(L) Seirei no Moribito (Guardian of the Sacred Spirit)

[wao]

Waaaaaaaah.

*goes outside to balcony and stares at sky for a while*

...WAH.

This anime can't be for real. There has to be a yashigani episode coming up or something. It can't be so technically perfect. This isn't a TV show...

...well everything I've wanted to say about ep 3 has largely been said, and I don't even know which animators would have done what - maybe Eiji Komatsu did some of the fighting? [coincidentially I remember he was in that episode of Iroha with the ricefield fighting]

EDIT: and the storyboarder, Masaki Tachibana, I'm not completely sure of what I remember of him but IIRC he made his name as a talented young animator from J.C. Staff aroudn the late 90s and he's done some decent storyboards for some anime... I think he was in Eureka 7 and GITS. I heard 古川尚哉 is one of the folks responsible for the fight animation?

Gah, I won't betray this show and watch it so late, next time I'm watching the raw as soon as it comes out.

[Majek]

i with wao, must see the next ep as soon as possible. Good thing there's wrex blogging it too or i'd be pretty wrecked whil waiting to watch this.

[DieH@rd]

Originally Posted by Jazzrat

And oh, Jin isn't dead. Otherwise, they wouldnt bother spending some screentime on him only to kill him a few mins later.

This is Moribito. Everything has is purpose. Even if the Jin is dead, his screen time is not wasted (we learned that he recieved gift from Chagum, and that he's not some spoiled emo kid )

PS: And yeah, assassins are people too!

[kujoe]

Originally Posted by DieH@rd

This is Moribito. Everything has is purpose. Even if the Jin is dead, his screen time is not wasted (we learned that he recieved gift from Chagum, and that he's not some spoiled emo kid )

I was actually expecting Chagum to complain a bit, since he's a prince and all. But he doesn't. While he largely depends on Balsa, he puts up with the unfamiliarity and is quite brave for someone in his situation. Cute little kid.

[saravis]

Holy moly love the show! The action scenes are done with extreme detail and did anyone else notice the detail put into the clovers in the field scene.

Spoiler for speculation on ep 3:

There's just one thing I've been wondering about. Could Balsa be a Kenshin/Vash type? One who will not kill under any circumstance. She doesn't seem to go for the kill like you think she could. Take for example the one point where she slapped her opponent with the spear head, if it was the blade she hit the enemy with he would not have survived that. Another one is when she punches the assassin. She could have easily killed him too, but she didn't. Granted it's too early, to really say for certain and if she is I can kind of understand. After all her goal in life is to save eight people to redeem herself for killing eight. I just hope it doesn't go too far. Granted this is all just speculation as it is far to early to being making any sort of judgement.

[Holy Knight]

Originally Posted by kujoe

I was actually expecting Chagum to complain a bit, since he's a prince and all. But he doesn't. While he largely depends on Balsa, he puts up with the unfamiliarity and is quite brave for someone in his situation. Cute little kid.

Yeah, I really like the kid a lot. It saves Balsa some trouble too.

[Shinndou]

I'm a bit in late commenting episode 3, and there's no need to repeat everybody's positive comments regarding the animation of the fight sequences, attention to details and so on, so I'll just add a silly question to the whole discussion: is it just me or did anybody else get "Togusa" vibes from Jin? I think it was probably due to the character design which is similar, but his attitude sort of reminded me of Togusa.

It was cool to see that even secondary(?) characters get a bit of depth and are not presented as the usual "flat-personality character with no use other than to create some action".

[Burner of Anime]

Originally Posted by kujoe

I was actually expecting Chagum to complain a bit, since he's a prince and all. But he doesn't. While he largely depends on Balsa, he puts up with the unfamiliarity and is quite brave for someone in his situation. Cute little kid.

It use to be the kings and princes of the land happen to be the biggest and most badass warriors of legend. Like the English blokes before they became pampered and soft

Good to see they young royal being equal to that crown on his head while still a very vulnerable boy.

[Glitch87]

Chagum is cool in my book. He could have easily broke down and started crying when he was climbing on those slippery slopes of the mountain. Instead he sucked it up and kept going knowing Balsa's life (and therefore his own) rest in his hands.

[Sonhex]

Gosh, well I doubt I'll be the last person to say this, but ep 3 was nothing short of astonishing. The battle yes, oh yes the battle: Balsa's precise movements, her kicks and jabs, the range of her attacks and hints at her experience of combat to take control of the fight, to make the assassins fight her on her terms. The speed and choreography of it all, the sound and the direction. All of it mesmerizing.

I'm in awe at Mabuki Ando; when she rescues Chagum from the assassin with an incredible display of raw primal brutality. The cry of a woman with, possibly, maternal instincts just hidden under the surface protecting an innocent child. She cares not for the circumstance or the poetic history of that assassin (a masterful moment), only that if you take a blade to this child I will kill you in any way I can. I don't think I've seen, in anime, a woman more terrifying than that moment.

And I'd like to know too whether that wolf was more than just a random predator.

[CessBlue]

Let me reiterate what everybody's trying to say.

Best Fight Scenes EVER. Period!

If this anime has the story to back it up, I wouldn't mind the trend this anime is going to set.

