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

[leongsh]

Originally Posted by Proto

While I was always certainly pleased by what was I was seeing, I was never particularly awed or blown out of my chair, like when I saw Youko's address to Kei at the end of Juuni Kokki's third arc (which happens to be my favorite series of the genre BTW).

I personally found Seirei no Moribito to ring more true in feel with their characters than Juuni Kokki. I could never get immersed with Juuni Kokki as somehow or other it feels artificial.

Originally Posted by Proto

That said, I don't really feel the magic, or a particularly strong aspect of the series beyond being good at everything that I felt when I saw other series I consider masterpieces, like Haibane Renmei.

Haibane Renmei was a series I liked when I first watched it. After a few rewatches of the series, I find it a bit manipulative and emotionally overwrought. In comparison, Seirei no Moribito, after a few rewatches, resonates more with me in being more grounded and measured in its approach.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by leongsh

This short statement captures what is so good about this series. The story is fairly simple but the path it took to tell the story and flesh out the world and the characters is astonishing. It made me feel like I'm being given a very private and privilege look and participation into the main characters' journey. Nothing in there can be said to be superfluous. Each episode plays its part to develop/grow the characters, provide us with info about the world to understand it and to live it, as well as build the story.

Bolded supreme insight...

Someone do me a solid - I gotta know what happens in the later books (but don't spoil anyone else)!

[Guardian Enzo]

Here's some good news:

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...m-tv-in-summer

While I would prefer people watch the subbed version, this can't be a bad thing. Scholastic's translation of the rest of the series is still pending and if there's any hope of further anime from I.G., this couldn't hurt.

[kk2extreme]

the dub is actually quite good, definitely worth watch, if only they do something about the time, i need 2 sleep u know

[Guardian Enzo]

Yeh, the 4 AM showtimes aren't a big help. The dub is OK but really - the gap between Naoto Adachi and Mona Marshall as Chagum is just a gulf too big to overcome. He's authentic, natural and measured. She's a woman who sort of sounds like she's trying to be a boy.

[wao]

Dammit, I've been going through spoilers of the novels because Guardian Enzo asked, and I feel so very tempted to read through the whole thing. It's really quite amazing for juvenile literature, and it'd make good Japanese practise, but I'm so low on money right noooow.... (stupid imported books being expensive!)

I'm dead sure there's some people here who've read the whole series in its original language though. I wonder what you think of the series as a whole.

At some points reading all this has made me want to go rewatch the anime, but my fuzzy memory of it recalls a good bit of it as being somewhat um... well, I'd agree with Proto's assessment that it personally lacks that dramatic impact. But it's been a few years since I've watched either 12K or SnM and much has changed, maybe I'd appreciate SnM more this time?

One thing for sure is, Balsa is THE WOMAN. I would definitely introduce SnM to young readers just to give them exposure to her character.

[itisjustme]

Wao, I only read short summaries for the novels (as in a few lines top), if you have more please feel free to share.

Personally my heart was full after watching SnM, especially the last episodes starting from the Jiguro arc. Only times I remember being moved by anime/manga was the Tomoe arc in Kenshin some 10 years ago, Helmajistan arc in FMP and some parts of Tokikake (and some Adachi manga). Personal preference, like leongsh I prefer drama that isn't juiced up.

[Guardian Enzo]

Watch it again, Wao - I bet it's even better if you watch 3-4 eps a week instead of one. And read all the books - what the hell? Then you can give me even better spoilers!

[Proto]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I see many of the same artistic approaches in Kemono no Souja Erin, the currently-airing adaptation by I.G of another of Uehashi's works. The main character's mother, Soyon, looks rather similar to Balsa.* Erin herself is more caricatured but has become a bit more realistically drawn as she ages. In contrast nearly all the other characters are definitely cartoonish, especially the men. The only exceptions so far are a couiple of men who resemble those "chiseled" assassins in Moribito and perhaps John the Beekeeper, though even he lacks the realism we see in Soyon's character model.

If you're enjoying the slice-of-life aspects of Moribito, I encourage you to watch a few episodes of Erin when you have a chance. (If you're unsure, watch through episode seven.) It combines some remarkably dramatic sequences with a lot of quieter story-telling. Erin seems to target a slightly younger audience than Moribito, and the style of the artwork reinforces that perception. The whole style seems "softer" than the more realistic portrayal in Moribito.

*Both these women also bear a strong resemblance to Saya in I.G.'s Blood+. When I first saw Balsa I thought she was a slightly older rendition of Saya.

