Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
baranfiliz123
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.
Read at the sourceCodeBlazeFate
Seirei no Moribito aka Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit, is like a calm mother preparing her child for the dark world around them. Calm, nurturing, but serious when it has to be. This show is definitely much more calming and peaceful than say, brutal and cynical shows like Fate/Zero and Attack on Titan, and melodramatic shows like Tokyo Ghoul and Gundam SEED. This show is not all sunshine and rainbows either like say, Haruhi. Many reviewers here give this series critical acclaim as a truly nice and well done 2007 series that deserved more attention than it got. So, did it really deserve the attention that many good '06 and '07 shows got, or did it deserve to be drowned out by its brethren? Let's find out, shall we?
STORY: 8/10
In feudal Japan, the young prince Chagum has seemingly been p…
Read at the sourceCauthan
(This is a spoiler-free review adapted for this site)
[Synopsis]:
Balsa (Shindo, Naomi), a spear-wielding woman who has taken it upon herself to save 8 lives in an act of atonement, is tasked by the Emperor’s wife to save her son Chagum (Adachi, Naoto) who is suspected to have been possessed by a water spirit out of legend. As the story unfolds, we learn more about the potentially catastrophic implications of the water spirit as well as Balsa’s past and her motivations for helping the young prince.
[Characters]:
Seirei no Moribibito is very much a character-story.The story takes place in a vast and complicated world however because of how the tale is told and how each episode progresses it becomes pretty clear that the show cares first and foremost about its characters.
Balsa is proba…
Read at the sourceMalfegor
"If you are in a position to act, it would be a sin not to, even if you had nothing to gain from doing so."
Here we have a Production IG fantasy series, directed and written by Kenji Kamiyama, who has previously worked on Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, which just so happens to be possibly my favorite anime series ever, and all of it based on a successful novel series. All of that already sounds hella promising. Here’s my review explaining why I think this series is good stuff and deserves more recognition.
Story:
Seirei no Moribito is the story of Balsa, bodyguard, skilled spear-fighter and total dreamboat, who is tasked by a Queen with the protection of her son prince Chagum who has a dangerous supernatural entity living inside of him and is being pursued by the assassins of…
Read at the sourcelokergnome
---May contain spoilers
DO YOU like high quality animation and soundtracks!?
DO YOU detest and despise cliché' saturated mainstream garbage!?
DO YOU like Female protagonists that actually DO something, HAVE character and
aren't completely useless !?
AND LASTLY DO YOU LIKE a decent SOLID plot?!
Then you my dear reader have come to the right fuking anime! Firstly, Seirei no Moribito /Guardian of the Spirit IN MY HONEST OPINION is one of if not the best adaptation in terms of animation quality that has ever been produced. ( And I have watched a lot of anime)
Production I.G one of the KINGS of high budget animation along side with 'BONES' and 'MADHOUSE', did an absolutely amazing job with the execution of fight scenes, background art, interaction between animated objects ( i.e, reflecti…
Read at the sourceEmperormin3
Scoring Preconditions: While I rate all parts, the overall score takes in most consideration from story, character, and enjoyment. Art and sound are not factors in the overall, although they can slightly enhance or detract from enjoyment portion. I score from as unbiased a view as possible and I view it in a critical sense, not in a simple enjoyment sense. Thus I give at most a one point overall bonus for enjoyment. Story and characters matter most. I will state if exceptions to this rule depending on the anime.
Summary: From my knowledge, this isn't a well known anime. The only reason I found this was while looking through the top anime list and found it way back. But I consider this to be one of the most underrated anime I've ever seen. Details to follow.
Story (9/10): The story starte…
Read at the sourceRedkrimson
Story: 8 - An enthralling fantasy epic that unfortunately loses focus and drags in the middle.
Characters: 7 - An admirable lead heroine and fun supporting cast, but much less interesting as individuals beyond their roles in the story.
Art: 8 - Fluid combat sequences, lush backgrounds, with diverse and appealing character designs.
Sound: 9 - Gorgeous musical score and sound design. Strong Opener by L'arc en Ciel.
Enjoyment: 8 - Moribito has lot of good ideas, but also too many noticeable stumbles prevent the series from living up to its full potential.
