Seirei no Moribito is regarded by many as a classic and i understand why it is so highly praised. However, i seem to not enjoy these so-called "classics" as much as everyone else. Cowboy Beebop, NGE, Berserk, Seirei no Moribito are all considered masterpieces of their time, but they all have flaws that apparently didn't bother most of their viewers. However, they did bother me, so in this review i'll mostly be talking about the aspects that i didn't enjoy about Seirei no Moribito, since the strong points of this anime have already been talked about plenty of times.
First of all, i will briefly go over what i liked about this anime. The story was very well written and interesting. I liked the fact that it was fairly simple and didn't try to overcomplicate itself by introducing unnecessary characters and plot points. I also like how fantasy elements were slowly introduced into the story, even though at first it seemed like a realistic historical anime. The characters, while being few in numbers, were all memorable and recieved fair ammounts of development (most notably Chagum). Animation was solid all the way and the art style was fitting for the tone of the show. And finally, the music is by far the strongest point of this anime, it really gave me the impression that the story takes place during a mythical age that is beyond time itself. Traditional instruments combined with children voices were the perfect choice for this anime and they truly defined the whole atmosphere of the show.
Now that i've got those out of the way, i will elaborate on the aspects that i didn't enjoy.
1. The action was underwhelming. Maybe it's just me, but i expected a lot more action in an anime that is tagged action/adventute and features a skilled spear wielder as its main character. However, there were only 3 memorable action scenes in all 26 episodes, 2 of which were only flashbacks and din't involve Balsa. This was very disappointing for me because of one reason: i really like Balsa's character. She is a true badass when it comes to fighting, but her fighting prowess was never explored to its fullest. I really wanted to see more from the female bodyguard and i think this anime would've been much better if it was about Balsa's past, when she killed many people while working as a bodyguard. The climax of the series was also disappointing, as i was expecting it to end with an intense battle of life and death.
2. I never felt any suspense. Troughout the entirety of this anime i never felt like any character was in any real danger. Most human to human conflicts were solved without violence, which ties in to my previous problem, the lack of action. And when an entire army being sent to fight supernatural beings, you expect at least a few people to die, but in the end everyone was perfectly safe. the only significant character death (which i'm not gonna spoil) was very lame and didn't make much sense. This lack of death and tension in a series with such a mature premise made me feel like it wasn't taking itself seriously enough.
3. The pacing. I'm not gonna criticize the pacing for being slow, because that would be silly, but in an action/adventure anime, slow pacing is normally used to prepare the viewer for an intense climax that is paced slightly faster than the rest of the show, "the calm before the storm" as one might say. This wasn't the case with Seirei no Moribito. It started off strong but slowed down significantly in the middle and disappointingly didn't pick up the pace towards the end. It took me quite a while to finish the whole series, as i was watching 1 or 2 episodes before losing interest and coming back to it the next week. Considering that the story is fairly simple and the characters are few, i think it could've easily been pulled off in 13 episodes, by removing the filler episodes and speeding up the dialogue and character movements.
And lastly, this is more of a nitpick, but i felt like Chagum's behaviour was unnatural and hard to believe. Given his circumstances, i expected him to whine and complain about every little thing because he was raised in a palace and wasn't used to this new lifestyle. Instead, he was surprisingly calm and well behaved the whole time. It might seem counter-intuitive, but i wish he was more annoying.
Is it worth watching? Of course it is. However, don't expect to be blown away if you're one of those people with short attention spans that prefer intense and dramatic action. I recommend it for more experienced viewers.
