Ranked #3082

Mushi-Uta

Before I start naming the 'buts', let me tell you what really intrigued me with Mushi Uta; the things that really had this series going for me.

For one, the animation. It's a 12 episodes long show, which is really short considering the amount of storytelling needing to be done. However, unlike many 12 episodes having Anime's, the animation quality wasn't bad and in fact one of this Anime's strong points. Action scenes were worked out nicely, coloring was nice and fitting, the animation was smooth and the backgrounds and effects looked particularly interesting enough.

Besides animation, the sounds are well done (though not exceptional) and the whole concept lurking behind this Anime is extremely good. To be honest, without knowing anything about this Anime I had a peek into the first episode. I ended up finishing it and a curious mini me inside me was triggered into watching more and more. The idea itself was great, the characters seemed perfect and the concept seemed worth it. Worth time that is.

More about the characters before I start ranting on and on about the concept. The visuals (designs) are, just like the animation, pretty good. It's not exceptional or really interesting; but it fits in with the story that's being told and therefore is pretty likeable. Especially likeable is the main character who seems like the perfect 'badass'. He wears goggles, is an assassin and besides that, is the strongest guy around! I mean, no more wimps as lead characters, finally a strong guy! At least, so I thought. However, let me get back to the concepts.

The concept was great, the characters had potential. Then where did it go wrong? Wrong you say? Yes, because somewhere in time Mushi Uta lost my interest -and besides that- wrongfully used the potential I saw in it that much earlier.

Let me clarify. For starters, the 'badass' main character was put into 'development', a forced development by that. The creators figured it was his time to develop; thus they made him develop. It was so wrong! All of a sudden Mr. Perfect Assassin turned into a wimp! It's cool and all if he starts getting emotions, but why did he turn weak again? Why did he get ill? And I'm not trying to spoil things here, but he really did turn weaker towards the middle/end. Which is a shame.

Besides that, there is a love triangle going on which -in my honest opinion- isn't adding anything to the story. It's like making a mixture of coke light and coke. I mean, what's the point really?

Of course the concept isn't consisting of just one character. But it's consisting of it's story and how the story develops (alongside it's characters).

Things seemed rushed towards the middle/end. Even an unneeded addition of a love story was added. What the f, this is an action packed fantasy story, and you are adding a love triangle. Wake up call please? Besides that the story gained an uninteresting plot twist. The idea of bugs (where the story is about) turned chaotic and plain weird as the story progressed. Unnecessary scenes were inserted and more than once have I been tempted to just 'STOP' the player and start doing something that I do like.

For that reason, just the feeling of wanting to 'STOP' something -despite being well animated- is more than enough reason for me to tell you to warn you.

It's not that bad an Anime really, heck you might even like it. But for me, it's a 12 episodes long Anime that needed more episodes, a renewal of it's complete story and it seems like I wasted time watching 51 episodes of something unenjoyable while it's only 12 episodes long.

To me, it's not worth more than a 6. But seeing how crappy some Anime I rated a 6 are, and seeing how it did have loads of potential (especially earlier episodes)... I'm giving it a 7.

The genres are mostly action/drama, in a fantasy world setting.
It's 12 episodes long. Most enjoyment I had with this was from it's first episode; after learning about it's concept. Least enjoyment I had with this Anime was probably in one of the middle episodes or ending episode. read more

Mushi-Uta Review.
Writen by: Erisu

Since someone else made a very negative review about this series, I decided to give you another look on the situation.

Story
Mushi-uta's story takes place in the near future. Ten years before the story's opening, strange insect-like creatures known as "Mushi" began appearing. The Mushi are able to consume peoples' dreams and thoughts in return for supernatural powers. At the end of episode one, protagonist Daisuke "Kakkou" Kusuriya encounters a young girl named Shiika Anmoto. The two, in time, become quite close. However, unbeknownst to Kakkou, Shiika is an escapee from a secret prison known as GARDEN where those posessed by the Mushi, known as the Mushitsuki are held. GARDEN's military force, the Special Environmental Conservation Executive Office, dispatches its finest killer to track down Shiika. However, they are faced with resistance from the Mushibane resistance organisation, led by the secretive "Ladybird".
(ANN)

First, Mushi-uta didn't attract me at all, since I really hate bugs. But this is so much more than only bugs! The Story resembles around the normal high-school boy, Daisuke Kusuriya. He is, in reality, known as ''Kakkou'', who works for an orginization that kills other people's ''Mushi''. He meets both Shiika and Rina, Rina also known as ''Ladybird'' is the leader from the resistance against the orginazation where Daisuke works for. Shiika has a very rare Mushi, so she's known as ''Fuyuhotaru''. She is the only one who escapted from GARDEN after her Mushi got killed by Kakkou (Daisuke). After watching some episodes, I really got addicted to Mushi-Uta. While watching it, I had a good feeling about this series and that turned out to be right. This has alot of tragedy but it's really worth watching.

