Category: Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama

I’ve been looking forward to another episode of Mushishi. It seems that it doesn’t know how to deliver a bad episode. Each of the stories presented works so incredibly well, dealing with a different problem every single time.

This time, we have a little girl, who’s blind. She encounters a mushi, Ganpuku. This mushi gives her sight. At first she’s incredibly happy, but then the mushi starts showing her things that she shouldn’t be able to see. She’d be able to see right through walls, she could see things which happened miles away from her, nothing was a secret for her anymore. But it didn’t end there. Ganpuku then gave her the ability of foresight. The girl grew up, and many people came to her, in order to get their futures told. Obviously, the girl didn’t have any friends at all. When her father died, she moved away from her village and started living as a shamisen-player (which C1 seems to have turned into a lute).

Of course, while it may seem like joy and goodness in the beginning, if you have to live with this for more than fifteen years, you begin to see the disadvantages. Every good thing has a bad thing, and every bad thing comes along with a good thing, and this is no different. The girl may have had the ability of foresight, she had this 24/7. She had no way to turn this off, and she lived her entire life, seeing things in the future. In the end, she became dizzy and unhappy because of it. Around the end of the episode, it seems that Ganpuku has completely taken over her eyes. They then detach from her body, and turn into their real form.

It’s indeed a dilemma for the woman. She has to choose to either see the future continuously or see nothing at all. It’s a choice between two extremes, with not middle way at all. In the end, the woman didn’t care for herself anymore, and was content with living with Ganpuku. But she didn’t want anyone else to suffer the same fate she did. Therefore, she asks Ginko to bury her eyes, somewhere in the forest.

Mushishi returns with the same outstanding quality of its stories once more. This time has yet another happy ending. I really loved it. The case is like this: we have this village which has its own Mushishi. On one day, they run into a yet to be identified Mushi. It came from a vulcanic rock, and has taken the form of a plant, which can rapidly increase in number. These plants also release a poisonous gas, which appears to kill off the trees.

The Mushishi has tried all sorts of things, but nothing works. Eventually, her last resolve was to burn the entire forest, along with the Mushi. After all, if the plants were to reach the crops of the village, they’d have a very hard time surviving the winter. Ginko’s against this, as not only it burns a lot of innocent trees, but the fact also remains that the Mushi came from a volcanic rock. It would be wrong to give it fire.

In the end, the Mushi appeared to be the premature form of a bunch of Kagebi. It takes refuge in cold places, and survive by sucking the heat out of people who are lured by their warmth. The Mushishi then tells everyone to be extra careful with fire, though you know how humans tend to behave. Most villagers do not immediately see the danger of the Kagebi, and they don’t pay attention to their actions. Only when seven people die and even more suffer from frostbites due to eating food, cooked under Kagebi, the message begins to sink in, and they start to be extra careful.

The Mushishi, however, has another problem. She swallowed one of the Kagebi, and now it’s grown inside of her. Very slowly, it’s sucking away her heat, and makes her cough up leaves, as a means for the Kagebi to reproduce itself. She has already given up hope when Ginko helps her. He lets her drink food, cooked by another Kagebi. This food then causes a frostbite in her stomach, where the Kagebi resides. This makes it unable to suck up heat, so it dies off. At least, that’s what I think that happens.

The way the episode ended was great. We turn to the beginning of the spring, we see a lone Kagebi heading out of the village. I’s looking for colder places, in which to spend the summer. I just loved the symbolism of this scene.

You can wonder, was it right to burn the trees? The fact remains that the plants were the dangerous ones, not the Kagebi. While the Kagebi just took seven lives, just imagine how many people would have died if the plants managed to reach the crops of the village. But still, a lot of animals, plants and trees were killed off during the burning. However, at the end of the episode, you can see the first traces of life appearing again. It’s also part of the symbolism used at the end of the episode. Life goes on. No matter what.

Memorable Moment: The ending.

The series had normal episodes, and it had awesome episodes. It’s the same with the OVA. Episode 21 was perfect in every
single way. Episode 22 was amazing, despite its flaws. Episode 23 shows us a standard Mushishi-story again. It’s about a disease, which causes limbs and body-parts to become stiff and unmovable. It’s being spread through the voice of one girl. Ever since the girl found out that her voice spread the disease, she’s stopped talking. Though the disease remained. The girl has stopped talking for ten years now. It’s also one of the stories with a more happy end.

