O Wind, I will fight against you!

[chibkyo]

Well. The end.

I think they pulled it off, as I was kept guessing most of the finale. I had thought that Tanda would be killed and it would put Balsa in a berserker rage or something, which was wrong. I had thought that Torogai would try to injure Shuga when he eventually tried to kill Balsa -- also wrong. And I thought that there might be a tragic ending. They went for a tad bittersweet, instead.

So, as I understand it, here is how the egg has to be born:

• Implanted into unsuspecting mortal in Sagu.
• Grows to full term in about a year.
• The vessel is compelled to come to a the spot where the Rarunga can spot it.
• The vessel flees to Saanan, the actual birthing spot.
• The vessel is torn apart by the Rarunga.
• The Rarunga spits the egg into the air.
• The egg is caught by a nahji in its beak.
• The nahji flies all the way from the mountains to the ocean.
• The nahji somehow deposits the egg into the ocean
• The egg hatches; the world is refreshed.

That's...kinda the worst strategy I have ever heard of for ensuring that your offspring makes it to adulthood. And I'm including turtles in that condemnation.

The extras were a promotional event with some of the staff (Balsa and Chagum's voice actors, the director, the author, and the ending theme singer, who was gamely trying to fit in but clearly hadn't had much contact with the production), and then an interview with the director, author, and animation supervisor. They were both pretty interesting, and I was really amused that Chagum's really young voice actor sounded exactly like Chagum.

Overall, I really enjoyed watching Moribito, even if I was completely unsurprised that the director admitted he padded the episodes in order to hit 26. There were a few episodes of complete filler, but they didn't grate on me. I mean, the villages celebrating midsummer with huge torches was probably just a throwaway mention in the books, but the festival episode itself was great. I think Director Kamiyama succeeded in making an adaptation that worked independently of the original book, as I was able to follow it alright. (Although now I want to read the rest of the books!)

I'd recommend this series to anyone who enjoys fantasy.