Kino no Tabi ~ Kino's Journey (2003). Philosophical Themes of Each Episode

[@ATalkingDoubleBarrel]

The Grandma episode really touched my heart. She actually believes that she was a robot, loyally serving the family for decades. When she finally "broke down" the family also follow her on breaking themselves down.

[@deagogl2843]

The theme in episode 6 and 7 is about violence as entertainment, the addiction to aggression and vicarious pleasure in spectators, that humans are violent species by nature, violence in sports had become a form of entertainment since the ancient times, and humans still support and enjoy watching violence in blood sports such as bullfighting, or MMA.

[@iBenjamin1000]

reading the episode summary to remind myself of the episode, it also feels like there's an extra theme about the futility of violence and/or revenge in seeking justice for harm done. The king killed his father. One of the contestants was the king's son come to kill his father. Kino's choice after killing the king to allow the 1st class citizens to fight among each other, leads to even more death, but tacitly grants respite for the second class citizens. It's like, not an elegant solution, but it will do some immediate good for some of the citizens, and it's not like it's Kino's responsibility to fix the country anyway.

[@deagogl2843]

@@iBenjamin1000 The king never felt joy in his childhood , and he despised his father for being stern and "boring" man who only cared about power and the kingdom's economy. The king laughed for the first time after committing parricide because he enjoys the thrill of violence and destruction, but he is also aware of his mental instability. According to second-class citizens, the economy was good, but the current king was wasting it by holding violent sports; spectators who are wealthy first-class citizens are not much different from the king, as the crowd began booing Kino for not killing her opponent, even though she was the winner; the point at the end was seeing violence rather than harmless fighting sport entertainment. "Kill Him!" yells the crowd at Kino. She smiles and then spares the opponent, purposefully disappointing the audience and the king.

[@TobiasDray]

you can't put bullfighting and MMA at the same level

[@deagogl2843]

@@TobiasDray Doesn't matter, both are labelled violent sports.

[@cyncynshop]

Thank you so much, I rarely see discussion of this show despite most who see this show praises it.

[@tbush6657]

Minor correction: The land of prophecies was destroyed. Kino was camping just outside the city, and the Sad land was far away. The 3 (technically 4) countries explored took place at different times in the timeline: 2_1_X_4_3 1- Kino visits Prophecy 2- Forest mushroom high induced philosophy before sleeping 3- Kino is awoken still in the forest to an invading other land of prophecy 4- Long after, Kino arrives at the Sad Land, and hears a poem matching the prophecy, Kino now learns that those people died for nothing. X- The cat eared land doesn't have a set spot in the timeline, just like most of the rest of the series countries. It was only put in this episode to make you think this episode follow 3 unrelated short stories, making the twist that the prophecy was just a meaningless poem hit harder, and follow up with Forest b. where you find out an entire country died over this poem. Interestingly at the end of the episode Hermes asked will the prophecy really be true? It may be based on a meaningless poem, but in the end the prophecy was technically true with both interpretations. A: The world will end tonight- From that countries perspective, the world did end that night B: The world is saved if the "green plate" is smashed: From the world's perspective the country, it's inhabitants, and even the green coastal land it rests on was completely obliterated, and the world didn't end.

[@neetzsche9324]

The timeline of that episode has always confused me. Thanks so much for clearing it up! About the prophecy, yeah you are right. It's an interesting twist of fate, and for an episode about interpretation it's spot on. Thanks so much for this comment, I wish I could re-edit the video accordingly but unfortunately it's not possible.

[@felixthefool8304]

Glad this anime is still being talked about, as it is my favorite.

[@pericles9874]

the bleak life and modern times of grey skies and electric lights

[@sevgilikitaplarm4364]

I think three man in railroad is also about absurdism. What they do doesn't make any sense. They don't know this but they continue working and they don't come back to home. They don't even know if their family is dead or not. Also kino notices they won't change their mind even though he (I'm not sure but I thing he is transgender or something because every time somebody call him "her" he refuses in a way. Maybe because she is trying to live as original kino.) Tells them about the city that people don't need to work. I think it doesn't matter what they do they won't be able to reach their goals. And it is all because they do what ever told.

[@richardborys182]

Great summary and learned a lot! One of my favorite animes, if not my favorite because of its messages.

[@iBenjamin1000]

I liked this video but it does leave at least a few details that I recall being pretty striking when I watched this series. The 3 railroad workers being like the three buddha is interesting but it really just seemed to me like an incredibly ironic situation, that there are three men working so far apart from each other they don't even realize they're working in complete contradiction to each other. Presumably all being paid by the same company. Together with Kino's anecdote about a highly advanced country where everyone was still made to engage in meaningless work, it seems pretty easy to read the railway workers' stories as a criticism of the abuse workers face, made to do menial work that ultimately has no purpose, unable to even recognize their situation since they're unable to communicate.

