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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
Muy bello. Muy bueno para estudiantes de japonés porque es fácil de entender, varias palabras tienen furigana y cada capítulo es autoconclusivo.
Gentle, whimsical and sometimes philosophical, with a hint of melancholy
I first heard of Kino's Journey (or Kino no Tabi) in some online discussion on some website. My curiosity aroused, I decided to check it out.
To say I was satisfied with my purchase is an understatement.
The story begins with our mysterious narrator Kino describing her life as a young girl. Originally, she comes from a place known as "The Land of Grown-Ups". An unusual name to be sure, but the scenario quickly gains a sinister tone. The Land of Grown-Ups, of course, revolves around adulthood. Everyone under the age of 12 is a child. Upon reaching their 12th birthday, the child is given a sinister operation that turns them into "an adult" by their standards. As an adult, they no longer feel a need to question orders or be unhappy when doing work they don't like. They simply accept their job and complete it without a care in the world.
Having been raised to believe this is totally normal, Kino never questions the system. One day, however, a mysterious traveler arrives in town. Striking up a friendship with the man, Kino slowly learns that it is possible for her to grow up without the use of an operation. Fascinated by the concept, she asks her parents whether its possible for her to live without an operation.
They respond by trying to kill her. After all, in the Land of Grown-Ups, what use is a child? Kino only manages to escape thanks to the sacrifice of the traveler and the gift he left behind for her: a talking motorcycle named Hermes.
Having left the Land of Grown-Ups, Kino resolves to explore the world as much as she can and discover new and exotic cultures.
From there, the book transforms into a series of vignettes, showing Kino, Hermes, and the reader strange people and their cultures. We see a land where its citizens gained the technology to hear each other's thoughts, believing it would lead to total peace. We visit a deadly coliseum where travelers are forced to enter the ring to save their own skin. We even encounter three men working in the land between countries and the pointlessness of their tasks. Each story makes me think about how the world works and how much I am affected by the culture I was raised in. Its a fascinating examination of the beauty and the cruelty humanity can create.
A story that can leave such an impression on me in such a short amount of time is truly worth every penny. I was all to happy to read this book and I'm already digging into the next one.
To say I was satisfied with my purchase is an understatement.
The story begins with our mysterious narrator Kino describing her life as a young girl. Originally, she comes from a place known as "The Land of Grown-Ups". An unusual name to be sure, but the scenario quickly gains a sinister tone. The Land of Grown-Ups, of course, revolves around adulthood. Everyone under the age of 12 is a child. Upon reaching their 12th birthday, the child is given a sinister operation that turns them into "an adult" by their standards. As an adult, they no longer feel a need to question orders or be unhappy when doing work they don't like. They simply accept their job and complete it without a care in the world.
Having been raised to believe this is totally normal, Kino never questions the system. One day, however, a mysterious traveler arrives in town. Striking up a friendship with the man, Kino slowly learns that it is possible for her to grow up without the use of an operation. Fascinated by the concept, she asks her parents whether its possible for her to live without an operation.
They respond by trying to kill her. After all, in the Land of Grown-Ups, what use is a child? Kino only manages to escape thanks to the sacrifice of the traveler and the gift he left behind for her: a talking motorcycle named Hermes.
Having left the Land of Grown-Ups, Kino resolves to explore the world as much as she can and discover new and exotic cultures.
From there, the book transforms into a series of vignettes, showing Kino, Hermes, and the reader strange people and their cultures. We see a land where its citizens gained the technology to hear each other's thoughts, believing it would lead to total peace. We visit a deadly coliseum where travelers are forced to enter the ring to save their own skin. We even encounter three men working in the land between countries and the pointlessness of their tasks. Each story makes me think about how the world works and how much I am affected by the culture I was raised in. Its a fascinating examination of the beauty and the cruelty humanity can create.
A story that can leave such an impression on me in such a short amount of time is truly worth every penny. I was all to happy to read this book and I'm already digging into the next one.
Maybe it's because I was coming to this from being a fan of the anime adaptation, maybe it's just the stories that were shown here, but this book didn't really do a lot for me. The anime had a really great visual design, and a sense of a coherent, ugly-yet-beautiful world around it, and none of that came through in the original work - they were just rather simplistic, overly moralistic stories.
To be honest, it felt like the book was a rough draft of something that was intended to be adapted into a show all along. Good thing it was, I suppose.
To be honest, it felt like the book was a rough draft of something that was intended to be adapted into a show all along. Good thing it was, I suppose.
This unassuming little volume with unadorned text and economical storytelling is deceptively light reading. Kino's story is told at a distance, and we are just as much a visitor as she. And that distance is necessary to keep this story from overwhelming the reader, because Kino visits some pretty horrific places. The volume is a triumph of both imagination and execution, and the distance that the author keeps allows exploration of darker themes to be thought provoking rather than emotionally wrenching. It's really a smart story, and I look forward to spending more time with Kino in her sequels.