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

[White Manju Bun]

Wow that trailer makes me want to watch it. Good fighting scenes are hard to come by and that sold me!

[wao]

I'm excited to hear Menori again I hated UPS but I did like her character and voice! And Naoto Adachi is a real kid (he's... 13); so they're getting a... real kid to play Chagum (who is 11)! Cool. I remember they did it all the time in Mushishi to great effect, but those were episodic roles so I wonder how they'll handle doing this for an entire 26 episodes. I hope he doesn't get strained. Unless Chagum grows up and his voice breaks halfway or something like that (ala Capeta)

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Since I am really really interested in this show I will once again waste my time with lousy translations of relevant parts of the site... I say that I can't do this when school starts, but if (if's a big word!) this lives up to my expectations I'll be all over it like some slobbering... slobbering... I don't know what. Watch me fail my subjects . I'll shoot myself in the foot if this has been done somewhere else in English, of course...

(And I hope the forums don't die without a backup this time or it'll be like that Noein thread T_T)

I hope this will be of use to... well.. somebody.

Info sheet

Name: Seirei no Moribito / Guardian of the Sacred Spirit / 精霊の守り人
Length: 26 episodes [from I.G. site]
Starts: Spring 2006
Broadcaster: NHK BS-2 (satellite channel)
Websites: Official site | Production I.G. site | NHK site | ANN encyclopedia entry
Key Staff:

• Original Novel: Shihoko Uehashi
• Director: Kenji Kamiyama (GitS:SAC director)
• Character designer: Gatou Asou (apparently he's an ero-mangaka?!)
• Art director: Yuusuke Takeda (GitS:SAC, Yukikaze, Blood (not Blood+), Gankutsuou art director)
• Production studio: Production I.G. (Surely you know?)

See ANN for a full staff list.

Key Seiyuu:

• Barusa: Mabuki Andou (Menori in UPS, does mostly dubbing for foreign shows e.g. Angelina Jolie's role in Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Naomi Watts' role in King Kong, Audrey Tatou's role in The Da Vinci Code etc.)
• Chagum: Naoto Adachi (Kappeita in Capeta (first part), Kodama in ep 11 of Mushishi)
• Tanda: Kouji Tsujitani (Dewey in Eureka 7, Yakumo in 3x3 Eyes, Miroku in Inuyasha, Raiel in VoH, etc.)
• Nino-hi (Chagum's mother): Emi Shinohara (Xia Yu Fan in FMP:TSR, Satomi in IGPX, Youko in Marimite, Makoto Kino in Sailor Moon, etc.)

See ANN for a full cast list. (Compare with characters further down)

Three-line synopsis: Barusa, a tough 30-year-old woman, becomes the bodyguard of the 2nd Prince of Yogo, Chagum, in whose body lies the eggs of the legendary "Spirit of the Water", which is said to lay eggs only once every hundred years.
Chagum and Barusa must travel across the land and come to a solution while Chagum is being persued by things called "Nayugu" that are after the eggs.
This show is billed as an "Asian High Fantasy", take that as you will.

Stuff to look out for?: (Based on what I think)

• Great production values (i.e. eyecandy)
• Epic fantasy story (With 26 episodes hopefully it's tightly written!)
• Mature themes/depictions (I should hope so!)
• Rich settings - perhaps an uniquely East Asian taste?
• Sexy ladies yay (to quote MrP, SAYA WITH A HALBERD) - and OK, hawt guys too now that I look at it
• Good amount of (consistantly great, I hope) action

I sure have reduced it to very frivolous elements, haven't I.

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Disclaimer: The following is all translated from the official site, moribito.com, unless otherwise indicated. I have taken some liberties with the wording here and there. And if you can do a better job, which is probably the case, then please by all means retranslate, reword or point out errors. Don't kill me because I refuse to use the word "impregnate" on Chagum. Thank you.
Romanisations - I'm just using the Japanese katakana word for word. $deity knows if it's Barusa, Balsa (Balsamic vinegar...), Barsa or whatever. And so on. You decide, ok! If I see official romanisations I'll edit this post accordingly.

