Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World

Kino, a 15-year-old traveler, forms a bond with Hermes, a talking motorcycle. Together, they wander the lands and venture through various countries and places, despite having no clear idea of what to expect. After all, life is a journey filled with the unknown.

Throughout their journeys, they encounter different kinds of customs, from the morally gray to tragic and fascinating. They also meet many people: some who live to work, some who live to make others happy, and some who live to chase their dreams. Thus, in every country they visit, there is always something to learn from the way people carry out their lives.

It is not up to Kino or Hermes to decide whether these asserted values are wrong or right, as they merely assume the roles of observers within this small world. They do not attempt to change or influence the places they visit, despite how absurd these values would appear. That's because in one way or another, they believe things are fine as they are, and that "the world is not beautiful; therefore, it is."

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kino Main

Maeda, Ai Japanese

Hermes Main

Aigase, Ryuji Japanese

Kino (original) Supporting

Inoue, Kazuhiko Japanese

Riku Supporting

Ootsuka, Houchuu Japanese

Shizu Supporting

Irie, Takashi Japanese

Shishou Supporting

Midori, Junko Japanese

Sakura Supporting

Yuuki, Aoi Japanese

Tchuhachkova, Nimya Supporting

Kobayashi, Ai Japanese

Poet's Daughter Supporting

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Poet Supporting

Mikimoto, Yuji Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Abe, Shoujirou Producer

Koyama, Naoko Producer

Hasegawa, Tokuji Assistant Producer

Reviews

Jul 22, 2025

szrmx

Recommended

"I Watched Kino’s Journey and Now I Want to Pack My Bags, Shoot a Man, and Ponder the Meaning of Existence"

Alright, listen. This isn’t another "quirky traveler meets new cultures" anime. No. Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World is basically what would happen if Mushishi, Black Mirror, and a philosophy major on a two-week fast had a lovechild and gave it a talking motorcycle.

And somehow... it works. Like disturbingly well.

First of all: Nothing happens. But also... EVERYTHING happens?
Bro, I binged this at 2AM thinking it’d be cozy, chill vibes, maybe some deep quotes sprinkled in. Big mistake. One episode in and I’m questioning democracy, morality, ... religion, love, death—you name it. There’s an ep where a country literally makes a sport out of hunting humans. And it’s not even treated like "omg shock horror"—nope, it’s served to you all calm and matter-of-fact, like "here’s a salad and a casual existential crisis".

You never really get answers in this show. Kino—the MC—isn’t here to fix anything. They roll into town, see some messed-up nonsense, say "huh, interesting", maybe shoot a guy (in self-defense?), then peace out like a cowboy philosopher. No cheesy speeches. No moralizing. Just... vibes. Really dark, fascinating vibes.

Kino is the GOAT of stoic badasses
Let’s talk about Kino for a sec. Gender? Ambiguous. Vibes? Immaculate. Weapon skills? God-tier. They're the type of character who says like four words per episode, but every one of them slaps. There’s a scene where Kino is surrounded by dudes with guns, and she’s like, "I don't want to fight... but I will if you insist."
AND THEN SHE ABSOLUTELY WRECKS THEM.
Like, John Wick meets Buddha. I was clapping at my screen like an idiot.

And Hermes? The talking motorcycle? Honestly, a lowkey icon. Snarky, deadpan, kinda adorable in a nihilistic way. Their banter is somehow both hilarious and deeply depressing. Love that for them.

This show makes you feel smart and empty at the same time
You ever finish an episode and just sit there like "...did I just get emotionally wrecked by a story about a country that voted itself into silence?" Yeah. That's Kino’s Journey.

Every ep is a new place, new society, new set of values—and every one of them hits different. Some are beautiful. Some are horrifying. Some are just...sad. There’s no "main story", no real arc. It’s all just snapshots. And weirdly, that’s the point. Life doesn’t always give you a satisfying resolution. Neither does this anime. Deal with it.

Not for everyone, and that's okay
Let me be real with you: If you need plot twists, waifus, or overpowered MCs shouting about friendship, go watch Demon Slayer or something. This ain’t that.

But if you're into weird, slow, philosophical stuff that gets under your skin and makes you question why humans are the way they are... you’re in for a ride. Literally. On a talking motorcycle. Through the weirdest damn world I’ve seen since The Twilight Zone.

(Also the art? Minimalist but kinda haunting. Soundtrack? Underrated af. That ED song? Gets me every time.)

