Seirei no Moribito

On the precipice of a cataclysmic drought, the Star Readers of the Shin Yogo Empire must devise a plan to avoid widespread famine. It is written in ancient myths that the first emperor, along with eight warriors, slew a water demon to avoid a great drought and save the land that was to become Shin Yogo. If a water demon was to appear once more, its death could bring salvation. However, the water demon manifests itself within the body of the emperor's son, Prince Chagum—by the emperor's order, Chagum is to be sacrificed to save the empire.

Meanwhile, a mysterious spear-wielding mercenary named Balsa arrives in Shin Yogo on business. After saving Chagum from a thinly veiled assassination attempt, she is tasked by Chagum's mother to protect him from the emperor and his hunters. Bound by a sacred vow she once made, Balsa accepts.

Seirei no Moribito follows Balsa as she embarks on her journey to protect Chagum, exploring the beauty of life, nature, family, and the bonds that form between strangers.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yonsa, Balsa Main

Shindo, Naomi Japanese

Chagum Main

Adachi, Naoto Japanese

Tanda Supporting

Tsujitani, Kouji Japanese

Torogai Supporting

Mayama, Ako Japanese

Musa, Jiguro Supporting

Nishi, Rintarou Japanese

Shuga Supporting

Nojima, Hirofumi Japanese

Saya Supporting

Hirohashi, Ryou Japanese

Touya Supporting

Asano, Mayumi Japanese

Sagum Supporting

Kobayashi, Ryouya Japanese

Jin Supporting

Matsukaze, Masaya Japanese

Matsuda, Akio Producer

Yokoyama, Shinjirou Producer

Nanbu, Nahoko Producer

Nishimura, Tomoyasu Producer

Reviews

Sep 8, 2008

Archaeon

Recommended

Seriei no Moribito (or Guardian of the Sacred Spirit), is not your normal anime. It began life as the first in the ten volume Moribito series of fantasy novel written by Uehashi Nahoko, and although these novels were intended for children, they gained many adult fans. In fact, the novels proved to be so popular that they the first volume was adapted into a manga, an anime (directed by Kamiyama Kenji, who directed Ghost in the Shell SAC and 2nd Gig), and even a radio drama. The novel is also scheduled for release in english in mid 2008 because of the immense popularity of the ... anime adaptation.

Art/Animation

Seirei no Moribito has some of the smoothest and most fluid animation of any anime produced over the last few years. Production I.G. managed to produce one of the best looking anime of 2007, and with it, managed to introduce one of the most unique and interesting female leads in anime.

The colour palette is very "Ghibli-esque" as it mainly uses greens, browns, blues, etc, but Production I.G. has made good use of them for the characters and environements, and the overall effect gives the show a feeling more reminiscent of "Monoke Hime" or "Gedo Senki" than anything else.

Character designs are exceptional throughout the show, most especially the main and immediate supporting characters. Balsa is exceptionally well designed, and far more realistic than many other fantasy female leads. Her character is fairly muscular and stocky, yet without the extremely toned muscles shown in most other fantasies. Facially too, the designers went for realism more than anything else. Balsa is not beautiful, but not ugly either. She's plain (in a sense), and is most definitely a woman, not a girl.

The other characters are also designed very much with realism in mind, and this actually helps to pull the viewer into the show in a big way. It's also nice to see that attention was paid to the animals in the show as well, and it makes a nice change to see a horse in anime that actually looks like a real horse.

One thing that should be mentioned here is the design influences. Many people relate thise series to China and Japan because of the very obvious visual references to those countries (i.e. the palace, the emperor, the ninjas, etc), however this is really only a small part of the whole. In truth, Seirei no Moribito isn't simply based on China and Japan, but is actually based on the greater Indo-Chinese region. This is reflected in the differing facial structures, customs, practices, etc, that are seen in the show. Balsa and Jiguro are originally from Kanbal, a country that shows a number of elements of Northern India/ Kashmir, Nepal and Tibet. This influence also extends to Balsa and Jiguro's fighting style, which is very different to that of the stories other combatants. The backgounds, still scenes, the rural settings, even the mountainous regions and jungles, are very clearly based on a region of South-East Asia stretching from India to Japan, and it's a rarity to find this kind of scope or depth of detail in anime.

The animation quality throughout the show never really lets up, and the action sequences are especially impressive. The fights are swift and well executed, and the movements of the combatants is especially impressive during the action scenes. Production I.G. have also paid attention to the different combat styles used in the show as well, and have managed to include these in the animation, which gives the fights a far more "authentic" feel.

Sound

Each episode opens with a very nice, and rather catchy, J-rock/pop ballad called "Shine", which was performed by L'Arc-en-Ciel but never released as a single. The rest of the music in the show (composed by the famous Kawai Kenji), adds to the atmosphere and overall feel of the show. The dramatic moments, fights, and even the slow-paced scenes are all emphasized with some great background music.

The sound effects are exceptional in this show, especially as this is more of a "historical" fantasy. The background noises, the grunts, clucks, whinnies, and other noises of the various animals, the clash of steel on steel, etc, breathe life into the series, and makes the setting that much more "real".

