Such a great anime, the pacing was so great that every fight seen felt earned and left me wanting more. Such a shame that the general audience won’t appreciate because I crave for more anime like this
Great story that doesn't rely on characters acting nonsensically which means a lot for anime and leads to one of my favorite twists. World building is superb and the story showcases skills that are often neglected in this type of story like haggling, travel preparation as well as other crafts and social skills.
I love this anime so much and recommend it anytime I can. I agree that the Chinese inspired fantasy world stands out against so many cookie cutter medieval Europe or feudal Japan Isekai. Not only is it unique (both in general setting and in the worlds details ) its utilized so well, there's not just an info dump at the beginning, rather they respect the watchers attention span and naturally feed us information about the world (or even better it doesn’t give us information and lets us guess or fill things in ourselve). And for an anime about politics and morally in a fantasy world it has fight scenes sprinkled in just every now and again that are of such better quality than the vast majority pure shounen or fight animes. The fact there isn’t a constant fight each episode also puts so much more weight into when they do happen, and again adds to the more ‘real’ aspect of them. But for me what it does better than (sadly) 99% of anime i’ve seen is how it handles women. The fact the protagonist is female is important and has an effect for sure but its far from her only aspect, shes not a monolith but is multifaceted. Never does it use the ‘gainax bounce’ which has become the default for god damn near every anime now that has a women throw even a single punch. Its been years since i’ve seen it but I still remember towards the end of the show when they are finally relaxing in a bath and thinking ‘okay here it comes, fair play for them for resisting so far but now comes the gratuitous fanservice which people will argue doesn't degrade the female protagonist’ only to surprised that in nevers happens and when she stands out of the bath, rather than any lingering shots in a dutch angle she is instead wearing a towel and it carries on like normal. I’d love the novel series to be continued, and again the fact its adapted from a novel and not a manga is unfortunately effident in how much it stands in contrast to so much anime, but I dont think the current animation style would fit as well as the more grittier hand drawn style of the original.
I do think there are other strong women in anime but I still think Balsa is the best. Major Kusanagi is another good one but even she's overly sexualised at times. Like she just has no reason to be wearing that skimpy suit. Then there's 2B from Nier Automata. So much gets undermined about her with all the ass and crotch shots. With Balsa, there's more focus on her muscles than any other part of her body. Which is another tbing I liked. She actually looks like a warrior.
Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit, sadly like many classics of anime, have become completely lost and unknown now with newer generations "the female battousei/kenshin" is a really great anime, as it's about Balsa (and as older anime woman mc no less, which is quite rare), with a really good backstory with her sensei/master and protector (and with her being a child prodigy at combat and spear-ship), trying to atone for all the men she has killed in her life over the years, just like with Rurouni Kenshin, by trying to now save as many men, as she has killed in her past life as a female battousei (yikes, that's some atonement goal, lol), though the anime's "main" story/plot with the supernatural stuff with the prince, she winds up having to protect, is quite lame (for me anyways), it's really all about Balsa and her backstory (with her sensei/master and protector), and also with her relation and parenting with the young prince, and while unfortunately, there's very few fights, they're some really insane spear choreography fights, and the music and soundtrack is really good as well, along with the graphics and animation still holding up really well even today, this is still a great anime, if only people would know of it and try it out, but that's not happening, and so this classic has become lost and forgottened now
it's also a real shame that only two of the novels were translated out of the series. the second book was really good and tackled Balsa returning to her homeland and face her past.
That's true. It's why you have to introduce it to those who have never seen it. Start with the fight scenes. That will induce them to watch the whole thing to put the fights in context.
Great show! Great story telling and great protagonist! I watched this show 3 times. I love when she tells the prince the story of the 8 lives she's saving to make amends for the 8 lives taken to save her.
I constantly tell anyone who will listen that they need to watch this show. If someone who knows anime to a moderate level were to ask me, I'd say its closest movie comparison is Princess Mononoke. So basically you're getting that level of story, but instead of a 2+ hour movie, you're getting 26 episodes. NOM NOM NOM.
