
Kino and Hermes, a human and a motorroad, are the two characters we follow through this journey exploring or rather experiencing the different countries and landscapes. Another way to put it is they are experiencing every country's weird and inhuman yet human cultures and ideologies accompanied with a mysterious yet oddly compelling dark atmosphere and tone.
{Characters}
Even though the supporitng cast changes each episode, the various characters that are introduced make strong impact on the viewer to remember them. Then we have the two protagonists Kino&Hermes, Kino is a young woman who travels across the land to visit as many countries and cultures as she can. She is portayed as a mysterious personality throughout the series, only staying 3 days to each country, practicing with her gun before dawn every morning and most importantly most of the time not interfering with the country's customs and ideals. As a traveler she is stoic and calm, as a person she is accepting and curious that's what makes her an interesting and mysterious person and that's what makes this series tone&atmosphere. But without her buddy Hermes this wouldn't be possible, as a talking motorroad who lacks human common sense he has a very curious yet carefree personality that completes the duo's chemistry as travelling buddies and as good friends.
{Visuals & Direction}
Aesthetically the series has a dark pallete almost like a old tv that compliments its tone and atmosphere, the designs are simple yet they show you the personality of the person and the backrounds have a dark pallete yet they draw you in with their beautiful&simple structure. But what makes this series shine is its direction which elevates the previous stated aspects of the show. Creative and ambitious, simple yet complicated is the series strongest point and what make it a cinematically pleasing experience.
{Music & Sound Design}
The music is mostly absent and it plays in certain moments but when it plays it makes an impact through its very weird dark rhythm. Despite the music's absence, the series feels oddly alive due to the use of natural sounds and multiple disturbing sound effects. By letting the natural sounds in the backround they create a calming tone and with the addition of disturbing sound effects they destroy that calm and create an uneasy yet dark calm tone to the series that make it so special.
In conclusion, Kino's Journey is filled with various dark stories&thematics, an oddly captivating atmosphere, a phenomenal cinematic experience and distinct yet human characters that make for a very special journey across the land along with Kino and her motorroad.