Characters

It goes without saying that the star of the show is Balsa, the spear wielding warrior woman, and Balsa, as a character, is one of the strongest and most unique female leads in any anime. She is muscular and stocky, possess many skills (not the least of which is her formidable fighting ability), has a strong sense of right and wrong, is very rarely indecisive, and is sensible in many ways. As I've said earlier, Balsa is no beauty, and this again sets her apart from many other female leads, as the designers generally try to make lead women in anime "attractive" to male audiences.

Chagum, on the other hand, is exactly how you would expect a young prince to be, but without the arrogance (which makes a nice change). What makes this series really work though, is the attention to character development that both Balsa and Chagum receive, and how, as each of them develops, their relationship with each other changes.

There are several other characters who appear throughout the series (Tanda, Touya, Saya, Jiguro, etc), all of whom receive a certain amount of development because of their association with Balsa. The nice thing about the development of the supporting characters is that it is often directly linked to the development of either Balsa or Chagum, or both in some cases. This is most especially true in the case of Jiguro, who was Balsa's guardian and mentor as a child, and is the one who taught her how to fight with a spear. The various references and flashbacks to this character slowly begin to make sense as the series progresses, and with this clarity it is possible to understand Balsa's character even more.

There is a downside to the characters though, in that there are other characters who receive little to no development. In addition to that, the characters who do receive development rarely get it continuously. Strangely enough though, this does very little to impact on the story or the viewers enjoyment of the show.

Story

The story is actually a nice role reversal of the typical "rescue the princess" scenario and, although it's meant to be a serious fantasy action drama, there are some genuinely humourous moments.

The story flows at a nice steady pace throughout the series, and although it does slow down from time to time, these are effectively the times when the majority of the character development happens. The premise was good on the whole, and although the story at times seems more like stock fantasy, there are enough differences, as well as some great character development, sound and animation, to make watching this a worthwhile experience.

Enjoyment

This isn't a light-hearted series, but it also doesn't become overly dramatic. It doesn't focus so much on action that it gives up areas of the story, and it never lets the story become so bland that you get bored of watching. It's an interesting show to watch and the pacing of the show, as well as the slow delve into Balsa's past, serve to ensure that you keep watching.

Although the plot may be simplistic at times, this isn't really a show that suffers from it, especially as the show itself is more character driven than anything else. The main focus of the show, from beginning to end, are the characters. This is emphasized by the fact that the action and drama clearly take second place to each of the characters.

Overall I'd recommend this show to any Ghibli fan, and also to anyone who like shows like Claymore, Slayers, or even Rurouni Kenshin or Sword of the Stranger. It's an extremely enjoyable example of how good a fantasy series can get if you do it right, and because of it's characters, it will appeal to fans of many different genres.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Mar 4, 2008

thefunkhunter

Mixed Feelings

This anime disappointed me as I was expecting a show with a little more depth that what was delivered. The major flaws of this anime are the characters and their lack of progression. The main character is a woman whom serves no purpose other than to be a bodyguard for a prince and the prince as young as he is, never matures despite all the hardships they are forced up against. The problem is none of the characters act outside their roles which leads to a dull, predictable series of episodes. This show is largely plot driven, and the tool they use to progress the ... plot is pathetic. What they use is readings from an ancient scroll text that someone magically is able to translate just enough to advance the plot. Sorry, but this show was amateurish in its characterization development and plot advancement. The show and excellent audio and visual presentation with average voice acting, but other than that i consider this show a major flop.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jun 14, 2012

Dr_Peace

Not Recommended

This was honestly one of the dullest anime's I've ever seen.

Despite an awesome setup and a lot of potential, the series failed to amaze me at every turn, mainly because of it's dull and generic cast of characters. Despite having a wide array of characters, none of them really stood out to me, and made me care about what happens to them. The only exception is the grumpy old lady Madame Torogai, who was the ONLY character in the entire show who made me care in the slightest about the story.

Although the main character Balsa isn't really such a BAD character, she is by no ... means a good one either, as she doesn't stand out at all from the "overly serious badass woman" stereotype. Aside from Balsa, her love interest Tanda has to be the dullest character to ever appear in an anime, with little to no personality whatsoever. The worst of the bunch though, is the crybaby prince Chagum, who seems to spend 90% of the show whining and acting like a spoiled little shit, which is only made worse by the fact that is voice actor, Naoto Adachi, does a terrible job portraying him. Not that Chagum has any redeeming qualities to begin with.

The story itself isn't much better. without spoiling the plot (not that it really matters), the story is weird, yet unimaginative, long, yet simple, and more than anything, it's boring. Yes, this series is so very boring that it will feel like a chore to watch it. This is not at all helped by the standard animation, and extremely poor 3D effects. The 3D effects are so bad they look like something out of an 80's cartoon more than a modern anime.

But despite all that I've said, I still don't consider Moribito a BAD anime, as much as a boring one. The series isn't even remotely funny, even when it tries to be, it's characters are amongst the dullest and unimaginative i've ever seen in an anime, and the story isn't interesting or original enough to be engaging. However, the series does manage to stay realistic throughout it's course. Sure, there is some magic and spirits and whatnot, but as far as the world itself goes, it always keeps it's feet on the ground and doesn't lose focus. If you want an anime that really catches the style of ancient Japan without all the fanservice, and overly dramatic anime fights you see in most anime today, then you MAY be able to enjoy Moribito. However, this is really all that the series has to offer, so if that's not enough (it certainly wasn't for me), I would steer clear of Moribito.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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