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What They Say:
Episode #2: “Colosseum”
Kino arrives at a country he’s wanted to visit for a while. While he had high hopes for it after hearing it was a wonderful country, everything had changed with transition to a new king.
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The opening is attached to this episode, and I really don’t think the music fits the show. It’s too modern. The animation is lovely though.
Kino, on a never-ending question to see the beauty in the world, keeps ending up in ugly situations. Situations that a lone traveler armed with two guns is prepared for but they are unwelcomed encounters all the same.
The original series which adapted the light novels told this story in two episodes. It isn’t a story which really needed to be told again, except that Shizu and his dog Riku are important characters for the novels and this is their introduction. This new series doesn’t want to dwell on the actual Colosseum fights, daring the audience to cry out for blood the same way the crowd in the Colosseum does. Kino ends each battle as swiftly as possible, leaving each challenger alive. Kino’s gun skills are good enough to still make a show of it, yet the bloodthirsty audience mistakes Kino’s workmanship for showmanship.
In the end, it comes down to Kino facing off against a man armed with a katana, Shizu. He has a goal in mind and asks Kino to surrender, to no avail. Kino also gives no quarter and the two square off. Almost immediately it becomes apparent that Kino is buying time. Bullets fly past Shizu, but to the audience nothing is amiss. Shizu makes his move to attack but strikes with the back of his blade which Kino blocks. It’s only after both realize neither is going for the kill that Kino is in position to end the battle (in the goriest fashion possible) only to start chaos in the wake of it.
Kino’s decision to declare that the country fight for its new ruler comes off as ruthless and more than a little vindictive. Kino could have ordered peace and reason, justice and compassion. However, there is literally no reason for the populace to obey the new law and yet they do. Kino leaves the countries fate in its own hands and they choose destruction over reason. The frustration with the entire situation only catches up later when Kino is safely away from the country.
Misdirection is the name of the game in this episode. (Apparently, that goes for the CR blurb as well. “He” huh? Riku would correct you on that point the same way he did for his master.) The woman Kino met purposefully mislead Kino, either trying to lure the lone traveler to doom out of spite, or with the hopes that change might come. Kino, and the audience is left unsure what the woman’s motive might have been.
In Summary:
There are going to be viewers upset that this episode was too violent, and others who are upset that it wasn’t violent enough. Kino’s motives are questionable from the outside looking in, but in reality, it’s all very cut and dry. Revenge serves no one, and people choose to be violent and unyielding. Me, I’d rather something new that I haven’t seen before, and I was mostly happy with how the original handled this scenario, although I’m glad Kino could hear the talking dog this time around.
Episode Grade: B
Streamed by: Crunchyroll & Funimation