pay: tried out watching the next anime but i ended up watching its OVA instead without realizing it. #OOPS
pay: to be fair i didnt realize until i'd already finished it because it was a really good OVA. so that's a good sign

KINO'S JOURNEY EPISODE 1

technically this show is called Kino no Tabi: the Beautiful World but kinos journey is shorter so that's what we're going with.

this anime is absolutely fucking incredible. i love it. this first episode also does an EXCELLENT job setting up the story structure and two main characters.


the episode starts by stating that the world is not beautiful.

kino is a traveler. they want to explore and visit various countries around the world, staying in a country for at least three days. no more, no less. kino doesn't have any human companions, but they do have a soft-spoken motorcycle, named hermes.



if we were to use sherlock as an analogy here, hermes is the john to kino's sherlock, roughly speaking. he's the one that asks kino questions that the audience might be wondering, but not in an obnoxious way. he also has a quirk of sometimes mispronouncing words, which is pretty funny.



each country that kino visits is unique, and holds its own story for kino and hermes to uncover. i absolutely ADORE this premise!!!!!

the country that we see kino visit in episode 1 appears to be a robotic paradise. there's a robot to do every job and make all visitors and inhabitants lives easier and pleasant.



however... there isn't a single person in the country.

it's a complete ghost town.

that is, until...





i love this show. after kino uncovers the true story of this country, they ride hermes off into the sunset, to continue on with their journey.

the episode ends, much in the same way it began, with a little text box stating that the world is not beautiful.

therefore it is.



other fun kino facts:
- kino is nonbinary. the descriptions that miruro uses refer to kino as they/them, myanimelist only refers to kino as kino, and there is not a single gendered term used in this first episode to refer to kino.
- kino has two guns, and they like to practice their quickdraw.


i also really like how this anime puts an artificial scanline filter over the entire thing. it doesnt move or anything but i feel like it just adds to the vibe of everything

do i want to watch more?

Yes.

favorite screenshots

this show has pretty standard limited animation for a lot of things, but the art direction for the stills is absolutely gorgeous. there's very clearly a lot of care and detail put into everything.

for example, whenever hermes speaks, he doesn't move. the only way that we even know he's talking is that we can hear his voice. but hermes' body is drawn in full detail whenever he's on screen, and he looks GREAT. NO SHORTCUTS!



not even to mention the scene where kino dismantles their guns to clean them and they DRAW THE FREAKING PARTS ALL LAID OUT!!!!


i liked this little exchange too LOL

(kino is the one stating how cheap it is. what a cheapskate!)

oh oh oh i also really really liked the OVA it was basically just the length of a regular kino episode cut in half. it was fascinating and i highly recommend watching it even if you don't plan on watching the rest of kino's journey. it completely stands on its own.

pay: i love to check if there's any comments on the less well-known anime. usually there isn't anything, but in the off-chance that there is... this is the only comment on episode 1 of kaleido star.

pay: thanks, Queenofyuri.

KALEIDO STAR EPISODE 1

im really digging this one! ACROBAT ANIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! the opening story is pretty simple but the ANIMATION is where it's really at for me here. IT'S REALLY GOOD! its fluid and engaging and FUN and there's SO MUCH of it before we even get to the actual acrobatics. our main girlie is a real fun character too- I'm getting ahead of myself.

here's a super-basic plot rundown.

This is sora. She's from japan. and her number one dream in life is to join the Kaleido Stage! she's wanted to join ever since she was a young girl!


Sora is also really really good at getting into situations. she arrives in (what i'm going to be referring to as hawai'i, because they don't actually state where in the world they are), and the first thing she does is get herself lost. #GIRL


also THE BATTER!!!!!!

so sora eventually gives up and approaches a little news stand to try and get directions. there's a guy standing there too, and he overhears her asking about the kaleido sta-


DUDE????????????????? sora fucking JUMPS away from this guy and yells at him for JUST FUCKING GRABBING HER??!?

"hey, watch out?"
"WHAT ELSE SHOULD I BE WATCHING OUT FOR EXCEPT YOU???"
a random man runs over and grabs sora's suitcase, that she abandoned in her frantic escape.
"that."

so NOWWWW sora has to CHASE after her luggage in a really fun chase scene. a crowd of people witness the luggage theft and one kid throws her his pair of skates so now she's SKATING after him too. she JUMPS on STOREFRONT CANOPIES and manages to pin the guy in the middle of a crowd.


everybody claps for her. obviously.

