to town the week before this little girl's operation, builds a magical motorcycle, and plants some questions in the little girl's mind, like, is there another way to grow up without the operation? and why would you want to be a grown-up if that means you have to do things you hate? Etc, etc. The little girl takes the name Kino, gets on the magic motorcycle and escapes her murderous, strong-armed parents forever. She travels from city to city, meeting the locals, hearing the histories and tragedies of each place. She stays in each town for exactly three days and then moves on. Her motorcycle, Hermes, is her companion through it all. The places they go are pretty messed up, but everywhere has its problems, right?


My favorite things:
The morals Kino learned in each town about peace, violence, how people relate to each other, and the importance thinking for yourself.
There's a talking motorcycle.
Kino's gender ambiguity, which I can imagine was a lot more interesting in the original Japanese. Still, I have always appreciated the girls who pass as boys sometimes.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

キノは相棒のモトラド・ヘルメスと一緒に旅をします。あちらこちらの国を見て回ります。「人の痛みが分かる国」・「多数決の国」・「平和な国」といった章の題名でとても面白くて興味深い物語です。

[Cheryl]

esp. interested because Kino is Kino, almost non-binary... watch for how others react to and treat her/ them as they decide/ realize her/their gender....

[Jennifer Wardrip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reviewed by Carrie Spellman for TeensReadToo.com

"The World is not beautiful, therefore it is."

The first line in this book, and a powerful one. How funny it is that the one thing everyone strives for is perfection, yet we all agree that a perfect world is impossible. Even if it was possible, would we really want it?

Kino doesn't remember what her original name was, only that it was the name of a flower. The first Kino came into the town she lived in when she was eleven, days before she was to have the operation to make her a grownup. The first Kino was a traveller, spending only three days in each new place.

While "curing" a junked and discarded motorcycle, the first Kino tells the young girl about other places and other lives. Places where you don't have to have an operation to be considered an adult. Places where you don't have to do a job that makes you unhappy, just because it's required. He sparks a light in this little girl, and inadvertently brings about his own death. A new Kino is born. She escapes on Hermes, the repaired and animated motorcycle.

Kino becomes a traveller, moving from place to place, staying only three days. Some places are nice, some strange, some scary, and some are downright dangerous. Kino and Hermes learn about life, themselves, and humanity as a whole.

This was not only a really great story, but a really interesting look at the nature of people and society. As well as an interesting take on the concept of "be careful what you wish for". It challenged my ideas of right and wrong, and what cost they come at. It's the first of a planned eight books, and I am extremely interested to see what Kino and Hermes get into next.

[Harper Fiske · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is most definitely one of the most beautiful and thought-provoking books I've ever had the privilege to read. The atmosphere of the story was very subdued, and almost mysterious, and the situations Kino was in all had so much more meaning than what was on the surface. This book is a must-read; I recommend it to everyone.

[Susana Chávez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, finally!!! Gets hard when you can't concentrate
Now I need to read the second one, because I need answers...


"Is that the way of the beautiful world? Does serenity always return even after the most devastating of shockwaves?"

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kino's Journey is probably my favorite anime series of all time. It's thirteen episodes long and based off of a series of Japanese light novels. This is the first novel, and the only one that was translated. I was quite eager to get a taste of the source material for the show, and with a few caveats it was just as satisfying.

The main theme of Kino No Tabi is summed up by it's most famous quote: "The world is not beautiful. Therefor it is." Kino is a traveller who explores a vast world with a unusual companion - an anthropomorphic motorcycle named Hermes. Strange as Hermes is, he is a brilliant character choice. It gives Kino someone to talk to without providing someone else to rely on. Kino is the driving force of the story, and while Hermes provides moral support and a mode of transportation Kino is in a real sense alone when difficulties arise. Hermes also immediately opens up the world to a certain level of fantasy, which gives Sigsawa more room to present fantastical, off-key story elements.

