Series: Moribito: Guardian Of The Spirit - Part 2
Release date: 4th October 2010
Certificate: 12
Running time: 150 mins
Director: Kenji Kamiyama
Starring: Mabuki Andou, Naoto Adachi, Kouji Tsujitani, Ako Mayama, Rintarou Nishi
Genre: Anime
Studio: MVM
Format: DVD
Country: Japan
Something of a multimedia phenomenon in its native Japan, the Moribito (“guardian”) series is a sprawling, ten novel saga which has proliferated in other formats, notably radio, manga and TV. Conceived by author Nahoko Uehashi, the fantasy franchise recounts the derring-do of warriors, wizards and kings in the mystical kingdom of Yogo. This anime adaptation of the premier instalment in the series introduces the epic’s key players, translating the novel into a meaty twenty-seven episodes. MVM’s second 2DVD set contains the latter thirteen chapters - allowing fans left on tenterhooks midway through the series to conclude this engrossing yarn. Comprehensively visualising a mythic world of yore, Moriboto is an anachronistic fable that powerfully resonates with the present – and into the future.
Resuming where episode thirteen, ‘Neither Human Nor Tiger’, halted, we find our motley band of heroes in flight from the imperial army.
Heir to the Shin Yogo throne, Prince Chagum has been mysteriously possessed by the spirit of an ancient water demon, the Nyung Rochanga. Fearing the reincarnation of this mysterious beast, the emperor orders his liquidation. But before the assassination occurs, Chagum’s mother, the empress, intervenes, enabling his escape. Balsa, a lethally proficient female bodyguard – a yojimbo – is enlisted as his mother-protector, pledging to save the young prince.
Banding together with mystic weaver Mistress Torogai and her apprentice, Tanda, this quirky duo must evade the emperor’s minions, whilst divining the truth behind Chagum’s affliction.
As episode fourteen commences, a palace scholar, Shuga, begins an illicit probe into the official archives. To his horror, he learns that the nation’s founding myth – the slaying of a Nyung Rochanga by its founding monarch – is a lie. The fabled monster is actually a sacred water spirit; integral to the well-being of the land. Realising that the prince’s curse may be an obscure blessing, he investigates his assumed demise – ultimately proving that Chagum lives. Aided by the king’s elite guard, Shuga is promptly dispatched with orders to scour the kingdom and return with the youthful aristocrat – and kill his would-be benefactors if necessary…
Director Kenji Kamiyama’s ability to skilfully develop a chimerical premise is convincing. An anime veteran who scripted the much admired Blood: The Last Vampire before graduating to direct cyberpunk opus Ghost In The Shell: Stand Alone Complex for television, his restrained, conventional style comfortably embeds the phantastic in a familiar framework.
Easily intelligible, Kamiyama’s two-strand narrative mainly intercuts between pursuers and pursued - rarely extending beyond these nuclei. There’s little technical flamboyance on show, though later incidents where Chagum drifts between two dimensions are pleasingly surreal, composed with uncanny juxtaposition. Action scenes, when they do materialise, are tense and (perhaps due to their rarity) thrilling, particularly a climactic battle against the egg-eating hordes of Rarunga. Such spectacular intermissions are, however, secondary to the inexorable momentum of the plot. Thus relegated, visual flair becomes secondary to strong characterisation – which is where the series truly excels.
This is a powerful ensemble piece, significantly enhanced by its expressive voice cast. Cohering around the possessed Chagum, alpha female Balsa and demure partner Tanda are the ‘parents’ in an improvised, skewed nuclear family. As the series progresses, their backgrounds and convictions are incrementally revealed – resulting in a moving finale. Tanda’s love for Balsa, her soul saving conviction, and Chagum’s rendezvous with destiny are deftly interwoven, retaining a crucially humanistic emphasis amidst a beguiling backdrop of magic and intrigue.
Moriboto’s world is elemental: split between the trinity of fire, earth and water. But, behind this atavistic conceit lurk contemporary concerns which imbue it with modern relevance. Conflicts between duty and desire. and the erosion of cultural traditions are but two of several quintessentially Japanese topics explored. Infused with more than a hint of the nostalgic remorse that is a leitmotif in the works of Studio Ghibli, the series also offers a pensive mediation on man and his relationship with the environment.
Nhaji birds, regrets Torogai, have become much rarer since civilization started “working steel.” Even in its pre-industrial epoch, Moribito’s characters are conscious of environmental decay; a sentiment particularly profound in a Japanese context. Transcending feudalism, industrialising and entering the hi-tech vanguard within a mere 150 years, Japan’s dizzying evolution has irrevocably changed its cultural and material landscape. In Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke, the ecology is sustained by a fragile equilibrium between man, nature and the spirit world. Kamiyama’s cosmos is similarly governed by a delicate balance of forces, which man, in his myopic ignorance, imperils. For all their knowledge and expertise, it is clear that his characters are subject to larger forces – environmental and magical – which they cannot comprehend. There is clearly an underlying system, a prophecy and pattern, to its divine machinations – but this remains elusive. Even the most erudite of our protagonists, Torogai and Shuga, are privy to only fragments of the puzzle.
The solution, it seems, may be buried in our past. In a subtle critique of cultural imperialism, the true nature of the water spirit is divulged through the lore of the Yakoo, a people whose traditions are in a terminal state of decay, supplanted by official history. Excavating lost archives, star reader Shuga discovers the orthodox legend to be a cynical manipulation. It is only through archaeology, and the hidden wisdom of folklore, that vital knowledge is gleaned, and redemption delivered. Cultural heterogeneity is vital if we are truly to know – and perhaps redeem – ourselves.
Moriboto is a meticulously paced epic that creeps up on the viewer before enwrapping them in its boa-like grip. Eschewing tawdry cliff hangers, Kenji Kamiyama’s rock-solid direction and moving characterisation ultimately proves compelling. A classical, linear narrative shrewdly counterpoints the exotic backdrop of Shin Yogo – an understatement that renders this touching parable all the more tangible. Whilst lacking the bravura style of visceral classics such as Ninja Scroll, the instantly likeable cast of spirit-guardians rouse an affection that amply compensates. Heroically tackling big – some might suggest timeless - themes, this stimulating, accessible package should enthral die-hards and dilettantes alike. DJO
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