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Traveling Parties
Kino's
Kino
- Above Good and Evil: Invoked for her by a few countries, who ask her to do their dirty work on the basis that as a traveler, their laws don't apply to her. With that said, Kino herself subverts this, as she prefers not to murder people just because she can legally get away with it. In general, part of her Bystander Syndrome is because she doesn't want to "play god" with lives.
- Abusive Parents: Hers wanted to perform some pretty horrible surgery on child-Kino.
- Afraid of Needles: Downplayed, but she notably doesn't like shots.
- Ambiguous Gender Identity: It's eventually revealed that Kino was born female, but Kino appears to deliberately choose gender-neutral language and reject being addressed as a girl. There is occasionally debate in the fandom whether Kino is best understood as a tomboyish Bokukko, non-binary, or transmasculine. Kino is Kino.
- Badass Adorable: She's considered to be rather cute, even as a Bifauxnen, which doesn't detract from her being an extremely deadly fighter. Best exemplified by the scene of bandits scoping for a target: the inexperienced bandit underestimates her as just a cute girl, while his mentor recognizes that a lone traveler only survives by being strong enough to handle threats.
- Big Eater: She loves to eat, and can have Bizarre Taste in Food.
- Blade Enthusiast: Kino always has a large number of knives on her person. In fact, it is noted that in nearly every country they stop in, she'll add at least one knife to her collection because she thinks they're beautiful.
- Born Lucky: Her good fortune is commented on more than once, such as it randomly raining when she's suffering from dehydration.
- Boyish Short Hair: After her first kill, she wears her hair this way, contributing to her androgyny.
- Bystander Syndrome: As she makes it a point not to get attached to anywhere in her travels, she tends not to go out of her way to help unless it's for her own purposes.
- Cold Sniper: She rarely uses Flute, her rifle, given that it's not as easy to carry around—which means that when she does, she's usually deliberately out to fight or kill, putting her in work mode.
- Dance Battler: Kino, during the Coliseum episode, dodges a set of thrown knives by pirouetting gracefully out of the way.
- Death Glare: She shoots one of these at the guards of the Colosseum after hearing him laugh over the (fatal) misfortunes of travelers like Kino.
- Devious Daggers: Kino carries several weapons, and is, at one point, told by a group of slavers to disarm. After Kino throws down her guns, they tell her to also toss her knife. She asks, "Which one you want?" They reply, "All of them." Kino proceeds to dump a dozen knives from her person, until she's holding just one. It turns out to be a combination of fully functional knife, and concealed pistol with laser sight. Kino shoots one of the slavers with the pistol function, stabs the next fatally with the blade, and retrieves her gun to finish off the third.
- Everyone Has Standards: Despite remaining on a neutral stand whenever she visits a country and observes their laws or traditions, even she was disturbed by the King of of Coliseum disturbed and sadistic nature.
- The Gun Slinger: She's an expert marksman, able to hit targets from long distances.
- Heroic Comedic Sociopath: A few stories have her (mostly harmlessly) scam the country she's visiting.
- Heroic Neutral: Usually, she'll remain on the side lines but depending on the circumstance, she's ready to help those in need.
- Innocence Lost: Her first kill, which confirms that she's ultimately prepared to be a traveler—made especially brutal because it's the original Kino's mother. Also doubles as the moment where she has an Important Haircut and a Meaningful Rename, as while she'd been using the name of Kino before then, it's when she fully declares herself as Kino and stops having any doubts about it.
- It Amused Me: The punchline in the "Land of Wizards" story is that Kino didn't really believe in Nimya and only helped her out because she was bored.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Due to the way she dresses, many people think she's a boy.
- Legacy Character: Names herself Kino in honour of the traveler who saved her life and inspired her to take up traveling.
- Lethal Chef: Her cooking can be deadly, albeit largely due to her tendency to over-spice it.
- Not So Stoic: Though she usually maintains a passive, nonjudgmental attitude, there are moments where it falters.
- Punch-Clock Villain: She ends up as this in a few stories where the country she's in hires her for an unsavoury job that pits her against the POV character, whom the reader is likely rooting for instead. The Ship Country is one example, where Shizu is trying to save its people and Kino is an obstacle on orders from the Tower Clan since she's apathetic to the people's fate.
- The Stoic: She deliberately maintains an unemotional, detached front, and she's generally less than enthused about participating in any country's sillier traditions.