Art
I don't have objections about the animation. The characterdesigns are well done and I didn't saw alot of mistakes. I think it's very nice made and wouldn't want it any other way.

Sound
Well, let's start with the opening and ending music.
The name of the opening song is ''Mushi-Uta'' (how original) sung by Akatsuki, which was a very good song. I didn't mind hearing it every episode at all.
Then, the ending song, ''Sayonara'', sung by Hiromi Sato was really a big +! I loved it and even now I can't get enough of it.
When the moment for some background-music came, they gave it to us and I've also heard enough sound-effects to make this come out to a 9.

Character
The good thing about this is, that you won't only get to know the main characters. I also learned some things about the supporting characters, so you'll also get to know them! I really loved everyone in Mushi-Uta except Kakkou's boss.
I loved Daisuke very much, because how he looks on the outside turns out to be very, very different from the inside! He was kinda mysterious but did seem to have a soft spot for Shiika. It also looks like ''Daisuke'' and ''Kakkou'' are two different persons, if you didn't knew that Daisuke was Kakkou, I don't know if I would've known that they are the same person. He's different from the usual male lead's, so I really liked him.
Than, Shiika, my personal favourite character. Even though she might look like the normal ''sweet'', ''shy'' girl, for me, she was different. I liked having a girl like her who doesn't seem to hurt anyone have such a great power as she has. Without her, it wouldn't be the same!
Last, Rina, who's in the same class as Daisuke. Think everyone of us will know her type of person, the big-mouthed girl at school, and yes, outside the school, she's ''Ladybird''. Ladybird is the leader of the resistance who falls in love with Daisuke! As I said, she falls in love with Daisuke without knowing that he's Kakkou, her enemy. I also loved her personality and how she tries to do the best thing. Even though Daisuke does not seem to love her, he really did like her.
So... here's the thing! Mushi-Uta's characters for the win! XD

Enjoyment
10! Yeah, I really enjoyed everything of this. No episode bored me even through you must watch until the end if you want to understand everything. The plot might seem a bit confusing, but the confusing thing might end up being Mushi-Uta's charm, as for me.

Overall
Anyway, overall, this anime wins! It will remain as one of my favourite animes ever and I can't wait for season two (yes, there's going to be a season two!). I hope that you guys will give it a chance and hopefully enjoy it as much as I did!

-Erisu- read more

Welp, when I first started watching this show, I was like, "Oh cool! Bugs! That's awesome and original," but then, after watching past the second episode, I couldn't shake the impression that the bug aspect was really all this show had going for it. After finishing the show, I was sadly proven correct. But, let's break it down, shall we?

**WARNING! There are some slight SPOILERS from this point onwards. I'll try not to reveal anything hugely important, but to express my viewpoint on some issues, giving away tiny details is necessary.**

~Story~

Okay, as has been pointed out by two of the other reviewers, the story is incredibly confusing and convoluted. There are so many plot holes in it and unanswered questions that it's like falling down a trapdoor, hitting twenty some odd tree branches, and then proceeding into a large, black abyss of death and despair... Okay, so that might be a bit of an overreaction, but seriously, the story almost seems more like an afterthought than the purpose.

Here's an example of one of the many problems: Right from the get go we know that the main character Kakkou has destroyed the Mushi of one of the other main characters, Shiika. We see this within the first five minutes of the first episode. This acts as an interesting lead into the series, and does get the viewers hooked as the setting is uncertain and the context is unclear. Who are Shiika and Kakkou? And why did Kakkou destroy Shiika's Mushi? Unfortunately, the entire story is revealed in its entirety to the viewer... in, I believe, episode three. So all the mystery surrounding the story setup is gone very early on.

