It's complex to summarize it in a few lines... Let me try.
Kino's the only anime female character whose personality not only isn't downgraded by "Girliness" but, on the contrary, the fact she presents herself basically as a "genderless" entity provides a major "fusion" with the point of view of the people who watch the anime. You see, the great thing about this apparently "minimalist" character is that she's to be seen as some sort of avatar that guides us through a deep journey of both self-discovery and re-discovery of the world in all its variety and magnificence; we feel all sorts of emotions through her perception of the world, we judge humanity in its qualities and defects and, in doing so, we found our own vision of the world, thus learning more about ourselves and, in retrospect, we also learn about the character herself... or at least what we think of her as a character! In fact, with just a few exceptions, Kino doesn't get actively or willingly involved in all events she partakes, she's a spectator (much like us), a literal traveller who's out to understand Life... and watching this anime IS much like a journey for us, a journey into pure Suspension of Disbelief, in which we can actually learn something about pretty much anything..............
Uff, there's actually a LOT more were this analysis comes from (Kino means both "Cinema" and "Eye" in many Asian languages including Russian; The Kinopravda, the cinematic concept devised by Soviet Union director Dziga Vertov in the '20s, by which a single cameraman (a Kinoki) goes around filming life only to deform it through groundbreaking montage technicques, in order to analyze it better; Soviet Russian Filmmaking in general), but I'll just leave it at that.
So yes, "Kino's Journey" is one of my favourite things of all time and Kino kicks arse.
I hope your mind hasn't blown yet
