Kino

"Kino" is the name adopted by a girl born in a bizarre, city state in which, after reaching age of twelve, children are taken to a hospital to undergo a procedure that will instantaneously physically and mentally mature them to adulthood, and also psychologically modify them into "perfect adults", being able to act happy with even a job they completely hate, and also extremely logical. Kino does not remember her original name, only that she had the name of a flower that, in her language, sounded similar to an insult, and was often bullied because of this. The girl that would become "Kino" met a traveler of the name she would later adopt, just days before she was to under go the operations. "Kino Sr." told her about the outside world, where people mature normally, and are not fated to an adult life working a menial job they hate on the inside. "Kino Sr.'s" spoke with the girl that would become "Kino" while he repaired an old motorcycle with some sort of sentient AI (apparently normal in this world), which he named "Hermes". Kino Sr.'s ideas gave the "Kino" the idea that she did not want to undergo the operation that would turn her into an adult. Kino's parents quickly figured out it was Kino Sr. who was about to leave on Hermes, that gave them the idea. This reveals another feature of adults in Kino's homeland: If their children refuse the operation, they have hesitations about murdering them, viewing them as failures. Kino's father tried to do just this, but Kino Sr. jumps in front of her, and he is stabbed to death instead. The locals are shocked, view his action as completely illogical- against any notion of self-preservation. Kino then gets on Hermes, and, for the first time realizing Kino Sr. was speaking literally when he said the machine was sentient (so maybe not such as common thing in this world). With the motorcycle literally instructing her in its own operation, Kino escapes the city state of her birth on Hermes, who mistakes her for Kino Sr., leading to the girl adopting the name "Kino" for the first time.

Some time later, Kino and Hermes are riding through a dark forest when they are attacked by a wolf, but its is shot by an old lady, who Kino would live with, and later come the refer as "Master" for her expert marksmanship. It was "Master" who taught Kino to shoot, and before she left on her journey to see the world as Kino Sr. had done, gave Kino her current arsenal of the two handguns and the knife pistol.

Through her travels, Kino discovers her world is made up mostly of small city states, and has visited a number of countries with bizarre customs, traditions, and forms of government. Among these are a country which believes the world will end because it is written in a book of prophecy- which is actually a book of sorrowful poems written in another country, as well as saving the lives for people form a country of "traders" who were stranded in the snow, who later betray her and try to take her into slavery, a country that overthrew a corrupt monarch, only to take democracy to a horrific extreme- killing thousands in executions decided by majority vote, eventually reducing the population to one man, a country with advanced robotics technology, and a country where a corrupt king forces travelers to either fight in a gladiatorial arena or face slavery, among others. The technology of this world, while mostly appearing to be based on that of the early 20th century based on the firearms, is very anachronistic, with some countries possessing computers and even advanced, sentient robots. Laser sights also exist, Kino having one on her "Ranger" pistol, as do futuristic hover-vehicles, which seem to co-exist with wheeled and tracked vehicles, however aviation is in its infancy, with Kino witnessing the first successful flight on an aircraft.

Throughout her travels, Kino herself does not intentionally get involved with the affairs of the countries she visits, though she expresses disgust with the violent, oppressive government of a number of them (for instance, two countries that, instead of going to war, now settle affairs with contests of who can massacre the most unarmed civilians of a local tribe). Kino only really intervenes in country where she is forced to fight in a gladiatorial arena, and ends up assassinating the king of the country. While she generally has a calm, kind demeanor, and in the gladiatorial area, managed to force all of her opponents to surrender rather than killing them, Kino is quite capable of shooting to kill. Generally Kino uses lethal force on enemies that leave her with no other choice, and who she views as morally reprehensible, including a group of slave traders that try to take her captive and the aforementioned corrupt king. Kino is shown to be skilled with her pistols in a manner reminiscent of a gunslinger of a classic western, being able to draw her pistols extremely quickly, and fire with almost superhuman accuracy, at one point shooting down throwing knives with shots fired from her hip. Kino is also extremely agile, capable of making rapid movements, evading attacks with rolls and cartwheels. She also has surprising strength for a girl of her size, being capable of knocking an adult male out with a single pistol whip.