From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit (精霊の守り人, Seirei no Moribito
?) is the first in the ten volume
Guardian (守り人, Moribito
?) series of Japanese fantasy novels, written by Nahoko Uehashi.
It has since been adapted into numerous media, including radio, manga and anime adaptations.
Scholastic released the first novel in English in June, 2008. Media Blasters
has confirmed that they acquired the rights to the anime.[1] The
series premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block in the U.S. at
1:30 a.m. on August 24, 2008 EST, but was dropped from the
schedule without warning or explanation on January 15, 2009 after
two runs of the first ten episodes. It has returned to Adult Swim
during Summer 2009 for the entire series run.[2]
Plot
introduction
Balsa the spear woman is a wandering warrior, who takes on the
task of saving lives in atonement for a past sin. On her journey,
she happens to save a prince and is tasked with becoming his
bodyguard. Her services as bodyguard become necessary, as his
father, the emperor, wants him dead.
Characters
- (*) denotes original characters added in the TV animation.
- Balsa
- A skilled warrior from the faraway land of Kanbal. Balsa claims
to be a simple bodyguard-for-hire; in reality she wields her spear
in order to save lives in atonement for the eight lives that were
taken to protect her when she was a child. She is 28 years old.
Balsa is pragmatic and intelligent and she does not hold much
regard for class distinction customs. Despite her deadly skill with
a spear, Balsa tries not to kill in combat.
- Chagum
- The second prince of the Imperial Family. Chagum bears the egg
of the water spirit. At first it is believed to be the
reincarnation of a demon defeated by his ancestor, the first
Emperor. Convinced that it would bring misfortune and destruction
to the country, Chagum's father secretly condemns him to death.
However, before they could assassinate him, his mother, the Second
Empress, hired Balsa to hide and protect him. Later, it was
revealed that the egg is a water-bestowing spirit that revives the
land once every hundred years. The real demon that his ancestors
defeated was a creature that seeks to consume the egg before it can
hatch.
- His life is the last for Balsa's atonement to be finished.
- Tanda
- An herbalist who lives in the mountains. His skill as a shaman
is lacking, but he is a good doctor due to always having to stitch
up Balsa after her many battles. He also works as a traveling
medicine man, trading his wares with the local towns and
cities.
- Torogai
- An old shaman and Tanda's teacher. A master of the old ways,
she is in-tune with the spirit world, Nayuga. It is this
relationship that allowed her to discover the spirit's true
identity. She is capable of communicating with denizens of the
spirit realm.
- Jiguro
- Voiced by: Rintarou
Nishi (Japanese), Kyle
Hebert (English)
- Balsa's mentor, caretaker, and bodyguard. Originally the leader
and strongest member of the king of Kanbal's 'Nine Spears'; he
'betrayed' his country to save Balsa's life. After fleeing Kanbal,
they were pursued by the other eight 'Spears'. In a series of
pitched battles, Jiguro was forced to kill the men he considered
his best friends. He also trained Balsa to wield a spear and she
later 'inherited' his spear after he passed away.
Kōsenkyō
Downtown (Ōgi-no-Shimo)
- Tōya
- An orphan boy and friend of Balsa, whom he regards as his elder
sister. It is later discovered that he and Saya were saved by
Balsa, and that is how they became acquainted. This may be the
reason why Tōya claims that he would go "through fire and water for
Balsa".
- Saya
- An orphan girl who is a friend of Balsa. Due to Balsa staying
at their hut, she and Tōya have to leave the city and end up
following Balsa.
- The Blue Hand* (Aoi-te)
- A slave trader acquainted with Balsa. Balsa buys slaves from
him to serve as decoys when escaping from the manhunt.
- The Swordsmith*
- A highly skilled smith who forges swords for guards of the
imperial court. He was the smith that created Jiguro's spear that
Balsa inherited.
The Palace
(Ōgi-no-Kami)
- Mikado (The Emperor)
- Voiced by: Atsushi
Ono (Japanese), Chris
Kent (English)
- Due to the belief that Chagum was possessed and that the
possession was the reason for the Drought Sign being seen, he
ordered Chagum to be killed. The Emperor is the only one able to
kill Chagum due to fact that was how his ancestor ascended the
throne (by killing a Water Spirit), and the belief that only the
Emperor knows this method.