Story

Spoiler for Saving space:

You can't win against destiny.
But you can't lose to it, either.

Barusa, a female halberd-bearing bodyguard, visits the streets of the New Yogo Kingdom (Shin Yogo Oukoku) after a long time, where she rescues a prince who fell from a stray ox-cart into a river.

The young boy Barusa saved was the second Imperial Prince of the New Yogo Kingdom, Chagum. Inside him laid the eggs of a sacred water spirit that laid eggs only once every hundred years, and as such he was made to bear the fate of the "Guardian of the Sacred Spirits".

The Queen, sensing that Chagum's father the King did not take well to this and would take efforts to ensure his death, recognized Barusa's skills and requested she become Chagum's bodyguard.

Having somehow accepted a job that made an enemy of the Imperial Court and would put her life very much at risk, Barusa sets fire to the chambers as instructed and with its roaring flames behind her, she and Chagum escape the palace.

From then on it's a continuous life of escape from their persistant pursuers.

However, there are also beings called "Nayugu" that coexist in this world, and they too are after Chagum - they want to devour the eggs within his body.

What is this sacred water spirit? [And what are the secrets behind the midsummer festival?]*

A series of mysteries stand before Baruzsa and Chagum...

* - From the Production I.G. site synopsis

And here is the NHK site one, because it has a few more details.

Spoiler for Saving space:

Because his body has been laid with the eggs of the "Sacred Water Spirit", a "Nayugu" from a parallel world that is invisible to our eyes, his father the King aims to end the life of Chagum, Second Prince of the New Yogo Kingdom. (Yes I know that is an awkward line.)

Just when he's fallen into a trap set up by his assassins, he is saved by an user of the halberd, the female bodyguard Barusa. Barusa, who was travelling the lands and helping people to make up for her teacher's sins, accepts the task to protect Chagum.

Through interacting with Barusa's friends, Chagum matures into a young boy independant of his standing as an imperial prince.

While fending off assassins, will Barusa be able to protect the body of Chagum that holds the eggs of the "Sacred Water Spirit"?

And starting with the "Midsummer Festival" and the "Sacred Water Spirit" - what are the mysteries behind this world?

Characters

Spoiler for Saving space:

Before we look at the individual characters, here is my *gasp* unauthorised modification of the character relationship chart on the site as of 28 Dec 06! This might help even vaguely at least. A better one would be in order when they put proper pictures for all the characters, perhaps. [Please do tell me if there are errors, it's quite possible, this is like the 3rd fix...]



To see this map, on the main site moribito.com (which you need Flash for), click 登場人物. Clicking on individual characters (that don't have blanked faces) will show you some uncoloured drawings of them, as well as a short description as shown below.

And now let's take a look at the characters. There are no images. Go find your own images.
Barusa and co.
Barusa　バルサ

Spoiler:

A female bodyguard who uses a halberd (a tansou, 短槍). 30 years old.
Is travelling around various countries while doing jobs like escorting caravans and such.
She is skilled to the point where she sometimes goes by "Baruza the Halberd-User" (Tansou-tsukai Barusa).
Her birthplace is in the northern country of Ganbaru.

The reason behind her travelling the land is to atone for her own teacher's sins. (This is from the NHK synopsis)

Tanda タンダ

Spoiler:

A herbalist who has the blood of Yakuu in his veins. (Yakuu are the country's aborigines) 28 years old. Under the tutelage of Torogai, he is undergoing training to become a sorceror as well.

He is Barusa's childhood friend and has treated her wounds countless times.

Torogai トロガイ

Spoiler:

A Yakuu (aborigine) sorceress. Unknown age.
Her skills in sorcery give her the ability to gain access to the world in which the spirits known as "Nayugu" inhabit.
She is very surefooted and is quite glib. Likes drinking.

Tooya トーヤ

Spoiler:

An errand boy who lives under the bridge over an aqueduct.

