Mushishi

"Mushi": the most basic forms of life in the world. They exist without any goals or purposes aside from simply "being." They are beyond the shackles of the words "good" and "evil." Mushi can exist in countless forms and are capable of mimicking things from the natural world such as plants, diseases, and even phenomena like rainbows.

This is, however, just a vague definition of these entities that inhabit the vibrant world of Mushishi, as to even call them a form of life would be an oversimplification. Detailed information on Mushi is scarce because the majority of humans are unaware of their existence.

So what are Mushi and why do they exist? This is the question that a "Mushishi," Ginko, ponders constantly. Mushishi are those who research Mushi in hopes of understanding their place in the world's hierarchy of life.

Ginko chases rumors of occurrences that could be tied to Mushi, all for the sake of finding an answer.

It could, after all, lead to the meaning of life itself.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ginko Main

Nakano, Yuto Japanese

Karibusa, Tanyuu Supporting

Tsuzurahara, Miyu Japanese

Nui Supporting

Doi, Mika Japanese

Adashino Supporting

Ueda, Yuuji Japanese

Narrator Supporting

Doi, Mika Japanese

Maho Supporting

Honjou, Yuutaro Japanese

Sui Supporting

Oka, Akiko Japanese

Ioroi, Shinra Supporting

Sanpei, Yuuko Japanese

Koro Supporting

Maeda, Takeshi Japanese

Suzu Supporting

Kitou, Noriko Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Suzuki, Atsushi Producer

Hieda, Susumu Producer

Nagahama, Hiroshi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Series Composition

Reviews

Jun 27, 2008

TheCriticsClub

Recommended

“Don’t let yourself be blinded by fear or anger.
Everything is only as it is.”


Story
Mushishi is essentially a series of stories styled after East Asian legends and folktales. In lieu of gods, spirits, and demons, the paranormal phenomena are attributed to more primitive yet no less enigmatic creatures called “mushi”. Dealing with their kind is the expertise of “mushishi”; professionals whose role may be thought of as an amalgam of healer, exorcist, biologist, X-Files investigator, and Jedi master (well, sort of). Ginko happens to be one of these mushishi and he wanders from town to town, looking for interesting cases and lending a helping hand ... to those adversely affected by these mushi.

As formulaic as its premise may sound, no two incidents are alike and every episode features not only different mushi but a different setting and cast as well (with Ginko as constant exception). Because of these, the series is able to experiment with various concepts and human relationships and none of the stories ever end in a predictable manner. As such, there is little room for stagnation as each tale manages to be unique and refreshing.

The title is often mentioned in the same breath as Kino no Tabi though Mushishi’s oriental setting and animistic influences give it a more distinct flavor and theme. Whereas Kino limits herself to exploring “what if” scenarios by visiting different countries, Ginko takes it a step further by providing possible solutions and emphasizing the importance of living in harmony with nature, with fellow men, and most importantly, with the self.

Characters:
While not exactly an anti-hero, Ginko’s personality is an unusual mix of benevolence tempered with common sense; a combination of “grace to accept with serenity the things that cannot be changed, courage to change the things that should be changed, and the wisdom to distinguish one from the other.” Saving lives is part of his job but he also knows when there’s reason still to hope and when it’s time to move on. He may break his own code at times for the well-being of the majority and he’s not above fooling the gullible either just to get by. His expertise stems not only from his knowledge about mushi but also from his understanding of human nature.

Similarly, none of these supporting characters are shoved into stereotypes which plague most anime and manga. No catgirls, lecherous geezers, or single-minded youngsters (Believe it!); just regular folks in unusual circumstances due to encounters with mushi. Consequently, it doesn’t require much effort to empathize with these characters even if most only appear in their respective episodes.

Art:
Not only is the theme “everything is only as it is” evident in the content but it also permeates the manner in which the stories are presented. Mushishi doesn’t try to impress; it simply delivers. While other shows of this era tend go overboard with the fancy CG animation, Mushishi’s visuals remain spare yet aesthetically pleasing. Rather than filling up the screen with explosions and fanservice shots at every possible moment, vivid scenes of natural beauty such as raindrops falling from the heavens, cherry blossoms drifting in the wind, and sunlight penetrating the dense foliage are shown instead. Of course, the viewers are occasionally treated to fantastic scenes showing the surreal characteristics of the mushi but these are shown only when called for in the stories and nothing is done in excess. Even the character designs are relatively plain but perhaps these also contribute to the story in their own way since the audience is less likely to judge the characters based on their appearances.

Sound:
Likewise, the audio takes the minimalist approach. The soundtrack is comprised of simply melodies which are surprisingly effective in evoking various thoughts and emotions. Ranging from haunting and heart-rending to hopeful and bittersweet, the music often eliminates the need for more words in the most crucial scenes. Also worth noting is the lack of exaggerated voice acting which makes the cast sound more like real people rather than cookie-cutter characters.

Overall:
In addition to its enchanting audio and visuals, Mushishi also serves drama and thought-provoking content in balanced amounts. Its subtle content and execution never insult the intelligence and present several interesting ideas without drowning the viewers in philosophical jargon or sophistry. All in all, Mushishi truly is one of the finest anime specimen out there.