Also, we see that the two know each other, yet, when Kakkou and Shiika meet later in episode one or two, they somehow have no idea who the other person is. What? How does that make sense? We know that Kakkou remembers the girl from the opening, who looks EXACTLY the same as Shiika, yet, he has no clue the two are one and the same? Yes, Kakkou suffers from what I like to refer to as "Sailor Moon Syndrome." Oh, no! She's wearing a different outfit! I can't tell who this strange person I've surely never met before is! Even though she's the only person in the whole anime and probably all of Japan who has that hair color and style! At least Shiika has an excuse as she suffers largely from amnesia... which is something we aren't told until practically the end of the series. Would have been nice to have know that sooner. Also, her amnesia seems to be highly selective as she can still remember her family and goes home in an attempt to find them. Sadly, they are gone. Where? No one knows and the subject is never revisited. Maybe they all moved to Tahiti.

It just gets worse from there. Kakkou goes to school under the name Daisuke Kusuriya, allegedly to track down the head of the resistance, Ladybird. I could have sworn with the way that this was presented that they already knew who Ladybird was, otherwise, why else have Kakkou enroll in a specific school in a specific class? Yet, later on, it seems like they had no idea who Ladybird was.. or they just decided not to attack her. Why? Who the heck knows? Maybe they just knew that she was high school age and pulled the name of a high school out of a hat in the hopes that it would be the one she attends and happened to get lucky. Or they asked their magic eight ball for guidance. Yeah. That must be it.

Also, the resistance in and of itself doesn't make sense. It's only made up of four people, two of which are small children. Now, they imply that it was marginally bigger at some point, but I'm left thinking, "If this is the biggest threat to the SEPB (Kakkou's organization), how sad are they?" Further, Shiika manages to rescue everyone from a very dramatic situation, but we never actually get to see how. They're all stuck, with seemingly no hope, then bam! Next episode. Everyone's safe and happy thanks to Shiika. But do they show us how or even explain it? Nooooo. Really, it's just a huge tangle of a bunch of very vague ideas that are presented poorly and hastily.

To be fair, the series starts off with interesting story elements, like the Mushi, but its lack of proper explanation overshadows any enjoyment to be had from them. I personally wanted to know more about Keji's past and situation, as its briefly touched upon (oddly inappropriately as he just starts blathering on about his past to Kakkou at one point for no apparent reason), but that is never fully explored either.

~Art~

The art was fine. Some shots during the action were a bit shoddy and they make Keji's chin oddly elongated at points, but it was pretty nice for the most part.

~Sound~

Eh, the opening theme was okay. It was a bit slower and dreamy with the stereotypical "hope and love conquers all" theme. I watched it once or twice, then skipped it for the rest of the series. The ending I suffered through once. It was also slow and meh. Better than the opening but without the intriguing animation to warrant me watching it. The sound effects were okay and the voice acting was pretty good. The screaming was especially well done, I'll grant that.

~Conclusion~

So, overall, I really didn't much care for the series. It really bored the heck outta me, to be honest, which is why I rated it so low. Even with all the story issues, it would have gotten a 5 out of me had the pacing not been so terrible. Even the action scenes were aggravating because they were constantly broken up with dramatic introspections and overly dramatic dialogue. I will give the ending some credit as it did some things that were unexpected, but for a series that placed so much emphasis on the ending, it failed to deliver. I found myself not caring about any of the characters aside from Keji and his assistant, and even then, I didn't grow too attached as they remained largely underdeveloped. If the show had been limited to 6 episodes and they'd focused more on the plot and ironing out the story, it would have been decent, possibly even really good. Alas, it was not so. With how many great anime there are out there, I recommend not wasting your life and time on this one. read more

Hey everyone,

I'm here to give you a piece of me on this anime, hoping that you would understand it more than just the synopsis alone. Please be aware that I'm writing the review after such long period of time, i had already forgotten some parts of it. I apologize if some parts aren't really clear.

-= There are some spoilers included below=-

For those who didn't know, this anime is an adaptation of its light novel counterpart. Which the entire series consisted of 11 volume + ongoing, and 8 volume of side story (Mushi Uta Bug).

Well, this anime was fairly interesting to me at first. It didn't stood out very much in terms of art and sound compare to other animes that were released during the time. But ya, i loved it. After seeing a bit of the storyline itself and how it toss these characters mercilessly, it totally hooked me up. I really liked the theories/set up of (Mushi) as well, where as these teenagers have to pay a portion of their dream for the cost of the (Mushi)'s power, which supported the basic trade-off of power.