He was once saved by Barusa before. Currently he looks after Saya.

Saya サヤ (No, this is not an I.G. in-joke...)

Spoiler:

An errand... girl? who lives under the bridge over an aqueduct.

She lives together with Tooya and looks up to Barusa.

Imperial Court

Chagum チャグム

Spoiler:

The second prince of the New Yogo Kingdom. 11 years old. Despite being at the age where one is usually full of inquisitiveness, he is a pretty steady person.　The eggs of the "Sacred Water Spirit" which lays eggs only once ever 100 years reside within his body.

His dad wants to kill him. Also it seems like we would be able to see him mature along as he is introduced to Barusa's acquaintances during their travels. Yay.

Ni-no-hi (Did I romanise it correctly?)

Spoiler:

The second royal consort of the New Yogo Kingdom. Chagum's mother. She is aware that her son's life is at risk and has him escape from the palace, leaving him in the hands of the female bodyguard Barusa.

Palace of the Stars (Hoshi no Miya)

Shuga

Spoiler:

A scholar of astrology who works for the "Palace of Stars" in the New Yogo Kingdom. 20 years old. He is so brilliant that he is known as "The Top Genius of Hoshi-no-Miya" (星ノ宮一の天才).

He is genuinely concerned about Chagum's welfare, and serves as his tutor (教育係).

Gakai

Spoiler:

Like Shuga, he is a scholar of astrology at the "Palace of Stars". He enviously perceives Shuga as an enemy. He is in charge of educating the first Prince, Sagum.

Karyuudo (The Hunters)

Spoiler:

Mon
The leader of the 8 royal spies known as the "Karyuudo". Under orders from the King they are pursuing Chagum.

Jin
One of the "Karyuudo". He blows darts (吹き矢) and uses throwing-stars (手裏剣 shuriken).

Zen
One of the "Karyuudo". The big tough guy of the group. He uses rope (荒縄).

Yun
One of the "Karyuudo". Uses double swords. (二刀流)

Rai
One of the "Karyuudo". Uses a battle axe (戦鎌)

Hyoku
One of the "Karyuudo". Uses scimitars (is that an appropriate word for 曲刀 especially looking at his graphic?)

Taga
One of the "Karyuudo". Uses metal knuckles (金拳).

Sun
One of the "Karyuudo". Uses the bow and arrow.

Random extra stuff gouged from 2ch (i.e. Don't take this as gospel truth or whatever.) (Well, there's some stuff from other places too.)

Yay, I get to use H-dono's favourite word! Desultory! This is all desultory. There. You know, the 2ch thread there is so terribly serious I almost wonder "is this 2ch?!".

Some of this can be backed up by this report of the anime event for this show.

Spoiler for Saving space:

It seems like the author's image of the world she created was drawn from the Nara/Heian period, but the society is based more on Edo times. Or well, at least this interview with Kamiyama shows that he is looking at the Edo period (1600s-1868?) as "key visual".

The director was so particular about the details that he even asked questions that the author didn't think about, like "Do they have a police force", about whether that world is curved like the planet Earth and so on. (That's great! I love that he took the effort to iron out all these details.)

From the surface it feels as if Barusa = Youko, Tanda = Rakushun, Shuga = Keiki and Chagum = Taiki (12 Kingdoms)

There are apparently 2 moons.

The part of the novel they're basing the anime on spans from Autumn to Spring, but there are apparently going to be some anime-original episodes covering Summer as well.

The Nayugu will appear earlier in teh anime compared to the novels.

Motoko Kusanagi happens to be exactly the type of character that the novel author likes. (Going by this, she has watched the movies and the TV series! 神山さん後藤さんかっこええー)

In fact it seems like the author had turned down previous offers to make adaptations of her work but since it was Kamiyama she OK'd it.

The novel readers think that Barusa looks too young; also in the novels she was apparently described as using a blunt weapon whereas in teh anime she is clearly using a sharp weapon. But the original author seemed ok with it (she mentioned "I never said she wasn't good looking" or something to that efefct) so they're ok with it too.