Kino spends no more than three days visiting any given place, and leads us through a number of interesting encounters, all of us observers to places that are never perfect, though many have tried to be with less than ideal results. Sometimes sad, occasionally disturbing and always thoughtful, the glimpses of life in each place we get are clearly and vividly described. Sigsawa does a wonderful job of bringing his stories and ideas to life on multiple levels, and they really leave and impact.

So what keeps this from being perfect? The first thing I'll mention is the lesser of the "problems" I have, and I'll admit a bit unfair. All of these stories are part of the anime, and such a careful adaptation was done that not only are all of the nuances captured, but the visual style, music, etc actually add layers and quality to the already impressive levels achieved. Don't get me wrong, I'm not really holding that against these stories but it is worth mentioning that the adaptation essentially surpassed them (and also contains more of Kino's adventures than this single translated volume).

The second issue is bigger and a baffling production decision. When this was translated Tokyopop decided to reorder the chapters. That in and of itself would not be that big an issue - the stories mostly stand on their own and the anime also did some reshuffling.

The unfortunate thing is that Tokyopop reordered everything to make the book read chronologically. Both the original Japanese novel and the anime open with "The Land of Shared Pain" (placed second here), tell a couple of other stories (although different ones) and then proceed to "Grownup Country" (or "Land of Adults"), the story of how Kino's travels began. We are introduced to Kino, Hermes and the strangeness of the world they inhabit and THEN given backstory. I honestly feel a fair bit of impact and atmosphere is lost by opening with "Grownup Country" and that it changes the overall feel. I'm not sure what the imagined gain was, but I find it a disappointing revision.

But while I do recommend watching the anime over reading this volume for the reasons above, Kino No Tabi is still a wonderful collection of highly imaginative stories. Outside of the ordering the translation is decent and it's a shame we didn't get more of the books released in English.

10-2012

Edit 10/10/14: Just as wonderful upon rereading. Was great to travel along with Kino and Hermes again.

[Devon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kino no Tabi is about a girl travelling to different countries with her talking motorcycle. Each country introduces new characters, societies, and philosophies. It's a good book, but the english translation loses some nuance. I recommend it to people interested in short stories, philosophy, and thought experiments.

[Lynn Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved this series

[Javier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relectura de un favorito de la casa, esta vez en papel.
Anteriormente había leído una traducción hecha por fans, que lógicamente se agradece, pero me había quedado con ganas de acceder a la versión oficial. Y puedo decir que, salvo algún capítulo que había olvidado, mi apreciación de este libro se ha mantenido tras estos años.

Por lo general las light novels me resultan mas bien un placer culposo en el mejor de los casos, y una consciencia de estar disminuyendo mi IQ en los peores. Boyando casi siempre entre la fantasía y el romance, y en un tono muy young adult, no recomendaría a persona alguna que cuente con más de dos décadas adentrarse en este género. Aunque haya algunos títulos a los que aún les guardo cariño.

Kino no Tabi, por otra parte, va a contracorriente de otras light novels que he leído. El ambiente de la obra es bastante surrealista; no obstante, cada una de las historias que lo conforma encierra una reflexión sobre temas de índole social comunes a nuestra realidad. En espíritu me recuerda un poco a El barón rampante (salvando las distancias estilísticas, por supuesto); sería interesante ver a Kino con una máquina del tiempo, teniendo un breve encuentro con Cosimo Piovasco.
Desafortunadamente, la edición en papel está agotada hace varios años y es difícil conseguir copias de segunda mano. Pero a quien no le moleste leer traducciones fanmade, le recomendaría este libro sin dudarlo.

