Balsa is a bodyguard, roaming the land looking for a
client who she would give her life to protect.
One day, she saves a child of noble birth from drowning in a river and
is brought before his mother. Balsa is
offered a job: Take the Prince, Chagaum, from home and protect him as long as
she can. Turns out, there’s a demon
residing within the boy and, because of that, his father wants him dead. Chagaum may look frail and weak, but Balsa is
no ordinary warrior. As their journey
begins, the beautiful bodyguard may finally find the atonement she has long
sought for a dark sin.
I had been meaning to get to this one for a while. Many have been telling me that since im a
loving fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra, this show
would be right up my alley. Well I finally
gave it a shot and…it’s ok? I mean, it
was good ok but not blow me away ok, some things did hold it back a little.
I didn’t expect this show to be balls to the wall action
from the get go. But Moribito was a
little slow in the first three episodes I watched. It is a bit of a slow burner, well the first
two were anyway. By the time we got to
Episode 3, things had picked up considerably once Balsa was able to let loose
and show off some of her skills.
Actually, the overall action in Episode 3 was absolutely incredible. It’s far more fluid and natural than stylish
and over the top, especially with a lot of the fight scenes using spear work
like in Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works with Lancer. Plus, like I said, Balsa kicked ass.
It’s strange ive watched a few shows now with the leads
being tough and capable women. The
comparisons to Avatar and Korra ive heard of definitely fall a lot on Balsa’s
character. She’s a lot like Korra, except
older, a bit more confident and with an Amazonian warriors mentality. There’s a coldness to her, adding to the
mystery of her dark past (cause what wandering bodyguard doesn’t have one in
any story). But there’s heart too. I half expected Balsa to have a hard time
moving Chagaum around, being the sickly state child he is. Nope, she’s patient and kind to him, a far
cry from the determined warrior we see when the assassins catch up. Balsa’s a unique kind of beauty: stunning in
her looks but not overly sexy like say Yoko from Gurren Lagann. Plus she’s got brains, her rescue of Chaguam
from the river had MacGuyver levels of ingenuity in its execution. If anything, im glad I finally gave this show
a shot just on her merits alone.
The rest of the first few episodes, I was back and forth
on. The mystery seemed a little generic
(a demon trapped inside a child), some of the side characters were a little
annoying (the kid who really, REALLY wants to help Balsa and his always in
agreement sister). I felt it dragged a
bit but I cant fault an Anime for taking time to explain all the finer details
of it’s plot to get things going. I also
discovered this one was written by Kenji Kamiyama, the writer/director of Ghost
in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Eden of the East. Even though he’s taking a step back from the
techno thriller/mystery stories he’s excelled at, you can tell this is still a
thinking man’s Anime like his other works: the action is there, no question,
but the story and development come first, never a bad thing (just if it’s paced
a bit better). The series looks pretty
good, maybe not as good as SAC but it’s far from bad looking. Also, love that Kenji Kawaii is onboard for
the score. His famous strings and sounds
of an ancient temple music, which you hear in Mamoru Oshii’s Ghost in the Shell
movies, fits the world of Moribito perfectly.
I may just have to give this show a little bit more of a
watch. Even if the mystery of Chagaum’s
inner water demon doesn’t prove to be anything above the norm, watching Balsa
rock every scene she’s in is more than enough to keep me interested a bit
longer. Even injured, the bodyguard can
still play a little “Rambo: First Blood” with her foes…and that is worthy of a
chuckle or two. Yep, ill continue with
this one a little bit longer. I may or
may not have a little more to say on Moribito soon…but I’ll get to that in a
later post.
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