- Ni-no-Kisaki (The Second Empress)
- Mother to Chagum, she was the one who requested Balsa to become
Chagum's bodyguard.
- Ichi-no-Kisaki (The First Empress)
- Sagum
- (In the anime) Chagum's older brother. Cares deeply for Chagum.
When Chagum's belongings were ordered burned after Chagum was
presumed dead, Sagum took over the task to protect Chagum's things.
He dies from overwork in his responsibilities as Crown Prince
before being able to see Chagum alive again. In the book, there was
no mention of him being close to Chagum, and he dies of
illness.
Star
Diviners
- Shuga
- Chagum's tutor; the youngest master star diviner in history. He
is amongst the only three people aware of the hunters that serve in
the Emperor's shadow. He investigates the real cause of the Drought
Sign and Chagum's supposed death in secret. When he was growing up
he had lived in a fishing village.
- Hibitonan
- Gakai
- Sagum's tutor, later entrusted by Shuga with the responsibility
of organizing the translations of the Secret Tome.
The Hunters
(Karyūdo)
- Mon (No.1)
- One of the initial pursuers sent to retrieve prince Chagum
after Balsa leaves with him. Head of the hunters.
- Jin (No.2)
- One of the initial pursuers sent to retrieve prince Chagum
after Balsa leaves with him. After securing the prince, Jin
attempts to kill him so that Chagum need not die by his own
father's hands; knowing though that this act of insubordination
would mean Jin's own death. He deems it a favour in return for the
kindness that the prince showed him earlier in his life.
- Zen (No.3)
- One of the initial pursuers sent to retrieve prince Chagum
after Balsa leaves with him.
- Yun (No.4)
- One of the initial pursuers sent to retrieve prince Chagum
after Balsa leaves with him, which apparently left him with a scar
on his nose. He also appears to have a superb photographic memory,
as he was able to skim through one of Toya's record books and
completely memorized the contents.
- Taga*
- Hyok*
- Rai*
- Sune*
Media
Novel
The novel was first published in hardback by Kaiseisha as
children's literature, but it had
many adult fans. Shinchosha republished it in bunkobon format in March
2007.
- Seirei no Moribito (Guardian of the Spirit) (ISBN
978-4035401506, 1996-07) (Bunko ISBN 978-4101302720, 2007-03)
- Adapted into the anime series. Balsa is hired to protect a
prince with a mysterious spirit living inside him.
- Published in English by Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic in
the summer of 2008; translated by Cathy Hirano.[3]
Radio
drama
NHK-FM Radio Drama "Youth Adventure" (Seishun Adventure)
- The Guardian of the Spirit (2006) 10 episodes
7/8/2006–13/8/2006 weekdays 22:45–23:00
- The Guardian of Darkness 10 (2007) 10 episodes
16/4/2007–27/4/2007 weekdays 22:45–23:00
Anime
Main article: List of
Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit episodes
The series has been adapted into an anime television
series, produced by Production I.G and directed by Kenji Kamiyama,
which premièred in Japan on NHK from
April 7, 2007. The anime runs 26 episodes and is based entirely on
the first novel in the Guardian series, and greatly expands the
midsection of the novel.
At the Tokyo International Anime
Fair 2007 in March, Geneon announced that they have acquired
the license to the anime and Scholastic announced they have
US distribution rights to the novels.[4]
After Geneon discontinued its distribution division, the rights
transferred to Media Blasters. The series premiered in
the United States at 1:30 a.m. on August 24, 2008 on Cartoon
Network's Adult
Swim block, but was dropped from the schedule without warning
or explanation on January 15, 2009 after two runs of the first ten
episodes.
As of June 13, 2009, the series is back on Cartoon
Network's Adult
Swim block in the United States at 1:30am Sundays, but was
moved to 2:30a.m. Eastern time,
swapping it with Fullmetal Alchemist in
November.
References
External
links
| Works by Production I.G |
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| Feature films |
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| Television series |
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| Original video animations |
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| Video games |
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