Image Source: hulu.com
Mushishi Quick Facts
- Episodes: 26 (+ 2 one-hour specials, 2 sequel seasons)
- Animation Company: Artland
- Source Material: Manga
- Genre: Fantasy, Historical, (slight) Horror, Paranormal/Supernatural
- Year Aired: 2005
This review is: spoiler free!
Once in a rare while, something magic happens for the jaded, desensitized anime fan that has watched SO much anime they sometimes feel sick of it.
A series of such beauty and magnitude appears that its existence is life-changing. A series so powerful in every way that it becomes the new bar by which every other anime is judged against. The first recommendation that rolls off the tongue from then on, in a “YOU HAVE TO WATCH THIS” sort of way.
For me, Mushishi is that show.
It’s older now, turning a ripe thirteen this fall, which is pretty ancient in anime years. I’d heard of it in passing but had only dipped my toes in years before, and I hadn’t been impressed. Perhaps I was too young.
Perhaps this was the time in my life for Mushishi to find me all over again.
At first glance, you can tell even from the first episode that Mushishi isn’t “like other anime,” starting right off the bat with an acoustic indie song in English for its opening theme.
Its color palette is soothingly washed out, its setting dating back to the Edo period of the 1600s, back when Japan was a closed country. The show is quiet, almost slow-feeling, with a distinctly unique mood that ties it all up.
Mushishi follows the story of Ginko, a Japanese man with a very distinct coloration of (initially) mysterious origins. He is a traveling “mushishi” – someone tasked with handling the intangible, seemingly magical, ethereal creatures known as “mushi,” which frequently cause problems for humans.
The anime itself is episodic, meaning that, like a lot of Western shows, a new issue is tackled and solved every episode (think of a cartoon series, i.e. Bob’s Burgers), rather than a longer story being clearly evident and tying every episode together chronologically (such as more dramatic works like Game of Thrones).
There is an overarching plot with Mushishi, but it is unveiled slowly and never truly seems to end. It walks without rush through forests, fields, the darkness, the sky, the light, the winter, the ocean, the rain…
It’s easy to summarize but harder to fully explain just how powerful this show really is.
Breakdown
Characters
If you think about the entire premise of Mushishi – that it is episodic with only one main character to lean on – it’s pretty incredible to realize just how much work it manages to pull off in a single twenty-minute episode.
It only has that scant twenty minutes to develop a story and characters interesting enough to make you care in the first place. Mushishi not only does this, but it does this exceptionally well.
Ginko himself is an absolute delight for me, and I don’t even usually go for the “strong, silent type.” He’s developed through actions, words, and a sprinkle of episodes reflect on his past, but they are few and far between. Most of Ginko’s character could be described as subtle, but even then, it isn’t hard to get a good feel for him and to come to like him. He also has a couple friends that appear in more than one episode, but that number is quite small.
So the bulk of the show relies on characters that only appear once. From single-person stories to ones involving entire villages, Mushishi works overtime to make sure every single character has a purpose, a reason, and a soul, whether you like them or agree with their motives or not.
I was thoroughly impressed that this show made me care enough to worry, or cry, or laugh, or be scared, all with only twenty minutes to make me feel anything at all for these two-dimensional characters.
It’s got well-written men and well-written women, of all ages. It shows their strengths and weaknesses in a way that is extremely human, and often heartbreaking. I cared about these one-off characters as if they had been around since episode one.
Story
The entire fantastical idea of magical beings that we can’t see affecting us and our lives is already pretty interesting to me, but the way that Mushishi handles them is a unique experience. The common theme is harmony and balance and how to maintain it with these creatures, but it is extremely interesting when things don’t quite balance out, so to speak.
The problems that Ginko handles range from mostly harmless to absolutely life-wrecking, and everything in between. The show poses philosophical questions that I can’t even get into without spoiling things.
It can get downright scary at times, happily crossing the border into full-on horror. A warning: if eye stuff freaks you out, some episodes might be harder to watch than others…
Art
I could write an essay entirely on the art of Mushishi. It’s one of the reasons that the show has aged so incredibly well.
Most scenes look like they are straight out of a painting, with their faded yet bright colors and serene surroundings. Much of Ginko’s wanderings take him through forests, but every forest seems to have its own feel and colors.
There’s really no limit to what high-budget backgrounds can do for a show, and I can’t think of a better poster child for that than Mushishi. It’s gorgeous, top to bottom.
The characters that appear throughout the show are much less detailed than the backgrounds, making for a nice contrast. They are also all in period clothing, of course, which I find incredibly lovely to look at.
Other Points & Thoughts
Mushishi starts off strong, but the further into the series you go, the stronger it gets. The stories become more developed, richer, fuller.
The episode that really tipped me over the edge was “Shrine in the Sea,” episode twenty-two. The depth of the writing in this episode absolutely outshines nearly every other one in the entire series, sequel seasons included.
Because Mushishi is episodic and you can theoretically skip around, I’d even say you could start with that one. If you’re brave. Otherwise, the last ten or so episodes of the first season are something to look forward to.
Bottom Line
Online ratings and reviews from sites such as MyAnimeList would seem to suggest that other people enjoyed Mushishi’s sequel seasons more than its first, but I personally can’t say enough about the first twenty-six episodes of this incredible show. Its entire mood, the slow pace, the dreamlike quality to its animation is unmatched by any other show/movie/etc. I have ever seen.
Watching Mushishi is like slipping into a warm bath. It feels peaceful, even with the severity of some of its content. It sparks the imagination, thrills the soul, feeds the hunger in me for quality in anime that is often hard to find in the sea of cheap, uninteresting, gimmicky productions.
There’s no fanservice here. The volume barely ever rises above low speaking tones. Some episodes will make you reflect, some might make you feel warmth deep down, while others are so horribly dark that it hurts to watch.
Never has there been, and likely never will there be, another show like Mushishi. Not even its own second season could capture the same feeling as its first.
So, for that, this show gets a gold star, five hundred gold stars, in terms of being able to recommend it to people that aren’t into anime.
Mushishi is amazingly profound, every element perfectly crafted in a way that defies any sort of cultural barriers. It’s respectable, short enough to binge in a couple weeks (or less… cough), and has so much to say about us as humans, about spiritual balance, and about fear.
Please, watch this show. Even if you hate anime. Even if it sounds boring to you. Give it an episode or two, and maybe it will enrapture you as it did me.
Then, maybe you, too, can find a little magic in the every day.
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