Final hot take:
This anime is a 9/10 for me, easily. Not perfect—some eps drag, and the pacing will piss off impatient folks—but damn, it stuck with me. It’s the kind of show I’ll rewatch in 5 years, in a totally different mental state, and get something completely new out of it.

So yeah. I watched Kino no Tabi.

Now I trust motorcycles more than people.

(¯_(ツ)_/¯)

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Mar 5, 2025

oupossum

Mixed Feelings

Oof. I normally love slow psychological or philosophical shows, but this was so poorly executed it took away most of the charm.

To start with what I liked - I loved Kino's character (although superfical, with a personality that's only hinted at) and their character design. The aesthetic, animation, style. Music, voice acting. Loved the slow pacing and atypical format of the episodes. I absolutely adored some of the characters that Kino met, as well as a few of the show's character focused stories (episodes 2, 10, 11). Overall, since I love slow atmospheric shows so much, I actually did enjoy it despite my strong criticisms. ...

However, the worldbuilding is either so shallow or unrealistic that most of the stories and visited countries have absolutely no effect on the viewer. For a show wholly centered around visiting countries, it makes it impossible to feel invested in the plot or message. This is worsened by the fact that the philosophy and politics are oversimplified and stereotyped to the point where they're borderline childish. Many other works have shown similar stories, with similar messages, but much better execution. The show tries to make some point that humanity is both ugly and beautiful no matter what, and tries to show that both sides are equally bad or good, but that simply is not true. It makes a joke out of the real life situations it showcases, like genocide, war, and fascist regimes. Kino has this non-involvement policy where they don't intervene to improve others' lives no matter how easy it could be, and this could be fine as it makes sense for the character, but it really ironically reflects how this whole show refuses to truly engage with its own stories.

Overall, meh.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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May 22, 2025

1stDecame4Danime

Not Recommended

Funny

This is really not interesting: it's lacking both intellectual depth and superficial spectacle, making it a complete bore that is hard to watch. It's a typical episodic story of encountering people/places with different mini stories to tell that has been done far better by many others. The philosophical aspects are all juvenile and often just contrived nonsense to force misanthropic/wishy-washy morals ('the tyranny of the majority in democracy is unavoidable'(No. The anti-execution minority wouldn't accept a decree to be executed, it's literally the definition of their group, they'd revolt), 'slaves want not to be free but to be the masters'(No, just no. Also, reinventing the ... concept of sports doesn't necessitate death sports. But at least the author managed to headass another way to smooth their brain enough to try to justify genocide), 'We will not leave before the known natural disaster destroys the town tomorrow and then come back and rebuild the day after! We will murder-suicide everyone instead!', etc. And the story itself is mostly just (not like your other girls') world-building/character's exposition dumps interspersed by power(point)fantasy shonen action and emotionless tearjerkers where non-characters die.

The MC, Kino, ironically preaches be true to one's self like the story insists, despite how Kino's entire personality/character/name was simply copied from the person who saved them before literally forgetting everything else. With similar irony, Kino refuses to live life, almost always avoiding involvement in anything to a sociopathic degree (effectively watching people drown in a puddle while choosing not to say anything to help). Kino's entire personality and highest ideal is to be a traveler (read: bystander/sightseer/voyeur) who contributes nothing but juvenile pseudo-intellectual commentary filler for the viewer. As written Kino and the talking bike-partner non-character make for one of the most boring non-character main casts ever.

And don't even get me started on the braindead Coliseum super-powered shonen tournament arc that finishes in a deus-ex-fireball bullet for no goddamn reason, or the bs about MC having never seen flying machines despite how simple the concept is and after seeing tons of hover crafts. There is something so frustratingly juvenile about the plots in this series. It's like the author just wants to make twists like M Night Shamallama and doesn't care about anything else.

The art is uninteresting. There's almost no cinematography outside the OP, just a bunch of generic sideshots of people talking and silly everpresent CRT screen lines to cover up how generically bland and low-effort everything is drawn.

If you like elevator muzak, then this has, like, a boring OP and ED for you I guess, skip. I don't think it has much music anywhere else.

It's almost exactly like a serious version of Jing: King of Bandits by a different author which one would assume is parodying this, however Jing's source material actually came first by 5 years. I didn't enjoy either as they're both juvenile and boring slogs, but that one at least had some spectacle/humor. For something of similar style done well instead of this, I'd highly recommend: Mushi-shi, Girl's Last Tour, Golden Boy, The World God Only Knows, Made in Abyss, even Full Metal Alchemist. It's also very similar to Wandering Witch: The Journey of Elaina and due to those similarities that one isn't particularly much better.

2/10 (where 5/10 is average)

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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