Review: Kino no Tabi, Book one of The Beautiful World
I had the pleasure of being able to read and give feedback on Tokyopop’s upcoming release Kino no Tabi Volume 1. 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 really, staying familiar to your core audience, while bringing in new.
The translation seems excellent, the flow of the novel is smooth and very easy to read. Often times 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 typo’s or misused words even after reading it twice. It looks like the quality control and attention to detail has 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 the lack of a better word, open stories I’ve encountered in recent years. There’s a kind of magic the author has performed that has given the telling of the story the feel of a journey itself, of exploration. The depth of creativity and realistic human behavior, emotion, 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. Shigusawa Keiichi must be a fan of paradox because the tale is one of complex simplicity. Even the opening page illustrates this:
The world is not beautiful, therefore it is.
Seldom have I seen any author capture the essence of their own work so succinctly. Kino no Tabi, or Kino’s Journey’s, follows a young girl (yes, girl!) through a world that is sometimes very alien, and sometimes eerily like our own.
She’s a traveler, she travels to see the world. There is no destination, just the journey. Each chapter is self contained, but expands upon the overall story. You don’t need to read them in order, in fact Tokyopop used this to their advantage. The first chapter in their US translation is actually the fifth in the original novels, and shows us the start of Kino’s Travels. This may have some devoted fans up in arms, but I see no harm. Knowing how Kino got started ads to the story, but the timing of finding it out is less important.
The tale is not one of science fiction exactly, nor one of pure fantasy. Despite the occasionally high technology or fantastic events, the story is one of the people Kino meets, how they affect her, and how she affects them. An interesting aspect that may seem odd to first time American readers is that in most cases the interaction between Kino and the places she visits is less important than simply the observation.
The story is explosively creative without being overly detailed or dramatic. In this it helps further highlight that the journey itself is the most important aspect. It lets the reader look and listen, seeing what there is to see without needing to be handheld or force fed plot points. The style of storytelling gives the feeling of visiting a new city and being able to take your time exploring and talking to the locals at your own pace versus being guided by only the tourist attractions on a bus.
If you haven’t seen Kino, you should read this. If you have seen Kino, you should read this. There’s something about the world Kino explores in her travels, it’s poignant. Sometimes unbelievable, sometimes all too realistic the stories explore equally the beauty and ugliness of the world.
4 Comments
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Comment by melissamalice — August 10, 2006 @ 10:03 pm
ah! i think i will really like this. thanks for the heads up or i may have never had the idea to pick it up.
what do you use as a blogging tool? i’m not familair with this interface -_-;
Comment by melissamalice — August 10, 2006 @ 10:03 pm
(wait, its wordpress, isn’t it? mine just doesn’t have open ID, i’m a dolt. hahah)
Comment by Alex — August 11, 2006 @ 5:48 am
Yeup, wordpress, openid is a plugin for it that I found and the theme is custom. Hit me up on aim if you need infos I love me some wordpress.
Comment by melissamalice — August 11, 2006 @ 9:45 am
hahah i spent the other week wrestling wp like mad. for now i SORTA have it under control, i just need to, you know, design the rest of my site.
thanks though, i hope i’m up and running soon, i’ll let you know when i am