Agenda of Kino's Journey, What Kino's Journey is, What Kino's Journey meant, Analysis of Kino's Journey - Part 3

And at last, we came upon the last blog about Kino's Journey. Here we are going to cover the last remaining chapters of this Anime. So, continuing from the previous blog, let's start -

Episode 9: Land of Books-Nothing is Written -

Plot -

Kino and Hermes encounter an escaped man in the desert who gives Kino a book that she can use to exchange when she arrives at the Land of Books, which gathers together all the books in the world. However, they find out that the Department of Reading and Welfare locks away books considered 'harmful' inside the Castle, leaving only the 'harmless' ones out on display to read in the library. The librarian recognizes Kino's book as a being from her boyfriend, who left the country. The librarian is part of the Publication Syndicate - a resistance group that seeks a secret passage into the Castle to rescue their comrades who have been caught by the Department of Reading and Welfare. Stumbling upon a key and a manuscript, Kino crosses paths with an author, who later leads her to the Castle, where former comrades are forced to become literature critics. After giving the key to the librarian, Kino meets Miss Minister, responsible for trying to catch the author but ended up luring Kino instead. Kino is allowed to keep the manuscript for herself, but the Castle's library full of harmful books is reported to be in flames.

My Insights -

Not going to argue, but for me, this episode was the most hypnotic in the whole series. It starts awkwardly. Where a tank, dripping blood was searching a tank. As for the story, he is haunted by the dying driving who told him at the dying breath to hunt down the tank with specific identifications. But the irony is, as the tank left Kino sees, the descriptions perfectly match with himself. So, he is the tank which he was talking about. This certainly talks about the hypocrisy of war. The ever-haunting effect of war and its horror that stays even after the end of the war, its mystery and mysticism.

Now let us all come to the main plot. The land itself is dangerous. One can only take the number of books away that he brings to the library. For me, it hinted at our Life. In it, one can take as many things as he can contribute. The library divided the books into two categories, harmful and non-harmful ones. But when Kino asked who decides that, the library head says the board of critics. So, in the first place, they are chosen by the people. It is the same as autarky, and people in it, have to live in that decided closed state.

When Kino says that not a single book in the library is interesting, he means those censored books lose their essence. He comes to know there is a revolution going and learns about the rebellion that brings the undiluted manuscripts into publication. But the problem is that they have only one author, and he is a captive of the Board of Ministry. So same as our society, the most imaginative ones become the victims. There is no independence of imagination.

When Kino meets the author, his words might seem crazy (he wrote a book about everything in the world, Kino herself is in a story that she might love most), but they speak the most unsolicited philosophy of life. In imagination, human beings are the boldest. And when we separate them from their imaginative wings, they become a captive of their physical mind.

I think this episode points out the role of books in our lives. With their influence, their motif & Structure, they form our lives. The rebellion is a hint of rising Communism. The earth-binding metaphor of the author that a living person might be the main character of a story tells us of our selfish urge to become the person of importance.

The role of critics and their joy of ridiculing the imaginative minds and their creativity is brilliantly made an irony in comparison to victory. For them, it is a war that judges them as the victor of not having any imaginative power of themselves.

In the story, everyone was trying to prove others crazy. Even Miss Minister, who pointed at the author to be the craziest one, is a crazy one herself. It proved that no one wants to be overshadowed by others. And this notion makes them the crazy ones at the end.

The book Kino took at the end was blank. It had to be empty cause the author said it held everything. And it is only possible in our imagination. The story ends where it started all along (Awkward tank again). This time we can make the meaning of it. Drums up, 

Yes, there is a possibility that we are living in the story of someone else. For us, the future forms in that strange way. What humans make possible today was impossible in the past. For them, it was nothing but their imagination.

Episode 10: A Tale of Mechanical Dolls-One-way Mission -

Plot -

While searching for a village where she can get Hermes's speedometer repaired, Kino stumbles across a nanny, who serves a father, a mother, and a son living in the woods but claims to be a mechanical doll. As Kino spends time with the family during dinner while Nanny leaves to recharge in the closet, Kino starts to realize that Nanny is more human than the family. The Nanny later manages to repair Hermes's speedometer. However, she eventually dies, showing that she was human after all. At the Nanny's graveside, the family reveals to Kino that they are mechanical dolls created by the Nanny over fifty-four years earlier during the conflict in the land. After the Nanny was left alone when her husband and son were killed, the family flooded the village so that she would not be reminded of the past. The family also cared for her and acted the role of a family. They offer to serve their role as a family for Kino, but she declines. Realizing that they no longer have a function, the family plunges into the depths of the lake that they created.

My Insights -

If my guts speak positively, this episode and its setting are similar to the Garden of Eden. God created Humans. And they strive to serve the void of loneliness. But this theory is not convincing, judging the whole plot all at once.

