Kino's Journey: Volume 2 - Emerging Lanes (DVD)

Introduction

Presented with the first volume of Kino's Journey, a story about a traveller and a talking motorcycle, I instantly went for the obvious remark and made a facetious comparison with Knight Rider. It's the equivalent of judging a book by its cover, and by the time I had finished watching that first disc, I was laughing on the other side of my face. Kino is a magical ethereal tale, reminiscent of a sci-fi story of old, where a fantastic premise was used to make social comment. That first volume made a significant first impression on me, so much so that this second disc has a hard act to follow.

Kino is a young adventurer who is travelling the world on a motorrad named Hermes, to all intents and purposes a talking motorcycle. It's a strange world that Kino travels, set in some unspecified future, full of wonders and mystery. It's not for the timid, and naturally Kino is armed for self-defence. Kino has one rule, to never stay in any one place for more than three days, to keep on moving so as to keep learning something new, and to never settle down.

The second volume of Kino's Journey comes with three episodes.



5. Three Men Along The Rails
A forest isn't a friendly place for a traveller, as it is easy to lose one's bearings. Fortunately, Kino finds a set of rusted rails leading out. The railway leads on an interesting journey. The first person Kino meets heading in the opposite direction is busy cleaning and polishing the tracks, has been doing so for fifty years in anticipation of the railway being rejuvenated. The second, a few miles down the line, has been dismantling the railway on the orders of his employers. The third man is hard at work laying the tracks down again. All three have strange tales to tell, and all expect a story in return.

6. Coliseum - Part I
Kino has heard of a wondrous country, the pinnacle of civilisation, and is eager to visit. The reality is far more depressing, a tiered society where the second-class citizens live as slaves in the underworld, hoping to compete in gladiatorial combat for a chance to be first class citizens, living in a run down decadent metropolis. By simply entering the city, Kino is automatically entered into the games, and refusing would mean a lifetime of servitude or worse. It's a situation that has lasted for 7 years, ever since the hedonistic king came to power by slaying his father. It turns out there is an easy way out of the situation. Those visitors who surrender in the combat are simply deported, but Kino winds up winning the first round.

7. Coliseum - Part II
The four who have made it to the final round, including Kino have received an audience with the king. The king wants to entertain his guests, and has a play put on for them that tells his life story. One of the guests finds it dull, the other finds it stressful, then the king offers to give one of the two females a shortcut to citizenship, by offering to marry her, although it doesn't matter to him which one. But one of the perks of winning the contest is the chance to change one of the laws of the kingdom, and Kino has an alteration to make to the justice code.

Picture

Kino's Journey has a 1.78:1 anamorphic transfer that doesn't put a foot wrong during the runtime of the disc. The image is impeccable, with no signs of aliasing or compression artefact, and even digital banding was conspicuously absent. A lot of it has to do with the style of the anime itself. It's certainly a unique piece, very impressionistic and minimalist. I think there is a conceit that reinforces the fact that you are watching it on television, with horizontal scan lines deliberately placed in every frame. The character and world designs are simple but effective, and the show has a somewhat 2D feel that harks back to an earlier age of animation, eschewing the CG snazziness of modern productions. The palette is a gentle pastel one, which reinforces the story's ethereal and magical mood. Kino's Journey is a visual delight.

Sound

You have a choice between DD 5.1 English and DD 2.0 Japanese, along with the usual subtitles and signs tracks. Go with the English if you want the extra surround oomph, but the stereo is no small potatoes either, with audible separation and understated but effective sound design. The dialogue is clear in both versions, and there is nothing to fault about the dub. Except that I personally disliked the English dub voice of Hermes. Incidentally, make a note. Kino's Journey has the best opening song for an anime that I have heard yet. It's wonderful.

Extras

Just the usual for the typical anime disc, comprising textless credit sequences, a 3½-minute slideshow gallery, and trailers for Rune Soldier, Angelic Layer, Last Exile, King Of Bandit Jing, and Evangelion.

Conclusion

Kino's Journey has a useful format, with Kino only spending three days in each new country. Each country takes a foible of human nature, some aspect of society and exaggerates it. It offers the chance to make gentle satiric observation or social comment, within the confines of what is essentially a fable or parable. It worked splendidly in the first four episodes with some delightfully unpredictable stories. In this volume the targets are democracy and monarchy, and the results aren't quite as impressive.

The first episode on the disc is still pretty enjoyable; it's like Land Of Prophecies on the previous disc in that it's really a collection of vignettes, brief little story snippets that add up to a pleasant whole. The first half of the episode is devoted to the railroad and the people working on it. Bureaucracy and routine are the focus of the story at this point, with the various men doing mind numbing tasks for fifty years because someone told them to start, and never told them to stop. Each time Kino tries to hold a mirror up to them by telling them a story of a country once encountered where no one needs to work for a living, but bureaucratic inertia always stops the point getting across. The second half of this episode sees Kino visit a country with just one inhabitant. This worn out man tells the tale of how the country got rid of the tyrannical king and replaced the monarchy with democracy, one person one vote. Unfortunately the most basic drawbacks of the system quickly arose, those of the significant minority. Just because the majority vote for something doesn't mean that the minority aren't right. The trouble with this episode is that the problem is a simple and obvious one, and the way the episode hammers what is essentially a non-issue into our heads is a little too roughshod.



The final two-part story takes on monarchy, with a mad king having come to power by killing his father, and instituting a rather brutal gladiatorial test for citizenship. Given the full two episodes in which to grow, the story is developed well, as are the characters, we get a fair insight into the residents of the city, as well as the way the city has fallen into disrepair. It's also interesting to see Kino, whose ability with guns do offer an easy way out, deciding to take part in the games instead. Another easy out, means that just by surrendering in the first bout, Kino can make a quick and painless exit from the city, but as time progresses and Kino actually starts winning, it becomes clear that there is a bigger agenda at play, hinted at by some enigmatic flashback sequences. Where this episode missteps is with the Shizu character. He's another combatant with a special reason to win the tournament. It's just that it is an obvious step to take with the story, and even makes it predictable. The fact that it turns out to be a red herring doesn't help. Instead of being impressed by the unexpected twist at the end of the story, I kept thinking that the Shizu story should have had a better resolution.

Yet even taking these flaws into account, Kino's Journey, with its delicate presentation, unique mood, and general thought and intelligence, is far more impressive and infinitely more memorable than much of the identikit action anime out there. Kino's Journey is the sort of anime that comes along once in a lifetime, and it would be a crying shame to miss out on it.