- Troubling Unchildlike Behaviour: Has an unsettling tendency to wake up at the crack of dawn and practice drawing her pistols for at least an hour at the start of every day, and manages her age-appropriate fear of death or imprisonment with a jaded, adult intelligence.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: With Hermes, at times (including a tendency to slap him awake).
- Weak, but Skilled: Shisho outright tells her that with her small build, winning through brute force is folly and thus she must rely on being a Combat Pragmatist to survive.
Hermes
- Brutal Honesty: He doesn't have much of a filter. Kino tends to shut him up before he can say anything too blunt/rude.
- Legacy Character: Named Hermes after the original Kino's previous motorrad.
- Malaproper: Hermes is prone to these, with Kino frequently correcting him.
- Not a Morning Person: A Running Gag is Kino constantly having to wake him up, given that she always gets up early.
- Sentient Vehicle: Hermes, the motorcycle, possesses a mind of his own.
Shizu's
Shizu
- Abusive Parents: His father massacred his family and drove him into exile, leading him to come back and take his revenge on him. However, Kino beat him to do it though he doesn't mind at all.
- Foil: To Kino. She loves traveling for the sake of traveling and is often blessed with good fortune, with her more than once walking out appreciated by a country despite her self-serving indifference. On the other hand, Shizu travels solely to find a place to settle down and seems cursed with bad luck, as his efforts to save people only ever get him reviled or exiled.
- Heroes Prefer Swords: Shizu carries around a katana and he's very proficient with it.
- Humble Hero: Pointedly avoids any kind of luxury and will always choose the cheapest, most rundown lodgings if he can, citing that it suits him better. Riku even notes that considering Shizu's origins, it practically sounds like a joke. Taking Ti in forces him to improve his standards, though.
- Knight in Sour Armor: While no less cynical or ruthless than the other characters, Shizu breaks the general rule of travelers to not get involved in the countries you visit, as it only makes your own life harder—which it certainly does for Shizu, who nevertheless keeps trying even though his efforts are never rewarded.
- Nice Guy: As long as you don't cross him, he's a polite, understanding young man who, in stark contrast to Kino and Shisho, actively tries to help those around him rather than remain neutral in the face of injustices. (Not that it ever goes well for him.)
- Parental Substitute: To Ti, whom he takes in after the events of the Ship Country arc.
- Private Military Contractors: A common job of his, though usually depicted off-screen; Riku knows not to ask too many questions if Shizu leaves for a job with his sword. Notably, this line of work is how he first met Riku.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: The "Land of Passage" manages to do this while yanking the chain harder than usual in Shizu's quest to find a home. It's where Photo lives so there are no real problems with the country, and Shizu even manages to live there for a month... before he gets banished, as usual. However, while he's likely a Hero with Bad Publicity for the country at large, the specific village he helped is grateful for his deeds—a first for him, who often walks out universally regarded as a murderer/liar/etc. Riku even notes that Shizu must have no regrets.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: The inevitable outcome of his stories, in which he tries to find a country to live in, as Status Quo Is God. It eventually gets lampshaded by Riku who knows better than to get his hopes up when things seem to be going well, given Shizu's string of bad luck.
Riku
- Canine Companion: Shizu's long-time and loyal companion. One story reveals that he's had Riku since he was a puppy, after Riku's original master died.
- Light Is Good: He's a big, fluffy white dog.
- Sitcom Archnemesis: He and Hermes hate each other for no real reason.
- Supporting Protagonist: He's almost always the narrator and POV character of Shizu-focused stories.
- Talking Animal: To everyone's surprise sans Shizu, he is properly able to speak.
- Undying Loyalty: To Shizu, whom he serves faithfully despite Shizu knowingly heading to his death in his debut.
Ti
- All of the Other Reindeer: She's shunned in the Ship Country due to not being blood-related to anyone.
- Bizarre Taste in Food: She loves portable rations, which are typically considered tasteless at best and like clay at worst.
- Creepy Child: She's a bomb-loving Emotionless Girl who's also so poor at coping with her emotions that an Innocently Insensitive remark from Shizu—essentially her Living Emotional Crutch by this point—sets off her abandonment issues and prompts her to stab him.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Her full name is Tifana, but she's rarely called that.
- The Quiet One: She's borderline silent and only Shizu really knows how to communicate with her. No one's quite sure what prompts her to speak up.
- Sweet Tooth: She's a Big Eater when it comes to ice cream.
- When All You Have Is a Hammer…: Her solution to every problem is bombs, and more bombs. She actually seems awed when she realizes there are situations that don't call for them.