[@iBenjamin1000]

The mechanical dolls story hit me pretty hard. I liked your conclusion about consciousness but what I read from this episode was the importance of empathy. The robots flood the town where the old woman's family used to live so she doesn't have to remember that everyone she loves is gone. The scene that hit me hardest was when she leaves to get something, the family steps up and simultaneously dumps their food in the trash. Here they reveal that they're robots and don't need to eat, but they maintain the facade for granny's sake. And I feel like the episode really wants you to chew on that idea. Is it right, the way that they're throwing away all her work, allowing her to believe these lies about her own life? Even though there isn't really any story focusing on resource scarcity. But whether this is the right approach for the robots, it's the best they can do. It makes granny happy. And when she passes away, they terminate themselves because they had nothing else to live for.

[@iBenjamin1000]

The final episode sure was a doozy but are you sure the events happened in the way you described? As I recall it, when Kino reads the letter, it was from a young girl she had made friends with, who indicates that she knew very well about the volcano, but chose to stay with her family like the rest of the village. They had been a nomadic tribe for so long due to various struggles, so now that they had found a place they could call home, they were willing to remain even in the face if imminent danger. The only issue with this theory is that such a young girl might not have had much choice, with how young she was. But I thought that's how the events transpired.

[@iBenjamin1000]

Lastly there's Kino's own story. Growing up in the country that wanted her to conform or die, and had no concern for her worth as an individual. She is protected by the traveler Kino, takes his name and all his belongings, and leaves to visit other countries. But she's never able to stay for very long, partly because of her desire to travel, but also because so many of the other countries have their own issues. I was watching the final episode with someone else who said they thought it was a story all about finding your identity, a sense of belonging, which Kino is unable to find since being forced to flee the place that was supposed to be hers.

[@neetzsche9324]

Thank you so much for this well detailed comment! I believe your interpretation of the episode is also correct. Every episode has more than one theme and I didn't want this video to be too long so for each episode, I tried to summarize the theme that I found to be the most interesting.

[@neetzsche9324]

@@iBenjamin1000 For this one I also agree, It was a deeply emotional episode with so many different complex feelings.

[@jiayou1534]

Pleasantly surprised.

[@ohdannyboy8584]

This video is 🔥. It helped me realize some of the themes that went over my head. I just finished the show and that last episode is messed up

[@neetzsche9324]

It sure was!

[@y2kmedia118]

Thank you for making this video

[@xerox228]

I think that the episode with the three workers could be resemblant of Camus' Sisyphus as well - a criticism of the bleakness of industrializing society, perhaps (juxtaposed with the country where people work for the sake of working)

[@sevgilikitaplarm4364]

I have to say something. Kino means yesterday in japanese. Do you thing it has a meaning?

[@DevoteeOfAergia]

Hi, could you please write the term you define at 6:19 because I am unable to hear it well?

[@neetzsche9324]

Sure! It's ''Neo-Luddism''

[@DevoteeOfAergia]

@@neetzsche9324 Thanks, and I forgot to mention it originally but this was a great watch. Keep up the good work.

[@sergeantsalamander]

This is an excellent video about an excellent anime! You have a new subscriber for sure. Also, I personally think the Colosseum arc was about Hedonism, given that was what the whole society was built on. Even the guards enforced the system because it brought them pleasure. When the King was forced to consider ideas unrelated to his own pleasure, he became violent and unhinged. The Loki comparison was spot-on, and I think ties in to the philosophy of Hedonism quite nicely.

[@leakypeach6250]

That last episode messed me up! Not emotionally, but it ended with such a curve ball. Since it was the last episode, I spent every second theory-crafting as to why the country was so radically different from what we expected. I even grew attached to the girl as she was clearly a parallel to Kino (a sort of "what-if" scenario for her). Of course, the twist hits way harder because of that.

[@sailorwiki1654]

Beautifully done

[@SSJKamui]

On topic of the land of adults. This also seems a kind of extreme criticism of what is meant to be a rational adult. In a certain way, modern society sees being an adult similar to what max weber called the Iron cage, what ernst juenger called the worker and what heidegger called the gestell. Basically in many modern societies, adults are expected to blindly , follow a protocol to make the societal machine work seemingly smooth and frictionless and your own life and personality is erased for the sake of the protocol

[@LMG356]

HYPE! thx for the new video :)

[@neetzsche9324]

You are welcome :3 As Always

[@traffy7792]

Thx! Good mind opening vid

[@gundamdragon]

You missed a part the country with no work

[@alainsoral9093]

Nice video!

[@thelssjbroly9873]

I got here from a discord server

[@neetzsche9324]

Interesting.

[@Mr_Schizo]

Give me the link

[@thelssjbroly9873]

@@Mr_Schizo I don't remember the server. Think I got banned or sum

[@Mr_Schizo]

@@thelssjbroly9873:(

[@BSJDynasty]

why is literally EVERY version i find of this, be it on yt or torrents/streaming sites the same bad quality? is there only one raw of that that was ripped and the wrong codecs were used on it or wtf is it with the bad lighting and terrible striations?

[@SSJKamui]

Wait. The wise man is wise and seemingly enlightened because he has no desires. Isn't the obvious connection here buddhism?