Animehouse

Finding a straight fantasy series with more than 12 episodes in the modern day can feel like finding a needle in a haystack. If you rewind the clock though, they nearly become a dime a dozen, littering the bygone eras of the industry. Because of that, it’s very easy to wade out into the tides of the cosmos and pluck a series from somewhere and end up enjoying it. Though I may not be the fisherman that caught Moribito: Guardian of The Spirit, thanks to r/Anime’s anime swap, I’m the person that got to enjoy it for the first time. A tight yet meandering experience, it’s an anime that certainly leaves a mark on viewers through quite a few memorable aspects present throughout.

I suppose the easiest to hook potential viewers on would be the visuals. I can’t say that it’s a flat out incredible experience from start to finish, but it undoubtedly would land in the top quarter or so of titles that air in a season… which mostly comes from the between pieces of the work. In its more sluggish spots the production similarly slows down- though never halts. There’s plenty of visual budget provided to various moments- where creativity may still thrive- but it very much does edge away from trying to perform with every cut. Due to that, some of the discussion stagnates a bit compared to modern storyboarding and visual efforts, but I also think that within its more structured format there’s something to be gained. Something where it almost unintentionally drifts away from being very stereotypical to anime- a feat further supported by the prevailing style of character design that Production I.G. put out into the world in the 2000s.

Though, it’s hardly the exposition that will grab the attention of viewers here. Let’s be honest- it’s the standout spear-fighting. While there’s still plenty of variance in the choice of weapons on display in Moribito: Guardian of The Spirit, the spear reigns supreme in the eyes of the staff and studio. With our main character Basla being an incredible warrior (and bodyguard), it’s hard not to give 110% towards riveting armed combat that puts an outstanding degree of effort into choreography. Most notably, the teams behind the action do a commendable job of riding the line of fiction and reality which produces a fantastical yet believable type of combat. Characters leap across the screen, they flip and roll through the air as they narrowly dodge their opponents blade. It’s the imaginary version of the coolest fights you could orchestrate with weapons and no abilities. Admittedly, yes, it can once again lack in terms of boarding for the combat, but in return the sequences tend to opt for aggressive camera movement. The choice incurs the loss of some “beautiful” moments, but it manages to capture the intensity and dire nature of the combat in outstanding fashion.

While camera movement might not necessarily be directly adjacent to this next topic, I do think it’s worth it to discuss the CGI in this series. Yes, it has it, and yes it can be comically awkward at times. Being awkward and being lazy are two different things though, and Moribito: Guardian of The Spirit is absolutely not the latter. Releasing in 2007, CGI was still in its early years for use with anime, but Production I.G. and Kenji Kamiyama still opted for it. It absolutely is worth a good chuckle once or twice, but the more you see of it the more you understand it as a creative tool. It’s not there to cut costs, but rather to provide an enhanced visual experience in a way that a 2D production just can’t do efficiently. Interesting 3D camera movement, creative CG environments for chase sequences- even surprisingly solid crowds exist in the series. While Moribito might not necessarily grasp the best way to employ CGI for the goals of the series, it does ultimately provide something that is, at the very least, attempting to improve the experience of the anime.

With the eye-popping sections out of the way, now feels about as good a time as any to discuss the real core of Moribito: Gaurdian of The Spirit– after some trivia, of course. While it’s not necessarily a surprise that the stories and travels of Basla are compiled as a series, I do think it’s interesting that the first two volumes of the bodyguard’s epic were licensed by Scholastic starting in 2008. We’ve not seen further volumes since the release of the second, but I digress. Moribito, in short, is the story of a tense and tight epic about saving a country from drought while the very leaders of it give pursuit. It’s… surprisingly tame, all things considered- a fact I found interesting. Sure, it includes the story of a father attempting to assassinate his son for what he believes the sake of his country, but it’s hardly what you might call a melodramatic affair.

When you grind away the external aspects of the story, what you’re left with is a rather honest and straight shooting story about growth- in its most broad strokes, of course. If I were forced to give a more detailed explanation that relates to both palace and private hire though, I would say it’s something along the lines of stepping out from behind regret and failure and facing the future and your responsibility in it. You might have caused several deaths, but you can atone for them by saving lives. You might have mistakenly hidden behind the fabricated history of your nation, but that does not mean it’s too late to change the course of the future. In a sense, there’s a palpable degree of maturity in the narrative of Moribito: Guardian of The Spirit. It doesn’t jump all the way to intense political intrigue and operation, but it similarly doesn’t allow for those same figures to be absolved of their shortcomings or character flaws because they made the right decisions. Consequences exist, and because of that a fairy tale ending cannot exist. It’s a method of writing that reminds of the heyday of Young Adult fiction in English literature.

Quite honestly, I could likely make an unhealthy amount of comparisons to classic novel series that I read when I was younger, but the point would remain the same. There is a richness to the characters in a way that doesn’t color them via intense backstories or a mountain of personality traits. Instead, the world offers broad strokes that cover each character in a different- but still partial- fashion. What you receive at the end of the series is not entirely complete characters, but they are still characters that have changed from whence they began. It’s a highly effective method of storytelling that I wish we still had more of. Today it feels as if every nook and cranny of world and character alike must be unearthed and delivered directly to the hands of the viewer. You simply don’t see many stories that are able to partially tackle subjects in a meaningful fashion.

Nahoko Uehashi’s skill is very much an integral piece of that success for Moribito: Guardian of The Spirit as a story, and the anime original content is a shining example of that. Before even having read the novel I could tell which episodes were added to pad out the series’ 24 episode count. They’re hardly offensive or mess with the purpose of the story, but they certainly pull you away from it. So, for those that wish to condense the story into something closer to the novel, I recommend you skip episodes 10 through to 13. I would still argue that there is meaningful content within those episodes, as many of the surrounding pieces also include additional content, but these episodes specifically stray the furthest.

Nonetheless, when taking a step back it’s hard to say that Uehashi’s work doesn’t trounce a great deal of other titles aimed at a similar demographic. All the correct notes are hit in regards to growth, independence, family, responsibility and so on and so forth. It’s a very successful adaptation from Production I.G. and quite the riveting experience despite its age. A refreshing fantasy tale that I’d love to have seen more of, Moribito: Guardian of The Spirit is a great series to watch. It’s a bit more of a commitment than your usual seasonal, but because of that you get a great deal more out of it.