Category: Fantasy

Kino’s Journey, The road less traveled.

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Kino’s Journey has a simple structure. Kino is a professional traveler. She goes from town to town and spends no more than three days in any one destination. Each of these towns seems to be considered its own country and has unique peculiarities and customs. She takes in the culture of each country and moves on as quickly as she came. Travelers seem rare but not unheard of and most places seem to make a big production whenever one arrives. She travels on her talking motorcycle named Hermes and protects herself with her professional marksmanship. Her trips to some countries last an episode, other episodes will contain several interconnected stories of her trips to various countries, while other episodes are about what happens in between stops.

Quite literally in the case of Kino, the journey is more important than the destination. Our time with Kino doesn’t start at a specific moment nor does it end in finality. We are merely part of the journey and we only glimpse pieces of it. With the exception of one two-part episode, every piece can be watched on its own without knowing what came before  or what comes after. In fact, we don’t have any way of knowing whether what we are watching is in chronological order to begin with.

Each country is a tool for examining some sort of physiological or societal concept. The world seems to have no set level of technology with near medieval technology in some countries and robots and super computers in others. Most of the stories have an inherently pessimistic view of humanity and society. They usually have a rule or custom that seems logical but is flawed and taken to an extreme. The anime is not just full of inherent pessimism though. Kino just as often will find some beauty or lesson even in the ugliest country. Kino mentions that the world is not beautiful, therefore it is.

At first you are fooled because many of the countries seem peaceful and welcoming, but hide things underneath. Which is a powerful statement about anything, but as the series goes on your naivete wanes. You start to see the darkness earlier; you start to question the smiling towns folk; you start to wonder everything doesn’t have a sinister side. In this way perhaps we are becoming more like Kino as the journey continues. The difference is whether or not you continue on with the knowledge. Some wouldn’t but Kino would and does.

Kino is sort of a valiant stoic cipher almost like a seinen hero. Kino comes off as androgynous and is considered male as often as female by the people she meets. I know that several people were unsure of Kino gender until the 4th episode when it is made perfectly clear. Kino never talks much and never unnecessarily. She will lend a hand to someone in need and even risk her life for another but she does not purposely get involved in the affairs of others. Kino is often cynical and skeptical but you get the feeling deep down she still believes in people and the world. If Kino has one strong driving force and personality trait it seems to be curiosity. She will always investigate something if it seems intriguing and is sometimes the only reason she will interact with anyone.

Depending upon what promotional material you have seen, you can go into this story thinking Kino is either sex. The thinpack cover, in my opinion, makes it very clear from the start. However, Kino acts rather genderless in manner. Her emotions rarely betray what she is thinking or planning. But that isn’t to say Kino has no personality. She certainly sees the world much differently than anyone she meets on her travels. The wonder and curiosity she displays reminds me of a child. No matter what hardships happen on the journey, and they are many, Kino accepts them as a piece of the world she is so anxious to explore. Kino represents the duality of optimism within pessimism. Though we are never privy to Kino’s dreams, I wholly believe she has some.

Hermes is Kino’s sarcastic talking motorcycle. His purpose is three fold. There is the simple fact that he provides transportation to our frequent traveler. The second is to give the otherwise distant Kino someone to react off. Kino is a loner so whoever is her companion has to be someone that she would have to take along. Thirdly, Hermes’ interaction with Kino is the only way to give us an insight into her thought process or emotional state without resorting to out of character monologues or narration. As stated before, Kino is often quiet and stoic. Only someone with a friendly but at the same time playfully antagonistic manner could get any sort of response from Kino.

Hermes is simply essential to the story. In fact there would be no journey without him because he provides the ability to escape. He also drives home the suspension of disbelief as not one person on the journey seems surprised he can talk. Which can also provide some good ice breaks in towns because Hermes is much less inhibited to people. Hermes also goes into hotel rooms, museums, and restaurants without even a second glance from patrons. Hermes is like the audience, along for the ride and taken where ever the whims of Kino dictate.

The director, Ryutaro Nakamura, is a competent guy but I question some of the artistic decisions he made when trying to highlight certain themes in the stories. The director has a habit of transitioning between scenes by cutting to screens of text with the sound of a tuning fork or chanting. The text is almost always something that was said earlier in the episode to drive home a point but it’s often only been said a few seconds ago and can get a bit annoying. It is done in such an awkward manner.