Shisho's
Shisho
- Aloof Dark-Haired Girl: In her younger days, she's described as a dark-haired beauty, with The Stoic attitude to match.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: One of the most badass in the series, and more sharply dressed compared to Kino or Shizu.
- Cold Sniper: Out of all the main characters, Shisho is the one with the most sniping involved, befitting her cold-hearted status.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Only known as Shisho aka Master due to her tendency to take on disciples. At first, Kino didn't even realize that it wasn't an actual name.
- Famed In-Story: She's developed enough of a reputation that Kino's been warned never to admit knowing her, lest Kino run into anyone with a grudge against her.
- Hired Guns: Many of her stories involve the odd jobs she's hired for.
- No Name Given: We never learn her real name.
- Sink or Swim Mentor: To Kino, whom she inflicted Tough Love on to ensure that Kino could survive out in the world.
- Sociopathic Hero: Due to the Grey-and-Gray Morality of the series, she occasionally veers into this in her younger days. Compared to Kino or Shizu, who largely only kill in self-defence, Shisho's not above racking up a hefty kill count for the sake of the job, even while not necessarily on the "just" side.
- Took a Level in Kindness: She's significantly warmer as the old lady she is in the present, compared to the stories that focus on her younger days.
Aibou
- Blood Knight: Loves fighting, to the point that he tries to head out to the front lines in a warzone when he's supposed to be recuperating in the hospital for food poisoning.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He can be a bit of a goofball, which doesn't detract from him being a deadly fighter.
- Noble Demon: He has little qualms about killing or hurting people, but he respects valour. In "Land of Beasts", he thinks to himself about how although he had considered taking the chief hostage, he would've changed his mind after seeing how noble the man is.
- No Name Given: Even more so than Shisho, who has a title to be called by. Aibou/Partner is essentially only ever referred to as "the man" in narration.
- Pretty Boy: His standard description used for each of his appearances is that he's a slightly short but handsome man.
- Professional Killer: Implied to be one, considering the nature of his belongings.
Photo's
Photo
- Actual Pacifist: She's the only main character who isn't a ruthless killer. In fact, despite Sou's suggestion, she refuses to even learn how to use a weapon to defend herself.
- Born Lucky: Sou comments on her abnormally good luck (surviving the incident that killed everyone else, making it to a country just as she's about to run out of fuel, etc.) and wonders if she was blessed by the god of fortune.
- Bungled Suicide: When she realizes that for a moment, she wanted her abusive masters to die, she despairs and tries to die alongside them, only for them to knock her (poisonous) soup out of her hands without knowing what she was attempting.
- Camera Fiend: As the name she takes on suggests, she becomes a photographer.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: After the death of her masters, Photo is finally free to live her own life.
- Nice Girl: Despite how horrible her masters are, she cries over their deaths. In fact, she's kind to a fault, given that she could stand to think about herself a little more.
- Non-Idle Rich: After selling off all of the merchants' belongings, she's rich enough to get by for 10-30 years. As it quickly turns out, though, she much prefers doing work than lazing around.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: Everyone calls her Photo due to her being a photographer. Given that she has no real name (Sou picked one, but it didn't take), Photo effectively becomes it.
- Wide-Eyed Idealist: She truly believes that kindness and faith will prevail, to the extent that Sou considers her an idiot. On the other hand, it actually does seem to move one of her masters, who chooses to free her before dying, and seeing as how she wins the Karmic Jackpot... she might actually be onto something.
Sou
- Hypercompetent Sidekick: Much more practical and worldly next to the naive and honest Photo.
- Sarcastic Devotee: He cares for Photo dearly, but she also exasperates him greatly.
- Sentient Vehicle: A talking motorrad, like Hermes.
- Supporting Protagonist: He narrates Photo's stories.
Other Protagonists
Nimya Tchuhachkova
Nimya Tchuhachkova
Nimya is a female 'wizard' from the "Land of Wizards". She is an inventor who had been trying to build a flying machine, but run into trouble with the country's chief and the citizens.- Ascended Extra: In the anime, she is treated with more focus and spotlight than in the original novel as the anime has the story take it more from her perspective than Kino's.
Inid
Inid
Inid is a young female bandit who stole Hermes from Kino during the story "A Finished Tale -Ten Years After-". The Tank
The Tank
The Tank is a talking black tank with three red vertical stripes on the right side of its turret and a picture of a tapir drawn on the left. He is hunting down a particular tank as the last order of its late commander, unaware that the description of the targeted tank matches his own appearance. He briefly crosses paths with Kino and Hermes in "A Tale of a Tank -Life Goes On-", but he would later return as the protagonist for "Continuation: A Tale of a Tank -Spirit-".- Ascended Extra: He was initially just a minor character who appeared in a short story. He would later return as the protagonist for a much longer story.