This review is the final result of a review team composed of members from the "Critics and Connoisseurs" club. The team members were:

Yuunagi - Writer
itsmee - Contributer/Editor
June - Contributer/Editor
Talamare - Contributer/Editor

Here are their individual scorings for the show:

Catogory - Yuunagi, itsmee, June,Talamare
Overall: 10, 9, 8, 9 - avg=9.00
Story: 10, 10, 7, 10 - avg=9.25
Animation: 9, 9, 9, 9 - avg=9.00
Sound: 9, 8, 7, 8 - avg=8.00
Enjoyment: 10, 10, 8, 10 - avg=9.5

In the club wide poll held for Mushishi it received an average overall rating of 9.06

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 16, 2009

viviowns

Mixed Feelings

Story - The anime has a rather simple story that is Ginko a mushi-shi travels to various parts helping people who have problems with creatures called mushi which are somewhat of a combination of plant/nature/animal. Each episode is a different story about Ginko helping people and there is no real ongoing plot. The main problem I had with the story is that they get very repetitive and about half way through the anime I had to take a break because I felt I was just rewatching the same episodes over again. A large portion of the episodes are about a woman and a man and ... one of them has disease or problem and tries to tie in a love into the problem which gets tiring after a while. This being said I did think the last five to six episodes were good. If you can stand repetitive plot lines then this should not bother you much.

Art – There are two parts to the art here. First is the nature and drawings of the mushi. This was well done and fit into the series and was one of the better parts as well. The major flaw in the art style is that the minor characters look all very similar I honestly could not tell much difference between them. I though that they just got lazy, and only changed the hair style of the characters to make distinctions between the minor characters. All in all the art style was alright.

Sound – There was nothing really outstanding about the sound that comes to mind. There were no real problems with the sound either. Over all the sound was pretty good and there is not much to talk about.

Character – As I have said before I found it hard to distinguish the characters from each other. As for the character of the anime I did enjoy the fact that it was willing to take a different view for anime. The problem was that they could not make it different enough for me to get too into the anime.

Enjoyment – If you could not figure it out yet I did not enjoy this anime. One of the main reasons for this was the fact that all the comments had said it was great or amazing and I was sadly disappointed. Another main reason was that I felt the lack of the anime making you want to see the next episode. Mushi-shi did not present much as to one wandering what will be next as most of the episodes ended similarly. I will say that if you are looking for something different and have not seen any anime about the relationship between people and nature that you would enjoy this anime.

Overall – Overall I have seen better anime but I have also seen worse anime. I gave Mushi-shi a six only because of the lack of enjoyment and I felt I was suffering through watching it. I did how ever enjoy several of the last episodes as it attempted to recapture my interest. My last words if you are looking for something different in anime this might be worth checking out.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 23, 2019

Optigisa

Not Recommended

Worshipping triviality and being unimaginative to a certain degree, are things that a solid narrative should always strive to avoid in order to culminate fans everywhere. When a fantasy narrative fails in painting an addictive universe for the viewer to grab onto, then it has certainly failed it’s job when it comes to being a well thought out story. However, even though the case is true with most Anime and other works, some prosaic Anime manage to escape the route of obscurity by chance, and end up receiving a ton of praise and gratitude from fans everywhere, simply because of certain factors that went into ... play. Mushishi is the best example of this, as it is the epitome of both triviality and a lack of thought and imagination when it comes to it’s episodic nature, and it is a prime example of why highly rated works are not always good.

The series starts off well enough, grabbing the viewer in with a premise about the lore of Mushishi, and the creatures that inhabit the universe of the series. The creatures are called mushi, and they bring sorrow and misery to humans wherever they go. One man is able to stop them, and his name is Ginko, the main character of the story. First of all, the name of the series in itself is fairly creative, the mushishi are people who are able to exterminate or get rid of the mushi, and the series’ title refers to the mushishi in charge of helping the humans and getting rid of the mushi, Ginko. On another note, the artwork looks mysteriously attractive and alluring in some of the episodes, an example of this would be the river of light we see in the second episode. As far as the soundtrack goes, both the opening and the music suit the series well enough, and provoke this sense of mystery while enhancing both the viewer’s experience, and the other worldly feel of the series. The show is solid so far, the viewer is receiving episodes that are fairly imaginative and well thought out, and the premise, while being unoriginal, is executed well enough. The viewer enjoys each episode to it’s fullest, and ruminates over what it has to offer after they finish watching it. Although the case is true with the first few episodes, the viewer starts to wonder what is it that went wrong with the series after a span of about ten episodes into it’s run. The previously enjoyable series commences to become less enjoyable somehow, and it begins to feel more and more like a chore to get through, and less of an enjoyment. Why? Well, there are many reasons for such a reaction to occur:

1. The lack of an overarching narrative

The reason why Mushishi started out well enough, is due to the fact that the series’ premise was intriguing enough to grab the viewer in. The viewer wanted to know more and more about what happens during the show, what the end goal will be, etc. Unfortunately for the viewer, the series did not have any conclusion, meaning or point beyond the surface of what it conveyed during each episode, turning it meandering in the end. This is not due to the show being episodic in nature, as some Anime series with an episodic nature managed to be enjoyable for most of their run, such is the case with Cowboy Bebop. The reason Bebop worked at being enjoyable, while Mushishi didn’t, is due to the fact that the former had an overarching narrative to support it in the process. Aside from the superior audiovisuals and having the better cast, five of Bebop’s twenty six episodes had a point to them, and Bebop was leading the viewer on and intriguing them with a mystery to unfold. As for Mushishi, there is no overarching narrative in the story to break the tiresome nature of it’s episodic structure, which makes the series rather pointless in the end.

