Kino's Journey 1
A talking motorcycle. Sweet.
Very mysterious world that Kino and Hermes have decided to go and discover. Their first stop is a country seemingly run only by machines, as if all the people there had vanished. Was pretty unnerving at first, particularly since the machines were so friendly. Usually when I see a town that's empty like that I think bad things, that the people there had been killed or run off. But these robots were completely hospitable to Kino and Hermes, so something seemed very off.
Turned out there were people there, but they were hiding. Not because there was any real danger lurking. Rather, as a lonely man explains to Kino, they had all drank a serum that let them all read each other's thoughts, in an effort to bring them closer together, and feel each others pain so they could help them and be there for them. But needless to say, this ended in disaster.
The man was one sad fellow. The story of him and his significant other was what I suppose a microcosm of the whole fiasco. Being able to sense each others thoughts did not bring them closer together; rather, it made them more distant. It made every little annoyance visible, and their disinterest in each others interests only alienated them from each other. And yet the man still had her flowers growing outside his house. And as Kino passed by his ex-SO's house, the song that he would play for her was playing in her house. My best guess would be that despite their conscious disinterest in what each other loved, their disinterest was paltry compared to how much they enjoyed spending time together. Which I guess is why the flowers and music are still there even after their splitting apart, because they bring back positive feelings and emotions even if they don't stimulate them consciously.
Over-reliance on technology seemed to be a major theme in this episode, and I wager it will be a common theme throughout. This seems like it's going to be a good ride.