I just rewatched this series with a few friends. It made me so happy back when I first watched it and made me happy again all these years later. I am a cynical bastard but boy this show just makes me smile and tear up.
I watched this in summer 2013. It is incredibly memorable. Especially my favorite character Balsa for being a strong female lead. The most never mentioned anime I have come across. Everyone else likes Bleach, One Piece, Sailor Moon, Attack on Titan, Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, ....and they are good!
That scene also, and balsa,, its not only that she is that good, but that you need minimum 2 people to beat a spearbearer that knows what they are doing in open space. Its acurate. Thats why spears were the king of th battlefield, the reach makes it dangerous to engage. That he says yi cant engage a decentspearbearer alone, is accurate. (spear has big reach) But what really makes her that good, while sh is obviously wounded dangerous too, is that she does not kill them. When she could and it would be way easier. And the world characters story and ther ei so much more to it and its really something to remember. And balso is very grounded and no nonsense but also cares and really great can be very motherly too, and chagun is, yes he is a child hat can cry ut th way it is, really well done, becaue yeah, thats realistic, he is holding up well and has growth. Ther is even a mature tackling of the world and people are that good.Hanging out, seeing even the .. . Also its very humanist, anyone interested in anime that explore humanity, life , th value of life, its genuinly great. and there is other too.
Brother, your Channel is one of the most underrated Anime channels in all TH-cam and I'm glad I learned about you today. Thanks for the amazing content.
It's beautiful man. You got good taste in anime. My favorite genre is slice of life. Please review afro sumari, The Boondocks, One Punch Man, and Kill La kill soon.
great anime, I finally watched it few months ago and was really satisfied... after all it's Studio I.G. in their Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex era, not the first studio passing by the street :D (even the character design is the same as the uhm... "main" one from that show) Great action, great character writing and great world building There is one thing I always wondered about it... it's curiously blood-less fights. Ok a lot of times Balsa is simply skilled enough to fight stunning and incapacitating the enemies without major injuries, but there is a bunch of scenes with people being actually clearly stabbed, and no red sauce comes out... xD
I've watched a few of your videos and I love them. I did try to see if you had covered the anime of Monster by Naoki Urasawa, but couldn't find any (as far as I looked at least). And since you cover philosophy a lot and seem to have a great deal of interest in it I would highly recommend this Anime/Manga.
I feel like it's only a unknown if you weren't into anime when it was on the cover of every anime ad, or at the start of the ads for every anime DVD. This shit was everywhere. It sort of became forgotten over time, I feel, because it lost the plot by the end. But I remember a time when this was up next on lists with Sword of the Stranger.
This one fight scene conned me into watching the rest of the series hoping for another, but it never delivered anything that topped it. Decent show, though.
While true it has actually pretty realism grounded fighting thats good And of couse the not that long is to service what its really about. Not an action series, i guess its more to keep tension from time to time and engaging, while highlighting the philosophy. So yeah its not an action series despite the action being pretty ok,
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the anime in full but I vividly rennet her sitting against a tree with people forcing her to stay awake from a distance so she she’s tired and losses more strength.
Not that MyAnimeList offers an absolute consensus, but how on Earth does this not even break the top 1000 in popularity?! It's (rightfully) well regarded by most who give it their time, but it doesn't seem to reach enough fresh eyes.
Also, comparing this scene with the combat scenes from Sword of the Stranger, I liked the scene in which the "Stranger" defends himself and Kotaro against two warriors and a ninja more: th-cam.com/video/XYUamI5ZKpE/w-d-xo.html Both scenes last about two minutes, however the choreography of the Sword of the Stranger is better. Nanashi is also reluctant to draw a sword, yet he is not holding back and kills his opponent without even need to unsheathe his sword, the fight is also more realistic in a way that at the end, all three opponents are dead.