The seiyuu for Barusa, Andou Mabuki, is apaprently a fan of the original novel herself. Apparently on her blog she wrote that she bought both the hardcover and paperback versions, or something to that effect.

According to this interview with Kamiyama, he actually undertook the project precisely because the team would have to build up a visual image almost entirely from scratch. In his words - "if it was based on a manga, I might have turned down the offer". Furthermore he made it clear that unlike "Princess Mononoke", which was clearly a Japanese fantasy, this was more Asian than Japanese.

The I.G. CEO Ishikawa's son happens to be a big fan of the books, apparently.

And that's it from me for now. Hey, there's a lot less fangirling than usual in this post...

P.S. I just found this blog post with a synopsis of the first three chapters. There is a lot of stuff there; and details about the backstory. Cleared up some things for me too.
Do go check it out if you're wondering what the story'll be about. Of course if you do not want to be spoiled at all then don't go.

I think it will give you a good idea of what the story might be about, for sure. From what she described of the first three chapters, it looks like the first two could fit *perfectly* into one episode and then the next episode for chapter 3.

[Sonhex]

Wonderful post wao. Loads of info there and the thoughts that immediately leap to my slightly addled post-festive overloaded mind:

- Barasu 30 years old? She looks much younger in the face, eyes especially, although physically she is about right, I suppose. Motoko + Saya v1.0. I love the way she uses her halberd in the trailer; how she doesn't take the covering off to fight lesser opponents (like Donnie Yen in Hero).

- Barasu's teacher, and apparent sinner. Do we know what he/she did that was so terrible that Barasu travels Yogo correcting his/her sins? Anyway that gives our heroine a juicy angsty backstory...

- The cruel Emperor, his motives for offing Chagum seem a little suspicious and unclear.That blog suggests he is motivated by a need to retain faith in the Royal family and that he believes Chagum is possessed. Maybe he also favours Shagum over his second consort's child, adds a potential Royal blood fued into the mix.

- The Water Spirits eggs in Chagum. A bit yeuw! that, but explains the bit from the trailer with Barasu apparently being able to breathe underwater whilst saving Chagum. Chagum's a boy so this is a bit odd (at least to me).

- The Nayugu, Moribito's Chiropterans perhaps? But if the egg-laying Water Spirit itself is a Nayuga then are these others canabalistic or something?

- The season spanning storyline (try saying that after a few), should allow for some gorgeous backgrounds with use of colour, textures etc...

- Kamiyama's comments about Mononoke Hime was interesting, when I first saw the second trailer I did think of the movie. I guess it was the aesthetics of the landscapes and the lighting and other such superficial things.

Anyway this is very exciting stuff. There are other contenders but Moribito, on production values alone, is the BIG one for me in 2007...

[wao]

Oh yes. Production values. I won't be surprised a single jot if the show turns out to be not as amazing as the trailer, but for $deity's sake, surely it means at least episode one will be of that quality? There's something about it that makes it seem prettier than usual; it's got that sort of movie sheen to it... Perhaps more frames or the way it's composed or something. *watches trailer again and gets excited*

I was wondering the same thing about the Nayugu thing. Perhaps it's just something like there's Good Nayugu and Bad Nayugu and the Water Spirit thing is a good one. Although I agree, I kept having to translate "the eggs of the water spirit are in Chagum.." and squirming at the same time. For $deity's sake, stop making it sound like... like that! Gah.

One thing that got me annoyed while I was writing the thing is how I keep confusing the characters' names with those from other shows or with other words. Seriously!

1. I KEEP writing Barusa as Paruza so many times it's not funny. Even then almost every time it ends up as Baruza.
2. And Chagum? I don't think I need to mention that other NHK anime, with a character aclled Changgeum... how many times did I type Changum unwittingly while writing that post, I don't know.
3. I keep typoing Tanda as Danda or... or Tandy. Tandy of all things... he's not a computer...
4. Torogai? I almost typed it in the character chart as "Tonakai" (reindeer). Or Tonogai or something.

