An endearing show involving people from all walks of life, sewn together with superb story-telling. The greatest treat is that all the characters are written with intelligence, exuding a feeling of life and presence which can be quite refreshing. Production values are consistently exceptional throughout to boot.
Figure 1-1: Breathtaking.
With the premise being a disowned prince, possessed by a spirit, fleeing for his life while in the protection of a maverick bodyguard, there is the expected drama, mystery, and action – but interestingly there is also some aspects of slice of life. We are shown how the people live their lives, run their businesses, and endure.
Surprisingly, the character development is toned down quite a bit. While characters learn from their experiences, they were all driven to begin with, the writer instead uses events to flesh them out in greater detail.
One thing that really bothered me was the awkward “filler” episode (Balsa is a tiger! Roar!), it did not fit well with the rest of the series at all, so perhaps it was an anime only feature? Although the episode eludes to Balsa’s determination and inner conflicts, the resolution is weak and anti-climatic. One could probably skip it, they would miss nothing relevant in my opinion. Oh, I almost forgot… it does have a great fight scene (and a tiger! Roar!), I guess that would be worth watching at the very least.
While the slow pacing was hard to adapt to, especially at the beginning, it might have been due to my expectations of more fighting and greater involvement of the fantasy themes. The story revolves more around the lives of the characters, carefully fleshing them out despite the large cast. Realistically, even in exceptional vicissitudes, life continues – and by the end of the story everyone returns to their usual pattern of life.
