I can actually feel the force and brutality in these fight scenes. Excellent choreography and more importantly, camera angles. I appreciate even the small details like sweat and water particles. Just goes to show you that you don't need an OP character with lots of explosions to make a fight feel intense.
I couldn't agree more. I can feel the human struggle. It isn't about power levels or chakra or other pointless plot device. Its about one human fighting other humans. I feel like Jiguro was able to win against his former companions since he wasn't just fighting for his own life but Balsa's and the promise he made his friend. Corner someone bad enough and he is a fucking monster to beat.
DarkAngel7717 there still way to over the top, never try to do spins or flips in combat that’s how you get yourself killed. But it is more realistic than others
The spins are difficult but possible. In any other fighting show and king fu shows they float not fly float, in a show rurouni kenshin he doesn’t often but it’s been seen he can jump at least 100 yards straight up.
In order to pull off some of what Jiguro and Balsa did, you have to be in peak physical condition along with other factors. For example in the second fight scene in this video, Jiguro and Tagul were twisting around to not only dodge, but use the mud as a distraction in hopes of getting an edge. Usually, you only do stuff like that when you are in a fight to the death because of the extreme amount of energy it takes to accomplish the feat. First person to make a wrong move... dies.
Balsa is one of my favorite anime characters. She's an adult (almost never get to see an anime woman over thirty that isn't shunted off to some supporting role), she's mature, and she still has an entire lifetime of adventures ahead of her. She embraces her maternal "instincts" well, but she isn't portrayed as gentle or weak for her devotion to her loved ones. Other female characters with "emotions~" are portrayed as subservient to "logical/intelligent" types (usually masculine). But here, Balsa's emotions are valid and have meaning. She's beautiful (she's not afraid to wear lipstick lol), but there's more fanservice on the landscape than there is on her.
Growing up my dad always watched shows like Xena and Witchblade with badass women, couldn't have asked for a better influence. I want a woman who is my equal or better in all areas. Thankfully I married one who can both kick your ass and explain string theory to you. Thanks dad. ;)
If being a women is all she has to offer then I will just say what a dumb thing to praise a character for She’s a waman that should not be where all the praise is coming from
Balsa is an excellent spear-fighter. She's intelligent, graceful, elegant and quite fluid in her movements. No surprise given the series and its setting, but she stands out because when push comes to shove, she's quite a brutal combatant: Groin attacks, headbutts, stabs, using the environment.
She is really amazing to watch during the fights. You don't see much gritty, realistic stuff like that in anime. She gave the guy at 4:26 some punishment. A knee to the groin , a stab with the spear and a powerful kick to the stomach. He'd suffer some pains in the morning. I'd say my favourite part overall though, was when Jiguro struck that guy in the face with the stone.
Her fights are more graceful than Jiguro's but at the same time they aren't too feminine by any means. A lot her attacks involved raw strength, like how she overpowered that guy at 3:42 or knocked out the guy with her broken spear. The uploader left out another earlier action scene where Balsa had her spear sheathed, but still managed to own a few guards.
I came across this video randomly. Apart from the more popular anime (eg Naruto, Bleach) I'm unfamiliar with most having been told that they tend to have Hinata/Orihime-like female leads (ie damsels) and steered clear as a result. So watching this ... I think I've goofed. Can anyone point me towards any other anime that have good female leads? Don't get me wrong I love male leads, but I like seeing consistently strong females as well!
The fights are so short and brutal. The direction is as good as the animation. Need's a Balsa focused sequel. She was far and away the most interesting character.
Balsa’s like a LVL 15 fighter at the start of this anime, which I’d put around a level 5 campaign. I want to see the prequel of all her previous jobs, and side adventures.
@@kyr58 mostly fighter, sure, but she also clearly has some monk levels too. I'd say she looks leven 12ish, 4 monk, 8 fighter. No matter how you slice it, such a good character.
I feel like this show should have been way more popular than it was. The drama is good, the story is interesting, and the action scenes are phenomenal! Not to mention the animation quality is pretty consistent and great.
