[Anime] Seirei no Moribito - Guardian of the Sacred Spirit

On a complete lark, I decided to look up some anime recently to see if I was missing out. Turns out I was. This anime, as well as Ergo Proxy and Twelve Kingdoms are on my list. I won't be watching the others until I finish this one, though.

I've watched up to episode 7, and have been really impressed with this anime, top to bottom. I love the characters and the interplay so far, as well as the understated way everything plays out. Balsa is one of my new favorite anime characters.

I don't want to gush, but really, this is why I watch anime. A show like this would never air in the U.S. unless it had Terminators in it. Can anyone recommend any more character oriented animes like this one? It would be nice if it has some action, but as long as it doesn't play the comic relief card, I'd be forever happy.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well, I've been harping on and on about how great of a series Kure-nai has been, both on this forum and elsewhere. Really deep characters and an overall excellent plot.

The setting is in a modern city, so it's not exactly your medieval fantasy world like Seirei or Twelve Kingdoms if you have a sort of setting preference.

As for Seirei, yeah I just can't recommend it highly enough. Sure, it's not action-packed the whole way through, but the way in which it develops its characters is most excellent and you definitely get a solid feel for their personalities and such. The atmosphere also contributes a lot to making this series just plain awesome.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I completed the series tonight, and can't find enough good things to say about it. It's really made for me, I think, because I've seen some comments elsewhere like "dull" or "disappointing." Personally, the pacing never bothered me for a second, and where some people didn't like going from the fight scenes in eps 1-3 to the rest of the series, I actually had problems going the other way. From the methodical character study back to ackshun-packed climacks!!, I really found that I enjoyed the series more when it wasn't trying too hard to make grist for the action mill.

Here's hoping the rest of the novels see an anime translation as well. If Wikipedia is to be believed, the anime will be picked up by Adult Swim to air this fall. Hopefully that will give the show the exposure it deserves.

(By the way, I did look up Kure-nai, but could only manage to find one episode so far. I must not be looking in the right places.)

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

(Before this gets too far off-topic, you could search tokyotosho under Kurenai since it's listed under that title as well.)

I think a lot of the issue had to do with people expecting a fighting series based on what they saw in episodes 1-3. So when Balsa opted to go into "Tiger mode" that one episode, it just felt really off.

My favorite point of the series still has to be in the winter caverns when Balsa related her past. That episode was how you build and mold a character beyond just the surface features you've seen before. It definitely offers a lot of insight as to how she was as a child and how she matures to where she is now.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Seirei no Moribito is surprisingly (???) good. I had heard good things about it before I watched it, but I didn't really know what to expect. It always seemed perhaps that the series would get boring what with all the exposition, but it always managed to remain interesting and fun to watch. I felt there was a very good balance between action and dialog -- just enough of one to keep the other from getting stale (though the aforementioned FUCK YOU I'M A TIGER part was a little worrisome).

I didn't start this series until the Ani-Kraze had already started their DVD rips, so I've still been waiting to see the final episode. Hope it comes out soon, as I'm sure it'll be a great end to a fantastic series.

Anyone else notice that Production IG (Ghost in the Shell, Real Drive, etc) seems to love drawing women with deliciously full lips? Imagine if Balsa and Motoko got together, ohgod.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Sakabadger

(though the aforementioned FUCK YOU I'M A TIGER part was a little worrisome).

LOL! Yeah, that one episode was a bit out-of-place for some reason. Not much was said in explanation of the outcome of the fight, and no further mention was made of the incident later....kinda' wondered if it was necessary at all in regards to the "magic" spear.

Originally Posted by Sakabadger

Anyone else notice that Production IG (Ghost in the Shell, Real Drive, etc) seems to love drawing women with deliciously full lips? Imagine if Balsa and Motoko got together, ohgod.

They do delicious other parts too!! But I'm being crude....

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by hikarub

LOL! Yeah, that one episode was a bit out-of-place for some reason. Not much was said in explanation of the outcome of the fight, and no further mention was made of the incident later....kinda' wondered if it was necessary at all in regards to the "magic" spear.

This bugged the shit out of me. It was such a blatant piece of foreshadowing yet nothing ever comes of it. It was more likely a set up for a sequel to the show or novels, and in retrospect it's all the better for not falling back on any "a blade which does not cut" sort of chosen one bullshit.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Great show.
I want to know how the story goes on, no annoying characters, decent plot, good pacing, and I've not want to kill the producers for drowning it in cliche after the first 4 minutes.

Jam it back in, in the dark.