Kino is interesting

Kino comes from the series of books and anime, Kino no Tabi or Kino's journey in English. The basic premise is that Kino, a girl under an alias, travels the world with her talking motorcycle, Hermes. During their travels they experience all the fun, dangerous or strange customs of other countries, she has a self imposed rule of only spending three days and two nights in each country and must keep moving from place to place, never settling down or spending too much time interfering.

Both Kino herself and the nature of the series are deceptive. When reading about it you imagine a quirky little romp through a magical land with a rather light hearted protagonist but both Kino and the themes of the series are a lot darker than that. Kino, despite being in her mid teens Kino is responsible for more deaths than the average drought and the stories of the individual lands tend to revolve around death, oppression or the morals of killing. What makes Kino interesting is her use in the story and how she both propels it by moving from country to country yet somehow manages to seem like a passenger, merely along for the ride that she set in motion herself.

Kino's motives for travelling are clearly explained, she's escaping the customs of her own strange country. Kino left when Kino dies protecting her from being brainwashed when she reached her adolescence. Oh, I forgot to mention, Kino (girl) named herself Kino after Kino (man), the man who saved her life and originated the three day rule and owned Hermes before she did. She traveled around the world in his honor and sees the customs of the other countries from the viewpoint of someone who fled her own and can see how cruel or evil certain things can be.

It's this that makes her a rather likable protagonist despite her nonchalance about shooting people or her quiet, almost door-mattish politeness, Kino is running from not only the land she left behind but the ones she ends up in, lest they are as horrid as her own home and they quite often are despite how they first seem and without getting into details about how she learned to fight or where she got her guns her journeys are interesting and if you think about it, do raise a lot of morally pertinent questions.

Kino is interesting because her journey affects us more than it affects her, her emotions are secondary to our own, it's our disgust at the cannibalism or brainwashing the children, not Kino's and this use of her as a story element is honestly a refreshing experience.

Next time we look at one of the greatest heroes of the Rebelion, Wedge Antillies.