Seirei no Moribito - 04-08
(ep4 spoilers for this webm)
Like what you see prince?
Really, there's a bunch of moments like this that do an extremely good job at characterization the prince and also others. In his former prince life he simply wasn't used to women undressing in his presence and that it's appropriate to look away. When Touya turns him around he does realize that and gets embarrassed. Meanwhile Touya, who is rather keen and friendly, is aware that the prince's mannerisms are completely different and instead of being angry at him for this, he simply smiles to make sure he doesn't mind much. This scene also teaches us a bit about Balsa and Tanda. While we've known that Tanda tended to Balsa's wounds in the past, this goes to show that he's healed her so often that him seeing her naked is nothing of note at this point. Balsa herself doesn't seem to be particularly concerned about that in the first place, which is in accord with her characterization up to this point. That scene (of which the webm is only a short part) is an example of extremely well done, natural exposition on characters.
The series has been excellent about showing you what kind of lifestyle Chagum (the prince) led before he fled with Balsa. When she tells him to just go ride piggyback when he can't run no longer and doesn't know what 'piggyback riding' is, that goes to show you how he isn't just some spoiled, rich kid, but is actually also strongly isolated from commoners. Or later, when he's surprised at the weird noise his stomach is making and it's because he's never been that hungry before. And all these moments flow just naturally within the plot.
I really haven't seen an anime pull off its characterization this well often, in particular not what appears to be primarily an adventure/action sort of anime (at first anyways).
The way episode 8 elaborated on Balsa's backstory was also extremely well done. While it was mostly just one guy telling this backstory it had a certain twist to it and the episode was quite suspenseful throughout all that, too. And heck, the swordsmight was yet another quickly well established character.
And there's even more to like. For instance, battle wounds are actually treated way more realistically in Seirei no Moribito. People taking a bash to the head with a stone, or metal pole actually can't just keep fighting. Balsa's stomach that gets sliced open causes her major issues for days, even after getting taken care of. Really, you simply get the sense that wounds matter and stuff resembles reality to a decent degree. And boy is that something that's missing too often, and not just in anime. It makes watching the action sequences so much more enticing honestly.
The one thing I'm not fond of so far are the supernatural elements. Now, they're part of the world and the world building is quite good so far. However, one action sequence got kinda deus ex machina-ed, which I didn't like. I mean thanks to the great characterization and way more grounded and realistic fight sequences I can get way more invested and am then obviously miffed about it going different that time. Hope it'll remain more of an exception for the rest of the show.