Now lets get onto what the anime has to offer us:

-Story-
i gave a 8.

The story itself wasn't bad. It followed almost 75% of the it's first volume light novel. It did include some useless/extra information that wasn't suppose be there. Things like the camera girl, who is Rina's friend and later became a mushitsuki? She was suppose to be a character from the 7th volume. And as for those people who came and hunt the girl down, "C" and that blonde hair cutie, they weren't suppose to come out as well. There were too many unnecessary things that they added in for the plot twist. Oh, they also took out many things that were important too, things like the conversation between Daisuke and his boss which would later connect to the 2nd volume.
Well, that was how i felt after reading the light novel. They could've done a better job on the anime if they followed the light novel's setting. But even so, it still did show a lot of its good point in a way.

-Art-
i gave a 8.
The art could've been better. They were kind of cheating on drawing the (Mushi) as well. For example, when those goggled people appeared in the park to ambush (Ladybird) and summoned their (Mushi)s, they all freaking look the same to me. Which was against the rule of Mushi uta, stating that each host has only one and only type of (Mushi). So if i have a dragonfly, you cant have the same dragonfly like me.
However, i do like a few of their (Mushi) design. Like Kakkou's, Centi's, Kabuto, and MinMin's. I didn't like Rina's, because it looks ugly for some reason. Same goes for Shiika.
As for character design, they were not bad but more detail would be nice. I really liked Shiika's smile, shes so cute. And one thing i disliked, is Kakkou's hair style, it looked fugly. Oh, i almost forgot the maturation stage. The way they drew for maturation was weird and ... don't look as good as the novel one.Those didn't even look like (Mushi) at all, merely aliens if you ask me.

-Sound-
i gave a 8.
The opening sound was okay, i wouldnt mind listening to it every ep. The ending song was another story thought, really emotional and sad, totally fit the theme of mushi uta. As for those background music and all that, since i watched the series during 2007. i cant really remember how it was, but i think they were okay.

-Character-
i gave a 9.
The voice acting of each character were great. Totally loved shiika's timid voice, i forgot who acted her role but ya. Not much to pick about regarding to the voice acting part.
Almost all of the characters were acting directly from the light novel, so i guess it was okay.

-Enjoyment-
i gave a 9.
Really enjoyed the series from the start to end. After reading the light novel counterpart, I fell more madly in love with the series. The light novel provided a lot of the details that the anime missed while the anime provided a lot of the scene that words cant describe.

-Overall-
i gave a 9.
it was great, but could've been better if they followed the light novel setting and exclude some of the unnecessary things.

Extra information: Don't really expect they would do a 2nd season, since at the ending of ep 12. they gave it all away. By that i mean, the girl who came to visit Haji was his sister which was not suppose to meet him until the 2nd volume.

And this is extra for those who would love to read the light novel. Currently, my group [C.E Light novel translation group] are working on the project of Mushi Uta. We are around 60% done with the first volume, and possible moving on to the 2nd volume and beyond. We are also planning on translating the Mushi Uta Bug series as well, the short story light novel of mushi uta. Just go google and find us =). Hope to gather more people~ and Please spread the Mushi uta love! It's a wonderful story if you given it enough time.




read more

Rarely does an anime make me want to write a review for it but this one did... which speaks something about it I guess.

First, I have to admit Mushi-Uta is something I watched on whim while stumbling upon it while looking for something else. So needless to say once the bugs came rolling in I had my doubts. However, I quickly found myself getting over the bugs and saw a surprisingly good anime. The Story revolves around the high-school boy Daisuke Kusuriya. But he also has another identity as ''Kakkou'', the top agent working for an organization that hunts those possessed by "Mushi" and either captures them, if they cooperate, or kills their Mushi thus making them into fallen. Early on he meets both Shiika and Rina, Rina who is also known as ''Ladybird'' is the leader from the resistance against the organization where Daisuke works for. Shiika, also known as ''Fuyuhotaru'', on the other hand has a very rare and powerful Mushi and is the only person who escapted from GARDEN after her Mushi got killed by Kakkou (Daisuke) 13 years previous. After watching the first two episodes, I really got into Mushi-Uta's story. The more I watched it the more I wanted to see how everything played out. Forewarning though, this has a lot of tragedy but it's really worth watching.