Kino’s Journey is a quiet show and the animation reflects that. It is smooth and uses a lot of long shots of environment creating that wondrous feel of traveling to new places. But when action is necessary those moments are loud and exciting. Though I don’t think they got it all perfect, as Hisui mentioned the frames of text. Also for no apparent reason one episode is not told from Kino’s perspective which struck me as odd and not very purposeful. The opening is great with a song that is whimsical and makes you look towards the road ahead. The series moves between encouraging seeing the world and pulling the rug out from under you. While this may seem like every episode is the same, each has a unique voice. Also we do see some changes in Kino by the end of our stint with her, though we don’t know how it will affect her future travels.

The anime is based on a series of light novels by Keiichi Sigsawa. Sigsawa has written 12 Kino books already and show no signs of stopping of writing for Dengeki Bunko Magazine. The light novels were licensed few years back by Tokyopop but they never made it past the first book. Tokyopop reordered the chapters which I have been told not only angered readers but annoyed Sigsawa. The original books were exceptionally entertaining while being thought provoking. There are also two anime movies, two untranslated visual novels, and a drama CD of Kino’s Journey. In addition, there is a spin off series called Gakuen Kino where Kino is a gun toting magical girl. So for those who read Japanese there is a good deal more Kino’s Journey for you to get into. For everyone else there is just my condolences.

Top 5 Coolest Talking Inanimate Objects
5. Kaleido Stick (Fate/Hollow Ataraxia)
4. Towa (D.N.Angel)
3. Sumomo (Chobits)
2. Tachikoma (Ghost in the Shell)
1. Haro (Gundam)

First Look: Moribito Guardian of the Spirit, Have spear will travel.

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I will start by saying that Moribito – Guardian of the Spirit presented a moral dilemma for us here at Reverse Thieves. We want try to review as much licensed material as possible in its licensed from. Media Blasters has not released the DVDs of Moribito but they are playing going to be playing it on Cartoon Network starting the 24th of this month. This is great because Moribito was based on a series of popular children’s novels but also has a solid mature feeling. It’s not the normal type of show for TV. And therein lies the dilemma. If no one talks about this show before it gets on TV there is a chance this will go under the radar and be taken off as quickly as it was placed on. So we decided to take a sneak peak at Moribito in hopes of getting people to watch this on TV. If this does well enough it will hopefully lead to a little more diversity of anime on American television.

So here we are towing the line, we are giving you our impressions of the first six episodes before they even air. It was already mentioned as one of the most overlooked shows in the recent seasons and that is a good enough reason for me to think this peek at it is necessary. But honestly I can’t wait to buy the DVDs of this show! It brings so many things that I love to the table, include a few that endeared me to Story of Saiunkoku. You really get that historical-esque feel, the world setting is very well done. We get some politics, danger, mystery, and some really great fighting sequences. And not to be overlooked a strong female character! But I’m getting ahead of us.

So, Moribito starts with Balsa a foreign bodyguard making her way into town to get some maintenance work done on her spear. While crossing the bridge into town she see a cart with a noble plunge into the river after the animal hitched to the cart goes berserk. Balsa throws herself into the river and saves the young noble who turns out to be Chagum, the Prince of the land. That night is approached by royal guards and is taken to the palace to be rewarded. She soon learns that she was not invited to the palace simply to get a reward for saving the Prince’s life. It seems that this incident on the bridge was not an accident but one of several attempts on the Prince’s life. The Empress asks Balsa to take Chagum, flee the palace, and protect him from the man trying to take his life, The Emperor.

Wow, if this woman keeps up the pace she has in the first six episodes she will be on my bad-ass list. Those fights in episode 3 were awesome. Balsa has a mysterious past but we do know she killed many people and is now trying to atone for it. She is a fierce fighter without killing anyone. She has a strong sense of duty and loyalty but she often pushes herself too hard. Balsa doesn’t come off as feminine but she certainly has a motherly quality about her. I look forward to seeing that develop more.

Balsa is at an interesting age. Being 30 she is old enough to be mature but still young enough to be on the top of her game. She is not the stereotypical teenage protagonist so she has had enough time to build a good amount of life and combat experience and a fearsome well earned reputation as a bodyguard. She is nowhere close to the most feminine character but there is a mother wolf nature to her protection of Chagum. She has a past filled with tragedy but she uses it to fuel her present as opposed to dwelling on or running from it. That is a refreshing change change of pace and makes her as strong a female character as her fighting ability does. She is an amazing fighter, a seasoned strategist, and an emotionally strong woman while still coming off as human with faults and vulnerabilities.

