A short while ago I sat down for the first time to watch Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit from Production I.G. I was blown away by the series and it quickly rose in the ranks of my favorite shows. The story, characters, and action were downright awesome. After watching the Moribito I found out it was originally a series of books. Well, I picked up the first book in the series (only two have been translated in English so far). How does the read compare?

Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit is a 248 page quick read by Nahoko Uehashi. It was translated for English by Cathy Hirano and contains occasional illustrations by Yuko Shimizu. Scholastic rates the book as being 12+.

Moribito takes place in a fictional world where there’s a mortal, physical plane named Sagu, and a spiritual dimension named Nayugu. While there are many continents in Sagu, the story focuses largely on a place called New Yogo as it follows the exploits of a female bodyguard named Balsa.

At the beginning of the book Balsa has the misfortune of visiting a town as the Second Prince, Chagum, falls prey to an attack on his life. In a dramatic rescue attempt she dives into the river below and pulls the prince out of the water, though not before something supernatural happens. The plot thickens as she’s invited to the castle later that evening and told that the prince bears the egg of a creature from Nayugu. Essentially it’s the spirit of water for the land and the Mikado (Emperor) wants him dead because the prince is supposed to be divine. Having a spirit, considered by some to be a demon, inside the prince breaks creates a contradiction to his right to rule the land. Thus the Mikado’s decision comes down to kill Chagum.

With Balsa and Chagum introduced, the child is thrust into her care and protection. From here Moribito charges forward with the story as Balsa and others fight to save Chagum’s life and protect the egg. If the egg is eaten/killed a great drought will strike Sagu, but if Chagum survives to see it hatched then all will be right with the world. Of course it doesn’t hurt that Chagum grows on Balsa and her friends, so naturally they want to protect him.

The book reads quite smoothly for one that’s built off a translation. There isn’t a single blip in the English or structure, and that speaks volumes to the effort put in by Hirano. I brought Moribito to Maine with me on a recent vacation and flew through it in a couple days. It wasn’t a “read straight through” kind of story, but rather a “read a chapter at a time and let it sink in” kind of book. Some of the terminology, names, and aspects of the world aren’t quite described as well as they could have been and that left me to think on it frequently as I read the book.

For those of you that have watched the show, there are some drastic differences. The goal of the antagonists is different in the animation and there’s just a ton of filler. Instead of drawing material from other books and making a broader focused series, or just a shorter season, the anime is really drawn out compared to this one. As such the two really align themselves only with sparse details, names, and places.

Does that mean the book and show are at odds with each other? Not necessarily. Both are entertaining in their own way, and the book in particular is a solid read. Amazon is selling it for a decent price and I’m hopeful other books in the series will be released here as well!

Consider the book highly recommended!

Tags: Book, Review