Swift review: Kino no Tabi novel 1

Background info

(long time readers will have seen this paragraph before)

Kino is a traveller who journeys from country to country on her talking motorcycle Hermes; by her own rules, she must stay in one place no more than three days, but whilst there, she makes an effort to see everything it has to offer. Join Kino and Hermes as they turn up all the weird and wonderful things to be seen across the world.

The novel

Having thoroughly enjoyed the Kino’s Journey anime, Tokyopop’s release of the first novel was a welcome addition to my collection; yes, I was slightly concerned about how good the translation would be, but even so the series was worth taking the risk for.

Fortunately, despite my worry that it would read like it was written by teenagers, Tokyopop have done a surprisingly good job with the localisation, resulting in something that flows well and is easy to read without seeming juvenile. And of course, there is nothing to worry about as far as actual content is concerned- although this novel has nothing to offer that wasn’t in the anime, but nonetheless the stories are thought-provoking enough that it is well worth revisiting them in printed form. Admittedly, the order of the chapters has been altered, but since this merely puts Kino’s origins at the beginning of the novel, it is hardly a terrible change.

Unfortunately, having whetted my appetite for more novels and original content, Tokyopop have failed to release any further novels in the series, leaving me in a painful limbo. It’s a shame, because if the licensing issues could be resolved, I would be one of the first in line to pick up subsequent volumes.

This entry was posted in Light Novels. Bookmark the permalink.

1 Response to Swift review: Kino no Tabi novel 1

  1. digitalboy says:

    lulz, you should’ve checked the pedigree. KnT is translated by Andrew Cunningham, the undisputed greatest translator ever. I buy things just because he translates them.

    And yeah, sadly Tokyopop canceled the series years ago.

Comments are closed.