Still, that doesn’t mean that I didn’t love the episode. It’s still as calm as always, and the situation gets explained very quietly. It seems that the woman had been screaming at the top of her lungs inside a deserted cave, in order to ruin her voice. By the time this episode plays, she hasn’t quite lost it, though her voice does sound very creepy and sad. It’s probably one of the first times in anime that such a voice was added.

The great thing about this episode was the ending, though it does leave a few bugs. The girl had been isolated, as everyone thought of her as the culprit. There was one man, from another village who didn’t treat her that way. This man then fall off a cliff in the mountains, and she had no other choice than to cry for help, with her already distorted voice. That sounded too sad. It seems that to cure the disease, the woman had to scream towards the village, with the see straight behind her. She’ll probably have to scream for years in order to fully remove the disease, and her voice will most likely die before the disease does. It’s so awesome to see someone willing to give up her own voice in order to save others. Still, the way Ginko came to this conclusion bugs me. We get no clues to his plans until he reveals them. And the things that made him realize the solution don’t make any sense at all. And how come, in fourteen years, nobody has even bothered to go to the see and check what happens?!

Overall, another great Mushishi-episode. Not the best, but definitely enjoyable.

I’ve got one fundamental problem with the Mushishi OVA. The budget has been increased, in order to be able to display some nifty action-scenes in which Ginko also plays a big role.

NOT. A. GOOD. IDEA. Mushishi’s strength lies in its atmosphere and the heavy drama it introduces. Action doesn’t belong in it, as it also introduces one nasty little bugger: the Deus ex Machina. Why the heck did the storm clear up just in time to save Ginko?! The series at least understood how to put Ginko in at least a bit of a struggle, like letting him drown in quicksand in order to come out of it on his own strength a couple of hours later. Or letting him fall asleep for an entire winter. Ginko’s brilliance lies in the fact that he’s the medium between the Mushi and the real main characters of each story.

That aside, the theme of this episode was once again magnificent. We have this island. Right next to this island, there’s a strange rock formation. Inside that rock lives a Mushi who feeds on the time, lived by creatures. So, let’s say that a dying person gets dumped near that Mushi, the Mushi catches it, and turns it back into the embryo. This way, that person can live his or her life once again.

The people on the island know this. It’s very common to see a person being reborn and people often let family members who are about to die be dumped near the Mushi. Same story with the main character, Mio. She’s given birth of her own mother. She’s probably one of the few people who has troubles with the system on the island. She already said goodbye to her mother, and now she refuses to raise someone who’s already dead. She therefore decided not to see this girl as her mother, but as her daughter.

Still, she’s struggling with this. As she grew up, her daughter began to look more and more as her mother, which really make her think about who she had been raising all this time. Her daughter (she’s too cute, by the way), however, talks about this like it’s nothing at all. When she explains about other cases which happened on the island, you really start to think about what it means to live. After all, you won’t have to be afraid of dying, as you return any time.

But then again, the only thing that remains the same is the embryo. People do get raised differently. People have different memories. The fact that the child looked so much like the mother was just Mio overreacting. She begin to look at every tiny little detail, and then she noticed similarities. So, what if you do get sick, and what if you do decide to go to the Mushi before you die. Can you with 100% certainty say that you will be the one who’s reborn? This is a thing that most of the islanders seem to forget. We even have a guy, who lost his wife in the sea. He then waited for ten years in order to remarry her, and now they’ve been living together for quite a long time. It’s just like Disgaea, in a certain way.

I liked the relationship that the Mio had with her daughter. The daughter was very bright and cheerful. At times, she would be able to talk with her mother on equal level. She was raised very well, as she did seem to understand that she wasn’t the same as her grandmother. The reaction of Mio’s mother when she was about to die also was quite interesting. It seems that she had decided to be reborn again. That she didn’t want to disappear. I wonder, if Mio’s daughter is put in the same situation when she gets old. Would she also react the same way? It totally depends on the things she experienced in her life.

Overall, the theme in this episode was exceptionally well done. Mushishi surely delivers in that aspect. Mio was awesome, her daughter was even more awesome. The only speck on the window was the climax.

Memorable moment: When the daughter jumped recklessly after Mio. It only showed more of her awesomeness. 🙂

Finally, Mushishi returns after a two-month absence, and it’s just as I hoped: they saved the best for last. This episode just turned me utterly speechless. It’s just so brilliant, so awesome, and such a beautiful tale. During its full 20 minutes of time, this episode had me entirely captured, without showing any sign of weaknesses AT ALL. It really reminded me again of why Mushishi is so incredibly awesome.