[Wisin(ZEN) Charoensuk-Sira · Rating 5 out of 5]

เคยอ่านการเดินทางของคิโนะ เล่ม13 แล้วติดใจจึงมาเริ่มสะสมแล้วเริ่มอ่านเล่ม1(ไม่จำเป็นต้องอ่านเรียงก็เข้าใจเรื่อง) รูปแบบการเดินทางไปแต่ละเมืองในฐานะนักเดินทางของคิโนะ และจะอาศัยเมืองละ3วันเพื่อศึกษาเมืองต่างๆ ถ้าถูกใจก็เข้าเป็นพลเมืองประเทศนั้นๆได้ แต่ละเมืองมีเอกลักษณ์ของตนเองทั้งระบบการปกครอง ความเชื่อ ความคิดของผู้คน ซึ่งเป็นมุมมองเชิงปรัชญาสอดแทรกมากมายแต่อ่านง่ายเนื่องจากเป็นรูปแบบไลท์ โนเวล ระหว่างอ่านมีอารมณ์ว่าเมืองนี้แปลกดี ไม่เห็นด้วยกับความคิดคนเมืองนี้เลย เป็นต้น แต่มันก็คือมนุษย์ที่มีความแตกต่างหลากหลายซึ่งการให้คิโนะเป็นนักเดินทางไปในเมืองต่างๆในฐานะนักเดินทาง แม้คิโนะจะตั้งคำถามในบางครั้งต่อคนในเมืองด้วยคำถามตรงๆแบบสงสัยแต่โดยรวมชัดเจนว่าผู้แต่งเจตนาไม่บอกว่าอะไรดีเลว ถูกผิด ให้ผู้อ่านไปพิจารณาเอาเองตามวิจารณญาณ ซึ่งมันคือจุดเด่นของการใช้คาแรคเตอร์เป็นนักเดินทางที่เข้าไปพบเจอเห็น แต่ก็ไม่อาจตัดสินความเป็นไปของผู้คนต่างเมืองได้เช่นกัน

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's really hard for me to review Kino no Tabi because I'm a huge fan of the anime series--as are a ton of other people who read it, judging by the reviews here--and I have a very hard time taking it on its own merits and not comparing it to my admittedly-years-old memories of the the anime.

As a major example, the anime, and the Japanese edition of this book, has the review of why Kino is traveling come after several of the other countries she visits. One of the features/characteristics/problems (choose as appropriate) of Japanese as a language is that it's possible to go for a very long time without ever using gendered pronouns, so Kino's gender is concealed while the reader is left to draw their own conclusions. When the reveal comes later, it parallels the way that Kino arrives at a country that seems one way on the surface but where appearances can be deceiving.

Unfortunately, English doesn't allow for that. The translators could have used "they" or one of the gender-neutral neologism pronouns, but that still would have revealed that there initial expectations were deceiving in a way that Japanese doesn't have to. The anime managed to keep it because as a visual medium, it doesn't have to constantly reference Kino to explain what she's doing, but I can see why they just threw up their hands and moved Kino's backstory to the beginning here. That doesn't mean I think it's a good idea, though.

My book group brought up the world-building when we were discussing Kino no Tabi, since there basically isn't any outside the context of the individual countries. Nowhere interacts with anywhere else, technologically advanced metropolises are within visual distance of tribal societies using stone tools, and no citizen of any country ever mentions any other country even though they all seems to have bizarre practices that would be notable to outsiders. And with Kino's rule of never staying more than three days in any one place, there really isn't enough time to go into depth on any particular society.

That's not really the point, though. The world of Kino no Tabi isn't a well-structured fantasy setting with consistent internal logic, it's a fairy tale. The point of each country is the moral lesson it conveys, like how Kino's home country is about the cycle of suffering caused by people who think that because they had to endure some particular experience everyone should be subject to it, otherwise their own pain is meaningless. You can see that a lot in political discourse in America nowadays (and probably in other countries too, but I'm American so I can't speak to those). Or the three men working in various capacities on the railroad, which speaks to the modern fear that our jobs are just pointless makework that help no one, will not last, and that we're wasting our lives in pointless or even actively counter-productive drudgery. Or possibly to the way that bureaucracy is the only way for society to function but it can lead to conflicting orders from different departments due to bureaucratic infighting or simple apathy.

