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

[runpsicat]

Originally Posted by MrProphet

Spoiler for Teh Truth:

Well, before it was just Shuga's gut feeling, now he is sure that something is going on and Chagum is not dead.

Nanai's tablets confirm that the official history is a sham and that the Secret Archive was established so that the true story would be available to future generations. Since Shuga now knows that the Water Spirit is the one that gives water, not steals it, Shuga now understands that the good weather means that Chagum is alive and there is no contradiction with the Sign of Draught.

Spoiler for "More of Teh Truth" up to 14:

Well actually, he becomes concerned in ep14 that Chagum's dead precisely because the Drought Sign still remains given the revelation re. the water spirit's egg residing in Chagum's body. He thought there shouldn't be a Drought Sign if the egg/Chagum was safe and sound. Good thing he keeps looking in episode 15.

[EasyPrey]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Ep. 13 is in subs.

I still don't understand what happened. Balsa clearly inflicted a large chest wound on her opponent, but when he stands up to talk with the teacher it's not there? I think I have to watch this again.

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

I've gone back and rewatched the duel a few more times and still cannot determine what happened. At 21:14 Balsa delivers an upward thrust to Karbo's chest, ripping his shirt and inflicting a long vertical wound that is bleeding profusely. Yet, at 22:34, Karbo's shirt appears intact, and there's not a trace of either the wound or any blood. I simply don't know what conclusion to draw from these scenes, but like gaguri I'd hate it if there were some type of mystical explanation arising from Balsa's now wielding the "ultimate blade." Even if this blade were unable to kill, how is it that Karbo's shirt is no longer ripped?

Episode 8 holds the key to that. I will just let the creator of the spear speak:

Smithy_from_episode_8

A sword that custs one free from one's karma and does not cut people...
That is what I consider the ultimate sword.
I constantly think about how I'd like to make such a sword someday.

Think about what the strike did. Didn't Balsa's strike cut Karbo free of his karma, without cutting him?

Episode 8 re-watch is a must to understand what happened in this episode.

Please pay particular attention to Smithy's reaction, when he was told that Balsa did not kill any of her pursuers. Smith explained that both the Smithy and the sword (spear) wielder have to be in the correct frame of mind (at the time of forging the weapon) for him to be able to forge such a weapon. Balsa now literally carries the "ultimate weapon".

-EasyPrey

[lommm]

i have a quick question about ep 12. it's for symbolism/metaphor.

what's the meaning of the snake and the frog at the end of ep 12? the last two shot show the snake sneaking up behind the frog, who sits on a rock watching balsa and chagum. is this from an old tale i don't know about? or anyone have any thoughts about the symbolism?


also,

Spoiler for ep 15 Q.:

i wonder why the offical story is so backwards from the truth. why does the royal family need to say that the water spirit is evil? what's wrong with it being good?

[KiNA]

I thought it symbolize the episode 13 event perfectly, with the frog representing Balsa, and the snake representing the guy...

Nice sig btw

[EasyPrey]

Originally Posted by lommm

what's the meaning of the snake and the frog at the end of ep 12? the last two shot show the snake sneaking up behind the frog, who sits on a rock watching balsa and chagum. is this from an old tale i don't know about? or anyone have any thoughts about the symbolism?

Who knows? Japanese language has sooooooooooo many metaphors that it is not even funny. In all honestly, it probably does not mean anything.

However, if we are artificially trying to fit a metaphor, I think "Poking bushes draws out snakes" probably fits the best (among the limited ones I know).

That would be translated as an English metaphor as "Let sleeping dogs lie". Or in other words, doing something unnecessary might create "problems" for you. It is better to keep a low profile. Snake coming out of a bush would be metaphorically equivalent to you have awaken the sleeping dogs.

Originally Posted by lommm

also,

Spoiler for ep 15 Q.:

i wonder why the offical story is so backwards from the truth. why does the royal family need to say that the water spirit is evil? what's wrong with it being good?

Don't even go there!

What you are really asking is for someone who has read the novel to spoil the anime for everyone. Bad idea. I would not touch that with a ten foot pole.

-EasyPrey

[lommm]

oh, ok. didn't realize that. i keep forgetting there are people here who have read the novels. i guess i was actually asking for other non-novel-readers to speculate. for discussion's sake, you know.

oh well. is there any news on the dvd release?

...thought it symbolize the episode 13 event perfectly, with the frog representing Balsa, and the snake representing the guy

hehe... i should have watched ep 13 before i wrote that question. as i'm watching it now, i see that you are correct. it was just to give the audience a foreboding feeling that something bad was snaking its way toward balsa. and that snake has a double bladed spear.

btw, that guy was in ep 12. he was lying down. the animation is obvious when he is startled as the fight progresses. i remember looking at him instead of balsa and big guy and i though, "now why did they animate that guy so obviously. he's distracting! what a poor directorial choice!" ah-hah! not so! oh me of little faith. it was in fact a very good directorial choice.


something about this series reminds me heavily of twelve kingdoms and a tiny bit of mononoke hime. mostly TK, though.


side note, i just realized that the poster above is EasyPrey from the Lunar forums. i remember debating the merits of Ichimaru Gin with you in the "Is Gin evil?" thread!