Art: 8
I don't really have objections about the animation. The character designs are well done and I genuinely liked them. Considering this is only a 12 episode anime the animation was very good and I didn't see a lot of mistakes. Despite being a few years old now once into the story you'll find you don't really mind.

Sound: 8
First let me say I gave it an 8 not because it was bad so much as in the end nothing particularly wowed me.
-The name of the opening song is ''Mushi-Uta'' (very original right?) sung by Akatsuki, which though not one I would say if a favorite was a good enough song that I didn't mind hearing it every episode.
-Then, the ending song, ''Sayonara'' (again so original), sung by Hiromi Sato was like the OP good but not "wow that's good" good. As for the rest when the moment called for some background-music, it came. The sound effects were great not the best but everything sounded as it should. In the end I settled for an 8 but could have probably given it a 9 if the songs were just a little more memorable.

Character: 9
What I really enjoyed about the characters is that not only do you get to know the main characters but you'll also catch glimpses about some of the supporting characters. Just enough to make them more significant and add to the story without bloating the story. I loved most of the characters Mushi-Uta except for a few like Kakkou's boss who I still couldn't get a real sense of wheither he was good, bad, or what.
-I loved Daisuke , because of his dual persona. On one hand the almost the very definition of a mysterious stoic warrior ''Kakkou'' and on the other the clumsy forgettable (but lovable) ordinary high-school student ''Daisuke''. Looking at him from the warrior side he is very, very different from what he really is. He was kinda mysterious but did seem to have an unusual soft spot for Shiika almost getting himself killed just to met her after first laying eyes on her. In the end I think I'll remember him most of all as he's different from the usual male lead's, so I really liked him.
-I liked Shiika even though I am not sure why. Though I wouldn't say she was a particularly stand out character, I think her character was necessary and was exactly what the part called for.
-Lastly, Rina, my favorite character along with Kakkou. In the same class as Daisuke, she isn't a particularly original character type but that's not to say you wont like her any less. At school she is more of the tsundere type. Not annoyingly almost bi-polarly so but more of a realistic sweet and shy young schoolgirl kind. Outside the school she's ''Ladybird'' the leader of the resistance and while puts up a strong front has emotional cracks that as the story progresses become bigger. And whether inside school or out she always tried to do whats best even if she knows it'll hurt her. In the end, without ruining it, she makes you cheer for her and when they don't you'll really feel for her.

Enjoyment: 8
So like I said I really enjoyed this title. No episode really bored me and to fully grasp everything you must watch until which isn't so bad as it keeps you hooked as you wait for answers. The plot was a bit confusing at times as it never fully explained everything but as it is only 12 episodes you'll forgive it and there is enough to get by. More annoying is how it introduces some characters and you think they'll play a more pivotal role by the way they are shown but in the end they are tossed aside. Not to mention the ending which I hated so much it almost killed the whole anime for me. It wasn't that it was bad so much as I just personally hated it and if your anything like me it'll just tick you off too.

Overall: 7
Overall, this anime anime was a good one and worth watching for only 12 episodes but due to it's ending not one I will watch again as it would just sour the whole thing for me. Supposedly there is going to be a second season which will probably solve a lot of the plot issues stated above and I probably will still watch it... though I still might not be able to due to this season's ending.
In the end I am giving it a 7 only because of the ending but otherwise an 8 maybe maybe 9 since it would be an 8.5 were it available.

-Firefox read more

This anime is a prime example of bad storytelling.

There are people called "hosts" who can summon powerful insects to fight battles for them. If you kill a host's insect, the host goes into an incurable comatose-like state called "fallen". News of a host who was able to recover from the "fallen" spreads, and two groups race to capture her to learn her secrets.

It had the makings of an action-packed drama; unfortunately, it was presented quite poorly. Most of the anime was focused on a love triangle that was only borderline interesting. One of the characters that had the most screen time was also the least interesting character in the whole show. The love story didn't fit well with the action scenes. The plot progression was confusing.

If only they had explained the general basis for mushi in a more straightforward manner it would've been more enjoyable. Instead, almost every important detail was left a mystery to be revealed in a future episode, which left me asking, "huh?" during most of the episodes. Almost every 24-minute episode felt like an hour. This series could've been so good had it been done right.

Not recommended. read more