The case this time: a pregnant woman has been the victim of another mushi. This one settles inside the yet-to-be-born baby, and takes control of it once it’s born. It then flees into a dark place – mostly under a house or in an attic – and remains there for a year. From that point, it releases a baby every half a year. Though this child mostly is the mushi, wearing the child’s body and using it in order to spread its seeds.

But still, what do you do when such a thing happens to you? After all, it still remains your child. It can think. It lives just as a normal human being, only it just grows a lot faster than normal children do. The woman in this case indeed chooses to raise the child, and all of its following successors. Then, however, after a couple of years, the child gets sick, and reaches the point at which it’ll die and at the same time release a huge amount of seeds. It was just too sad to see the parents see and accept the truth.

To make things only better, in the beginning, the first child to die may look like a ten-year old boy, but he still behaves like a little kid. Not being able to talk at all. When the second child is about to die, however, the mushi had gained the ability to speak, so this child got this ability as well. This means that killing off your child already was terrible. But what if you’re about to kill another one of your children, and it really BEGS you not to kill it? It really made for an awesome moment and I totally loved it!

It’s also very interesting to see the difference in reaction when you look at the mother and the father. The father is scared by the truth, but after he thinks about it for a long while, he realizes that there’s no other way, and that he’ll take the responsibility of killing off the rest of the children when they get sick, even though it pains his heart. The mother, however, gets mentally broken when she hears that her children, whom they both raised for three whole years, are about to be killed. She indeed loves her offspring so much, that she decides to not let them be killed, and even goes as far as stabbing Ginko with a large kitchen knife (I loved Ginko’s sarcastical reaction to this, by the way). The father understands the mother’s feelings very well. Even more if you consider her history, and he tries indeed to easen her sadness.

The ending. The ending just totally blew me away. A sad ending is just awesome enough, but the way this ended is just incredible. The mushi gained the ability to think, and also the ability to realize that Ginko’s coming to kill it off. In order to protect its seeds, it kills off the children, turns them into liquid, and burns the house, along with its root. The root turns into a very compact, large round seed. Ginko gives this to the mother, telling her that one day, it’ll awaken again. Though they may not live to experience it. He also, however, collects the liquid that once were the children into a glass bottle, and hides this from the two parents! He takes it along with him, and tells the liquid (it can talk!) that he’ll keep it alive. Still, he must’ve had a very good reason in order to hide a thing like this from the father and mother. Okay, I think Ginko’s merchant-side has something to do with it, but still.

Overall, this was just Mushishi at it’s best. Pure brilliance turned into a story. Mushishi easily makes for one of the best series ever.

After the disappointment of episode 19, episode 20 totally makes up for it. The theme is kindof heavy this time. Normally, mushi aren’t really evil. This episode deals with a mushi who is. Ages ago, it had been sealed, after attempting to kill all humans and animals. However, the sealing just set the mushi to sleep, it didn’t kill it. There’s also the fact that the mushi was sealed in a human body. When that body dies, the descendants of that body will carry this seal over. In contrast with Naruto, the bearer of the seal doesn’t gain any superpowers, but a part of their body turns pure black and unmovable, making them unable to use it. In this case, the black part was just the right leg. But the first bearer had it all over her body.

Anyway, in order to kill the mushi, the bearer has to write down stories of mushi dying. That’s the weak point of this mushi. It just takes one heck of an amount of stories in order to do this. Even three generations haven’t been able to. The girl in this case will most likely also have a nice way to spend her time for the rest of her life. The introduction of this episode was just so sad. After all, living up, firstly not being able to play with other children because of a certain black leg, and secondly having to hear all kinds of stories about death. I’m not sure, but that doesn’t seem the best way to grow up. But then again, if she doesn’t do it, the mushi will consume her. In other words, she’ll die herself.

We also get to know that there are also Mushishi who don’t value the life of the mushi. Ginko’s stories about mushi not dying during his adventures were a first case for this girl. I didn’t expect a thing like this. From all the Mushishi I’ve seen in this series, they all seem like a bunch of pacifists, who value the life of every creature.

It was also very nice that we got to see an image of Ginko that we’ve never seen before. After seeing the two of them talking at the end of the episode, they seemed like a nice couple. Speaking of that, we had a rather unique ending this time. While it was just as great as the other Mushishi-endings, it lacked a climax. The fact that the girl has been doing this for probably more than thirteen years shows how she came to accept her tasks, and how she learend to live with it. Because of this, and ending like that is possible.