[EasyPrey]

Originally Posted by lommm

something about this series reminds me heavily of twelve kingdoms and a tiny bit of mononoke hime. mostly TK, though.

Now that I think about it, I agree 100% with you. This Anime definitely has an extremely rich story line (kinda like Twelve Kingdoms).

Originally Posted by lommm

side note, i just realized that the poster above is EasyPrey from the Lunar forums. i remember debating the merits of Ichimaru Gin with you in the "Is Gin evil?" thread!

Yes indeed!

Glad to have you here.

We spent 27 pages (over 800 posts!) over this topic! Arguing Ichimaru being "evil" or "good". It was truly good spirited. Heck I event sent "assassin kitties" against ISEVIL members.

Spoiler for Just a couple of highlights of Is Ichimaru evil? thread, from first two pages (for space savings):

For the record, to this day, I maintain that Ichimaru is a good guy. He is looking for Aizen's killer and the most likely suspect is Hinomari!

Proud member of IGGA* and LOMMM*!

-EasyPrey

* Ichimaru Good Guy Association. Loyal Order of Maki Maki's Moustache.

[leongsh]

Originally Posted by EasyPrey

Don't even go there!

But I want to

Note: I haven't read the novels, so it's pure speculation on my part.

Spoiler:

The basis for legitimacy in the setting up of the empire/kingdom is that the founding emperor slew the water spirit which was deemed evil and brought harm to the land. Now, if the water spirit is good, that will call into question the legitimacy of the ruling family for slaying the water spirit which is good to the land.

In addition, the water spirit is a political surrogate for the shamans in the political power play for influence. The water spirit is an entity of the shamans. If the water spirit is good, then it would give the shamans additional clout over the diviners/astrologers who are in power now as the shamans would be able to communicate directly with the spirits whereas the diviners/astrologers are not able to.

That's just my speculation from the little that I can pick up from this very rich world.

[EasyPrey]

Just watched episode 15 (Anime-Kraze).

Couple of points:

* We learn that the whole history about the creation of the empire was fabricated.

* Apparently, this fabrication is important enough that each star diviner must memorize that.

* We also learned in the "carnival" episode that no one has ever gone blind by looking at the Royal family. That was supposed to be the trait, that distinguished them as "chosen by god" or similar propaganda.

* The first holy siege (head star diviner) apparently spent a great deal of resources to have the truth carved in stone tablets. I can't help but think that stone is resistant to fire.

So what we have here is a case of an empire built upon a fabricated history. Why such an elaborate set of lies were told, is beyond me.

Lets hope we will get a flash back and see the first emperor and/or the first holy siege. But, I have a feeling that we will not know the "truth" until the last episode.

-EasyPrey

Disclaimer: I have not read the novels.

[SeijiSensei]

Episode 14 (Knot) in subs. EasyPrey has the wrong episode number above.

I'd recommend spoilering a few of those observations, EasyPrey. I always like to wait a day or so after the subs have been released before revealing any important plot points.

As dramatic as this episode is at times, my favorite scene happens near the end when Torogai's familiar refuses to be swayed by munchies and shuns the shaman. Serves her right, too!

This episode contains some of the best graphics so far. My avatar doesn't really do justice to the vivid portrait of Balsa in this episode. I also found the black-and-white story-telling sequence stunningly beautiful. Here's a screenshot that doesn't do justice to that artwork either:

[Codex]

Spoiler for Episode 15:

Noooo ... I can't believe it! The title "Young Death" was ominous enough, but ...

Spoiler for just in case:

Prince Sagum dies?! Noooo! He's one of my favourite characters. I so wanted to see some sort of reunion between Chagum and Sagum. We've never really seen them interact in the present. So is it some sort of disease, inherited condition, or the result of overwork?

[runpsicat]

Spoiler for Episode 15:

Well, the anime never really goes into the details. In the novel, it's clearly stated that Sagum's been sickly ever since he caught a bad cold last winter. In the anime, they briefly allude to his weak constitution by showing him coughing at Chagum's funeral--I forgot what episode this was in.

Spoiler for Novel/Anime differences w/r/t Chagum&Sagum's sibling relationship:

In the novel, Chagum and Sagum were never close. Chagum remembers Sagum as a rather aloof brother. I kind of like how they really fleshed out Sagum in the anime since he was more of a plot device in the novel.

Also, I haven't seen anyone else mention this yet, but in episode 14 you can see that

Spoiler:

the Eight Warriors are the ancestors of the Hunters.