Hmm. Maybe instead of a fairy tale, it'd be better to say that Kino no Tabi is a morality play. Sometimes one with a simple message, like the two cities that have a proxy war on defenseless people nearby, which is that war is always terrible no matter how "clean" people try to make it (basically A Taste of Armageddon, as someone in my book group brought up). But the confrontation with the Tatana at the end adds a bit of nuance to what could have been a simple "war is bad, mmmkay?" Being a victim/survivor (choose as appropriate) does not lend you moral superiority.

I do think this is a story best told in a visual medium, though. Or maybe it's just that the translation isn't as evocative as I'd like, though I haven't read the original Japanese so I can't say if the same mood is evident there. Either way, much as the original morality plays were visual and aural in order to help convey the proper spectacle, Kino no Tabi does best when the landscapes, the expressions, and the sounds are all just there rather than having to be explicitly spelled out in words.

This is not to say that the book is bad. I gave it four stars for a reason. But I'm comparing it against one of my favorite anime of all time, and I think it was inevitable that it would fall short.

[Selena Pigoni · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very entertaining book. It also really makes you think.

The title translates to "Kino's Journey" (why Tokyopop didn't actually translate the title, I don't know; then again, Tokyopop screwed up something else with this, which is why I knocked it down a star). The story follows Kino as she travels the world, only staying in each place three days.

Kino no Tabi is an excellent look into society and human nature. It really shows that the world is imperfect and that's why it's beautiful.



This book has excellent characters. Kino is my hero. Hermes is my favorite sidekick (despite being a motorcycle). The people we meet through Kino are all very thought out, even if we only see them for a page or two.

The places Kino visits, too, are very well thought out. Even in one chapter, like Kino with her three days, you learn just enough about each country.

Now, to what Tokyopop screwed up that made me knock it down a star.

The biggest problem was that they reordered the chapters in the translation to put them in chronological order. This changed the meaning and flow of the overall book. Whereas in the original, you got some sad vignettes first, you get Kino's back story, which really changes the meaning of the peace. You know who she is and why she's traveling first rather than experience the world with a traveler you know little about and get bits and pieces along the way. It goes from a collection of stories about how humans are imperfect and despite their mistakes, the world is beautiful to how wrong the world is. The world of Kino's Journey kind of loses some of it's "beauty" this way.

The other problem I found, and this may just be in my head, is the lack of art. A part of me is convinced that Tokyopop took the usual interspersed artwork of light novels and shrunk them to be title pages for each chapter, making a filmstrip in the corner rather than a full page. I can't prove this, but considering the quality of the art on the cover (which is one of these tiny chapter strips in the book), I can't help but feel they shrunk full-sized images down. As I said, no proof on this one though. Just bothered me.

Anyway, if you can get a hold of this gem of a light novel, I highly recommend it. It's kind of a shame that Tokyopop only ever released the first one, even if they screwed it up.

I keep my fingers crossed that another company will pick it up once more.

[Arminzerella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kino’s whole life changes when she meets a professional traveler who chooses to visit her town and stay with her family for 3 days. She meets him on the cusp of her operation – the one that will make her into an adult – and his strange ideas about life (do the work you love) appeal to her and cause her to question the validity of her people’s ways. When she voices her concerns aloud and tells her family that she does *not* want to have the operation, they turn on her. The traveler tries to intervene and is brutally murdered by her father. The motorcycle that he’s just restored, however, is the perfect escape for Kino who adopts bike, name, and philosophy of the man she knew only briefly and sets out to have her own adventures. By the way? The motorcycle talks. His name is Hermes.

Kino travels widely across the land, but only stays in towns for 3 days – it’s long enough to get a sense of the people who live there and learn the stories of their lives. And it’s an awfully strange land. Kino meets people who live in isolation from one another because they’ve altered their own genes so that they can (constantly) hear one another’s thoughts, a man who executed the entire populace of his town because they did not agree with him, and many others. It’s a little reminiscent of C.S. Lewis’ “Voyage of the Dawntreader” when Prince Caspian and his companions are exploring the lands far to the East, and also a bit like Norton Juster’s “Phantom Tollbooth,” which also has strange lands and peoples.