Chagum we are only scratching the surface of in these few episodes. We know he has supernatural abilities but he doesn’t control them and we know this is the reason for his persecution. He is certainly the child of royalty as the scene in which he doesn’t even realize the feeling in his stomach is hunger demonstrates well. But so far he hasn’t come off as a spoiled brat who’s demands must be met. He will be good to see grow and hopefully come into his own as he becomes more aware of the real world around him.

I enjoyed the fact that all of the characters have realistic motivations for their actions. There are no Snidely Whiplash villains. The Emperor has just as many good reason to kill the prince and he does feel remorse over doing what he thinks is right. When Shuga, the Star Diviner is brought into the conspiracy he is convinced in a realistic and plausible manner.

Many people get involved in this story, the cast is not vast (yet) but there are certainly a lot of players. This often happens with politically tied plots, so I only expect it to get more complex as we go along. Some of the most notable are Tanda a childhood friend of Balsa who is a healer; a shaman who has a grave prediction about the prince; a group of deadly hunters who are looking for Balsa and Chagum; and a young star diviner who is pulled into the plot against the prince.

The opening song is very catchy, it’s has a good deal of English lyrics, and it has nice accompanying animation. They would be very foolish to try to throw on a new opening.

I am a sucker for openings, even more so when the song is done by a band I love. L’arc en Ciel’s Shine has a great beat and sets a nice tone for the series. GREAT. OPENING. SONG. I assume this will be intact for the TV broadcast but I don’t know for sure. Everything from the opening to the fights looks great! The characters all have their own unique look and so we see a great variety.

I am firmly convinced that if you want to watch really good animation in a TV anime the shows to watch are the family friendly shows based on popular novels. Like Story of Saiunkoku this has lush well animated character designs. It obviously had a high budget and they never skimp on anything. Every episode so far has been a pleasure to watch. Production I.G. shines brightly once again. I did happen to notice that there is a wide variety of attractiveness in character designs. You have characters that range from very beautiful to very ugly and everywhere in between. In fact mostly in between. I feel all too often either everyone in a show look very good looking or extremely plain. It’s nice to see a show where the curve is closer to reality.

I recently read the novel that Seirei no Moribito as well. In an unexpected turn of events it seems that the anime is actually a more detailed telling of the story in the novel. The novel has a fast pace that while never rushed also never stops at any point either. It seems that the anime takes the plot of the novel and lets the story breath and grow more than it did in the novel. So far the anime has not taken any liberties that I think would infuriate fans of the novel. If anything I think fans of the novel will enjoy getting to spend more time with characters they loved.

Top 5 Historical-esque Series
5. Moribito Guardian of the Spirit
4. Rurouni Kenshin
3. Rose of Versailles
2. Story of Saiunkoku
1. Blade of the Immortal

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Sword of the Stranger, Why’d you have to go and make things so complicated?

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This was our second experience at the Imaginasian theater and it continues to be a nice, quite place to see a film (though it was about 40 below in the theater). My only issue was the film was dubbed, I was quite surprised. I figured a place that specializes in foreign film would show it in its original language. When I asked about it they said they have no control since it is just what the company gives them. Bandai! In the Anime News Network coverage it said it would be shown in Japanese.

I think it all revolves around the fact that anime companies are convinced that the majority of people want dubs over subs. That is a mantra you here all the time. So they release movies in theaters with dubs because they assume they will get more people in the theater. That might make more sense if this had a large number of theaters it was playing in. But as it stands Sword of the Stranger is only playing in a few select theaters across the nation. At that point you’re only going to get less casual anime fans (more otaku) and art house movie goers, both of which tend to prefer subs. I understand their position but I too would have preferred watching the Japanese version.

The movie begins when Kotaro and his faithful dog Tobimaru are on the run from warriors from China. The monk Kotaro has been staying with tells him to run to the main temple in the area where he will be safe. While trying to get to the main temple Kotaru takes refuge in an abandoned shrine and meets a nameless swordsman. Soon warriors come to take Kotaro away and the nameless swordsman defends the boy but Tobimaru is poisoned in the fight saving the swordsman. Kotaru then hires No Name to save his dog and escort him to the temple. No Name reluctantly agrees but must wonder why such powerful warriors are attempting to kidnap such an ordinary child.

Sword of the Stranger presents a simple tale of a man who did something terrible in his past and lost his warrior spirit. Through the events he becomes entrenched in he regains his desire to fight.

Atleast it would be simple but the director, Masahiro Ando, insists on throwing in dozen of side characters and secondary plots. The are over half a dozen Chinese warriors who have their own little stories. There is local lord and his servants who are working with the Chinese while plotting against them. There is also several sub plots that are only tangentially related to our main character’s story.

