Kino's Journey, ep. 01-04
I picked this up thanks to people's recs and from hearing about it from rilina.
As far as I can tell, the series is about a young traveler named Kino, who goes around on the talking motorcycle Hermes. Kino and Hermes go through a world that has fairly modern technology (motorcycles, robots, cars) but still feels a little retro (phonographs, quaint cobble-stoned villages). So far, it reminds me a lot of Mushishi, particularly because Kino's somewhat detached observations coupled with helping people feels a lot like Ginko's attitude. Both of them are rather dry and try not to get emotionally involved, but sometimes they end up in the thick of things anyway.
I particularly like the way important bits of dialog are displayed across the screen as text, but I may be partial to this technique thanks to Neon Genesis Evangelion and other anime series. Hermes tends to ask questions like "Why are you helping them?" or "What did it mean when you stared at each other?"; the motorcycle isn't good at deciphering human complexities. But then again, given the answer, neither is Kino.
So far, there's been a bittersweet episode, a quietly horrifying one, an absurdly funny one, and a flashback one. I like the flashback one the best, of course, but all of them have been engaging in their own way.
Also, much like Mushishi, this is very beautiful and wistful but has little narrative drive. That said, lack of plot is a plus right now, since it means I can watch the episodes little by little without worrying about forgetting important developments.
As far as I can tell, the series is about a young traveler named Kino, who goes around on the talking motorcycle Hermes. Kino and Hermes go through a world that has fairly modern technology (motorcycles, robots, cars) but still feels a little retro (phonographs, quaint cobble-stoned villages). So far, it reminds me a lot of Mushishi, particularly because Kino's somewhat detached observations coupled with helping people feels a lot like Ginko's attitude. Both of them are rather dry and try not to get emotionally involved, but sometimes they end up in the thick of things anyway.
I particularly like the way important bits of dialog are displayed across the screen as text, but I may be partial to this technique thanks to Neon Genesis Evangelion and other anime series. Hermes tends to ask questions like "Why are you helping them?" or "What did it mean when you stared at each other?"; the motorcycle isn't good at deciphering human complexities. But then again, given the answer, neither is Kino.
So far, there's been a bittersweet episode, a quietly horrifying one, an absurdly funny one, and a flashback one. I like the flashback one the best, of course, but all of them have been engaging in their own way.
Also, much like Mushishi, this is very beautiful and wistful but has little narrative drive. That said, lack of plot is a plus right now, since it means I can watch the episodes little by little without worrying about forgetting important developments.