The people that Kino meets are a bit one-dimensional and every town is completely dysfunctional in some way or another, but it’s like you’re on a tour of humanity. Instead of finding complexity and nuances in individuals, however, you’re seeing one thing expressed in whole groups. For the most part Kino doesn’t interfere in the lives of the people she meets. She touches them briefly, makes them think a little, and then moves on. She does get angry at the end and takes out a particularly bad monarch when she has no other choice, but she’d have preferred to handle things differently.

There’s a lot of story and background that’s missing – how Kino acquired all of her expertise with weapons, for instance, how it is that she’s so young and so deadly. And it’s definitely interesting and amusing that no one seems at all shocked to discover that Hermes can talk – most people treat him like he’s a real person.

I’m really looking forward to the rest of this series (8 volumes planned) and hoping that the novelty doesn’t wear off. It’s kind of a strange trip – quirky and slightly dark. This reminds me a bit of Paul Juster's Phantom Tollbooth.

[Mitch Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

A novella of cozy travel stories meets Black Mirror

[Tzu-Mainn Chen · Rating 5 out of 5]

A young woman named Kino travels the world with a talking motorcycle named Hermes, staying exactly three days at each city she comes across. That's the setup for 'Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World', and all the reader is really given to know before being thrust into Kino's journey.

What follows is a series of beautiful and dark fables, with chapter headings such as 'The Land of Shared Pain' and 'The Land of Majority Rule'. These fables are clearly meant to instruct, and yet they somehow do not fall into the trap of feeling obvious or simplistic. This is because they are grounded with human characters rather than abstract ideas. Kino and Hermes are engaging protagonists, and their shock and bewilderment and awe translate well to the reader.

I've started reading this book to my daughter. After one memorable chapter, she sat back and told me that she really liked that story. "Why," I asked, and she paused before replying. "I don't know! But it was like nothing I've ever heard before."

[Javier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Una novela ligera sobre una loli que monta una motocicleta parlanchina y es experta pistolera. Suena a que no da más de cliché, ¿verdad?

Error.

Kino no Tabi es una alegoría sobre la sociedad. En sus viajes, la protagonista visita distintos pueblos, muy diferentes entre sí, dedicando exactamente tres días a cada uno. En uno de estos sitios, solo se ven robots en las calles, en otro no hay más que un gigantesco cementerio con miles de tumbas olvidadas; más allá se celebran peleas a muerte para conseguir la ciudadanía. Un escena más extraña que la otra. Ni que hablar de los personajes con que se encuentra la protagonista. Pero en todos los capítulos hay una crítica mordaz: a la tecnología, a la burocracia, a la carrera armamentística, al abuso de poder...
Todo siempre en el tono simple y directo de las novelas ligeras, de ágil lectura para cualquier interesado. Yo en particular la he disfrutado mucho, y me ha dado una nueva perspectiva sobre este tipo de publicaciones.

[Geo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ένα από τα καλύτερα βιβλία που έχω διαβάσει ποτέ.

[Alina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Muy bello. Muy bueno para estudiantes de japonés porque es fácil de entender, varias palabras tienen furigana y cada capítulo es autoconclusivo.

[Blue · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" meets "The Dark Tower"

I hate when publishers promote with "If you liked x" or "y meets z" but that is because they are wrong, also super generic and unhelpful, but mostly that they are usually grossly incorrect.

This was totally its own thing, but it had strong vibes of both. The traveler, philisophical journey, and motorbike obviously bring Zen and the Art to mind. The boring parts and lone traveler is why I kept thinking of Dark Tower, especially where the philisophical stuff just didn't resonate or seemed forced. Unfortunately, as interesting as the different places were to me, and how I enjoyed the political commentary, the pure philosophy parts fell flat. I probably got more thought exercise from the "What is quality" question of Zen (as painfully repetitive and dull as that book made it) than anything in this book. I am very interested in subsequent books in the hopes it builds and the writer improved.