My big problem with the whole fight was that those four ninjas were trying to kill her, however Balsa didn´t try to kill them, only to harm them a little. It is a grave mistake, because she should incapacitated the whole unit, or kill at least three out of four and escape. Heck, she didn´t even blind the third ninja. Also, the choreography of the whole sequence is broken in the middle by letting the ninjas to surround Balsa in a static way, which serves no purpose other than let her to comment their change of formation, and then the fight continues, yet the distances between ninjas and Balsa seems be far longer than it was shown before, as it was no more space to frame Balsa and all four ninjas into one frame properly. It would be better if the fight just continued without this interruption.
![CAMPปลิ้น | EP.83[1/2] เปิดแคมป์หลอนต้อนรับ 2 ตัวพ่อแห่งวงการผี!](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/2uPuHYHgwiI/mqdefault.jpg)
Yes, more love for this anime. It's so underrated
Long life to underrated series like this or 12 Kingdoms or Blue Submarine nº 6 or Death Parade and sooo many others!!!
Part of the reason it’s underrated may be that it’s impossible to find a place to watch or buy it. I love it, though!
And the female main character, Balsa is a role model woman for the younger girls to watch.😎🤑❤️🔥🤌✨️🌌
@@jhskeen I found it pretty easily around the time you left that comment.
Jokes on you! I’ve loved this anime since it was released. Happy to see someone discussing this gem
Such a great anime, the pacing was so great that every fight seen felt earned and left me wanting more. Such a shame that the general audience won’t appreciate because I crave for more anime like this
It's so good to hear people talking about this beautiful show! So happy toonami showed me this show.
Oh my God!! It's been yyears since I last heard people discussing this anime. This is an amazing series
I loved the Fight Scenes and the flow of the story. And to think this was just one arc in a series.
So gorgeous to watch, every scene made me jealous of the artists as a kid in every way. I live it.
An underrated masterpiece in my oppinion
Great story that doesn't rely on characters acting nonsensically which means a lot for anime and leads to one of my favorite twists. World building is superb and the story showcases skills that are often neglected in this type of story like haggling, travel preparation as well as other crafts and social skills.
I love this anime so much and recommend it anytime I can. I agree that the Chinese inspired fantasy world stands out against so many cookie cutter medieval Europe or feudal Japan Isekai. Not only is it unique (both in general setting and in the worlds details ) its utilized so well, there's not just an info dump at the beginning, rather they respect the watchers attention span and naturally feed us information about the world (or even better it doesn’t give us information and lets us guess or fill things in ourselve).
And for an anime about politics and morally in a fantasy world it has fight scenes sprinkled in just every now and again that are of such better quality than the vast majority pure shounen or fight animes. The fact there isn’t a constant fight each episode also puts so much more weight into when they do happen, and again adds to the more ‘real’ aspect of them.
But for me what it does better than (sadly) 99% of anime i’ve seen is how it handles women. The fact the protagonist is female is important and has an effect for sure but its far from her only aspect, shes not a monolith but is multifaceted. Never does it use the ‘gainax bounce’ which has become the default for god damn near every anime now that has a women throw even a single punch. Its been years since i’ve seen it but I still remember towards the end of the show when they are finally relaxing in a bath and thinking ‘okay here it comes, fair play for them for resisting so far but now comes the gratuitous fanservice which people will argue doesn't degrade the female protagonist’ only to surprised that in nevers happens and when she stands out of the bath, rather than any lingering shots in a dutch angle she is instead wearing a towel and it carries on like normal.
I’d love the novel series to be continued, and again the fact its adapted from a novel and not a manga is unfortunately effident in how much it stands in contrast to so much anime, but I dont think the current animation style would fit as well as the more grittier hand drawn style of the original.
I do think there are other strong women in anime but I still think Balsa is the best. Major Kusanagi is another good one but even she's overly sexualised at times. Like she just has no reason to be wearing that skimpy suit. Then there's 2B from Nier Automata. So much gets undermined about her with all the ass and crotch shots. With Balsa, there's more focus on her muscles than any other part of her body. Which is another tbing I liked. She actually looks like a warrior.
