Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - Nanika wo Suru Tame ni - Life Goes On.

After running away from the grim future that awaited her back in her home country, a young girl takes upon a new name and identity—inspired by the man who sacrificed his life to help her escape. Alongside her newfound companion, a talking motorcycle, the two find themselves a new home in the forest—where lives an elderly woman with an expertise in guns. Under the woman's care, the girl is trained in marksmanship and motorcycle handling among other various skills needed to survive.

Although the girl is happy with her current life, her guilt regarding her savior's death continues to build within herself. She still feels responsible for her savior's death, and considers the consequences of using his name as her own. In doing so, she is denying her own identity and existence by trying to replicate another person's life, instead of living her own.

Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World - Nanika wo Suru Tame ni - Life Goes On. follows the journey of a young girl as she begins to come to terms with her new identity.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kino Main

Maeda, Ai Japanese

Hermes Main

Aigase, Ryuji Japanese

Shishou Supporting

Midori, Junko Japanese

Traveler Supporting

Miyamoto, Mitsuru Japanese

Gunpowder Salesman Supporting

Mutou, Yoshinori Japanese

Middle-aged Man Supporting

Nakata, Masayuki Japanese

Older Woman Supporting

Sayuri Japanese

Middle-aged Woman Supporting

Satou, Shinobu Japanese

Abe, Shoujirou Producer

Oosawa, Nobuhiro Producer

Watanabe, Takashi Producer

Hatakeyama, Takurou Assistant Producer

Reviews

Jan 24, 2009

shadowcat2323

Recommended

Kino's Journey can pretty much be divided into two shows, one that is an entirely episodic travel anime with light philosophic content and a second that has a much stronger emphasis on philosophy and underlying whispers of a overreaching storyline. Kino's Journey: Life Goes On falls pretty solidly into the second category and does a good job of representing exactly what I liked about the main series.

Story 10: This is the story I wanted to hear since about episode 3 of the show, and it never disappointed. The plotline of "Life Goes On" does a wonderful job of showing how Kino's writers are able to ... seamlessly integrate Lain-style philosophy into a story without interfering with its pacing. That being said, it contains a similar level of spoilers as watching any prequel before the main series, I would certainly suggest watching the show first.

Art 9: Just about the same as Kino's Journey, along with the subtly annoying horizontal lines throughout. I really liked the darker moments of this OVA, the art in those parts were a very welcome supplement to the already established art style. And what can I say? I just love Kino's character design <3

Sound 9: I really enjoyed the voice-acting in the show and in this OVA it was maybe even better. Still don't really care for the OP or ED though, but neither are like gratingly bad. The BGM isn't spectacular or anything but contributes well to the pace and feel.

Character 10: A surprising amount of character development in this OVA, without messing up the series's, which was awesome to see. Also, many of the side-characters in "Life Goes On" were fairly unique, which was nice coming from a series where one of my few complaints was their reuse of stock characters.

Enjoyment 10: A very stellar OVA, if you liked Kino's Journey but always wanted to know more about Kino's past this is perfect for you. Even if that wasn't really the draw of the series for you, I personally believe some of the series's best moments are in this OVA so I'd check it out anyway.

Overall 10: If you didn't like Kino, this probably won't change your mind. If you liked Kino but didn't like its ending (as in- what ending?) this OVA could fix your opinion of the show, as it did mine. I find myself wishing this were the canonical last episode, because I fear some people will miss it. Please don't let yourself be one of those people! If you finished Kino's Journey promptly go watch this OVA.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 5, 2013

obtrice

Mixed Feelings

For fans of Kino’s Journey, Life Goes On is a welcome addition. It’s a cute, engaging story that reveals how Kino got her traveler’s outfit and remarkable skills, expands upon two important secondary characters, Shishou and the older Kino, and focuses on Kino’s guilt over the death of the older Kino. It also has a bit of action, humor, and a suspenseful, darker climax.

As a prequel, the film isn’t bad but it leaves something to be desired. How did Kino and Shishou meet, and why does Shishou make Kino (and everyone else) call her Master? When and why did Kino decide to leave Shishou? If ... Life Goes On were actually a movie, maybe it would have had the time to answer these and other questions. At just under 30 minutes, it’s more like another episode, but unlike other episodes, it fails to raise any interesting cultural issues. For better or worse, it’s just a collection of events from Kino’s childhood, with little expository or intellectual value.

Given the dearth of Kino’s Journey anime, fans should certainly check Life Goes On out. It’s a good story, and of course, it’s more Kino. Just don’t expect to find any big answers or profound messages. For those who haven’t seen Kino’s Journey and are looking for a good starting place, the “Tower Country” OVA (Episode 00) is a better choice as it’s more representative of the series.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 30, 2017

VeiledEdge

Not Recommended

This first Kino's Journey special serves as exposition to the main series, kind of, and does nothing else. And even the exposition that it does accomplish is not only unwarranted but unnecessary. It was also disappointing considering I was expecting the special to show exactly how Kino became so impressive at combat. So let's discuss those two aspects of the series. Its unwarrantedness, and its unsatisfying narrative. For this review, I will assume you watched the main series, as both of those subjects require knowledge of certain episodes in the series. Also, this review might get a little spoilery. I will not explicitly spoil the ... special, but I will be talking about things that it does not do, things it fails to do. For a non-spoiler review, I do not recommend this as it does not add anything to the main series, nor does it accomplish or do anything remarkable.

Did Kino's Journey need a prequel?
Episode 4 of the main series already took us back to when Kino decided, or was forced to, become a traveler. Sure, this episode is really short, but it does everything it needs to for us to understand Kino's motives. Are we left asking anything else about her past? If the answer is no, then there's no need for this prequel. If the answer is yes, then we ask ourselves the following question.

Did this prequel explain what we wanted to have explained?
The only gap between episode 4 and the rest of the series that is noticeable is how she became so good at fighting. How does she go from this completely naïve little girl to a cold, apathetic killer? This prequel does not answer those inquiries. The synopsis here answers that just as much as the special itself.

Given that this prequel serves no purpose outside of the synopsis, is it worth watching as a stand-alone special?
The story is horrendous stand alone. There is no story. The art again conflicts with the atmosphere of the special. The sound is okay. The characters are well written, but not more so than the main series. The only thing it has going for itself is that it's really short. If it was at least some Karate Kid kind of episode where it showed a lot of training and struggling as well as a gradual hardening of character, it would be worth watching, because then it would exactly answer our two questions above. But just the simple fact that it does neither, as well as being lackluster in itself is enough to warrant a skip.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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