[MrProphet]

Spoiler for Sagum:

According to that I.G booklet I've read, Sagum had asthma.

[lommm]

that's a pretty badass sword the emperor has. though the curved bit at the bottom of the hilt would hinder full and proper use. but it still looks cool.


and just so i'm not confused, when easyprey said, "Just watched episode 15..."
he was actually talking about 14, right? and if so, why did easyprey and codex get ahead and behind by one number respectively in their episode numbering?? :P

well one thing that subtitles cleared up for me was that the fishmen really weren't intelligible. in raw, i watched that scene like three times and coulnd't figure out why i didn't know what they were saying. now i know. you had to hear it through Torogai. (that scene was still awesome every time i watched it!)

edit:

Originally Posted by MrProphet

Spoiler for Sagum:

According to that I.G booklet I've read, Sagum had asthma.

actually, Sagum said as much when he was talking to shugo in ep 10. "the emperor chastized Chagum for bringing the bird into the palace because its feathers were bad for my asthma" or something along those lines.

[SeijiSensei]

List of Seirei no Moribito episodes from AniDB

N	Title	Air Date
01	Balsa, the Female Bodyguard	07.04.2007
02	The Hunter and the Hunted	14.04.2007
03	A Fight to the Death	21.04.2007
04	Torogais Writings	28.04.2007
05	Secret Step, the Blue Hand	05.05.2007
06	It Dies in the Blue Fog	12.05.2007
07	Chagums Decision	19.05.2007
08	Swordsmith	26.05.2007
09	Thirsty Shuga	02.06.2007
10	Hero and Soil	09.06.2007
11	Flower Wine for Tanda	16.06.2007
12	Summer Solstice Festival	23.06.2007
13	Neither Man nor Tiger	30.06.2007
14	Knot	07.07.2007
15	Premature Death	14.07.2007
16	Episode 16	21.07.2007
17	Water-Wheel Burning	28.07.2007
18	Ancient Village	04.08.2007
19	Chagums Escape	11.08.2007

The most recent fansubbed episode is, as Iommm points out, episode 14, Knot. The most recently aired episode, available in raw, is episode 15, Premature Death. No one has seen episode 16 yet as far as I know.

I'm going back to re-edit my original posting that reflected my confusion.

I hope the title "Episode 16" doesn't mean that the writers still haven't figured out what to put in this one yet

[MrProphet]

Episode 16 is entitled ただひたすらに.

[EasyPrey]

My apologies to everyone. I meant to say I just watched episode 14, somehow, I typed that as episode 15. Sorry for the confusion.

SeijiSensei also makes a point that for first couple of days (after the subs are released), spoiler tags should be used. Sometimes people just post "Subs for episode X is out". May be one of us should do that. That way, once you read that, you have been warned that anything beyond that point, would be a spoiler.

Using spoiler tags after the subs are out, deters from the conversation. More importantly, abuse of spoiler tags, ultimately becomes counter-productive.

Lets not forget, most of the people here are Anime junkies. I.E. They will watch the raw, they will read the blogs. In other words, they don't patiently wait for the subs, without getting some sort of a fix.

Spoiler for Concerning preview for episode 15 (contained in episode 14):

I really don't like the title of episode 15. Does that mean Sagum is going to die in the next episode?

That would be really sad, considering that he had become one of the most likeable character in the show.

@MrProphet: Are you the same MrProphet from lunarforums? If so, glad to meet you again. I am still a proud member of IGGA and I still maintain my "assassin kitties".

lommm: Boy that was indeed a bad ass sword. Too bad it was all a lie.

-EasyPrey

[MrProphet]

No, I never visited any lunarforums.

[SeijiSensei]

Originally Posted by EasyPrey

SeijiSensei also makes a point that for first couple of days (after the subs are released), spoiler tags should be used. Sometimes people just post "Subs for episode X is out". May be one of us should do that. That way, once you read that, you have been warned that anything beyond that point, would be a spoiler.

I've been doing that routinely for the past half-dozen episodes or so.

We may all be "anime junkies," but some people have other things in their lives, too. If I notice there's a new fansub I usually stay out of threads until I've watched it, but not everybody does. I don't advocate lengthy use of spoiler tags. After a day or so has gone by, it's all fair game as far as I'm concerned. Most raw viewers use spoiler tags pretty routinely; I'm just advocating a brief adoption of spoilers after the subs are released, too.

Originally Posted by MrProphet

Episode 16 is entitled ただひたすらに.

Does that translate to "Episode 16?"

[lommm]

Originally Posted by SeijiSensei

Does that translate to "Episode 16?"

ROFL!!!! SeijiSensei FTW!


my kanji knowledge is terrible, but it's something about effort or maybe diligence or something like that. i'm sure someone else can translate that properly.