Rather, the fights has good choreography but not as fluid in their movement. There’s also no trails on their swords and movements, otherwise, it’d be hard to follow and looks rigid in the animation. Like 2:17, 3:30, and 5:36. Also lip movements are dumb as it looked like it didn’t follow as what the voice actors said.
@@hirvale The story wasn't boring at all. It was good. The only reason why it didn't become very popular might be because there is nothing in this anime that is over the top like 90 percent of them. People want to see protagonist vs antagonist and this story didn't have one.
@@lasttimeimaskingyouthis No, the story just doesn't have anything unique to make it interesting and the characters aren't bombastic enough to carry an unengaging plot
At 2:23 you can see hand of that one fallen guy reaching the spear. A moment after that the spear hit that Balsa's father. The animator really did their job over the top!
So many small details in the fights make it seem so alive. You really get the sense that all parties are skilled in the fights, like the swordsman sliding his blade along the shaft of the spear at 4:56 in an attempt to remove her fingers, and her immediate reaction. Following up by attacking her open side, and her response by parrying and then attempting to attack his open side, which forces him to draw his second blade from its sheathe to block. All within the space of a few seconds.
I love how so many small moves happen over such a short period of time. Real warriors would likely move at that speed and don't bullshit around. They all seem very professional.
No, the descendants of the 8 warriors are pathetically weak, nowhere near as good as the 9 spears or Balsa. Those first 4 descendants to fight her were very offended that Balsa spared them, as if she was taking pity on them.
did you also notice, @5:10 when she lost the tip of her spear and an attack was incoming she Closed the distance so that the blade wont fully pierce through her body by reducing the opponents swing and at the same time it also allow her to put her opponent within range. brilliant move.
Hands down one of the best anime I've ever seen. Not many fight scenes, but it's clearly quality over quantity. Balsa should be an idol for anime characters.
there is nothing close to realism in this, i get its for entertainment, but dueling amateurs whit no past experience using weapons still is a Big fucking risk, and this guys are not amateurs, they are just not as skillful as the "master", but they are skillful warriors. in swords animes its almost like training enough makes you a superhuman. to be honest even in tv series and in movies training enough and becoming very skillful ensures you will win... well, only if skill was enought to keep you alive in a fight, at least 40% of the things that keep you alive are out of your controll ps: shut up, i know i went too deep in a cartoon XD
"in swords animes its almost like training enough makes you a superhuman." If you train a fuckton ever since adolescence wouldn't it make sense that you are powerful? (it does)
What a stupid way to look at life, in a street fight I'd knock the shit out of 3 guys if they didn't have the martial Arts experience I do, saying skill and experience don't matter only shows how much you lack in both.
In regards to Balsa's first encounter with the Mikado's assassins, I think it's pretty clear the only reason she lost was because her weapon needed maintenance and they took advantage of that and broke it. If she was fighting them with a new weapon those guys would be even worse off.
Thank you very much. I'm writing a novel about a spear user because the entire market is saturated with sword users. But because spears appear seldom. I didn't know how to write about it. Thank you for broadening my horizons didn't know how a spear could be used closed range too. As well as how a spear would fare against a sword. I understand that with normal humans having the reach advantage usually favours the spear. But when we talking about anime logic and people with abilities the sword becomes so much more powerful. Ie. The single target damage it can cause not only that you now get people who can create wind scythes from the slashes of their sword. So literally every flaw and weakness that a sword had has now been covered. But seeing this I can think of ways to empower the strongest weapon of all times.
Out of everyone who died to jigaro i think the 1st guy got it the worst lol, because he didn't die on the spot for a fact, probably died from kidney failure throughout the day/evening. Left him lying there pondering where he fucked up lol
All these years later, and still one of the best choreographed anime for fight scenes. The fact that all the skilled fighters (Balsa, Jiguro) RUN AWAY from the groups when they're outnumbered in order to fight the enemies one-on-one (since every person naturally runs at a slightly different speed) is an overlooked aspect that makes the fights feel believable and the victories earned. One person isn't instantly defeating 10 goons, each enemy is a skilled fighter in their own right but Balsa and Jiguro separate them and counterattack in unexpected ways in order to take them out of the fight as quickly as possible, even if that means fighting "dirty".
