This is the show that trains you to look for the riddle before the sword. Every gem sits behind a guardian and a puzzle, and the loop of Forests of Silence, Lake of Tears, City of the Rats never pretends to be anything other than what it is: a quest checklist executed clean, one stone at a time, with the Belt filling up on screen so you can feel the progress. Yes, you will call the beats early. That is the deal, and the payoff is Lief the blacksmith's son learning that his father's map matters more than his blade, Barda's grumbling loyalty, and Jasmine showing up feral out of the trees with Kree on her shoulder and Filli in her collar. Book readers will notice how little got sanded off, which is exactly why it still gets recommended as somebody's first anime. Sixty five episodes of walking, and the walking is the point.

Lief, a blacksmith's son, has just turned sixteen in a Deltora that has suffered for years under the tyranny of the Shadow Lord. The kingdom's protection once rested on the Belt of Deltora and its seven powerful gems, but the Shadow Lord scattered those stones across the land. Raised and trained by his father Jarred for this task, Lief sets out with his companions Barda and Jasmine to recover the gems, reassemble the Belt, and free the kingdom. Their journey takes them across a hostile landscape where each stone rests with a wicked keeper unwilling to give it up. With a hand-drawn map to guide them, Lief and his companions face devious enemies and dangerous beasts, and their first goal is the sinister Forests of Silence. Based on Emily Rodda's book series, the show is a fantasy adventure built around a classic quest to restore a lost kingdom.