After heeding SeijiSensei's recommendation and watching this series myself... I cannot help but feeling totally awed. Really, if you liked SnM, do yourself a favor and go and watch this other series.

[qmeister]

Originally Posted by Proto

After heeding SeijiSensei's recommendation and watching this series myself... I cannot help but feeling totally awed. Really, if you liked SnM, do yourself a favor and go and watch this other series.

After all, they are written by the same person.

[Guardian Enzo]

I just want to point out - with pride - that my selfish, rambling monologues have led to 4 pages of new traffic for this topic. And some of it not even posted by me!

[Raa]

I don't know how people can find Seirei no Moribito boring.
I would vote it for one of the best anime ever created together with LotGH, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, RK: Trust & Betrayal, etc.
Yes, it's that good.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Raa

I don't know how people can find Seirei no Moribito boring.
I would vote it for one of the best anime ever created together with LotGH, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, RK: Trust & Betrayal, etc.
Yes, it's that good.

No moe (unless you count Chagum)? These days, that seems to be a disqualifier for some people (and studios)...

[Veritas]

Just finished watching this the other day. Wonder what made us both decide to watch it around the same time, GE? I appreciated reading your comments and bumping this thread.

Overall, I really liked it. Balsa was a refreshing change. She wasn't a man, first of all, and she was older than your typical anime heroine, even in semi-realistic ones. I found her personality and abilities completely believable most of the time, though the episode where she fought with the guy at the Summer Solstice was overstated. Maybe it's because he was essentially a high level scrapper, so she would always be better than he was, while the rest of the fighting cast really were Balsa's combat equals. I know this is just the first installment of a much longer series and I haven't read the novels (one per year? wtf?), but I did feel that her development plateaued as the series went on, so I hope that changes as the books go on.

Chagum was by far my favorite character, and considering I liked them all, kudos to Uehashi. He started out spoiled, but not so much that he didn't realize he was completely outclassed by nearly everyone around him and really did not have the luxury of not doing exactly what everyone else told him to do. And putting up with things stoically until episode 19's breakdown (which was one of the only moments where I didn't like Balsa. Sure, he fucked up, but so did she. If you're encouraging him to be an adult, treat him like an adult and means being honest with him. She should've apologized.) which as someone stated was long overdue by that point. Chagum was pretty moe, but in a good way, since it didn't preclude actual character development and he was actually acting cute like a kid would albeit one in a weird situation. When Torogai told him he had the face of a man, though, I was thinking no, he's still a kid, but well on the right track.

Tanda was boring insofar as he was a normal among badasses and "special" people, but he wasn't flat. His complaining about Balsa to those guards in Episode 6 was classic and one of my favorite moments out of the whole series, as was his heroics versus La Lunga. I liked the way that the romance subplot with him and Balsa was treated, his feelings being something of an open secret, but she was clear about what she wanted and if he didn't want to wait for her, he had Balsa's blessings. If he did or didn't get together with Balsa, I'd be happy either way.

I never noticed the pacing issues, but probably because I didn't have to wait a week in between episodes. There were a few times when an episode ended and I was like "Oh shit" and then was glad I could just go ahead right there and watch the other ones. I wouldn't quite call it a masterpiece, but it's definitely up there.

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Veritas

Just finished watching this the other day. Wonder what made us both decide to watch it around the same time, GE? I appreciated reading your comments and bumping this thread.

Overall, I really liked it. Balsa was a refreshing change. She wasn't a man, first of all, and she was older than your typical anime heroine, even in semi-realistic ones. I found her personality and abilities completely believable most of the time, though the episode where she fought with the guy at the Summer Solstice was overstated. Maybe it's because he was essentially a high level scrapper, so she would always be better than he was, while the rest of the fighting cast really were Balsa's combat equals. I know this is just the first installment of a much longer series and I haven't read the novels (one per year? wtf?), but I did feel that her development plateaued as the series went on, so I hope that changes as the books go on.

Chagum was by far my favorite character, and considering I liked them all, kudos to Uehashi. He started out spoiled, but not so much that he didn't realize he was completely outclassed by nearly everyone around him and really did not have the luxury of not doing exactly what everyone else told him to do. And putting up with things stoically until episode 19's breakdown (which was one of the only moments where I didn't like Balsa. Sure, he fucked up, but so did she. If you're encouraging him to be an adult, treat him like an adult and means being honest with him. She should've apologized.) which as someone stated was long overdue by that point. Chagum was pretty moe, but in a good way, since it didn't preclude actual character development and he was actually acting cute like a kid would albeit one in a weird situation. When Torogai told him he had the face of a man, though, I was thinking no, he's still a kid, but well on the right track.