There was a quote I liked, or rather wanted to like, "If you don't test your limits they get harder to reach." I appreciate the sentiment, but my thoughts keep hacking at it with a blunt axe. "Then never test them and be limitless" is the end of the most dominant critique of it. Perhaps something more about needing to test or forgetting how far the line is, or needing to know limits to pass them? I wonder if this is a translation issue not in the original. Maybe the visual isn't like a moving bar or a rubberband and I am just interpretting it wrong while somehow appreciating the intent.

I was disapointed to read in the other reviews that the translation completely rearranged the sections, although I found them separate enough I had difficulty imgining it changing the book much. I think I would like to get the original order if I reread it. As for pronouns, the translation seemed smooth enough, and did do some clever hiding of them with the bike correcting either to "Kino just Kino" a couple times - enough to give the gender-ambiguous point without beating it to death. With more creativity on the part of the translator pronouns could have been completely avoided so I will give benefit of the doubt and assume that pronoun use was in line with the original.

[Jo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kino’s Journey is a series that has had a profound influence on my life. The inaccessibility of the light novels when I was young was a major factor in my push to learn Japanese, and while I’ve let that skill wax and wane in my life, I still revisit this every few years. It’s reductive to say that it’s ‘The Little Prince, but…’ about Kino’s Journey, but that is a good point of comparison. Each story is like a meditation on a theme, and while I think Keiichi Sigsawa and I would approach a lot of things in life from different perspectives, I appreciate the thoughtfulness and craft put into each one.

This volume was translated into English, but the localization made a number of choices that made sense in 2006, but that are puzzling to pointless in hindsight. The first is reordering the stories in the book so that Kino’s background comes first. The Land of Visible Pain is a fitting first story with a theme about Human Connection and natural limits around communication. The Land of Adults is one about Gender and Social Roles that hits differently once the reader has a sense of who Kino is and what their deal is.

The other localization choice (that carries over to the English Fandom at large) is choosing to use gendered pronouns for Kino. It’s almost as if the people doing that have read a completely different book from me. Japanese is a language more capable of expressing nuance in gender identity in written form, rather than English which uses pronouns by necessity. Our Kino is depicted as AFAB in the Land of Adults story, but it is a story of rejection of the social constructs of the country Kino is from. They are a Traveler. They exist to observe and take in the places they visit, to participate in local customs sometimes, and to move on.

That said, aside from the Epilogue, all of the stories in this volume are translated quite beautifully to animation in the original Kino’s Journey anime, so if you cannot read the Japanese that’s a viable option for reading this. I highly recommend the anime if you’re interested, and the original language volume if you’re able to read it.

[Nguyễn Linh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thế giới không hoàn mỹ. Vậy mà đẹp lạ lùng.

Và Kino du ký đã vẽ lên một thế giới tươi đẹp đến như thế. Một cuốn sách của những giấc mơ và những cơn ác mộng, là một nơi chứa đựng và phủ nhận những nhầm tưởng của chúng ta về thế giới mới.

Ở Kino du ký, một thế giới kỳ ảo được viết lên bởi sự thật, một sự thật trần trụi mà khi mơ ta thường hay "vô tình" quên mất.

Môt lãng tử Kino với chiếc xe côn tay "bình bịch" Hermes biết nói ngao du trên mảnh đất xa lạ, súng bên hông với chiếc kính phi công vượt qua vô số mảnh đất trong cô độc. Ta mường tượng ra thân thế, ra số phận và ra hành trình của người lữ khách, nhưng liệu đúng hay không?

Ta từng mơ về sự thấu hiểu, khi trái tim kề sát trái tim, khi tình yêu từ con tim đến thẳng con tim mà không bị che mờ bằng cái vỏ bọc ngôn ngữ lừa dối. Nhưng phải chăng chính vì biết quá rõ về nhau mà chia ly và mỗi người nên tự tôn trọng cuộc sống của đối phương?