[wao]

Just watched episode 4. First thought: TAMAGOOOOOO

Spoiler for boring thoughts:

I can't really judge much since I watched an extremely LQ version of it but despite it being a Yoshihara episode the animation or direction wasn't partiiicularly amazing on first watch. The quality overall is still maintained anyway, and the fight with Torogai and her two pursuers was pretty cool. Torogai is really cool.

...well, it felt more like a very "set-up" episode this time around. We got to see Chagum's elder half-brother (who seems like a pretty nice guy indeed, and seems to doubt whether Chagum is really dead or not) and there was a lot more of Shuga and whatshisname talking and then both of them talking with the King and since I'm rather tired it unfortunately mostly flew past my head..

As for Barusa and Tanda, it's really nice to see them interacting because you can clearly see they've known each otehr for a long time and are extremely familiar with each other. Barusa lets Tanda wash her back and look at her arm and say "Ah, this scar's familiar, it's the first wound of yours I healed!" and things like that (of course, Chagum couldn't watch, because Barusa was... ahem, exposed in the front.)

There wasn't much that actually *happened* - which is fine, but it sets up for some more investigation for the next episode because near teh end Torogai decides to barge into Tanda's hut muttering "tamago tamago tamago..." and happily sits down and serves herself and eats and continues muttering that until she finishes, looks at Chagum, widens her eyes and then goes...

...TAMAGO!!!!

And then the episode ends. o_O I was really going "EH?! You're going to end it there?!" when that came, but well... Since Tanda said that Chagum's little problem is beyond his abilities it'd have to be up to Torogai to make some more sense of it.

[wrex_japan]

Originally Posted by wao

Just watched episode 4. First thought: TAMAGOOOOOO

Spoiler for boring thoughts:

I can't really judge much since I watched an extremely LQ version of it but despite it being a Yoshihara episode the animation or direction wasn't partiiicularly amazing on first watch. The quality overall is still maintained anyway, and the fight with Torogai and her two pursuers was pretty cool. Torogai is really cool.

...well, it felt more like a very "set-up" episode this time around. We got to see Chagum's elder half-brother (who seems like a pretty nice guy indeed, and seems to doubt whether Chagum is really dead or not) and there was a lot more of Shuga and whatshisname talking and then both of them talking with the King and since I'm rather tired it unfortunately mostly flew past my head..

As for Barusa and Tanda, it's really nice to see them interacting because you can clearly see they've known each otehr for a long time and are extremely familiar with each other. Barusa lets Tanda wash her back and look at her arm and say "Ah, this scar's familiar, it's the first wound of yours I healed!" and things like that (of course, Chagum couldn't watch, because Barusa was... ahem, exposed in the front.)

There wasn't much that actually *happened* - which is fine, but it sets up for some more investigation for the next episode because near teh end Torogai decides to barge into Tanda's hut muttering "tamago tamago tamago..." and happily sits down and serves herself and eats and continues muttering that until she finishes, looks at Chagum, widens her eyes and then goes...

...TAMAGO!!!!

And then the episode ends. o_O I was really going "EH?! You're going to end it there?!" when that came, but well... Since Tanda said that Chagum's little problem is beyond his abilities it'd have to be up to Torogai to make some more sense of it.

Ep. 4 Summary and screencaps. Yeah, the animation quality wasn't as good as the previous episodes, and as you say, it seems this is another set up episode as they provide more background information.

[Kaoru Chujo]

I'm not going to complain one bit about the animation of ep4. I don't have the eye to be bothered by it dropping to only twice as good as most other shows. I loved little tricks like the way the eyes of the Seidoushi moved as he was reading. And the dragonflies. And the motion generally was so fluid, to my eye.

My Japanese wasn't up to following all the dialogue, so thanks very much for your blog entry, Wrex. It was clearly a set-up episode, but "Tamago!" makes it quite a set-up. And it's good to get more feeling of the characters of all the participants. Particularly enjoyed the ED this time.

[Tommy]

Wow, this anime is just exploding with awesomeness! It really does look to good to be a tv show.

[leongsh]

Episode 4 may not have the fantastic fighting action of Episode 3 but it wins lots of kudos in my book for exploring a few more areas and linking it all back. They have also given us more hints of the great depth in this world. In addition, there's lots of detail where it matters and shows how very well thought out the production is.

The best part of this episode is the second half of the episode in Tanda's hut.

Spoiler for continued in spoiler, just in case:

Small moments and movements during the course of the main conversations and the details in utensils and equipment show care in production. Like Chagum's first experience with real hunger is adroitly handled. And the aforementioned shifting of Chagum's sitting position from one facing Balsa to one facing away as her wounds were being tended and fresh bandages being wrapped.

It's all these little things that make the world feel richer and alive.

We must not forget the soundtrack too. The music segues in when required to augment the scenes and it slips away when it is not needed.

There's more than enough in the first 4 episodes for me to gush endlessly for a week. Production I.G. is pulling out all the stops in making it such an excellent production.

[DieH@rd]

Hmmm, who is the guy in the top row, the one in the right???

[Glitch87]

perhaps you werent watching episode 3....

My guess (as their attire is very similar) that's Balsa's father from her flashback.

[Jazzrat]

that's Jigoro, the person that saved her when she was young and her teacher.
they arent related by blood btw.

[DieH@rd]

So, he's her sensei. Cool.