Another remake of a story from the old series and while this one is adapted quite well, maybe even arguably better than the old version, it unfortunately lacks the same impact. The main problem comes back to the thing which ultimately holds back this season as a whole, story choice. For you see in the old series the stories were much darker and there were few stories which had countries that welcomed Kino warmly. Most were cold and formal with how they treated Kino and the general tone was more grim. The old series also established the importance of Kino’s three day rule and showed her past. So after going through a season of that and ending with this story about a kind country truly made for a great finale due to the nature of the episodes before it. The new series doesn’t have that same weight to it. it’s already shown Kino violating her three day rule and also failed to show its importance. Kinos past has instead been reserved for next episode and the stories of this season have been much more light hearted than the previous season. What made this episode great before was that it came after a season cour of Kino traveling to flawed country after flawed country. Thus the one time when she finds a truly wholesome and welcoming country it is tragically destroyed before her very eyes. A small piece of beauty in a otherwise cruel world and something that gives meaning to the subtitle of this series.
I don’t really understand the logic of having this story here in the middle of the series and not to mention animating the country of adults right after it. Overall the structure of this seasons stories has not really been very thought out and seems to be just following the notion of animating popular stories without considering their context. Not to mention adapting stories which don’t really require a new adaption. Still regardless this is a good story and the final twist still hit hard. The basic story being Kino traveling to a country widely rumored to be horrible to travelers only to find they welcoming and kind. The whole way through the episode you are waiting for a dark twist, just waiting for the gut punch that turns all their kindness insincere but that doesn’t come. Instead we get the reveal that the country was doomed to be destroyed in a volcanic eruption and the people of the land made there peace with it. The children remained oblivious to their impending death as the tour guide girl lead Kino around happily unknowingly of what awaited in a few days. As Kino was the last visitor to their country they wanted her to leave with good memories of the place. Just when you think that’s the only hard hitting moment there is the second revelation that the tour guide girl knew full well that everyone was going to die and yet despite given the opportunity to leave still chose to stay and die with her family. I didn’t feel much at the first reveal but the second managed to make me feel something.
Admittedly there isn’t all that much to this story other than the emotional factor and the final twist. That kind of what made it a better finale due to its simplicity and sense of finality. The only other thing to be gleaned from it is that the man who gave Kino the woodsman and cleaned her gun also happen to be her Masters former assistant. Bit odd to see Kino only receive the woodsman here as in previous episodes she already had it but Kino doesn’t play out in chronological order. So other than finding out what happened to the masters assistant it’s just a tragic story of Kino finding a kind place. So it doesn’t have the same kind of thought provoking undercurrents as other Kino stories would. Truly this story was more about Kino and how she changed as a result of this place which again makes the placement of this story here weird. Still the next stories placement is even weirder and I don’t really understand why it’s being remade in the first place. With this, one fourth of this cour is remakes of episodes from the old series and sadly not even the best episodes. I am really hoping that another season of Kino is on the way as it would be a real shame to just leave it at this
Quite a few scenes even in the new version are actually impossible to understand unless you’ve seen Kino’s backstory, I recall two: when Sakura mentions liking Kino’s name, and when Kino is surprised by Sakura wanting to stay in the country and continue her parents’ inn. It’s intentionally supposed to contrast Kino’s own experiences, which makes it all the more heartbreaking when we find Sakura’s note.
It has been a much more uplifting series this time. On one hand, I could certainly use some positivity, but Kino was great because it argues that the world is beautiful despite its many horrors and flaws, which I think, overall, is a much more optimistic view.
Re: 3-day rule. This is the only story that I can recall, and my memory certain isn’t good these days, that Kino decides to violate her 3-day rule simply because she is enjoying her time. That’s huge, but when a number of the episodes haven’t really been about Kino at all it’s difficult to understand that.
I don’t really have much to say that you haven’t mentioned. It’s a great episode. I noticed some more off-putting CG of Kino on Hermes the past few episodes. Overall I like the art; it looks good-much better than the original, but maintains its charmingly spartan style for most things.
When the new anime was first announced I looked at the staff doing it and pretty much wrote the new series off as doomed…
I dropped it a few episodes in, despite being a big fan of the novels, but I still like to read the reviews to see if they make me change my mind and pick it up again. Unfortunately reading them just gives me more confidence that the staff just did not know how to adapt this series well, so they just picked popular story chapters to adapt in random order. 🙁