I remember watching this, it would be nice to see more games and animes where main character has a spear or polearm as main weapon. AS much as i like swords i do think they tend be used bit too much.
@@xrynmchyle7395 she is korean? When I forst watched the show I thought it was chinese because of the whole imperial government structure. But later I looked it up and I thought this was based early imperial japan.
It’s sad we don’t get animes like that anymore nowadays. Can you imagine? A female fighter in anime that isnt sexualized and doesnt need constant help or saving?!
@@BushinRyuCat I think she has a fatherly aura to her. The way she slapped Chagum. The way she challenged that one guys father in the ring. The doctor guy was more of a feminine character. Patching her up and all that sensitive shit.
... what u mean by nowdays? there are sexualized female characters before that anime. besides if u search more besides the average shonen u will find a lot of great animes.
@@dark3rthanshadows im just saying that the stereotypes of tsundere yandere or what else they are all called with cutsey little submissive women is the default in anime. If you just look at the seasonal charts 80-90% have women that are either "smul", a tsundere, a yandere, a damsel in distress, overly cutesy, submissive and/or a tastelessly sexualized. I don't reckon finding an abundance of Anime yet where the woman is actually none of these things. Maybe there are some exceptions but they are REALLLYY hard to fins
Spear is like the rifle of the ancient times. Every military man back then had to study the martial arts of spear. That's why spear has the moniker of 'The King of hundred soldiers' in ancient China, because spear when used in skilled hands, is equivalent to a 100 soldiers. Spears are usually associated with dragon in the ancient times, in 6:40 you can hear the dragon's roar.
Yeah, tbh spears get no love even though in a real fight they would beat a sword most times if you are good enough at using it and adjusting your range.
The live action version spends four episodes (season one) on the events in Seirei no Moribito. The current season is a nine-episode epic based on the later books. There will be a four-episode finale in 2018. All I can say is that my friend and I have found the live-action version riveting.
I love the fight animation and choreography in this series, It's breath taking. At 6:06 to 6:09 I think Balsa made one block and seven attacks but I'm not sure, they move so fast! I like how it show the skill of both fighters in 3 seconds. The same with the fight at 4:12, it just shows how Badass balsa is . I also love the whole fight at 1:24 even though it's slower, you can see clearly the precise technique, strategy, and on the fly thinking of Jiguro.
I love this anime so much, unfortunately, it is under the radar for most people. The animation are consistently amazing throughout the whole 26 episodes. I can't imagine how much time it must have taken them to create that fight scene where Balsa was up against the 4 warriors, the attention to details was amazing. It's sad to see how lazy many newer animes are these days. Even their new IP Vinland saga, can't compare to the consistent animation quality of this anime from 12 years ago.
idek this anime or anything but i give big props for the cool spearmanship, heard a lot about spearmanship in novels but never pictured it, this is epic
Really Really love how pragmatic the moves are in the fighting. Sure some are duels but you are not in a tournament or dojo. These are the "streets" and anything goes. Throw a stone. Kick some mud. No shame in fighting a little dirty if your life is on the line.
For all the weapons experts out there. Can spears really be used effectively in the way portrayed by this show, aside from just poking from a distance?
This to this is my number one anime with a female lead.. Balsa's fricken badass so is her guardian..To those of you who love swords keep in mind that Spears were used long before swords in history. This anime illustrates the combat with a spear so fluidly ya can't help but cheer Balsa and her adopted dad on they're that good! Also out of all female heroines Balsa's character development is precise and pierces forward just like her weapon of choice ironically XD naw but her character is really well written and her dub actress did a wonderful job portraying her she's the kind of "parent/guardian" she's very "grounded" "down to earth" kind of person which makes her very relatable honestly.. This is a 5/5* anime in my book and well ahead of it's time..If you haven't seen Moribito then do so ASAP! XD
I love that not only did they show that spears can be just as cool if not cooler than swords, but that they were the most commonly used weapon for so many reasons, not the least of which beng they are quite literally just superior in most situations
Plus was it fair that it was 6 against 1? Or maybe 4 against 1? They didn't care either. In the end, you don't have much a choice: Die with honor as a warrior or live as a survivor.
