Kino's journey

The action of stories and anime takes place in a fictional world, vaguely reminiscent of Europe at the beginning of the 20th century. The continent is divided between many small states that are practically not in contact with each other and have a different level of development of science and technology: primitive phonographs and typewriters are adjacent to gravitationals and robots . A young traveler named Kino travels to these countries on a talking Hermes motorcycle, learning the history and traditions of each city, never stopping for more than three days.

In addition to typically fairy-tale elements (talking dogs and motorbikes), Cinema's Journey, from a critical point of view, describes many aspects of the political and economic structure of modern Japan and other countries.

Cinema ( キ ノ ) is the main character of stories and anime. Forced to flee her hometown on the day she turned 12, she ends up with Shisho, who teaches her how to handle weapons and survive in the world around her, where travel is always a risk to her life. Cinema knows how to shoot accurately with pistols and always acts with reasonableness worthy of an adult. Traveling to different countries, she basically does not stop anywhere for more than three days and tries to take the position of an impartial observer.

Seiyu : Ai Maeda (2003), Aoi Yuki (2017)

Hermes ( Jap. Hermes ) is a companion of Cinema: a talking motorcycle Brough Superior , often referred to as motorrad. In Greek mythology, Hermes is the patron god of travelers. Judging by the fact that no one reacts to the wonderful nature of Hermes, talking motorcycles are not unusual in this world. Cinema does not leave Hermes on the street; on the contrary, he picks it up in hotel rooms and examines museum expositions with it. Hermes sometimes complains of ill-treatment and engages in philosophical discussions with Cinema. In one of the episodes, his background is revealed - the motorcycle came to life at the moment when its creator was killed, while their personalities and voices were not similar, so there was not a relocation of the soul, but some other metaphysical phenomenon.

Seiyu : Ryuji Aigase (2003), Soma Saito (2017)

Shisho ( 師 匠 ) - “teacher of smth.”, Real name unknown) - an elderly woman, a professional killer. Shisho saves Kino's life at the very beginning of her journey and teaches him how to handle weapons, preparing himself a successor. However, Kino decides to become a traveler. In some versions of the translation is called "Master".

Seiyu : Junko Midori (2003) Lynn (2017)

All other characters are episodic and appear to reveal any idea, metaphor or image.

• Official site (Japanese)

• Anime "Kino no Tabi" in the encyclopedia of Anime News Network
• Anime "Kino no Tabi" in the AniDB database