The manga Kino’s Journey: the Beautiful World is by Iruka Shiimiya. It’s based on the light novels by Keiichi Sigsawa. There have been two anime adaptations. This review is only for the manga, but if something from another version slips in, sorry.
Kino is a professional tourist. Hermes is their motorrad, which means a sentient talking non-flying motorcycle. They visit countries. Kino stays for three days, preferably at a cheap motel with a hot shower, then leaves.
The series is like a series of short stories or one shots, with Kino acting as the audience surrogate. There is some continuity and returning characters, but the order doesn’t matter much. You can get to know Kino and Hermes (and Shizu and Riku and Master) in whatever direction you go.
What they see doesn’t really affect them because they’re so detached from the places they visit. All Kino’s character development – their origins, identity, and gender – are all in flashbacks.
A country of majority rule voted to execute everyone who disagreed with the majority until there was one guy. There was a country with mandatory battle royal for everyone, including tourists. One country is so bored they invented airplanes. There are revolutions and wars, slavery, natural disasters, sad robots, and a country that revolves around paintings of tanks. And then Kino drives away, happy that they saw what they did.
It would be a sweet comforting series if it wasn’t so unsettling. The series is a little uncomfortable, but it’s also very good and kind of beautiful.