Firstly, the Nanny created the dolls so that humans can have more free time as their choirs are being taken care of. So, when Humans have more free time, they engage in politics that eventually lead to conflict. And uprising conflict leads to the ultimate destruction of the town. Nanny being trapped in the world of happiness she created for others is a kind of Irony. She forgets her memories that consist of only sad thoughts. I think it suggested that one could only attain happiness if she/he could move on in their lives, leaving the past behind. Having love and warmth all to oneself is the key to happiness. Though that part has its drawbacks, one chooses it as their last resource. With recurring happiness comes the lingering loneliness. It stays and devours everyone in its grasp.

In this episode, when Nanny was thirty, she gave all her time to her experiments. Leaving not an ounce to share with her family, she worked non-stop. It ultimately had its toll on her when she lost her family due to the terrorist bombing. The shock affected her in a way that compelled her to say - 'Let's Celebrate.'

The family bond that might seem like confinement to many is a subsequent force that holds us together. Losing it will be like cheap freedom. In this episode for Nanny, it was the same. At last, when the mechanical dolls pleaded with Kino to tell them what they were to do from now on, Kino said that was something they had to decide for themselves.

"One has to live for others or something, not for everyone", said Kino in reply. Those words of the mechanical dolls were actually the echo of Nanny's inner self. With her death, they decided to plunge themselves into the painful past that gave birth to them.

This episode gives the moral that if you live for something/someone rather than yourself, your life will have no meaning without it. And obviously, it shows us that war and politics again are the root of all destruction and conflict. Too much idle time is the worst time.

Episode 11: Her Journey-Love and Bullets -

Plot -

As Kino and Hermes drift on a raft downstream, Kino recalls people who she has met on her travels. In particular, those undertaking journeys of their own in which she chose not to intervene. Jin sought revenge for her husband's death and shot a former criminal named Ace. Brock wanted to atone for his violent past, which was unknown to his love interest named Sica. When Kino was younger, her master, an old woman saved her from being attacked by a wolf. Kino also recalls that she stopped at a hermitage when running low on fuel. There, she found a caretaker named Su, who was caring for a wise man. The wise man explained that his attitude to life was only the result of cruel experiments to erase self-consciousness. It is thought to be the root of desire and criminal behavior. However, the experiments failed because his motivation was also erased. Su managed to calm down the wise man when Kino figured out the actual meaning of the "true blue sky". Hermes later remarks that Kino's life is a little different from those they have met on their travels, but Kino replies that she is trying to live her life consciously.

My Insights -

If you are not surprised by the variety of those three stories, you would be surprised to find that they spoke for the ideal. In the first story, Jin takes revenge on her lover's killer, though their land provided a second chance for everyone who moved from their past. Yet Jin was the one who was unable to move forward. For her lover's revenge, she killed the man who vowed to serve her as his atonement for crimes. For both of them, Kino's advice for the most important thing in life was – for Ace, it was not to be killed, and for Jin, it was not to kill. They both symbolize the predator and prey relationship in our lives. Though the social stigma of predator and prey changes in the later part of life for them.

The second story was all about the ideals that one spread throughout their lives. They decide to sacrifice their lives for a better cause. Without knowing Sica was sowing the seed of violence by Brock, she follows on. Brock was supposed to follow her in her noble pursuit. It hints that the world has its fair share of ideals, but in reality, one cannot live only by those ideals. A life without violence is ideal, the path to establishing peace infilled with the stones of vengeance.

The difference between the first story and this was, one chooses revenge as a choice to live, and another chooses peace. But both resulted in the same way, ultimately causing violence. So, there are no ideal choices in life. Kino's former master also gives Kino the training to survive, because one needs survival instinct to live in life. And one cannot be judged if he was not able to live in their life for long.

The last part and the most shocking part of this episode was the man's story. He was the subject of an experiment. Getting rid of one's self-consciousness is a fickle idea. Mankind cannot live without any purpose. If someone was able to sustain their desires, their lives became meaningless. The hypnotizer worked to trick the man because he had no vision to live. Finding the meaning of his words, the 'true blue sky' the wise man, at last, becomes a close version of his past self. And Su being the perpetrator only points out the vital truth that one cannot live without purpose. Once she loses her job, there will be no meaning to her life, as she has no self-consciousness due to the experiment.

The last words of Kino only nailed the stone of finality that proves this episode to be significant. She meant that everything humans do consciously only serves their meaningfulness in life. And I think it is the hidden message of this episode.

Episode 12: A Peaceful Land-Mother's Love -

Plot - 

Kino and Hermes visit Veldelval, a land that prides itself on being a peaceful nation. However, abandoned military equipment litters the streets. And an army is training on the outskirts of town for a war that is to be held on the following day. Curious about these contradictions, Kino visits the museum of national history and learns from the curator that Veldelval finally found a solution fifteen years ago after being at war with Relsumia for 192 years. The next day, Kino is escorted by a guide to the outskirts of the country, where Kino understands that the solution is for both armies to attack a tribal village of defenseless Tatatans nearby, in which the army causing the most casualties is declared the winner each year. Kino returns to the museum, where the curator explains that it was partially her idea to establish an annual Tatatan hunt to achieve sacrificial peace between Veldelval and Relsumia. As Kino and Hermes leave the country, they are surrounded by vengeful Tatatans who want to kill Kino, but they disperse when she kills one of them, much to her own dismay.

