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The first 5 episodes were extremely impressive, the stories were interesting and full of thoughts. The colosseum episodes were the beginning of a slight downhill that lasted for the rest of the series. Given, the stories were pretty interesting, but frankly the philosophical points felt to be taken out of a fortune cookies. On top of that, mostly they didn't merge with the stories too well.
By the way, in the story of a wise man I was pretty thrilled to see the old tale of man telling king to stop blocking the sun, but the rest of the story included the cheap "brain procedure " stuff that I recall them using earlier too. It just wasn't very clever or interesting story.

This last episode was pretty good though. Didn't make me think too much, but the feelings were conveyed to the viewer pretty nicely. Liked the last attempts of the parents to get the girl out of the town.

8/10 because in the end, these series are pretty rare species. Would and will watch again in the future.

It was an amazing show. Each episode kept be glued to the screen. It potrayed the world that everything is not just one color. It's sometimes black and white, or black and white and grey.

10/10

me too, I thought something bad will happen to Kino (like death) but...

aww, I almost cried ><

It's truly perfect, for it truly feels like they thought of everything. The little things, it all fell into the right place

10/10

A great series. Really loved this finale.

A fitting end for an interesting and thought-provoking series. Usually so stone-faced Kino had an awesome expression at the end. As others mentioned before, people start acting and changing their ways only when the end is imminent and everything is most likely too late. At least in this case the townsfolk were able to show their newfound kindness before their unfortunate end.

As for the the series, second episode was the best, being about the value of life and people's motivations. The Coliseum part was, if not the worst, at least the most annoying. Kino acted inconsistently and the action stuff didn't suit this show one bit.

All in all a very unique show which could have lasted a bit longer ... I suppose I have to watch Mushishi now.

Fantastic series, I only wish there were more seasons to it.

I think people can stop speculating on certain things, since the anime isn't exactly giving you hidden messages. They outright tell you. Kinda funny seeing people act like detectives over something like her name, or whether or not the little Sakura knew they were going to die.

Kino's real name is Sakura. You didn't decode a mystery, it was information given to you throughout the series, and validated with the final episode.

Little Sakura knew she was going to die. That's why she gave the seeds to Kino, and said it was pointless for her to keep them.

As to people saying Kino's name is Lily... I'm guessing maybe you watched the dub or something and they failed at translating by over-localizing the context? Pro tip, stop watching dubs. You lose intended inflections and subtleties in dialogue, and reading isn't hard to do. Watching a dubbed show is like eating spaghetti with ketchup. Sure, the sauce comes from a tomato, but you're doing it wrong.

EDIT: People actually thought Kino would die in this episode? Wow, were you watching the same show as me? Did you pay attention to anything happening at all? Maybe it's the same people watching dubs, and information was lost in the translation or something.

If Kino dies in this episode, there wouldn't be the rest of the series. It became quite clear early on that this episode took place earlier in her travels. This episode basically revisited many of the tidbits of info given throughout the series. There's no reason to think she would die here...

so sad! D:

i also thought the episode had a lot of foreshadowing. i'm glad it proved false, but that ending was really sad :(

i wish the series could continue somehow. but since Kino's journey will never really end, the series could never really end either.

a really strong ending tho. beautiful series.

I want moar D:

actually the statement you made is exactly what I think about evangelion. To each their own I guess

Everything in that country seemed like a déjà vu of Kino’s old hometown. The parallels between her and Sakura were clear too.

Tears escaped my eyes when I saw the town being buried beneath the lava. And Kino’s reaction… It broke me. She always wore that cool, indifferent visage. But it shattered, for the first time.

It’s quite ironic, as the series has always showed. Kino, who was supposed to die and didn’t want to keep on her parent’s business, escaped alive because of someone’s sacrifice, and Sakura who didn’t necessarily have to die, having the choice of leaving the country to travel (and save herself as well) decided upon staying, knowing the consequences it would have.

Kino’s Journey has been a fabulous experience, there’s no doubt. Unforgettable and enlightening.

It is indeed a cool anime and nicely finished considering what the anime is about...
I've enjoyed it, more and more episode after episode...