Moribito: Guardian of the Sacred Spirit, sadly like many classics of anime, have become completely lost and unknown now with newer generations
"the female battousei/kenshin" is a really great anime, as it's about Balsa (and as older anime woman mc no less, which is quite rare), with a really good backstory with her sensei/master and protector (and with her being a child prodigy at combat and spear-ship), trying to atone for all the men she has killed in her life over the years, just like with Rurouni Kenshin, by trying to now save as many men, as she has killed in her past life as a female battousei (yikes, that's some atonement goal, lol), though the anime's "main" story/plot with the supernatural stuff with the prince, she winds up having to protect, is quite lame (for me anyways), it's really all about Balsa and her backstory (with her sensei/master and protector), and also with her relation and parenting with the young prince, and while unfortunately, there's very few fights, they're some really insane spear choreography fights, and the music and soundtrack is really good as well, along with the graphics and animation still holding up really well even today, this is still a great anime, if only people would know of it and try it out, but that's not happening, and so this classic has become lost and forgottened now
it's also a real shame that only two of the novels were translated out of the series. the second book was really good and tackled Balsa returning to her homeland and face her past.
What other classics would you recommend?
That's true. It's why you have to introduce it to those who have never seen it. Start with the fight scenes. That will induce them to watch the whole thing to put the fights in context.
Love this anime! Glad to see it's getting some love!
Great show! Great story telling and great protagonist! I watched this show 3 times. I love when she tells the prince the story of the 8 lives she's saving to make amends for the 8 lives taken to save her.
I constantly tell anyone who will listen that they need to watch this show. If someone who knows anime to a moderate level were to ask me, I'd say its closest movie comparison is Princess Mononoke. So basically you're getting that level of story, but instead of a 2+ hour movie, you're getting 26 episodes. NOM NOM NOM.
I just rewatched this series with a few friends. It made me so happy back when I first watched it and made me happy again all these years later. I am a cynical bastard but boy this show just makes me smile and tear up.
I discovered this show much later than I should've!
I only finished the series last year, and the blu-rays are going out of stock😢
A great anime that i thoroughly enjoyed. Glad you found it. The live action series is pretty good too with Ayase Haruka as Balsa.
I watched this in summer 2013. It is incredibly memorable. Especially my favorite character Balsa for being a strong female lead. The most never mentioned anime I have come across. Everyone else likes Bleach, One Piece, Sailor Moon, Attack on Titan, Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood, ....and they are good!
My brother loves this anime! It's been on my must-watch list for a while. It just... It's a long list. There are just soo many shows to watch.
That scene also, and balsa,, its not only that she is that good, but that you need minimum 2 people to beat a spearbearer that knows what they are doing in open space. Its acurate. Thats why spears were the king of th battlefield, the reach makes it dangerous to engage.
That he says yi cant engage a decentspearbearer alone, is accurate. (spear has big reach)
But what really makes her that good, while sh is obviously wounded dangerous too, is that she does not kill them. When she could and it would be way easier.
And the world characters story and ther ei so much more to it and its really something to remember.
And balso is very grounded and no nonsense but also cares and really great can be very motherly too, and chagun is, yes he is a child hat can cry ut th way it is, really well done, becaue yeah, thats realistic, he is holding up well and has growth.
Ther is even a mature tackling of the world and people are that good.Hanging out, seeing even the .. .
Also its very humanist, anyone interested in anime that explore humanity, life , th value of life, its genuinly great. and there is other too.
Brother, your Channel is one of the most underrated Anime channels in all TH-cam and I'm glad I learned about you today. Thanks for the amazing content.
It's a wonderful anime. I watch it at least once a year. The ending is always worth it.
I saw this series years ago, and to this day, it remains one of my favorite series of all times.
It's beautiful man. You got good taste in anime. My favorite genre is slice of life. Please review afro sumari, The Boondocks, One Punch Man, and Kill La kill soon.
ok ok i'll watch it, it actually sounds like a refreshing story
ooo love to hear about something new
I remember all the TH-cam coverage this got when it came out, it's definitely fallen into obscurity since.
