Seirei no Moribito

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit

Japanese: 精霊の守り人

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 26

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 7, 2007 to Sep 29, 2007

Premiered: Spring 2007

Broadcast: Saturdays at 08:06 (JST)

Producers: Geneon Universal Entertainment, Dentsu, NHK Enterprises

Licensors: VIZ Media, Media Blasters, Sentai Filmworks, Geneon Entertainment USA

Studios: Production I.G

Source: Novel

Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy

Duration: 25 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.13¹ (scored by 76,143 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #443²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1083

Members: 215,823

Favorites: 2,712

Available At

Official Site

Resources

AniDB

ANN

Synopsis

On the precipice of a cataclysmic drought, the Star Readers of the Shin Yogo Empire must devise a plan to avoid widespread famine. It is written in ancient myths that the first emperor, along with eight warriors, slew a water demon to avoid a great drought and save the land that was to become Shin Yogo. If a water demon was to appear once more, its death could bring salvation. However, the water demon manifests itself within the body of the emperor's son, Prince Chagum—by the emperor's order, Chagum is to be sacrificed to save the empire.

Meanwhile, a mysterious spear-wielding mercenary named Balsa arrives in Shin Yogo on business. After saving Chagum from a thinly veiled assassination attempt, she is tasked by Chagum's mother to protect him from the emperor and his hunters. Bound by a sacred vow she once made, Balsa accepts.

Seirei no Moribito follows Balsa as she embarks on her journey to protect Chagum, exploring the beauty of life, nature, family, and the bonds that form between strangers.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Seirei no Moribito is based on Nahoko Uehashi's Moribito novel series. It adapts the first novel in the series, and greatly expands the midsection of the novel.

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Related Anime

Adaptation:

Moribito Series

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Yonsa, Balsa

Main

Shindo, Naomi
Japanese

Chagum

Main

Adachi, Naoto
Japanese

Tanda

Supporting

Tsujitani, Kouji
Japanese

Torogai

Supporting

Mayama, Ako
Japanese

Musa, Jiguro

Supporting

Nishi, Rintarou
Japanese

Shuga

Supporting

Nojima, Hirofumi
Japanese

Saya

Supporting

Hirohashi, Ryou
Japanese

Touya

Supporting

Asano, Mayumi
Japanese

Sagum

Supporting

Kobayashi, Ryouya
Japanese

Jin

Supporting

Matsukaze, Masaya
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Matsuda, Akio

Producer

Nishimura, Tomoyasu

Producer

Kamiyama, Kenji

Director, Script, Storyboard

Masui, Souichi

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

"SHINE" by L'Arc~en~Ciel

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Ending Theme

"Itoshii Hito e (愛しい人へ; To the loved one)" by Sachi Tainaka

Reviews

Sep 24, 2023

kealkeal

Recommended

Female MC, hardcore warrior, serious story, no fanservice, great Japanese voice acting. This is top-tier. I love Mushishi and watched this based on MAL's recommended series. Not disappointed. Every step of the way, this did not go the way a typical anime would. Rather, it went the way a live-action TV series would go. This series could easily have been a great live-action Netflix series. Better yet, a movie trilogy. But we got a great anime series instead.

Closest to this would be Mushishi. Slight Rurouni Kenshin vibes, but more realistic. Ending was also worth watching ...

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Aug 31, 2019

ANDy342

Mixed Feelings

Potential. A word that best describes this anime. A stronger writer could have seen this anime become something more than just a footnote on the mid 2000's anime scene.

A strong creative voice can make or break an anime. For example, Anno, Yuuasa or Miyazaki. This anime had no such voice. it becomes stuck in its own mould and never breaks free of it. Yet when looking at who directed it Kamiyama, Kenji a man behind GiTS you become dumbfounded. How can a man of such talents produce something so below its potential? I think it's a case of the source material. The source ... material controlled him; he didn't control the source material. seirei no moribito is a highly praised and respected work. I believe this constricted his ability to work. Give a faithful adaption or change the material a bit and make your own? I think he chose the former.