Tanda was boring insofar as he was a normal among badasses and "special" people, but he wasn't flat. His complaining about Balsa to those guards in Episode 6 was classic and one of my favorite moments out of the whole series, as was his heroics versus La Lunga. I liked the way that the romance subplot with him and Balsa was treated, his feelings being something of an open secret, but she was clear about what she wanted and if he didn't want to wait for her, he had Balsa's blessings. If he did or didn't get together with Balsa, I'd be happy either way.

I never noticed the pacing issues, but probably because I didn't have to wait a week in between episodes. There were a few times when an episode ended and I was like "Oh shit" and then was glad I could just go ahead right there and watch the other ones. I wouldn't quite call it a masterpiece, but it's definitely up there.

We definitely saw this in a very similar way, Veritas, except for the masterpiece part (I give it that rank unreservedly). I too loved Balsa, but would rank Chagum as my favorite character. His development as the series progressed was spectacularly portrayed, but always in a very believable and feasible way. It was clear from the beginning that even as a sheltered royal child, he had these special qualities of compassion, dignity and courage that were waiting to come out. And yet, while those things always shone through, he was not some preternaturally mature anime hero - he was a vulnerable kid and broke down when things became more than he could handle. That was why I'm in agreement with you about episode 19 and the way Balsa mishandled it, but her background (as explained in 21) had a lot to do with that.

Balsa, obviously, did not have the same kind of massive character arc that Chagum did, so there was naturally less development for her. But she was damn great to begin with and she did develop over the course of the series, as her feelings for Chagum subtly changed her way of interacting with the world. While I don't read Japanese and haven't read the entire series, I did a lot of research (with a lot of help) and I think it's fair to say she does develop quite a bit as the books progress - but again, the big overall character arc across the series is Chagum's. Balsa starts out as more of a complete entity than he does, and it appears that the series of books is something of a span of the arc of Chagum's adolescence.

[eris_sama]

Just read the novel translation. I actually loved the anime more because the minor characters were more developed. Example, the first prince, in the novel he is only mentioned as treating Chagum disdainfully in their few meeting, but in the anime he cared for his little brother. And the two errand runners had much bigger parts in the anime like the gambling filler. This anime is a masterpiece that exceeds the orgininal material. I hope they animate the other nine novels soon!

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by eris_sama

Just read the novel translation. I actually loved the anime more because the minor characters were more developed. Example, the first prince, in the novel he is only mentioned as treating Chagum disdainfully in their few meeting, but in the anime he cared for his little brother. And the two errand runners had much bigger parts in the anime like the gambling filler. This anime is a masterpiece that exceeds the original material. I hope they animate the other nine novels soon!

Agreed here. The anime was pitched a little "older" than the book, for starters - and thus was able to be a little grittier and darker. Also, as I mentioned earlier I really believe the book could have been adapted in 13 eps fairly easily, had I.G. so desired, without leaving much out. To our good fortune they gave it a full 26 treatment, and that allowed so much more depth to the character development that it turned the series from a probable classic to a certain masterpiece. You hear complaints about anime filler all the time, but the anime filler here - the spinning coins, the swordsmith's shop, etc - is what allowed the series to reach it's full potential.

Loved the book, mind you - but the series is better.

[Guardian Enzo]

I have a bit of a personal request (I seem to be making a lot of those lately)...

I need some help on a Moribito writing project I'm working on. It's based on the first book/series timeline, with some elements of the second book thrown in (though you wouldn't need to have read that second book). What I'm looking for are a few folks who know the mythology and the characters to read a few pages and give me some feedback - beta readers if you like. This is the go-to spot for English language fans of the series, as witness the remarkable caliber of the discussion here.

So - I'm hoping there are a few of you who would be willing to be a sounding board for me. Rest assured you'd be helping me out a lot - and I hope you'd enjoy a slightly different (but hopefully faithful) take on the story and characters. Drop me a PM if you'd be interested in helping out, and my thanks in advance.

[klare]

this is one of the best series i have seen, with high quality artwork and motion, the characters stand out too

but not sure of the background time of the series...

also its funny that cant find a real bad guy

[Guardian Enzo]

That lack of a bad guy is definitely intentional. It changes as the books progress, but the anime definitely isn't about villans - everyone has their reasons for what they do.

As for time frame, well - for all it's historical allusions to Korea, aboriginal peoples, etc this is still a fantasy. You could make an approximate guess (14th century?) but it would be a guess.