“Balsa the spear woman” is a wandering warrior, she is a skilled warrior from the faraway land of Kanbal. Balsa claims to be a simple bodyguard for hire in reality she wields her spear in order to save lives in atonement for the lives that were taken to protect her when she was a child. Despite her deadly skill with a spear, Balsa has never taken a single life in combat, she is pragmatic and intelligent and she does not hold much regard for class distinction customs. On her journey, she happens to save prince Chagum who bears the egg of a water spirit and is tasked with becoming his bodyguard. And he is going to need one. Convinced that it would bring misfortune and destruction to the country. Chagum was secretly condemned to death by his father. However, before they could assassinate him his mother the Second Empress hired Balsa to hide and protect him.
Review:
As someone who’s been watching anime for almost 12 years now I would like to think that there isn’t much else that an Anime show can offer me that I haven’t seen yet. But the last year I have been pleasantly surprised more than once by a Anime show the first surprise would be a from a show called “Eureka SeVen” and now Seirei no Moribito (Guardian of the Water Spirit). Every Anime show has its ups and down and it’s flaws, but every now and then there comes an Anime that simply nails everything perfectly and Seirei no Moribito achieves this perfectly. There is only a handful of shows that has achieved this in the past. It’s hard to explain in words rather watch the show and judge for yourself if I am correct or not.
Story:
Seirei no Moribito is to put it bluntly an amazingly well crafted work of fiction. With characters that well rounded out and very human. The story almost develops like a “Slice of Life” Anime. It doesn’t spend a lot of time on action or fight sequences. (But when it does the animation and action sequences are just amazing.) But instead they take a “Slice of Life” approach to slowly build each character up and introduce new ones along the way. Some people might not enjoy this type of pace in an Anime show like Seirei no Moribito this will either make u love this Anime with a passion or make u hate it. But I guess that’s up to the individual viewer, luckily for me I am one of those people who enjoy the type of pace in a story that a “Slice of Life” Anime brings.
This show unlike the others is very character driven and not plot driven like most of the other shows out there today. It is only later on in the show when tension sinks in again and the show returns to the actual plot. It didn’t matter much to me that there wasn’t much of a back story as the current characters are more than enough to keep me interested. The world of Seirei no Moribito is very intriguing I have always loved fantasy and alternate worlds particularly the world of Sagu ("this world") and Nayug ("spirit world"). The way this world was created is incredibly surreal and beautiful. I am glad that they included an epilogue in the final episode (Very rare for an Anime show these days.)
It was very unexpected but it will be a awesome treat for the viewer who have formed a bond with the characters during the show, it sets the tone for a 2nd season (Highly doubt there will be one though.) And it gives the show a more complete feel to it.
Animation:
Well not much to say here it’s Production IG (Among its prominent works are Patlabor and the Ghost in the Shell series, Blood: The Last Vampire, Blood+, xxxHolic, and the FLCL OVA series.) The Animation reminded me a lot of shows like Blood+ and Ghost In The Shell – Stand Alone Complex.)
The water, the forest, the mountains, the changing of seasons, everything has been animated beautifully everything is aesthetically pleasing to the eyes. Remarkable artwork and top notch directing with amazing art work what u should expect from a company like Production IG, they are slowly turning into one of my favorite production companies of all time.
Sound/Music:
The Opening and Ending themes of Seirei no Moribito, isn’t anything to write home about and that’s about the only complaint I have about this show but that’s just me being nit picky. A more instrumental Opening and Ending theme would have been better suited to the show instead of a “Bubble Gum” JPOP that they used. The soundtrack is self is nothing short of amazing to say the least. Kawai Kenji`s music lends a very traditional Asian feel to this show, and helps make the world of Seirei no Moribito more believable.
Characters:
All the characters in Seirei no Moribito are so utterly human that you can’t help but relate to them, and that’s were the shows strength lies. From Balsa the pragmatic and intelligent spear woman. And Tanda the Herbalist/Shaman who seems to have a history with Balsa as they share lots of small moments together during the show that brought a smile my face while watching it. And let us not forget Chagum who goes from being a bratty royal kid to a person full of dignity and charm which surprised me the most out of all the characters in the show. Seirei no Moribito does not feature a large cast but the depth of each character makes up for it.
Enjoyment:
This has to be one of THE best shows of 2007 for me and one of Production IG best work to date. I will definitely re watch this again just purely because of the quality of this production. I can absolutely recommend it to anyone who is looking for some pure enjoyment you will not be disappointed.
