Reader Comments about KINO NO TABI

Keiichi Sigsawa
illustrated by Kouhaku Kuroboshi
TOKYOPOP
ISBN: 1598164554
208 pages
(October 2006)

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Alex from Krum, TX

I had the pleasure of being able to read and give feedback on Tokyopop's upcoming release, KINO NO TABI. This is one of the first books to be released in their new teen reader program. The format is manga-sized, which should help manga fans notice and take interest. But since it is in fact a novel, it will be reaching out to new audiences in different sections of the bookstores. It's a brilliant strategy, staying familiar to your core audience while bringing in new fans.

The translation seems excellent, the flow of the novel is smooth and very easy to read. Oftentimes translations can become disjointed and awkward in pacing, but this is neither. The characters stay true to their original selves --- in fact they're even a bit deeper and better defined than in the Anime release. Though this was an uncorrected proof, I found no typos or misused words even after reading it twice. It looks like the quality control and attention to detail have been excellent.

The story itself I was already very familiar with, being a fan of the Anime version. It is one of the most creative and, for lack of a better word, open stories I've encountered in recent years. There's a kind of magic the author has performed that gives the telling of the story the feel of a journey itself, of exploration. The depth of creativity and realistic human behavior, emotion and reaction makes the world Kino travels through come alive without the need for excessive length or explanation. The presentation is appropriate for many ages and audiences. You may be a young explorer or an old philosopher and still be able to enjoy this Journey. In fact, I'd recommend reading it again in a different mindset to fully explore the tale.

Brianna from Glendale, AZ

Journey with Kino, a young girl who was born in Grownup Country, but after a strange twist of fate has become a traveler on the back of Hermes, who is your everyday ordinary talking motorcycle. Kino, a professional traveler, now journeys to many countries, but no matter how beautiful or gruesome they are, she stays for only three days. As Kino tries to leave each place, her past and her dreadful reality, the more questions she forms about herself and the people she meets.

KINO NO TABI is for people who will explore a meaning much deeper than the words on the book’s pages. Some of these countries will leave you with never-ending questions, but although the book holds a serious tone, you will laugh and smile throughout the story. This highly well-written book makes the characters come alive, and you will learn that beauty and peace have its dark side.

Bridget from Port Charlotte, FL

KINO NO TABI is destined to become a favorite among young readers! From the very beginning the reader gets to follow Kino on her new life path with Hermes and the many sensational adventures that await them. The diversified people and places they accost on their journey are told in vivid detail, you feel as though you too are riding Hermes, and you can almost feel the wind in your face and smell the "forest perfume; like incense in a shrine." Kino's sense of calm and coolness pervades all she comes into contact with, and her fearlessness in the face of danger is inspirational. There are many colorful characters in this story that the reader will not soon forget.

This book is a must read for anyone reluctant to step out of their comfort zone. Kino and Hermes teach us to trust and believe in ourselves in the face of great opposition. I'm anxiously awaiting to read more about Kino and Hermes in future adventures, and I know I shall not be disappointed. I have already begun to re-read this exciting book!

Don from Concord, NH

KINO NO TABI is an interesting and fascinating book. Kino and Hermes’s travels bring up many interesting social issues and ideas of the workings of society. I found the story so interesting that I went on the Internet to find out if there are any more Kino adventures available and found a DVD anime! I have been recommending this novel to anyone who has picked up my copy and glanced through it.

Eric from West Carrollton, OH

“Embrace simplicity,” Lao-tzu proclaims to his followers. Keiichi Sigsawa takes Lao-tzu’s proclamation deeply to heart in KINO NO TABI. Each chapter in this breakthrough new-to-America series of TOKYOPOP’s new line of fiction illustrates the beauty that can be found in a world where one has to look deep to find any traces of magnificence. Kino and her talking motorcycle, Hermes, begin their journey at home and make their way through foreign lands where unspeakable atrocities are being committed in the name of righteousness and pleasure. Each land they pass through, staying no longer than three days to understand but not interfere, offers them a new chance to see past the evil that blocks the hearts of the peoples of the land.

Each chapter stands alone as an individual story, and readers begin to feel that they are sitting around a campfire listening to the master storyteller of their age weave their threads further and tighter together. Though the stories have deep meaning, the simplicity that they are presented with keeps them light and bouncing around in the head of the reader. Such a masterful tale having reached America’s readers is a blessing; such an amazing story having taken years to reach America’s audience is shocking.

Holly from Middletown, RI

“The world is not beautiful, therefore it is.”

In retrospect, this one sentence means so much more than it seems. We live in a world full of flaws, rules and beliefs. We constantly pick out the imperfections in our lives and place so much more weight upon them than necessary. In KINO NO TABI by Keiichi Sigsawa, one girl escapes her home to travel the world discovering various countries where culture is diverse. Every country she visits tells a story of a time of unhappiness. As Kino finds out, when these people made an attempt to fix their predicament, they changed every basis of balance. But to them, it is a way of living.

This book opened my eyes to how wonderful life can be. As harsh and as unpredictable as it may seem, life is just glorious the way it is. We may still have wars, but those who choose to do so fight these wars willingly. There is no defenseless scapegoat for both sides to annihilate in order to avoid sacrificing each other. We may still have topics that arise protest, but we have the freedom to speak our minds without the fear of becoming executed by the people. We may not completely understand each other, but we find comfort in having a part of ourselves that only we can understand. Not everything is meant to be shared.