Don’t forget the drug plot! Oh and they guy who wants to marry the Princess. Along with the man that sort of knew No Name in the past.

I admire the director’s ambition but if this were a series of OAVs or as TV show I would understand the need to throw in so many different plot threads. But it is a movie so he would have done better to simplify some of the plots or reduce the number of changes to make things run a little smoother. I realize he wanted more fleshed out characters and themes but this movie did not need them. All it needed was a simple plot to attach us to Kotaru and No Name and more quality with less villains.

It is true it might have served better is some longer format, but I still saw what was important coming through to the surface. The characters that were supposed to stick out did and the fights were great. And while the plot does have a too many threads, it isn’t done poorly and it isn’t confusing. The film sets the tone and pace with the fight in the rain kicking it off then gradually building up to the final confrontation.

Indeed the director has the good sense to make sure we never got too bogged down in the byzantine plot. We spend a good deal of time watching Kotaru and No Name bonding. We also learn quite a bit about all the people scheming to get Kotaru and scheming against each other. In between all these scenes are some awesome battles. Anytime things get close to getting slow someone will challenge No Name or the Chinese warriors will get into a fight. This is an action movie and it know you came for the fights so they deliver.

No Name (Nanashi) is a totally sweet combination of Kenshin (from Ruroni Kenshin) and Jubei Kibagami (from Ninja Scroll). His refusal to draw his blade doesn’t keep him from beating the tar out of everyone that tries to attack him. His past haunts him and though he claims to be helping the Kotaru and his dog for payment he grows to genuinely care for both of them.

Unlike Kenshin, No Name seems to have made no such vow as not to kill. He quite impressively proves that a sword can still be an effective killing weapon even if you never unsheathe it in the first fight. He is a laid back fellow with many secret although one of his secrets was rather odd and I’m not sure why it even existed in the first place.

Kotaru is your stereotypical anime brat. An inexperienced angry little know it all punk in the beginning he definitely grows into being a much more likable character as the movie goes on. I liked the scenes where No Name teaches Kotaru to ride a horse. They let you bond with the characters as they bonded with each other. Tobimaru is an awesome dog though out the movie and one of the most likable characters. I am sure Narutaki wishes he had a Tobimaru.

We get a wide variety of villains, some with a little gimmick and some who are just damn good with a sword. Like the whip guy who was the first to show up was out of control. But then our major baddie, Rarou, is just looking to slice and dice in a new country. He establishes himself as a force to be reckoned with when he kills an entire group of bandits in the opening. His only real motivation is to pick a good fight, well he certainly picks a good one when he runs into No Name.

Rarou is an evil (more evil?) Kenpachi from Bleach. He is always fighting in hope of finally finding someone who can give him a run for his money. In fact he is only with the Chinese because he knows they are were the action will probably be. The Chinese bad guys were without a doubt cooler than the Japanese ones. They mostly exists to get their bums handed to them by cooler fighters.

The battles were beautiful, fluid, and bloody! Heads rolling, limbs flying! The movement was smooth and they always kept you right in the action. I just keep thinking of the fight that starts on some stairs. It was only a moment but it was so cool! Also liked how the terrain was coming into play for some of these fights, just kept it interesting. They were everything I was hoping for.

The fight choreography was well done and beautifully animated as only a movie could be. I liked the fact that most people had their own unique but interesting fighting style. There are even good deal of horse mounted fighting which in not something you commonly see in anime. The end battle is quite the bloodbath which is a fitting climax for the movie. It is quite a nice series of battles even if Narutaki thought that the music was too epic for the actions taking place. I would definitely see other action anime by Masahiro Ando again.

As much as I complained about the plot I could see this being a break out hit in America. It is a one shot movie with a good amount of violence which is usually popular among casual anime consumers. In fact, the plot complications might give it a boost among the casual anime fans. Most of the plot additives where added to give a sense of depth and philosophy to an otherwise standard story.

My initial interest in this movie stemmed from a need to see some really well done and totally cool fight scenes. Everything else that might have happened was just gravy so on that note I was totally satisfied. Sword of the Stranger doesn’t do anything new, doesn’t have an incredible plot, but it has a serviceable story with totally amazing battles and great animation to boot. I will be happy to own this movie.

Top 5 Favorite Swordsmen
5. Guts (Berserk)
4. Magatsu (Blade of the Immortal)
3. Kenshin (Rurouni Kenshin)
2. Zoro (One Piece)
1. Manji (Blade of the Immortal)

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