I haven't watched the Anime ver, but I have watched the Live Action one. It's indeed great.
Ofcourse I'm go to look for it now and see if I can get it to watch and thanks well appreciated 💯🔥🔥🔥
This anime is for thinkers
addition: Kino's Journey, either one will do
great anime, I finally watched it few months ago and was really satisfied... after all it's Studio I.G. in their Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex era, not the first studio passing by the street :D (even the character design is the same as the uhm... "main" one from that show)
Great action, great character writing and great world building
There is one thing I always wondered about it... it's curiously blood-less fights. Ok a lot of times Balsa is simply skilled enough to fight stunning and incapacitating the enemies without major injuries, but there is a bunch of scenes with people being actually clearly stabbed, and no red sauce comes out... xD
I've watched a few of your videos and I love them. I did try to see if you had covered the anime of Monster by Naoki Urasawa, but couldn't find any (as far as I looked at least). And since you cover philosophy a lot and seem to have a great deal of interest in it I would highly recommend this Anime/Manga.
I feel like it's only a unknown if you weren't into anime when it was on the cover of every anime ad, or at the start of the ads for every anime DVD. This shit was everywhere. It sort of became forgotten over time, I feel, because it lost the plot by the end. But I remember a time when this was up next on lists with Sword of the Stranger.
Something new, nice to see.
This one fight scene conned me into watching the rest of the series hoping for another, but it never delivered anything that topped it. Decent show, though.
While true it has actually pretty realism grounded fighting thats good
And of couse the not that long is to service what its really about. Not an action series, i guess its more to keep tension from time to time and engaging, while highlighting the philosophy.
So yeah its not an action series despite the action being pretty ok,
I don’t think I’ve ever seen the anime in full but I vividly rennet her sitting against a tree with people forcing her to stay awake from a distance so she she’s tired and losses more strength.
OH GOD DAMN THIS LOOKS AMAZING!!
Wow you sound excited...😂
@@missstranger7697 I was hahaha, I'm an animation is a form of art in itself kind of guy
i know that anime, i watched it at my grandmas house. i love it
I've never seen battle scenes this good u til demon slayer
Not that MyAnimeList offers an absolute consensus, but how on Earth does this not even break the top 1000 in popularity?! It's (rightfully) well regarded by most who give it their time, but it doesn't seem to reach enough fresh eyes.
my suggestion is
Chiisana Ahiru no Ooki na Ai no Monogatari: Ahiru no Kwak
DUB! Watch this dub! One of the best dubs there is.
Feel like I watched this a long long time ago, atleast 10 years ago if I did.
Hey bro can you please cover arata and kei story what was their secret
Yes she is stronger and better trained. The only thing that saved them is that she Refuses to kill.
Also, comparing this scene with the combat scenes from Sword of the Stranger, I liked the scene in which the "Stranger" defends himself and Kotaro against two warriors and a ninja more: th-cam.com/video/XYUamI5ZKpE/w-d-xo.html Both scenes last about two minutes, however the choreography of the Sword of the Stranger is better. Nanashi is also reluctant to draw a sword, yet he is not holding back and kills his opponent without even need to unsheathe his sword, the fight is also more realistic in a way that at the end, all three opponents are dead.
My big problem with the whole fight was that those four ninjas were trying to kill her, however Balsa didn´t try to kill them, only to harm them a little. It is a grave mistake, because she should incapacitated the whole unit, or kill at least three out of four and escape. Heck, she didn´t even blind the third ninja. Also, the choreography of the whole sequence is broken in the middle by letting the ninjas to surround Balsa in a static way, which serves no purpose other than let her to comment their change of formation, and then the fight continues, yet the distances between ninjas and Balsa seems be far longer than it was shown before, as it was no more space to frame Balsa and all four ninjas into one frame properly. It would be better if the fight just continued without this interruption.
CGI CGI