Seirei no Moribito

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]

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

Matsuda, Akio Producer

Nishimura, Tomoyasu Producer

Kamiyama, Kenji Director, Script, Storyboard

Masui, Souichi Episode Director

Reviews

May 15, 2024

ObsceneCatGravy

Recommended

A beautiful tale set in the samurai era about a pergenant boi, his bodyguard, ballsack, and their travel companion, Panda. The pregantuan male loves his egg but the royal family members want to give him an abortion. His mother disagrees with this decision and so the balsamic bodyguard was hired.

Story - 6/10

It's a somewhat unique story, but ultimately had no real depth. The core concepts were not fully explored and it's not really clear what the supernatural elements in the show are nor how they relate to the real world.

To put it briefly, the story was straightforward and simple. It had nothing special going on ... for it, no real suspense, mysteriousness, nor anything that arouses real interest.

Still, it's nicely written, has little to no plot holes, and doesn't reuse tropes left and right.

Animation - 8/10

- The world of Morbito is beautifully realized with beautiful scenery in almost every episode.
- The animations were smooth, fluid, and properly detailed.
- Some of the scenes would make for good wallpapers.

There's nothing bad to say about it. It's simply good, but not amazing, hence 8/10.

Music - 7/10

There are a lot of soundtracks in this anime that leave an impact such that they play in my mind at random times. This is how you know the music is good. Well, that and liking it of course. And I definitely liked it.

It's just that it doesn't have many of them. For instance, the same soundtrack is used at the end of nearly every episode and it's nice, but some variation would be nicer.

Characters - 7/10

There's actual character development in this anime, though it's still somewhat shallow. The characters themselves are mostly unique and very few tropes are used, if at all. To be honest, this was a breath of fresh air. A lot of the characters are rational and have reactions that you would expect to see in an otherwise healthy and level-headed human being.

Also, the backstory of balsama was written well and presented nicely. She's a character that earned her strength through actual skill rather than converting emotional energy into raw power like in most animes.

Overall - 7/10

If you're tired of overused tropes, stale dialogue, predictable "twists", and just want something that does the core things right, then Morbito is a good anime to watch. It's a breath of fresh air compared to the cookie-cutter spam.

To put it simply, Morbito was created with love and seems to have come from the heart rather than a selfish desire for fame or money; not that those are automatically bad things, but the majority of authors that work for those goals often forget to pour their love into the work, if they even have any.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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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)

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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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, ... but boring plot.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Seirei no Moribito Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Faust721 - May 26, 2007	50 replies	by Om-Nom-Nom »» Yesterday, 12:05 AM
	Poll: Seirei no Moribito Episode 15 Discussion Kayrhandros - Jul 24, 2007	47 replies	by Safrichh »» May 28, 8:58 PM
	Poll: Seirei no Moribito Episode 14 Discussion Kayrhandros - Jul 16, 2007	38 replies	by Safrichh »» May 15, 8:42 PM
	Poll: Seirei no Moribito Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 ) windborn - Jul 1, 2007	54 replies	by Safrichh »» Mar 2, 7:37 PM
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