English Dub Review: Kino’s Journey -the Beautiful World- “Kind Country”

How will you wake up, when there is no tomorrow?

Overview (Spoilers)

In what appears to be a prequel episode, Kino and Hermes approach a country with a bit of a reputation. Everyone who ever traveled through was met with rudeness and suspicion. Shopkeepers would close their shops or not sell quality items. Restaurants would charge too much or make crappy food. Still, in the interests of completionism, she decides to visit. As she drives up, the gate guards ask her how long she’s planning on staying, and are relieved when she says only three days. From there, the country’s residents are only too eager to help her out, advising a cheap, high-quality hotel to stay at. The innkeepers’ daughter offers her services as a tour guide and shows her around. Their first stop is a gunsmith, to get Cannon serviced. He seems a bit gruff but agrees to get the gun to her the next day. He smiles at the weapon, recognizing it from his own past. They see a few more sights and come back to the inn for dinner. The girl’s parents overhear that she’s interested in Kino’s travels. They ask her if she would like to travel for a while before returning. She refuses, saying that the inn and being a tour guide for her town are her dreams. The next day, they visit a wedding, and Kino catches one of the seed pods they use instead of a bouquet in this country. She gives it to little Sakura. Later, they visit the gunsmith, who has not only repaired Cannon, but gives her his own traveling gun, Woodsman.  Everyone in the town has been so nice, and the views so lovely, Kino is tempted to stay an extra day. However, the guards arrive, forcing her out of the town. Everyone wishes her well, the innkeepers giving her some food for the road. They are told to ride until they reach the ridge, and not to stop before then. That night, Kino wakes up with a dry mouth. Her spider-senses are tingling. The mountain above the country explodes, erupting into a volcano. In an instant, the town is gone. She reaches into the sack of food and finds a note. The innkeepers admit that they knew about the volcano. The whole town decided to stay and face their fate. Being aware of their reputation as rude, they all decided to reverse it by being exceptionally kind and to show travelers the best time they could. Unfortunately, nobody would visit them because of the rumors. Then, three days before the eruption, Kino rode into town. They had tried to get Sakura to leave, so she could be safe, but she loved her country too much. With all her dreams built around it, there would be no point in saving her. Kino is also left with a memento, the seed from the pod she caught. She and Hermes leave for the next town, commenting on how kind this country was.

Our Take

This series has been very up and down. This episode, however, was an up. Though I saw the original anime’s version, I tried watching this from the perspective of someone watching for the first time.  The writing was excellent and kept you wondering the whole time. You had no idea the eruption was going to happen and were genuinely confused as to how this country got its reputation. When the guards came and kicked her out, you thought “this is it, we’re about to see why everyone thinks these nice people considered are rude”. But no, they are very polite and wish her well. The ending is poignant, as it revisits many of the villagers we’ve met in the town, just to watch them die in a flash. The episode is as powerful as ever, especially when you think that it is really just the origin story of Woodsman, so named because the town was originally built in a forest.

This episode was absolutely gorgeous. The art of the slow drift through sundown, and the streetlights coming on was filled with charm and serenity. This calm and beautiful scene is especially memorable because of the violent eruption scene not long after. The volcano is an amazing moment to watch. It isn’t a slow creep of magma like most fiction paints it, but a sudden rush and scorching heat. The animation here is detailed and smooth as we watch the streets burn away, then the couple that had just gotten married. All in a flash. The rest of the episode isn’t a slouch either, using strong camera angles with smooth animation to keep everything clean.

Getting into the voice acting, most of the time Lindsay Seidel maintains Kino’s polite monotone. However, as the girl tortures herself over the death of Sakura, you hear subtle perturbations in her voice. There is anguish for once in Kino’s voice. Couple with Hermes’ expressive, humorous tone from Derrick Snow, and this episode actually delivers quite well. Even Sakura’s cheery tone shows a wide range of emotion. My only critique is that Sakura’s voice did get a bit pitchy and hard to listen to at times. Still, not enough to make me want to stop watching.