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

The traveler knows that it is not the end of the journey that is important.

But drifting through the beautiful world, the small unintentional destinations scattered along the path, the makes a worthwhile trip.

Be it conversational contact with three men working on the Rails, or the exertion of the body and the careful doling of lead slugs and mercy in a Coliseum, Kino travels through it, drifting along with the breeze.

Ah. High-class anime. Remember to watch with your pinky finger pointing away while stuffing your face… what year goes with pizza rolls? I still haven’t decided if Kino’s Journey is trying to be subversive or critical of social design, either way, this show is much more textured and layered than most anime and is certainly worth giving full attention to.

Episode 05: Three Men Along The Rails

The first episode on this disc brings a morality tale reminiscent of the Brothers Grimm on a Kafka bender. Kino and Hermes come across a man who has been working at repairing a train track for the last 50 years of his life. After eating lunch with the man, (with the telling of Kino’s visit to a country where machines make work unnecessary) she bids him farewell and continues on for a day’s journey. Next day, Kino and Hermes come across a man who has been disassembling the newly repaired track for the last 50 years. After eating lunch with this

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man (and retelling the tale), the pair continue on. With another day’s travel under their belts, the pair come across another man who has been reassembling the track for the last 50 years. All three men represent the traditional dedicated worker to the extreme.

Episode 06: Coliseum Part I

Kino is tricked by a traveler into visiting a nearby country, except all people who enter the

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country are immediately given an ultimatum as ordered by their king: fight in a tournament for the prize of becoming a 1^st class citizen of the country or become a slave to the 1^st class citizens of the country. Believing in her own skills, Kino accepts the offer of the tournament and quickly learns of the strange rules of the competition: if you surrender, you are deported from the country (unless you die before you surrender) and the winner of the tournament becomes a 1^st class citizen and is given a chance to make a law for the entire country. After a preliminary round (which Kino won handily), the tournament is pared down to 16 competitors… assassins, soldiers, and professional killers alike. Kino then progresses through the first two rounds in the first day and then gets ready for the next day where the remaining four individuals will fight for the title.

Episode 07: Coliseum Part II

Satisfied with the tournament up to this point, the king hosts the remaining competitors for a show… a puppet show outlining how the king got to power in the country through a series of killings and purging of all dangerous competitors. The tournament then continues, and Kino gets to learn why each person has decided to fight. How will this situation resolve itself, and what will the winner wish for?

Kino’s Journey continues to impress me with its’ hidden morals and interesting characters. Definitely worth the time.

- Tazman

(September 4, 2004)

“Hey, I'm gonna need that picture of Edward James Olmos' ass back.”

- Death (The Family Guy)