Julia from Hampton, VA

KINO NO TABI is the first novel in the eight-volume series, The Beautiful World, from TOKYOPOP fiction. The novel chronicles the adventures of Kino, a young traveler, and her talking motorcycle, Hermes. As Kino and Hermes visit each place on their endless journey, they discover the customs and traditions of the inhabitants. Kino can only stay three days in any one place, and during this time she and Hermes strive to experience as much as possible and understand the sadness, beauty, tragedy and wonder in their world.

On one journey, Kino and Hermes arrive at a city in which all citizens, in an attempt to better understand and treat each other with respect and love, have been medically treated and can feel each other’s emotions without the need to speak.  Instead of bringing the people together, this newfound power has driven them apart. Without the filter of choosing the “right words,” people interpret the raw thoughts immediately and are wounded by the brutal honesty of those nearby.

In another village, Kino and Hermes discover how a rebellion against a cruel dictator changed the lives of the citizens and how those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat the mistakes of the past.

Peppered with black and white manga style drawings, Kino No Tabi allows the reader to visualize the characters and events in the novel and focus on the interconnecting thread in each story: that the world is beautiful because it’s flawed, and the beautiful and ugly aspects of life must be experienced together.

Unlike any other book/story I’ve read, KINO NO TABI by Keiichi Sigsawa is truly unique. Kino travels to different cities and stays there for three days --- no more, no less. So far, the places she’s visited with Hermes, her talking bike, are very strange. Robots operated the first place she visited, you wouldn’t see anyone out in the streets, and the place was extremely glamorous. The second place she visited was completely deserted and there was a graveyard with head stones as far as the eye could see. I won’t tell you about the rest…you’ll just have to read it and find out what happens for yourself.

Lucy from Vancouver, WA

I really loved the beginning of KINO NO TABI --- the way the village was, Kino the traveler and the girl with a flower name. The book was written in a way that I could see what I was reading, like an anime or a manga. I had seen the anime Kino's Journey, but even though I knew what was going to happen I still wanted to read on. The whole book is good; every part was interesting and surprising. I like the fact that Kino isn't her true name and that she tells her own story. Each place is new and I loved understanding and learning the towns’ rules and ways of living. Overall I give this book 5 out of 5 stars!

Megan from Norwood, NJ

When I first looked at KINO NO TABI, my initial thought was that it was small. I was surprised to find, however, that within 207 pages the author manages to convey so much meaning to the reader in the most beautiful language. The story is a truly unique one of a young girl named Kino who travels the world on the back of her talking motorcycle, Hermes. Each country she comes across is only home to her for three days. Every country she stops in is a lesson in and of itself. The situations these places have found themselves in examine the darkest parts of the human mind and the sick irony that ultimately leads to failure.

KINO NO TABI is a powerful book, written in a simple yet elegant language that anyone can understand. Sometimes philosophical, sometimes more like a fairy tale, this book will keep you enraptured and enchanted until the bittersweet end. It is bursting with meaning and metaphor and is overall a wonderful read. I would recommend this book to anyone.

Kino is a young girl who has taken on the life, and the name, of a man who helped teach her a lesson when she was a child. She travels with a talking motorcycle named Hermes. They roam from civilization to civilization spending only three days in each location. On this journey Kino and Hermes come across many people and towns that have a story or a history to share. Some have stories of sorrow, some of happiness, some of desperation, and some, sadly, of nothing. All of the experiences teach her what Kino (the man from her childhood) had taught her --- that there is a world outside of what you know.

KINO NO TABI is a book that has a lot of depth to it (let's face it, it's a rarity these days). It puts a face to the vague images that float around the back of our minds put there by things we hear about everyday. Stability of governments, differences of cultures, those affected by war --- a variety of themes are put into this book and told to the readers in a way that we can understand without it relating exactly to us. The most reoccurring theme is greed --- the lust for power, for knowledge and, on different extremes, for revenge. Even though the situations are different from ones we might find ourselves in, the reality of why and how is frightfully similar to how things actually happen.

I would recommend KINO NO TABI to the reader who enjoys a book from which they can learn. It offers a look into a reality that most people don't consider and others toss around lightly as a joke. After you read this book, you'll see new meanings to things you thought you knew before.

Suzanne from Lexington, SC

As in some of the best Japanese manga and anime, KINO NO TABI, book one of the eight-volume series The Beautiful World, features a strong and fearless young woman living in some sort of alternate universe. She travels from country to country on her long-suffering sidekick, an anthropomorphic motorcycle named Hermes.

When we first meet Kino, she has another name --- that of a flower --- and she is about to undergo an operation on her brain that will turn her into an adult. A stranger appears and informs her that there are other ways of living. Kino decides that she doesn't want to have the operation after all, but when she tells her parents this, they try to kill her. The stranger is killed trying to save her. She takes off on the motorcycle, and her exile from Grownup Country begins.

Every country, she finds, has its own problems. Many Japanese people believe that they can communicate their thoughts without words, but in visiting The Land of Shared Pain, Kino discovers how awful it would be if that were really true. Even The Land of Peace isn’t quite so wonderful as it sounds. There’s violence everywhere, but Kino, who practices with her weapons every morning and knows how to use them, continues to love peace.

Toward the end, Kino seems to find a friend, but they go their separate ways. Maybe they'll meet up again in later volumes?

This book is part allegory, part sci-fi/fantasy, and unlike anything I've ever read before. Although it's a translation, it doesn't read like one. And although there is some blood and gore, there is also humor and beauty. I highly recommend it!

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