Nine Spears A-Striking

What kind of person has a spearhead like this? (Not a silly question.)

On the ninth day of Christmas, my true love sent to me
Nine Spears A-Striking,
Eight Butlers Battling,
Seven Mingin’ Monsters,
Six Shower Showdowns,
Five Flag Furores,
Four Gundam Bishies,
Three Empty Paragraphs,
Two Heroes Dueling
And a Bloodstained Euphie.

Seirei no Moribito was a show which I both liked, and recognised as good. Part of SnM was a gentle fantasy, coming-of-age, journey story with some great characters, a beautiful soundtrack and lush rural backgrounds. A smaller part was brutal (though not graphic) action. While the laid-back pacing and general lack of (for example) sword-wielding, cloak-wearing, figureskating mecha limit the show’s appeal, I’d still nominate it for at least the best five shows of 2007.

The aforementioned pacing reminded me of the ’surprise’ of Haydn’s Surprise Symphony, a sudden loud chord (the action scenes) in the middle of a generally tranquil passage. Except the rest of the Surprise Symphony behaves as though the chord didn’t happen, whereas the action in Seirei no Moribito is carefully integrated with the characters and plot (a subject I intend to write at length about in the near future).

So the second most memorable moment of the series is the fight scene which begins episode Twenty-Two (the most memorable moment is something I wouldn’t want to spoil – but it’s not an action sequence). The heroine’s mentor, Jiguro, has been tracked down by the crack Nine Spears (or what remains of them) and an explosive burst of violence ensues.

Anyone can predict who wins here, but that’s not the point

And Seirei no Moribito does violence brilliantly. The choreography and the sense of imminent death are top notch. Guess what I’m posting on first once my twelve days of Christmas are over (’136 Words per Second’)?