So now she's at the police department. Reporting her luggage theft? WRONG! SHE'S BEEN APPREHENDED ON SUSPECTION OF RUNNING AWAY FROM HOME??!?!?!?!? "oh no!" sora thinks, "im going to be late for the audition at kaleido stage at this rate!"

"well... at the very least,"

so she just starts doing her warmup stretches.



she manages to convince the cops that No she's not running away from home and Yes she is going to audition to be on the kaleido stage. one of the cops is actually a huge fan of kaleido stage and drives her to the stage himself. thanks buddy

She's too late. The auditions just finished. It's so over. and there's this BITCH castmember miss layla that WON'T EVEN LET HER AUDITION even though she FLEW HERE ALL THE WAY FROM JAPAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


at the very least, this one stagehand named ken feels bad for sora, and offers to let her see the performance of kaleido stage and look around at the backstage stuff. thanks buddy that's so nice of you! (guess what, i think i just won Spot the love interest!)


Sora ends up accidentally making a cast member sprain her wrist while trying to save her life and thus the castmember REFUSES to PERFORM because she's a huge baby. #AWESOME now they have to call in a stunt double-

The Thigh Grabber is here.

And he says that sora is going to be the one to replace her role in the performance. and his name is Kalos. Like the pokemon region.

GO GIRL!!!!! GIVE US EVERYTHING!!!!!!!


SORA PROCEEDS TO GIVE US NOTHING!!!!!!!! SHE IMMEDIATELY FORGETS WHAT SHE'S SUPPOSED TO DO FIRST BECAUSE SHE LITERALLY ONLY GOT A VERBAL RUNDOWN OF WHAT SHE WAS SUPPOSED TO DO!!!!!!!! WITH NO REHEARSAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! SO SHE'S JUST BOUNCING ON A BUNCH OF TRAMPOLINES CLUELESSLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sora's just about ready to give up, when she hears a voice in the crowd!

"You can do it, Miss Bunny!"

sora locks eyes with the audience member...



and sees herself. NEVER GIVE UP SORA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

sora proceeds to improve her routine and get back into time with the other performers and the crowd is CHEERING for her. it was really emotional

she also misaligns her final jump so she's not positioned to land on a trampoline. and is about to PLUMMET to her DEATH when THIS GUY saves her


and i just find the name Mr. Yuri really really really funny. I know it's a real name that real people have. but this alongside Queenofyuri from earlier it's just making me laugh. is there a Mrs. Yuri? LOL

sora's first performance is over and she's immediately FUCKING YELLED AT by that BITCH LAYLA. about how DISAPPOINTING and EMBARASSING and SELFISH her act was. and she's SO FUCKING MEAN ABOUT IT SHE MAKES SORA RUN AWAY CRYING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ken is also there to witness it and layla STOPS HIM when he tries to run after her. FUCK OFF

sora's walking sadly down the boardwalk, to go back home to japan and give up on her dreams of being an acrobat...

YAY SORA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the episode ends with sora moving into the castmate dormitories, happily looking outside at the night sky. wow! she's made it! she's on kaleido stage!

oh, i forgot to mention something.

back when sora was preparing to be a stunt double, she was alone in the dressing room when she heard a strange voice saying, "You can do it. You won't fail."


sora glances over her shoulder, and notices that same weird doll is. there. again.


"You can see me!" says the Weird fucking doll


His name is Fool. And he's the Spirit of the Stage.


And that's what he looks like.

Okay. Sure.

do i want to watch more?

this is such a funny show YES i do. the expressions are silly the animation is fun what more do i need in a comedy anime?! the story is pretty bog standard as far as Performer stories tend to be, but that's literally fine the character writing is the biggest draw here for me. i LOVE sora she's ridiculous sometimes. i want to see her suceed!!!

favorite screenshots

just some fun little things that i liked.


the part that caught me off guard though was the POLICE OFFICER showing back up again (the one that drove sora to the stage in the beginning) and sora RUNS over to HUG him LOL?! i guess they're friends now.