Rafa
Rafa
Rafa is a poor girl from the story "For Luck -How Much Do I Pay For?-" who tried to sell herself to Shizu in order for her to leave her country. Elias and Sarah
Elias
Elias is a poor boy from "A Land with a Diva" who got involved with a kidnapping scheme with his acquaintances in order to earn money. Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a simple kidnapping ended up becoming so much dangerous.- Berserk Button: He developed two during his story: being responsible for his friends' deaths and trying to even harm Sarah.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Elias is just a young boy who had been doing nothing work and only got involved in a kidnapping scheme because he could persuaded by Juan and his gang for money to buy a gramophone and a record of the diva. However, when pushed into protecting Sarah, he is willing to shot anyone from a group of troublemakers to a dangerous hitman like Kino.
- Death Glare: He gave one towards Kino, who had killed his friends and tried to kill Sarah. Even after Kino had a change of heart and saved him & Sarah, he refused to stop glaring at the traveler despite Sarah seeming to be thankful of her now.
- Declaration of Protection: While Elias decided to protect her after finding his friends dead, he gives a proper declaration to her after learning that Sarah is one of the halves of the country's diva.
- Nice Guy: To anyone who knew him, he is seen as a rare child who still does honest work despite his life as an orphan. It's the reason why the people looking for the kidnappers searched his house last, as they doubt someone like him would be involved in a kidnapping scheme. In fact, after threating a woman to drive him and Sarah away from Kino (who was hunting Sarah down), he apologized to the woman and tried to make it up by giving her all his money.
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Elias was able to save Sarah from a bunch of hooligans by shooting their leader with a persuader, which scared the gang away. Unfortunately, this left witnesses for Kino to find as a shot man is easy to for to notice.
- Ship Tease: He develops one with Sarah.
Sarah
Sarah is a young girl from "A Land with a Diva" who had a rich life style. She ended up getting kidnapped by Elias and his companions. However, things aren't as they seem with her when the ransom escalates into a deadly game of cat and mouse.- Beautiful Singing Voice: Not surprising as she is the 'voice half' of her country's diva.
- Big Eater: According to Elias. During her kidnapping, Sarah ate at least two hotdog buns with jam. This caused Elias to comment on never saying a rich girl eat so much before.
- Despair Event Horizon: She underwent this when she saw Juan and the other older kidnappers dead, as she realized that she is going to be killed next.
- He Knows Too Much: Her 'guardians' sent out Kino to kill her in order to cover up the truth about the diva being two people.
- Off with His Head!: Subverted. Kino, after being swayed by Sarah and Elias, she instead faked Sarah's death of decapitation by cutting the girl's signature pigtails off and stuffing them inside a small sack that seemed to be stained red.
- Ship Tease: She develops one with Elias.
- Wham Shot: It is when she sang in the same voice as the country's diva.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: She is only needed by a group of important people for the 'singing voice' for the country's diva. Once the diva passed away, the group planned to silenced her to prevent the secret of the diva getting out.
Travels
Land of Visible Pain
A technologically advanced country renowned for producing robots that serve the people's every need. Eventually, as a result of a philosophical science experiment that enabled everyone to hear one another's thoughts - a product of the citizens believing the reason that people hurt each other is due to miscommunication and secrecy, the country was decimated by paranoia. The few remaining residents now live in isolation from one another and the robots serve tourist needs.
Kyoshi
As he appears in the 2003 series
Voiced by: Norihiro Inoue (Japanese), Jay Hickman (English)
The only human Kino meets in the country.- Go Mad from the Isolation: Years of living alone has taken their toll on him. When Kino initially sights him, he flees in terror at the thought of hearing her mind.
- Nervous Wreck: He stutters every sentence and is living in constant fear.
- Nice Guy: Despite everything he's been through, he is nothing but cordial and polite to Kino.
- No Social Skills: Somewhat. While he interacts with Kino normally, for the most part, he pleads with her to live with him as she is leaving - likely a hangover of his loneliness. Kino declines, lampshading they barely even know each other.
- Speech Impediment: As aforementioned.
The Country of Majority Rule
- The Caligula: The last Evil Prince of the monarchy was a tyrant that executed anyone he fancied and starved his people.
