Moribito is one of those anime series that was so satisfying to get lost in, but at the end – even though you stuck with it for 26 episodes – the ending seems like just another beginning. They make you think there is more. You want more, but the anime doesn’t give you more.
The reason it feel like there is more is because that was just the adaptation of one novel out of many. So if you enjoyed Moribito the anime, I hope you like reading because there is a large stack of books (and a significantly smaller stack of manga) for you to enjoy.
The aptly named Moribito: Guardian of the Spirit anime was literally just the adaptation of the first novel of the same name. It got a lot of episodes, and did a great job at adapting the material.
After Guardian of the Spirit, the Moribito novel read order is:
- Guardian of the Darkness (Yami no Moribito)
- Guardian of the Dream (Yume no Moribito)
- Traveler of the Void (Koku no Tabibito)
- Guardian of the God (Kami no Moribito)
- Traveler of the Blue Road (Soro no Tabibito)
- Guardian of Heaven and Earth (Ten to Chi no Moribito)
- The Wanderer (Nagare Yuku Mono)
- Those Who Walk the Flame Road (Honouji wo Iku Mono)
- Where the Wind Takes Us (Kaze to Yuku Mono)
There’s also, apparently, a cookbook called Balsa’s Table with recipes from throughout the series that I dearly wish I could find.
Like the anime and the novels, the manga is also conveniently separated by novel titles. So, if you read Guardian of the Spirit manga, that loosely adapts the content of the novel and anime story. As such, you would pick up the manga at the Guardian of the Darkness (Yami no Moribito) adaptation. However, that is the only other novel that got a manga adaptation, so you can’t follow the plot much further.
There is also a Jin Gaiden manga that is a prequel to the anime about the titular character and isn’t particularly tied to any singular novel. It is worth reading if you have recently enjoyed the anime, though.