Ta từng mơ về quốc gia lý tưởng, khi tiếng nói của số đông được tôn trọng, khi người ta cùng làm chủ của cả đất nước. Nhưng kết cục nghiệt ngã của sự diệt vong báo trước một nhận định: số đông có phải luôn là chân lý?

Ta từng nghĩ tại sao lại phải có chiến tranh, và tại sao phải trả giá quá nhiều cho nó, tại sao không thể ngồi lại bên nhau để cùng nhau thịnh vượng. Nhưng Hòa bình liệu có bao giờ là miễn phí trong thế giới kẻ mạnh?

Từng câu chuyện, lúc nhẹ nhàng lắng đọng, lúc sục sôi nhiệt huyết, khi lợm giọng vì sự tàn nhẫn vô tình nhân danh "hòa bình", Sigsawa đã vạch trần toàn bộ những suy nghĩ giả dối, những mơ mộng hão huyền, để rồi soi chiếu vào thế giới đương đại mà ta đang sống.

Đọc hết quyển 1 trừ lời bạt, Kino vẫn tiếp tục hành trình dài vô định của người lữ khách, mình thì tạm dừng kiểm lại từng suy nghĩ đang cuộn lại trong lòng. Phải chăng thế giới mà ta đang sống, nó tồn tại và vận hành đến ngày nay vì chính những gì hợp lý mà ta chưa nhận ra được?

[Hayden Searle · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked this book because I loved the Japanese spin on this book that almost reminded me of a Japanese version of "The Little Prince" or "Le Petit Prince" as its known in the original French. A young woman is travelling the world, and each place that she stops, she finds a society that has been toppled by an extreme version of a certain type of government. I think that the concept is interesting, and points out a lot of the flaws when government takes things too far. I would recommend this book to a young person not quite unlike myself. I loved Japanese culture and studying social studies when I was younger. I think that if such a student existed, (and I'm not saying it's impossible, I had a lot of friends like me growing up) they would also like this book.

I would teach this book to a group of students that I knew were studying different types of government (democracy, republic, monarchy, fascist, etc.) as a way of helping them to understand the systems a little bit better, and also what can happen when those systems either go too far, or lose their systems of checks and balances. I think it would also be interesting to ask the students what kind of inanimate object they would want to have with them and could talk to them, like Kino has her motorcycle that talks to her.

Content warning:
-Violence (In the first chapter, a man is brutally murdered, and Kino ends up escaping being next by taking the man's motorcycle and running away. Kino also carries several guns for protection, and has to use them on rare occasion. Also, several places that Kino goes to are left desolate because all of the other citizens have killed each other, or died out for one reason or another.)
-"Drugs" (Kino and others drink on occasion, but not really ever to the point of drunkenness.)

[Ann-Marie Villarose · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story follows Kino, a young traveler on a sentient motorbike, exploring various villages with peculiar quirks and residents. Kino has her own questionable village hometown that she has since left (or escaped, rather). Each village quirk has some sort of moral, ethical, or social metaphor tied to it, such as the demands of society to “grow up”, or the curse of true empathy. The story was broken up into chapters dedicated to each village met.

I was constantly back-and-forth on how I felt about this book. My main issue with it, and this could be just me, was that I could not maintain my interest in it very easily. Because it was very formulaic, and mostly without plot for all but the beginning and end, it was hard to get invested in. There was a quote from the book that I felt summarized itself as I was reading it, “If we don’t test our limits, they get harder to reach”. I felt like I was pushing my limits sometimes to get through this book.
However, the final chapter was done fairly well. It actually managed to leave me on a little bit of a cliffhanger, or at least sparked my interest in exploring Kino‘s next adventures. The book was odd, because sometimes it felt like it was written to simply, and I kept losing interest, and other times it would dive deep into literary prose that better helps me paint a picture of Kino‘s emotions and surroundings. It won’t be anytime soon, but I may still consider continuing with this author.