Full Review:
Moribito is very reminiscent of Hayao Miyazaki's early work, with a strong female lead, themes of humanity's place in the natural order, and uniquely eastern fantasy elements. It's very Princess Mononoke-ish. And Moribito s…
Read at the sourceDr_Peace
This was honestly one of the dullest anime's I've ever seen.
Despite an awesome setup and a lot of potential, the series failed to amaze me at every turn, mainly because of it's dull and generic cast of characters. Despite having a wide array of characters, none of them really stood out to me, and made me care about what happens to them. The only exception is the grumpy old lady Madame Torogai, who was the ONLY character in the entire show who made me care in the slightest about the story.
Although the main character Balsa isn't really such a BAD character, she is by no means a good one either, as she doesn't stand out at all from the "overly serious badass woman" stereotype. Aside from Balsa, her love interest Tanda has to be the dullest character to ever appear in an anime, with little…
Read at the sourceUriel1988
‘Seirei no Moribito’ (‘Moribito, for short) is a very polarizing series. Many praise it for its stellar production values, great atmosphere and layered, believable characters. Others find the show relentlessly boring and slow-paced, disparagingly referring to it as ‘Boribito’.
I believe the truth is somewhere in the middle.
The basic story is the typical tale of a seasoned warrior seeking to atone for a checkered past by protecting a child who’s being hunted by powerful forces both human and inhuman. Moribito’s narrative, however, manages to distinguish itself through 2 things: excellent character development and meticulous world-building.
Protagonist Balsa in particular is a great example of the former. Her strong, dignified personality, captivating backstory (subtly alluded to initial…
Read at the sourceKagetora_Hyodo
I was a bit skeptical about Seirei at first but it is a great anime. The animation is remarkably crisp, the plot is interesting and easy to follow, with real good character development and interaction. Balsa is about as big of a badass without super powers that you'll find and her actions are driven by an intriguing past. She takes on 4 or 5 badass hunters (Emperor's version of ANBU) (awesome cosplay idea). I don't want to spoil anything for people who haven't seen it, but this anime should definitely be on everyone's to watch list.
-Smokyo
Read at the sourceMoonlith
They say 95% of all anime is complete and utter shit, with the remaining five representing those titles even relatively good. And among that 5%, Seirei no Moribito belongs into whatever number of shows it is which are not just relatively, but genuinely good.
Seirei no Moribito is a fantasy adventure story which mostly focuses on the characters of Balsa and Chagum, a prince of a powerful Empire whose forced to exile due to the continued assassination attempts on him conducted by his own father, and their journey together. Those who prefer complex storylines with intricate twists and turns may look elsewhere; the travels of Balsa and Chagum, their struggle to dispel the pursuit sent after them, and how they deal with the water spirit's egg that's laid within Chagum are indeed the plot's mos…
Read at the sourceVenneh
Title: Seirei no Moribito
Novel, Anime: Seirei no Moribito is adapted from the first volume of the ten-volume Guardian series of the same name, and was written by Nahoko Uehashi and released in Japan in July of 1996. Scholastic has translated it as Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit and released the translated novel in June of 2008. The translation of the novel was honored with the Batchelder Award for outstanding translated work at the 2008 midwinter conference of the American Library Association.
Seirei no Moribito is a twenty-six episode anime directed by Kenji Kamiyama (who also directed everything in the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex series, including the TV show, OAV, and movies) and produced by Production IG (known for their work on the Ghost in the Shell series and xxxHOL…
Read at the sourceWacek
That's right, for my first review I gave all tens. Actually, I belive that it's the best way to show you that this review is worth nothing, but this time I just couldn't help it.
Seirei no Moribito. It's been a year since this anime raced through the world, and now I can see exactly why it did so.
But, let's get to the point.
Story - 10
Seirei no Moribito is fantasy down to the core. You'll find warriors and assasins, shamans and herbalists, emperors and diviners, two worlds overlaping themselves, is there anything more you need? Even if, you'll find it here.
The story is very well paced. It starts slowly, but comes unstoppable to the point where these slow episodes disappears in blink of an eye. It's well thought, and I didn't find even one unnesesary filler episode.
Art
You definitely…
Read at the sourceTest101
"Seirei no Moribito" is a beautiful anime, that introduces an amazing world that is full of life and adventure. It is a blend of amazing art and animation with great story telling. If you would like to experience a new world with a nice story then you should definitely give this anime a chance.