At least I don't think of "Sugar" when I write about "Shuga"...

[MrProphet]

Isn't Seirei no Moribito world supposed to be a mix of faux-Korean with faux-Chinese?

I think the spellings should at least reflect that. Straight kana transliterations are meh...

[wao]

Well, I completely give up on trying to predict Japanese official transliterations no matter what the situation. Sure, this isn't Code Geass (...Rivalz, anyone?) but... I'm too lazy to change back and forth.

Although I do assume it has to be Chagum/Chageum rather than Chagumu, I don't get enough of the "feel" to confidently say what the transliterations really are. I figured that as long as it's enough for people to figure out who's who that's enough for now. When it comes to discussing the actual show and *gasp* subs of it or whatever, then that'll be another issue...

But that's still a few months off, I guess. What would you suggest though, just out of curiosity? I can't be arsed to change the thing of course,...

[MrProphet]

That's almost impossible to say definitively until we either know some context or get clues from the production team.

I'd say that Barsa and Chagum are the versions I feel most at ease with right now.

[BluWacky]

Is the Comiket trailer on Youtube the same as the one on the official site? I think my computer died the last time I tried to watch that one.

Anyway, regardless - holy cow, I cannot wait for this show to air. The animation quality is AMAZING in that trailer.

(also the plot sounds awesome, but still - SHINY ANIMATION!)

[monir]

In it for the action, hot bodyguard, and production I.G.

[wao]

Originally Posted by BluWacky

Is the Comiket trailer on Youtube the same as the one on the official site? I think my computer died the last time I tried to watch that one.

Anyway, regardless - holy cow, I cannot wait for this show to air. The animation quality is AMAZING in that trailer.

(also the plot sounds awesome, but still - SHINY ANIMATION!)

Which one? If you mean this then it's almost the same as the trailer (except without the idiotic music in the background, of course), both of which are different from the pilot film.

Personally now that I rewatch it I realise I dislike the music on the trailer but the one in the pilot film was just bloody awesome. I wish they'd use it in the show.

[Sonhex]

From Production I.G's Japanese website. Chibi Barsa ~ kawaii.

[solomon]

when i saw that thread name, the only word that popped into my head was classy. Kamiyama had a stellar, sophisticated production in SAC and NHK has funded strong works that seem a tad more classy then what you see on other networks (planetes and the twelve kingdoms) so I'm definetly gonna check the pilot. I'm kicking myself that I didn't partake in Chevilear before it was licenced as that looked really classy itself (Wowow seems like a network with some interesting avant-garde works as well, no?).

[Kaijin]

Here's the trailer...looks so good!

[evil-samurai]

Originally Posted by Sonhex

From Production I.G's Japanese website. Chibi Barsa ~ kawaii.

Thats cute and.. the complete opposite from what we have seen of her.

After watching Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpuchou and seeing the animation, I'm even more pressed to watch this to see if it is as good as the trailers show!

[darkchibi07]

I wouldn't be surprised for Production I.G. making chibi omakes later in the future as part of DVD extras.

[solomon]

NHK normally gets classy anime so this should be worth a watch. On another note, Is NHK BS Channels more well known then wowow? I know that Wowow shows a lotta hot imported US drama and holllywood movies.

[wao]

Yes, they're definitely much more well known. I don't know about the reset of NHK BS's lineup though apart from anime.

[Sonhex]

Little bit of news - L'arc~en~ciel are providing the OP, called SHINE. They (or Hyde as it was) also did one of the Blood + OPs as I recall. The ED is by someone called Sachi Tainaka, who I've never heard of but who did the Fate Stay Night OP apparently.

[Impz]

After checking out this thread, it is almost definite that I will blog this series because the whole theme plus the fact that it's done by the same people who did Chevalier intrigues me.

I cannot wait for the first episode to start.

[MrProphet]

BTW, this series premieres on the 7th of April.