[Rolaka Pisarka · Rating 5 out of 5]

Zastanawiałam się mocno nad wystawieniem oceny tej książce, bo z jednej strony to wciąż light novelka pisana przez japończyka, ale z drugiej jest to przepiękna, filozoficzna opowieść przez różne miasta, z których każda zawiera w sobie jakiś morał i pytania. Nie wiem, czy istnieje druga tak mądra light novelka w Japonii. Kino no Tabi może nie uczy, bo większość z przedstawionych prawd znamy, ale pokazuje, jak wiele zależy od punktu widzenia. Tom 1 nie tylko stawia nas przed trudnymi pytaniami, on nie daje nam na nie odpowiedzieć. Bo z jednej strony w wielu opowieściach znamy odpowiedź już na samym początku, znamy morał, ale wraz z głębieniem się w historie, te odpowiedzi stają się wątpliwe. Bo czy naprawdę wszystko jest takie jasne na świecie, takie proste. Czy matczyna miłość jest w stanie wybaczyć mord/ ludobójstwo? Czy okrutne prawo jest faktycznie okrutne, czy może gdzieś w nim kryje się dobro? Czy warto eksperymentować, wprowadzać nowe możliwości, gdy istnieje zagrożenie porażki? Pytania są różne, a odpowiedzi niejasne. Ale wszystkie historie łączy jedno: w jakiś sposób każdy w tych opowieściach poszukuje, pragnie szczęścia. Często zależy ono od punktu widzenia i my, jako czytelnicy, możemy uważać, że to nie jest szczęście, to inni, bohaterowie opowieści, mogą mieć o tym inne zdanie.
POLECAM!

[Bibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read this maybe two or three times now and somehow I never added this to my 'read' shelf before now. Weird.

The one disadvantage to this being in written format over a visual one is that a certain trait about the main character that is revealed in one of the stories (Said story being the first one in the book but the third episode of the anime) couldn't really be 'revealed.' With that said, this book does have some stories that weren't shown in the anime. It's an enjoyable read that is light--you could read this in one weekend, easily, and it's at maybe an 8th grade reading level--yet still intense and thought provoking. Depending on how old you are, you've likely seen many similar things before or stories that also touch on similar topics explored in the book, but when I first read this/watched the anime as a young teenager it really spoke to me. Re-reading it now is pleasantly nostalgic, even if I know how the stories go (for the most part--I forgot a certain twist in the ending of the last story in the book.)

Now, if only we could get the rest of the novels officially released in English. A girl can dream, right?

[Giang Nguyen · Rating 5 out of 5]

TokyoPop's translation messes up a lot; however, Kino no Tabi is my all time favorite, my bias so I don't want to downrate it. I don't remember how many times I've watched the anime series (2003 version, not the "downgraded" 2017 version) and I can't realize Kino, Hermes, and other characters in the book. The translator's note cleared everything. They changed many things. All the countries become villages. The countries are not Japanese specific, but they have to make up some Japanese names for originally no-name characters. They add sentences, trying to make the stories easier to understand (I guess) but create stupid dialogues instead. The worst is that Kino is no longer my beloved Kino. Kino in translation is too involved, to the point of being a hypocrite, especially in 'Land of Peace'. They are bad, I look down on them, I despise their wars but I can't do anything. He attacked me first, I didn't plan to kill him, let's give him my silver cup as a gift. Who is it? Not Keiichi-san's Kino though.

Luckily, we have fan translation for other volumes. Fan translators are the best!

[Melly Correa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've heard about this book a lot, and recently had the opportunity to read it. I always wanted to read it because I love the idea of a female protagonist who is very independent and strong willed. From the beginning, there was a strong theme of freedom, which I personally really enjoyed. The theme of the book is one that I know my cousin would enjoy, so I am recommending it to her.
In a middle or high school classroom, this book would teach not only the young women, but also young men, that independence is not only something that they should aim for, but also enjoy. The adventure and knowledge that the characters gain from being independent and curious is something that all students should want. This book is perfect to teach students to be driven and want to learn more than what is placed before them in their towns. This also helps young women to develop a desire to be independent and strong, rather than the common traits we see in female protagonists, such as submissive and weak.