Story
Before I started to watch the anime, I had very low expectations. I was expecting a cliche a story with decent characters, however, that wasn't the case. What seemed like a cliche story at first glace turned into a new adventure. From the point I started watching, I was eager to know what would happen next and with each episode my thirst to learn more about the setting and the story grew.
In the beginning, the pace of the story was fast and than slowed down in the middle to get us more into…
Read at the sourcePeachPieWaffle
At first look, Seirei no Morbito may seem like a repeat of a story that has been told over and over and over...but it is not. Yes, there a million + one stories out there where the lead protagonist is rescuing and saving the life of others, and half of such characters may end up being women, so in this respect the series is not very unique. It's the overall story, terrific animation, and strong character designs, that make Seirei an interesting anime.
With a fictional, historical setting, the story takes place in a time when Emperors rule the people, and mythical beings rule the lands. Through a twist of faith, Balsa -the protagonist - is approached to protect the life of a young prince whose life is in danger. Nothing new right? That's true. However, the reason for the young prince's fate…
Read at the sourceArchaeon
Seriei no Moribito (or Guardian of the Sacred Spirit), is not your normal anime. It began life as the first in the ten volume Moribito series of fantasy novel written by Uehashi Nahoko, and although these novels were intended for children, they gained many adult fans. In fact, the novels proved to be so popular that they the first volume was adapted into a manga, an anime (directed by Kamiyama Kenji, who directed Ghost in the Shell SAC and 2nd Gig), and even a radio drama. The novel is also scheduled for release in english in mid 2008 because of the immense popularity of the anime adaptation.
Art/Animation
Seirei no Moribito has some of the smoothest and most fluid animation of any anime produced over the last few years. Production I.G. managed to produce one of the best looking anime of…
Read at the sourceMaster10K
Seirei no Moribito is a Fantasy, Action, Adventure about the journey faced by a female warrior and prince and their growing platonic relationship. It is undeniably a great series offering a well-written adventurous experience however this isn’t as action-packed or spectacular as some may hope to be.
The story follows a female warrior (Balsa) who has been hired to protect the Prince of Yogo (Chagum), whose life is in constant danger. The main story is nicely crafted in the first 6 episodes, where a lot of developments occur and some back story is given on the characters. From then on the pacing of the story changes dramatically, as it moves onto slow character building and plot filling. Sure there are some fairly pointless or dull episodes but they all have a purpose in the progressi…
Read at the sourcethefunkhunter
This anime disappointed me as I was expecting a show with a little more depth that what was delivered. The major flaws of this anime are the characters and their lack of progression. The main character is a woman whom serves no purpose other than to be a bodyguard for a prince and the prince as young as he is, never matures despite all the hardships they are forced up against. The problem is none of the characters act outside their roles which leads to a dull, predictable series of episodes. This show is largely plot driven, and the tool they use to progress the plot is pathetic. What they use is readings from an ancient scroll text that someone magically is able to translate just enough to advance the plot. Sorry, but this show was amateurish in its characterization development and plot a…
Read at the sourceBeatnik
My favourite anime of 2007. I decided to check this out solely on Production I.G's involvement, those nice guys behind one of the best anime in the world: Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
The animation for this show was superb all the way through, which is nice for a TV anime. Each episode looked gorgeous, so I liked the consistency. The unique alternate fantasy setting and protagonist of this series were a nice departure from anime convention.
The main character is a wandering thirty year old spear-wielding woman who bodyguards people for a living. She basically ends up as a guardian of a prince who's possessed by a water spirit. His father, the emperor, orders his death to save the land from a drought, and thus the being-on-the-run-from-awesome-assassins template begins.
The a…
Read at the sourceWashi
Seirei no Moribito was one of those rare anime that I commenced with an unshakeable sense of anticipation and with high expectations. I can never resist the urge to assume a show will be spectacular based on the staff or studio involved, even if my hopes have all-too-often been crushed (as was the case with Darker than Black). So, when I heard that Kenji Kamiyama, who is largely responsible for some of the finer creative inputs for both seasons of Gits SAC, was going to be heading this show with Production I.G, it instantly became my single most anticipated series of the year. By the time the trailer came along I was well and truly brimming with excitement. However, the show that I got was both different to what I had hoped, and also not as memorable or entertaining. On some levels, the sh…
Read at the source