- Democracy Is Bad: The citizens formed a democracy ruled by a majority vote ten years ago after executing the royal family. Unfortunately, anyone who questioned the democracy (especially in favor of nominating a ruling party) was executed until no one remained.
- Driven to Suicide: In the anime, the man implied to be the Sole Survivor of the country pulls his gun on himself when Kino refuses to stay.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: Just like Kyoshi from before, albeit this time much more insane in that the man pulls a gun on Kino, albeit half-heartedly.
- No Name Given: The man Kino meets isn't named in any iteration of the story.
Three Men Along the Rails
The Colosseum
Depicted: Kino vs Shizu
A despotic hellhole of a nation ruled by an insane king that has enslaved the entire populace. Previously, the kingdom was described as lush and prosperous until its benevolent ruler was usurped by his son, who also massacred his entire family and exiled his son Shizu. The king offers his slaves to participate in Gladiator Games to earn citizenship and live free, as well as make one law so long as it does not bother him. Notably, the king isn't above kidnapping unfortunate tourists and outsiders for his sick games, having murdered countless innocents.- Adaptation Expansion: The 2003 anime expands upon the inner workings of the country's despotic society and the various opponents that Kino faces.
- Anarchy Is Chaos: In the end, after murdering the king, Kino declares her new law to be the people fight over who gets to be the king. The results can be heard as she leaves, whereupon the country descends into complete chaos. It can be interpreted that Kino felt no sympathy for the populace for letting the king reign as he did and enjoying the violence he let them indulge in.
- Apathetic Citizens: In an inversion to the Country of Majority, It is stated over time, that the people simply adjusted to their new king's hedonistic insanity and became accomplices by inaction and relishing in the violence he brought about. It's probably why Kino does what she does at the end.
- Bread and Circuses: The king appeals to hedonism, entertaining his people with Gladiator Games and a lack of order.
- Crapsack World: The country is a desolate ruin without even running water, divided between the impoverished lower-class and first-class citizens that don't even fare much better. Emphasized most in the 2003 anime.
- Epic Flail: The Dumb Muscle that is Kino's first opponent brandishes this. It does him no good as Kino simply shoots off the chain, which renders him helpless.
- Gladiator Games: The main spectacle that the insane king uses to entertain himself and the people.
- The Good King: The king before the current one was described as a very stern ruler, but brought prosperity and order and was beloved by the people. His son would undo all of this as the complete opposite of him.
- The Gunslinger: Kino's third opponent is a flirtatious woman excelling in marksmanship.
The King
Click to see him in the 2003 anime
Voiced by: Seizō Katō
The despotic king and Shizu's father.- Abusive Parents: His murderous actions notwithstanding, he exiled his son due to paranoia and forgot who he even is in the present.
- Archnemesis Dad: To Shizu, for exiling him and murdering his family. He comes back to the country hoping to kill him.
- Abhorrent Admirer: In the 2003 anime, he begs Kino and the other female contestant to marry him so he can replace his dead wife. After they adamantly refuse and leave, he breaks down in a pitiful tantrum.
- Adaptation Expansion: In the original novel and 2017 anime, he doesn't have dialogue and his characterization is built upon the words of others. The 2003 anime, however, grants him a voice and personal interactions with Kino that expand upon his madness.
- Adaptational Ugliness: In the novel and 2017 adaptation (that is more faithful to the novel), he is described as an unremarkable-looking, gaunt man wearing gaudy clothing and a tacky crown. In the 2003 anime, however, he is a borderline Monster Clown with snow-white skin and a harlequin motif, wearing clothing that loosely resembles a jester's. He's even entertained by clowns in his leisure time.
- Ax-Crazy: He's a psychopathic usurper king that slaughtered his entire family and decimated his kingdom into a decadent hell for his own amusement.
- The Caligula: His defining trait.
- Dirty Old Man: In all iterations of the story, he's surrounded by concubines.
- Hate Sink: His atrocities and the pain he's inflicted on many, many innocents is emphasized to make him completely despicable. He's also the first seen character that strikes a nerve in Kino.
- Sadist: While this is all but stated to be what he is, this aspect of him is most prominent in the 2003 anime, where he relishes the moment he stabbed his father to death and murdered his wife as some of the best moments of his life. He also gets literal hardons from the violence of his gladiator games, even murdering one of the contestants himself for showing mercy.
- Your Head Asplode: Kino graphically annihilates the top half of his head with an explosive round she crafted over her days in the country.