A guy from an relatively rich family falls in love with the nanny of his little brother (at least, I assume it’s his little brother. It’s at least a baby-member of the rich family). This nanny gets to play the victim this time. She’s a person who can see certain types of mushi, she sees a mushi in the form of a thread hanging from the sky, grabs it and flies off into the air. Then she falls down to earth again, trees break her fall, but she becomes a pseudo-mushi. Eventually, she’s partially saved by Ginko who runs into her. In order to totally save her, the guy needs to make her give the will to remain human. Well, let’s just say he fails. After a little rant from Ginko’s side, we get to see a very enjoyable ending.

Even though this was an enjoyable Mushishi episode, it just remained enjoyable. Nothing more nothing less. It wasn’t anything special like the previous episodes. I did like the ending, however. It seems like Mushishi has the handicap of always delivering a great (or even better) ending for each episode.

These last two episode had a different way of opening the story than most Mushishi episodes do. Mostly, it Ginko meets up with person, person explains case, Ginko tries to solve. Or something in that direction. Last episode, however, Ginko was already aquainted with the main character, giving a nice twist. This episode, the creators carry this even further, by not letting Ginko and the main character meet until thee quarters of the episode have already been passed.

The first half of the episode tells the story of a man who moves from the countryside to the city in order to become a famous painter. He succeeds, but he becomes so engulfed in his work, that he starts to forget his old family, and finally ends up in stress. As ten years pass since he left his village, he becomes more and more nostalgic, however, wanting to meet his father and sister again. Finally, a combination of stress, doctors and homesickness manage to convince him to go back. The sighting of him returning, and seeing what happened to the place he grew up in, was just too sad to see, I loved it. And this was just the first half of the episode.

The second half features that man staying in the village. He’s lost all of his inspiration, as if all the life has been sucked out of him. When he gets to take care of his niece, he brightens up a bit. But still, he’s got no trace of liveliness inside of him. Then he has a rather “peculiar” meeting with Ginko and with the help of some mushi, he gets his energy back. It was very entertaining to see that this time, the mushi weren’t causing any problems, but were rather helpful to the cast. The effect of this is wonderful. I also loved Ginko in this episode, especially when he shows his “merchant”-side and his strange meeting with the mushi. That shows that even Mushishi work themselves into a lot of trouble.

I also love the way some of the episodes feature some variation of an epilogue. Like they show what happens after a few years passed. This way, the impact on what happened before becomes huge, with magnificent results. When normal anime does this, the main focus lies on the present, while a couple of flashbacks show what happens in the past. This is cute and nice and all, but it doesn’t really capture the impact created by these moments. When these anime do try to show aftermaths, they almost always show the direct aftermaths, in the range from a couple of hours to a couple of days at maximum. It really doesn’t give the characters the true opportunity to recover from it.

Another brilliant story. This time it focused even mre about the delicate relationship between humans and Mushi. In most episodes, the Mushi-incidents are just coincidental meetings between humans and mushi, which sortof go wrong. This time, however, we have an accident happening between people who knew very well what they were getting themselves into, and they were aware of the huge risks.

Two girls, who can see mushi, move in with an old man, to help him maintain an ingenious mail-system which makes use of certain mushi. This one lives in a silk-cocoon made by two caterpillars, instead of one. That means that these cocoons are made out of two wires, intead of one. The mushi living inside these cocoons can teleport itself from one location through another. In this case, these locations are marked with the two wires. So, that means, if you seal them, put them in nice packages and make a small opening for the messages to go in and out, you have an alternative to e-mail.

Of course, a lot can go wrong, and if you’re not careful, even humans can get teleported. At least, they they vanish and get stuck in the “timespace” between the two locations the mushi is traveling. That’s what happens in this episode. I like the way she vanished. In normal anime, there would be some kind of slow-motion scene, with lots of action, close-ups, yelling and heavy music. Mushishi, however, brings it far more naturally than I could’ve imagined.

Anyway, that person’s twin-sister carried over the old man’s business when he died, hoping to find her sister one day. Five years pass, and during that time she meets Ginko (we don’t get to see that moment, by the way). After those five years, she still hasn’t been able to forget, and she’s still hoping for a safe return. Ginko tries to talk her out of it and to give up. At this point, I thought that the “just give up”-bit might’ve been used a bit too much in Mushishi. The ending totally changed my mind.

The ending of this episode was, like almost every other Mushishi episode, brilliant. Probably even one of the best. It was so extremely adorable, accompanied by some very fitting background music. Not to mention the fact that the ending was open, though everything felt resolved.