My Insights -

In the starting, when Kino answered Hermes's question of why she continues her journey despite having such encounters, Kino's answer of being surprised by the uncertainties of this world will seem too romantic to us audiences. In the end, it turns out to be an irony as Kino becomes vengeful herself to survive. Her very idealistic ideas turned against her own life.

Without discussing much, let us come to the main plot. Here one can surely understand what this nonsensical peace-driven slaughtering symbolizes. Yes, you guessed right. It is war and the hypocrisy that surrounds its very idea. With time, our civilization flourishes. One can say it flourishes, but in reality, we are standing on an equilibrium poised on us by the governing body. We learned to glorify our past without judging its means and effects. By the time we grew up, patriotic indoctrinations were poured into our souls. At a time, we confused ourselves with reality and believed our notions to be true, more than us.

In this episode, finding an alternative to war, Veldelval's people took up sporting war. It was more harmful. Comparing it with our world, I will give you an example that can sum up the validation of this decision-making. We consume meat as food, knowing that it comes from killing an animal. As long as the killing part is done not before our eyes, we are ok with it. But, when we see an animal killed before us, we start to sympathize with it. So here, the curator's decision sorely satirizes our world. How hypocritic we become when we are judging others, where we are to be blamed. Maybe the curator was right as Kino was unable to give an alternative to their system. But still, it comes with casualties.

It is in our instincts, the drive to kill, and competitiveness. But the path of vengeance is never smooth. It comes with casualties also. We find it proved when the indigenous people tried to kill Kino as an act of revenge.

Though this episode primarily satirizes the war, it also makes a laugh at our marginal differences. How we make a sport so engaging that blood slaughter spreads out throughout our countries. 

-Take a look at the India-Pakistan game and the craze that surrounds it. The fake patriotism and their zealous bravado only make more casualties.

In the end, it is to be said that we made a world for ourselves that was hypocritic to its policies. A world of peace molded after a conflicting history of wars.

But I have to say, Kino's experience has a key point of this episode. I told you in my blogs that Kino is more than the main character. She is a character on one hand, and on the other, a representative of the audience. She makes both bad choices and good choices combined.

Episode 13: A Kind Land-Tomorrow Never Comes -

Plot - 

When Kino hears about a land where travelers are shunned, she decides to visit anyway and experience the people's attitude for herself. To her surprise, when she says she will stay only three days, the inhabitants become extremely friendly and welcoming. Kino is soon made to feel at home among them and makes friends with Lily, a girl whose parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sakura own an inexpensive hotel, which reminds Kino of her younger self. Lily's grandpa fixes Kino's gun while Lily gives Kino a grand tour of the country. He later has a hunch that the gun previously belonged to Kino's Master, but Kino denies this fact. When Kino considers staying a little longer after adorning a bride and a groom getting married, the citizens react strangely, but they then shower her with parting gifts when she leaves. That evening, Kino watches in horror as a pyroclastic flow engulfs the land. Kino then reads a letter given to her, explaining that the people knew of the impending destruction but decided to stay in the place where they were raised and always cherished.

My Insights -

For the first time in her journey, Kino was affected mentally. It is the same for us cause kindness has its way to soothe our hearts. And when the kinder souls take a blow, our hearts bleed exponentially for them.

In this episode, you can certainly adopt a change at any time in your life. It is never too late to mend the wrong things. Still, a single deed is not enough to counter their past actions. But, in the end, they meet their extinction while persuading others with the little kindness they have. And I think it is all that matters.

In the letter of Lily, there was something that unsettled Kino further. It was not disclosed to us audiences. But we can guess by those seeds. With them that Lily also knew her life was coming to an end. That her dream to become the best travel guide will never come true. Still, with a bold attitude, she holds her place, never answering sorrows with sorrows, she talks to Kino the whole time.

The people's decision to stay in their land implies that one should take pride in their origin. No one should belittle their ancestors and their hard work. It is for them we exist today. Respecting cultures and traditional things, we can live up to them. The land that offers life can take it back at any time, but that does not mean we are ceasing to exist.

When the people learned about the impending danger, they started to employ their efforts to have a good reputation before the whole world. It gives us a great lesson. One should face the problems at hand rather than flee from them.

The whole experience moved Kino and motivated her to carry out her journeys. Kino was left with the legacy of those lands that were no more. By her journey, they exist today, and by it, they will find meaning.

The epilogue where Kino was soaked in rain in the desert wondering something symbolizes the continuation of her journey. So, we can expect more from her.

So, I think it's enough. There was a time when I used to think that for an anime like Kino's Journey, one cannot describe enough to withhold the very essence of it. But see, how I covered the whole thing into just three mere blog posts. Though there are many unsaid things and uncovered reality, still these three posts already speak about everything that comes up to one's mind when one sees Kino's Journey for the first time. Here lies the sweet ending. Coming up from the new month and also for the new year 2022, I will discuss a social topic including analysis. No more anime posts, for about a couple of months. See you all in the next month. And a very happy new year from our 'Agenda Team.'