This is the only anime I've ever rated 10/10, and I'm one of the Naruto die-hards, as that was my first anime as a child. There's just something about this one, which at the end of watching it, made me give it a 10! Unbelievable! P.S: I strongly believe that Yasuke on Netflix used this anime as the base for its plot. The similarities are rife!
An amazing anime, of course. As a lover of reading, I miss details in anime, however this title managed to impact me in a positive way, I recommend it.
That first one was my favorite. Minimal moment and easily preformed. Plus if by some chance the spear didn't go in he could easily pull the back end around to the front for a block of another jab or to set up a high guard with the arms high and spear head pointing down and counted attack or block. Foot work will be key. You'll want to maintain that close distance so he can't rear back in time and strike again
I liked this anime a lot. The fighting was near realistic - at least very down to earth vs all these other ones where some characters, supposedly Japanese, are the size of mountains, everyone's flying around, running up walls, shooting laser beams made of soul power from their arse.... This one had a "magical" part and fights that wasn't so ridiculous, and there was some great stuff to take away from this series.
5:42 That's how a headbutt is supposed to look like. You need to know the forehead skull is very thick and if you slam your forehead on your opponent's, both of you will suffer the same damage. You need to aim for their face.
gilgamesh310 Do note that he's stabbing them in all their vital areas: chest, and abdomen. It's actually very common in anime for people to not only survive, but even fight under conditions where they are impossibly injured. You can't underestimate how fragile human bodies really are. Imagine a situation where someone gets shot in the stomach by a bullet. They pretty much go down to the ground instantly, and possibly die moments later. Now change that millimeter bullet wound into a several inch wide spear wound: you see the difference? I'm not necessarily saying that people will definitely die instantly from a spear wound to a vital area, but you can't ignore that it can be plausible; at the very least, more plausible than any other anime fights.
ZeroHumor They don't appear to be all in vital areas though, which was the point Wakka Seta was making. Some of them likely are, but a few are don't seem to be, like the injury that the first guy that attacks Jiguro sustains. The thing with bullet wounds in most fiction, is that people fall down and die loads of times when it wouldn't happen in real life. It's all exagerrated. Anyway, I didn't really have a problem suspending a small bit of disbelief here, considering how realistic the fights are otherwise. I also find how Jiguro and Balsa sustain injuries and survive to be very realistic. Balsa get sliced across the abdomen as well as poisoned and she survives, but remains injured for several episodes. Jiguro survives a spear being thrown at him too, because that didn't get him in a vital area and was thrown, so there wouldn't be as much force behind it. These are probably my favourite action scenes in any anime overall.
gilgamesh310 Clearly the show thinks that the abdomen is a vital area, whereas Jiguro's shoulder isn't ^.^ I personally have never seen a real spear wound, so I don't know what goes for them, but I would think that the people who got stabbed in the abdomen and chest regions would at the very least go down to the ground. Whether they lie there slowly bleeding to death in agonizing pain for hours is another issue, but it's clear why that dying process would be a pain and cost unnecessary budget to animate. The show also distinguishes how Jiguro stabs to kill, while Balsa slashes, pokes, slaps, kicks, and does all kinds of stunts to injure the other person. You do bring up good points about the bullet wound example though, since I just took that 1 shot - down to the ground for granted.
ZeroHumor Yeah, taking the time to show people slowly bleeding to death is not something most shows would waste their time with, and it isn't really necessary. It's more important that the fights serve the story than anything else. I do love the part where he throws the stone into the guy's face. The victim's reaction was pretty damn realistic. You don't just shrug stuff like that off. Balsa is reluctant to kill anyone, that's why her attacks aren't fatal. Though I do imagine that kick she gave to the guy's bladder in the paddy field after stabbing him in the shoulder probably would have had a good chance of killing him, lol. I also like how there is a difference in durability between the spears. Both Balsa and Jiguro's spears broke in their first fights, because they were substandard versions compared to the ones the blacksmith made later. There's so much thought put into the action scenes.
