Comments on: Kino no Tabi: Book One Of The Beautiful World - Light Novel Review

By: Adam Q

Adam Q — Sat, 30 Jun 2007 01:24:04 +0000

I’d just finished the fifth book for the series (the Chinese version published by Kadokawa Shoten Taiwan). In chinese, the gender terminology is also a big problem, and Kino was stated as a girl from the start. For those who have seen the TV series or even the movie, this might really seems like a big deal, as the gender ambiguity would probably seem like a big deal for Kino, especially since Kino is very “flat”, rarely showing any emotions or her real thoughts at all. However, the novel was written to be indifferent about the gender. It was meant primarily to tell a story of a different place in every single chapter, and not to really relate Kino’s journey, like an adventure or whatnot.

To me, I treat the novel like watching travel documentary. I would be somewhat bothered if the presenter is a male or female on surface, but ultimately, I would be so engrossed in surveying what was offered in that country that the presenter just ain’t important.

I had to adopt that approach, as the stories get VERY VERY repetitive after a while. But take it in the light that the stories were meant to fill in a column of a periodically published literary magazine in Japan, which was then compiled and released into a novel. That was probably why the author written things in a short and complete manner.

The time sequence is also pretty mix up, making it quite hard to relate it as a person’s complete journey/ adventure. For instance, the story about how Kino gotten her .22 automatic pistol “Mori no hito” (Woodsman) only appeared in the fifth book (and also the last episode of the series).

But as far as light novel goes, this is one book that is rather concise for light reading. The content of the stories could be quite heavy though, so do not attempt to finish the whole book in a day’s time. I did that and regretted it greatly.

By: LianYL

LianYL — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 09:14:11 +0000

The value of art and words cannot be balanced nor put on the same scale. Unless you’re reading HunterXHunter.

By: fict

fict — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 17:36:51 +0000

>I’m the kind of guy who actually pays more attention to the words in manga than the pictures
Lol, my artist friends are horrified that I do that too.
Them:”Wait, did you finish that page?”
Me:”Huh, yeah?”
Them:”Did you look at the pictures?”
Me:”I glanced them over”
Them:”TURN BACK AND APPRECITE IT FOR 5 MINUTES YOU TWIT!”
Me:”…. alright then.”

Light novels are an easy read when commuting, and I have yet to finish this volume.

By: Nick

Nick — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 15:41:29 +0000

Leviathean,

Unless the story was significantly re-written, Kino does actually reveal her gender in the Coliseum chapter, so it would seem that chapter is where Kino’s gender was revealed in the Japanese version, before Grownup Country.

Those curious about the ordering, they’re listed on Wikipedia’s entry on Kino no Tabi.

By: Leviathean

Leviathean — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 14:45:46 +0000

Well, the ordering of the stories was changed mainly due to the differences between the English and Japanese languages. In Japanese, it’s apparently much, much easier to write sentences without revealing the gender of the subject (like the pronoun “she” in English). Because of this, the Japanese version was able to keep the gender of Kino ambiguous until the last chapter, Kino’s origin story. Since doing that would be nigh-unreadable in English, they made a suitable compromise and placed it at the start.

So in the Japanese version, the “Land of Grownups” is the climax of the book, instead of the Coliseum chapter. I wonder how much that changes the overall effect of the book, if at all?

By: Faust721

Faust721 — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 08:09:21 +0000

Light novels are getting pretty big in America. I’ve bought some of them (Kino no Tabi, Scrapped Princess, Slayers) though haven’t sat down and read them yet. I’m especially looking forward to Shakugan no Shana, Shinigami no Ballad, and Strawberry Panic when it comes out next year.

By: Hung

Hung — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 05:54:12 +0000

I was actually thinking of picking up the Japanese versions to see what the differences were. Unfortunately my Japanese reading ability is probably not quite novel ready…

You can get ‘em at yesasia for a pretty decent price (like the same amount as the english version).

By: Eleutheria

Eleutheria — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 05:50:59 +0000

I should pick up the novels in Japanese…