Christmas hit me like a winter storm—between family, work, conventions (more on that in a week or two), and sickness, I could barely keep my head above water during the last few weeks. In the midst of all the craziness, I didn’t get a chance to post about the last episode of Kino’s Journey. In fact, it took me some time to even watch it. When my co-admin on Instagram, Holly, binged it and completed episode 12 before I did, I knew I had to carve out some time. It was—just as the rest of the series has proven to be—a thought-provoking and engaging episode
So let’s talk about those sheep…
Not really—the sheep segment was a blast, but it was the last scene of the series that brings up a better question perhaps. As Kino dozes off, she mentions to Hermes that her sojourn is done. But she also follows that declaration by announcing that she’ll start a new one when she awakes.
There are a lot of ways to define “life,” and framing it as a “journey” is a classic one. Maybe better than that, though, is how Kino seems to define it, as a series of journeys. She has ended one and is about to begin another.
Life, indeed, is one big journey, but it’s also a series of many shorter travels. Like the series demonstrates, each has its own predicaments, challenges, lessons, and growth opportunities. And like the series also shows, not every trek is created equal, nor is every one of extraordinary value, though some are more meaningful than we can imagine.
Dear readers, I wonder where you might be on your journey in life. Where are you right now? How would you define your journey? What would you call it? How far along are you, on either the big journey of your life or on some smaller excursion?
What journey are you on?
As always, please respond in the comments below. And thank you for sticking with me all season as we tried to ask some philosophical questions that this wonderful series has invited.
—
Kino’s Journey is available for streaming through Crunchyroll.