That was cheesy. How about evoking emotion without killing off characters or in this case, leveling a village by volcano? lol

The final episode relies on the same cheap plot devices and puddle-deep "insights" that plague this entire series.

I'm not sure why but for some reason I didn't enjoy this as much as I though I would. I like philosophical stories and a bit of serious stuff. This had both but still I'm giving it 7/10 or 8/10 Maybe the countries were a little too surreal and exaggarated...

Amazing series! XD Love it! It made you realize the poignancy in life and the many intricacies of human nature.. deep and profound, that's what I'm describing this awesome series.. It made you really think how humans really live their lives... Hahaha! Getting sentimental here.. all in all, great show! An easy 9!

I was going to read everything and reply but arimakenshin pissed me off. I love this episode. I adore it. I think it's the best ending of any series and I still cry just reciting it. Just thinking about it. Why?

Well, let's start off midway through the series when she declines that one guy's offer to travel with her (I don't care what his name is. He didn't have enough of an impact on me). The point of this is obviously the message here being that she only wanted to travel with Hermes.

Then, again, obviously, episode 4. In which we learn of how Kino became Kino. That's a given.

The foreshadowing. Opening with talking about how this country has the worst reputation. Getting to the front gate and seemingly greeted with no interest until she states that she wants to stay for three days and INSTANT HAPPINESS. Opens the gate to be greeted by EVERYONE and then in a scene resembling her own past stays in a hotel with a girl sharing her childhood name. She probably forgot about the reputation at this point.

The wedding and how Lily comments on how unusual it is that they're getting married so early. Kino catching the seeds for her. The county's past. Lily wanting to be a tour guide. The parents offering to let Lily join Kino.

AND KINO WOULD HAVE ACCEPTED. So you know Lily affected Kino in a way that nobody else could have. This girl was aspiring to something and she was practicing by showing Kino around and telling her about the country. But she declined, which wouldn't have meant anything if it weren't for the fact that she knew.

That's bravery. That's beautiful. That child had dreams but decided to stay and die with her family and friends. She wasn't even supposed to know. Nobody convinced her to stay and she did anyway.

It perfectly conveys the message of the series. "The world is not beautiful, therefore it is."

So, arimakenshin, I'd like to see you be as brave as that little girl.

EDIT: I don't think dubbing ruins any series that I've watched. Obviously they got the point across because, lo and behold, I get it. There is no way that changing her name in this case changes the context of anything beyond the insults she received as a child. As stupid as rhyming "Lily" with "silly" is, it can easily be overlooked. So, Thillygooth, stop thinking that what you watch is somehow superior to whatever version anybody else is watching because it's all the same. In fact, the only time I've been disappointed by a dub is when Funimation changed the lyrics to "I've Got a Feeling" in Beck. Again, not really important. Otherwise, I feel the dub is far superior to the original.

They made her name Lily in order to preserve the teasing Sakura and Kino received over their names. The Sakura/nekura joke wouldn't make sense in English, so the intention would be lost. It would be useless for them to use that word in an English dub because the viewers wouldn't understand it. So that's why they called her Lily Sakura so they could use the insult "silly", in place of nekura (gloomy). Stop being so uptight about dubs, they aren't purposely trying to screw around with the original content. (but Tokyopop did screw over the Kino's Journey novels, but that's another story entirely.)

I certainly love this series, and the final episode was a great send off. I loved every episode and didn't mind it's simplicity. Actually, I love the simplicity. At times I could predict certain plot elements and the art is relatively plain. Yet, the art is beautiful and each story leaves me thinking. The character Kino was a joy to watch. Some people seem dissapointed by her lack of emotion, but that was something about the character I enjoyed. For one I could sympathise with her, and then It's nice to see a different kind of character. Her personanlity made sense reguarding her background and caused scenes like the end of the final episode to be more empactful. Kino's Journey is a masterpiece in my eyes.

Nice ending

8/10 overall for the whole series.

I think some people dont like this anime and its philosophy because its too blunt and cynical. But I think it sums up a lot of things about human nature and condition perfectly. We aren't as good, innocent and deep as we'd like to think.