Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World

Destination is a state of mind. A tale of one girl and her bike and the road ahead. Kino wanders around the world on the back of Hermes, her unusual, anthropomorphic motorcycle, only staying in each country for three days. During their adventures, they find happiness, sadness, pain, decadence, violence, beauty, and wisdom. But through it all, they never lose their sense of freedom. They discover that because of the world's imperfections, it is actually a thing of beauty. "The world is not beautiful, therefore it is." (Source: Tokyopop)

Kino no Tabi: The Beautiful World appeared on the Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi! rankings under the Best Light Novel category three times: 2nd place in 2006, 5th place in 2007, and 6th place in 2008. As of October 2014, the series has sold more than 8 million novels. Tokyopop published the first novel of the series in English on October 3, 2006; however, due to issues with the licensors, they were unable to release further volumes. The series has also been published in German, Chinese, Korean, and Thai.