The anime ends conclusively (no cliffhangers), but the journey continues. In later books, Balsa returns to her homeland of Kanbal (a frigid, iron-age culture) to face the ghosts of her father and her past. The sequel, Yami no Moribito (Guardian of Darkness), is arguably even better than the first.
The story is deceptively simple. It follows , a 30-year-old wandering spear-wielder (a yari user) from the mythical continent of Yogo. Haunted by a past tragedy where eight bodyguards sacrificed their lives to save her, Balsa has vowed to save eight lives in return.
The anime covers only the of the Moribito series. Nahoko Uehashi wrote eleven novels. In Japan, she is a respected ethnologist and anthropologist, which explains the depth of her settings.