2. Redundancy and Monotony

Redundancy and monotony are prevalent throughout Mushishi’s twenty two episode run time. The show started out well enough, but after the eleventh episode, the viewer starts to wonder what the meaning behind the series is. The same concepts are shown to the viewer, over and over again, until it becomes rather noticeable that the Anime is attempting to milk the same formula several times over until it can reach the twenty two episodes of it’s run time. The show finally breaks the monotonous cycle and becomes interesting again, during the airing of the twelfth episode, called “One Eyed Fish”. During this episode, we stop seeing Ginko in a manner where he saves humans from the mushi, but rather see him in a state of sorrow and despair, as he loses everything he ever loved. This episode was a great change of pace from the previous nature of the series, which had started to become rather trite. It actually offered insight on Ginko’s character for one, something that the rest of the episodes failed to do, it brought up a formula that wasn’t the same trivial monster of the week episodes, and it was cathartic and emotional as well. Unfortunately, after the conclusion of that episode, the Anime returned to it’s trivial roots, where what would happen at the end of each episode became effortless to predict - that being Ginko coming up with a sophisticated plan and saving the humans from the mushi in the process. A slow, monotonous ten episodes later, and the viewer realizes that he’s wasted his time on something that was not worth it in the end.

3. Overstaying it’s welcome

In this section of my review, I would like to introduce another series which has the same nature as that of Mushishi, and that is Kino no Tabi. Kino no Tabi follows the same episodic structure as that of Mushishi, both are series centered on wandering travelers who explore the world around them and meet new characters in the process. What made Kino much more enjoyable than Mushishi, other than the fact that it had the better execution, the more imaginative concepts, and all of that fluff, is the fact that Kino had a rather short length of thirteen episodes. During Kino, some of the episodes were rather excellent, but a couple of them were not that good. Kino started to falter a bit during some of it’s episodes, as those episodes felt more like a chore to watch than like an engaging ride, and it had become evident that the episodic structure of the series was beginning to grow frail and weak, and that it wouldn’t be able to carry the series for much longer - alas - the short length of the series. Kino was smart enough not to overstay it’s welcome at the end of the day, and knew exactly when it should have ended. As for Mushishi, the series began to falter midway through, and after that, continued on with the same redundant and formulaic structure, without realizing that it had indeed overstayed it’s welcome. Thus, it kept beating the viewer on the head from there on, regurgitating the same concepts over and over again, until it became tiresome to watch.

4. Lack of a supporting cast

This is probably the weakest point here, but it deserves a mention nonetheless. The world of Mushishi revolves around one man, Ginko, and the main cast is composed of only him. Most of the characters are new, not reoccurring, and they are forgotten about immediately after they are introduced into an episode. Thus, the lack of any reoccurring characters makes the emotional catharsis rather weak, as the only character that the viewer can get emotionally attached to is the stoic Ginko. What if the viewer does not like Ginko, or cannot get emotionally invested in him? Who is there to be liked and admired aside from Ginko? It would have been useful if the series had given Ginko a little bike called Hermes, but that’s really beside the point. No matter how good or well written your character is, they cannot carry a show all by themselves. A supporting cast is needed, especially when your titular character is barely developed.

I won’t pretend to know anything about the themes that Mushishi was trying to convey, I don’t. If it was the theme of environmentalism that this series was trying to convey, then most Ghibli should suffice. If it was the themes of isolation from society it was trying to convey, then Welcome to the NHK should suffice. The works mentioned here deal with their themes in a better fashion and have more to say than what Mushishi does. Certainly the themes here were present, but they weren’t presented in a good way for the viewer to notice them, as barely anyone talks about said themes in Mushishi related conversations.

Aside from the hitches mentioned above, Mushishi is rather very slow at certain points and lacks the ability to be binge watched, so for a person who likes to binge watch shows, this one won’t be enjoyed. Some Mushishi fans took months to a whole year until they finished the show, which is mindboggling for someone who finishes shows in one or two sittings only. As for the term imaginative, Mushishi is lacking in that regard as well, since the series lacks any guts to escape it’s routine formula and try something different, aside from One Eyed Fish that is.

All in all, Mushishi is a work that deserves respect for it’s atmosphere, even though the atmosphere was barely immersive in my honest opinion. It deserves respect for some of it’s concepts and it’s lore, but aside from those things, it is a series that is rather trite and meandering for most of it’s runtime. Mushishi wasn’t insultingly bad at the end of the day, it was just below average to fairly average at most times, since triviality is it’s first, second and last name.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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