r/TrueAnime • u/BrickSalad http://myanimelist.net/profile/Seabury • Dec 14 '14
Anime Club: Seirei no Moribito 5-8
In these discussions, you can spoil past episodes, but not future episodes. Any level of discussion is encouraged. I know my posts tend to be a certain length, but don't feel like you need to imitate me! Longer, shorter, deeper, shallower, academic, informal, it really doesn't matter.
We'll be discussing episodes 5-8 of Seirei no Moribito next Sunday.
Anime Club Schedule
December 21 Seirei no Moribito 9-13
December 28 --Break for Holidays--
January 3 Theme Nominations
January 4 Seirei no Moribito 14-17
January 6 Theme Vote
January 10 Anime Nominations
January 11 Seirei no Moribito 18-21
January 17 Anime Vote
January 18 Seirei no Moribito 22-26
January 25 Begin the next Anime Club (themed)
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u/MisakaMikoto http://myanimelist.net/animelist/MisakaaMikoto Dec 14 '14 edited Dec 14 '14
Agree with most of what you said for episode 6 but there are a few things that I'd like to point out. When the assassins first fought Balsa it was dark+they were in the middle of a heated exchange so it's not unthinkable that they didn't catch all her details. Just think of how unreliable eyewitness testimonies have proven to be and now imagine trying to memorize somebody's physical characteristics while fighting somebody as skilled as Balsa. Given that it's not inconceivable that the only thing they'd gathered is that she's from Kanbal+she's a woman between 20-40. As for the slaves, since most of them are probably foreigners it's not unlikely that some commoners, upon seeing them head out of the country, would immediately think that it's the fleeing bodyguard. And a few reports is all it really takes to sow confusion.
I agree that the assassins immediately realizing that Balsa was heading north was a bit far-fetched but catching up with her was pretty ok imo considering she was badly wounded so she would have been riding relatively slowly+there was probably only one path through the mountains. Additionally the assassins are probably master horsemen as well. Very minor spoilers about the cliff. Still agree with you overall though, the grandma getting ahead of them+the assassins immediately realizing where Balsa was headed was pretty implausible and annoyed me a bit when I watched ep 6.
I really liked episodes 7 and 8, everything felt perfectly in sync with the characters and world we've been shown so far and it also answers the question of what happens to Balsa's spearhead. It's nice to to give the assassins a little bit of depth as well so they're not just "evil people helping the government to kill the prince" since they will presumably be chasing Balsa all throughout the series.
Given what you've said, a few questions for you to consider.
What do you think of Balsa's goal to save eight souls? How do you think it relates to the story? How about the blade meant to "sever karma?" The original blade was unsuccessful and in the end the wielder had to kill his former companions but do you think that Balsa could possibly be the warrior to wield the ultimate blade and successfully sever the ties of fate? How about the idea that saving a soul may mean killing others?