Seirei no Moribito takes a slower pace than most anime. It chooses to focus on a small number of characters and tries to build a story alongside them. The only problem with this is that the characters are flat. They struggle to grow and change. It was like watching a chicken try hatch out of its shell but it’s too weak to do so. The centre of the series is Balsa a female bodyguard. She makes an oath to save eight lives this is her "raison d'etre". This never changes.

This is where Chagum comes in, a boy who should he die, will avoid a drought killing millions. Now we have internal conflict! Balsa wants to save one boy to kill millions or does she save millions and kill a boy? Well ignore that because that's wrong and no such conflict exists. Any interesting conversation about ethics is gone. Instead they must save the boy to stop the drought. But he must die for the egg to be released! We have conflict again. But again no. Somehow out of nowhere one of the characters has a magic spell that can fix the egg no issue. Is the spell important? How did he find it? Who cares says the series. And again, any interesting conflict or ethical arguments are again avoided.

Chagum as a character is a waste. As said any moral issue are avoided. So, then we have a boy who is spoilt like no other become an ordinary boy. He does develop as a character but into nothing interesting. he becomes a prince at the end which could've been interesting. What kind a of leader would he be after his experiences? Doesn't matter says the series. His foster father and Balsa's love interest is a man who has no personality but making medicine and maybe having a crush. That's it. 26 episodes he doesn't change or learn he is the same man he started as.

The series does put some effort in to developing its world but again to little effect. One of the biggest revelations of the series is the government is built upon a false premise, a once incredible history was nothing more than a power grab. the government is fully corrupt, false rulers. And nothing is done with this, nothing at all. the series ignores this, they discover this fact and then its ignored. The extreme wealth disparity with slums and poverty while the government lives in extreme wealth is ignored. In fact, after chagum views this gross injustice fully aware of the false history joins the government. His development into a more compassionate boy is for nothing.

The animation of the series is solid. Early on there are a few amazing animation sequences but those disappear as the series progresses. The action as sparse as it is good. But the people struggle to express themselves. The mouths move but the eyes, head, wrinkles, arms all remain still. they were like puppets not fully animated characters. The backgrounds were well done with a fantastic colour pallet. The use of CGI was noticeable as well, but most series have this issue so no harm no foul.

Seiro no moribito is defined by what it could have been instead of what it was.

(I know there's more novels but im reviewing the anime and only the anime)

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Oct 27, 2019

baranfiliz123

Not Recommended

I don't like to give scores, because they don't bring across what my opinion is, in an accurate way. So to the story. I didn't like it. It was way too focused on shining a good light on some characters, while making the others seem completely bad. Of course there were characters in the middle, but that didn't make such a huge change. I was extremely disappointed when i saw, how the main character, didn't kill 8 persons, but her master did, because I expected a dark edge, which would have made the character less boring.

So yeah, many boring characters, nice themes & worldbuilding, ...

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Poll: Seirei no Moribito Episode 10 Discussion ( 1 2 ) mild_even - Jun 17, 2007	66 replies	by Safrichh »» Nov 28, 8:25 PM
Poll: Seirei no Moribito Episode 9 Discussion mild_even - Jun 11, 2007	38 replies	by Safrichh »» Oct 29, 9:34 AM
Poll: Seirei no Moribito Episode 8 Discussion ( 1 2 ) tainteddonut - May 30, 2007	69 replies	by Safrichh »» Oct 27, 8:05 AM
Poll: Seirei no Moribito Episode 7 Discussion Faust721 - May 26, 2007	49 replies	by Safrichh »» Sep 22, 9:14 PM
Poll: Seirei no Moribito Episode 6 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Kayrhandros - May 14, 2007	55 replies	by Safrichh »» Sep 12, 9:01 PM

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Characters & Voice Actors

Yonsa, Balsa

Chagum

Tanda

Torogai

Musa, Jiguro

Shuga

Saya

Touya

Sagum

Jin

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Seirei no Moribito

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Information

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Synopsis

Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

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Ending Theme

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