Here’s another anime remake for you.
Kino’s Journey is a semi-anthology light novel series by Kouhaku Kuroboshi. The story doesn’t take place in our world, but in a world where different “countries” (more like towns or the occasional city) are bound by a similar extreme. Kino and her motorrad (a talking motorcycle), Hermies, only stay in a country for three days before moving on. Yes, there is an in-story reason for that. You’ll have to check out the series to find out, but which one will you choose?
In 2003, an anime adaptation was produced by studio A.C.G.T. and dubbed in the US by ADV Films. Kino’s Journey: This Beautiful World only lasted one season, but it’s a great season to check out. I managed to see it on Hi-Dive’s free streaming channel, but sadly I can’t bring that one to you here tonight. It’s worth looking into.
Instead, we’re seeing the first episode of a 2017 remake by Lerche, available in the US through Crunchyroll. I guess they were trying to keep themselves apart from the previous anime, so the full title is Kino’s Journey–The Beautiful World: The Animated Series. There are times I think Japanese media leans into the gag about how long some of their titles are. For reasons known only to Crunchyroll, they posted the sub and dub to their YouTube channel two years apart. At least you’re getting both, and because the first episode lacks an opening (you know me and intros), I’m going to track that down as well. Enjoy.
Intro (only available officially in unsubtitled Japanese)
Subtitled version
Dubbed version
