That thing where people call every anime with a sword a 'dark fantasy'

Saw someone call Moribito a dark fantasy last week and I nearly closed the tab. It's got a grounded tone but nothing about it is grim or hopeless, so where are they getting that from? Have you ever seen a genre label get slapped on a show just because it has a serious face?

3 comments

3 Comments

adam_lewis1mo ago

Yeah man, Moribito as dark fantasy is wild. It has like one fight scene and the rest is just Balsa being a mom. People see a serious tone and a sword and immediately jump to Berserk comparisons. Guess they missed the part where the show has no rape, no gore, and the biggest villain is a flood.

margaret_taylor421mo ago

Balsa being a mom" is honestly the best way to describe the whole show. I mean people just see a woman with a spear and think it's gotta be this gritty, edgy thing when really it's about her learning to care for a kid. And you're right, the biggest threat is literally just nature being nature. That flood scene was more stressful to me than any gore could be. It's weird how "serious and slow" automatically gets lumped into "dark" these days.

reesemoore25d ago

Forgot I used to lump it in with darker shows too until I actually watched it and realized it's basically a cozy fantasy.