Product Details

• Actors: Ryuji Aigase, Shelley Calene-Black, Kelli Cousins, Matt Culpepper, Illich Guardiola
• Directors: Ryutaro Nakamura
• Writers: Sadayuki Murai
• Format: Animated, Box set, Color, DVD, Subtitled, NTSC
• Language: English, Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
• Number of discs: 3
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Section 23
• DVD Release Date: October 25, 2005
• Run Time: 325 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000AP31I8
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #75,112 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Kino's Journey - The Complete Collection" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Destination is a state of mind. Travelers not only find themselves in a variety of locations and geographic phenomena, but they also bare witness to the whims of culture and the skewed effects of subtle circumstance. Kino is such a traveler. Sitting astride Hermes, the ultimate internal combustion companion, Kino searches for life’s answers, life’s questions, and the myriad of interpretations connected to them. A wielder of cutlery, firepower and a piercing tongue, Kino is ready to embark on a journey unlike any other!

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

42 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Enthralling & beautiful series, February 26, 2006

By 

A&M Junkie (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kino's Journey - The Complete Collection (DVD)

The back-cover of volume 1 of this fantastic series has the following words:

"Sitting astride the back
Of an internal combustion companion-
Drifting through the beautiful world.
The ground rolling beneath, before and beyond:
Their journey meanders"

For me this sums up the atmosphere of "Kino's journey" - this is a poetic, but unpretenious series. The viewer follows Kino, a young girl, and her motoraide as they drift from country to country, staying three days in each to soak up the culture and understand the ways of the people that live within them. Each country is vastly different with extremely different political, technological, and moral standards.

The series manages something rarely attainable in anime - interesting, mysterious, and intelligent storylines that make the viewer really think about the world around them, but without being overly complex and confusing. The makers of ther series also do not force their viewpoints on the viewer; instead the makers present the information and leave the viewer to judge the standards of each country themselves. The series also benefits from having a truly likeable heroine, who is not girly but worldly and capable.

This may sound boring, but believe me it is not. After the second episode, I was as eager as Kino to visit the next country and uncover their culture. The stories are genuinely moving, unpredictable, and sometimes heartbreaking. There is action as Kino sometimes finds herself in danger and some unexpected brutal images. The graphics are beautiful and modern. The soundtrack and dubbing are excellent.

This is not a funny or romantic series and there are no mecha battles. However, if you want to try a series (13 episodes) that treats the viewer with some intelligence and is genuinely interesting that you should definitely buy this. Similiar to Haibane Renmei in tone and graphics, but more down-to-earth. I watched the whole series in one day and afterwards felt like packing a bag and invesitgating the world myself.

54 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Kino's Journey, October 17, 2005

By 

Collector "fan" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Kino's Journey - The Complete Collection (DVD)

What intrigued me most about Kino's Journey was the fact that the leading character was an androgynous looking female on a journey with her talking motorcycle. Just reading about it, the story sounds strange but once you start watching it, it makes sense in the world it takes place in. The world Kino lives in is almost like our own, except that each country Kino visits seems to be at a different stage of civilization. You could say Kino's world was tailor made just for us to learn the moral lessons it's trying to teach. Through Kino's journey we come face to face with human desires that can either lead a country into destruction or into a new age of change. Our main character is Kino who is unflinching in her resolve to continue her journey and tries to keep herself uninvolved from the fate of those people she meets. It is refreshing to finally see a character that isn't so self-righteous to think she has the answers for everybody's problems. Kino's motorcycle Hermes is a good vehicle for seeing the puzzling world from a non-human perspective. None of the character designs are particularly attractive nor does the animation impress any veteran anime viewer. But the unique approach of looking at human nature without the preachiness of other shows makes Kino worth a look.

29 of 32 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Totally unique and gripping, February 26, 2006

By 

Nicholas Gold (Baltimore) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Kino's Journey - The Complete Collection (DVD)

Kino's Journey is unlike any other anime series I've ever seen (and I have seen many). It is beautiful in its artwork and music. It is intense and deep in its writing and story telling. And fundamentally, it is melancholy and introspective, while retaining a feeling of hope. It's pace is for the most part slow, but there is certainly action at points. This series will make you think, and, if it has done its job, laugh and cry as well at points. For $35 bucks, you absolutely can't say no to owning this brilliant series.