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Apr 19, 2014 7:13 AM

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Sep 2007
1231
Beautifully tragic.


Apr 19, 2014 10:52 AM

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Oct 2013
68
Ok episode, I was expecting it to be great but it was rather disappointing.
Why did Toki fall into the lake right after Ginko visited the village? What are the odds, he could've fallen before.... Ginko was unnecessary in this episode.
There have been little participation of Ginko in first two episodes so I was expecting more Ginko in this one but his parts were not important at all. He is no longer the Main Character? Such a shame

This season is already worse than the first...
:(

KusuriuriApr 19, 2014 11:20 AM
Apr 19, 2014 11:14 AM
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Feb 2013
623
tingy said:
fanshii said:
I wonder if the good endings will be getting rarer and rarer like in the first season. At least I've got such an impression.

But technically it was a good ending right? :) Toki was finally able to regain his senses back, after being frozen in time, deluding himself thinking that Saki could still be under water, alive. Despite losing a few fingers and toes, at least he is able to move on and finally live again.

I had a feeling that Tae would fall into the lake as well and Toki would have to save her. He probably realized then that saving someone who is alive and in front of him was more important than someone that, in his mind, maybe is still alive. Although Ginko was mainly an observer in this episode, I thought it was a great episode. It shows that he as a mushishi can't solve everything, it's also highly up to the individual and those around the person.


Well put, Tingy.

I'm glad you like Mushishi too. I'm usually not too keen on anime where nothing much happens (slice of life comes to mind), but this kind of 'slow' anime, with a tinge of strangeness and mystery, is something I love. The music, the pacing, the calmness of it: it all fits.

Indeed, Ginko was mostly just an observer this time around. In fact, to some extend, he always is. But it shows, as you said, that he's only human too, and can't solve everything. I mean, what was he supposed to do: force the guy and chain him up close to a fire? That would have been out of character. He helps people who want to be helped, but for those that refuse help, he simply observes, albeit with empathy.

It's such a great character, and with the unseen world of strange 'living' creatures, it gives such a great but weird and mysterious impression as an anime. It's completely different than all other anime out there. The closest - in terms of strangeness - that comes to it, is Kino's Journey, but that has less of the soothing calmness in it.
Apr 19, 2014 12:54 PM

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Jan 2012
362
Is it just me or does Ginko seem to be unimportant anymore this season? He basically doesn't do anything.
FabioApr 19, 2014 2:08 PM
Apr 19, 2014 2:23 PM

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Apr 2013
3489
Liebert said:
Is it just me or does Ginko seem to be unimportant anymore this season? He basically doesn't do anything.

In these three episodes he was definitely more of a spectator compared to season 1 (and even the special), but i'm sure we'll get to see him in action soon.
5 main aspects I base my ratings on:
1. Did DramaEnthusiast make a thread about it?
2. Is it better than Breaking Bad?
3. Did MellowJello recommend the shit out of it?
4. Has it caused a (very entertaining) shitstorm on MAL?
5. Is it actually good?

Scratch the fifth point, it's not very relevant...
Apr 19, 2014 2:54 PM

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Mar 2012
17649
WInter-y episodes are my absolute favourite. There's just something about snow.
LoneWolf said:
@Josh makes me sad to call myself Canadian.
Apr 19, 2014 5:38 PM

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Oct 2013
2984
Misiakk said:
First rather boring episode this season. Ginko didn't do anything, just watched.


dudeee it was legit. as i said about the last ep, this show doesnt need Ginko to carry it, it can be super awesome even without him (not that i dont like Ginko, he is a straight thug).

snow eps are alllllways good
"Urushibara Ruka. The mannerisms and voice of a woman... No... More feminine than any woman. But he's a guy. Taller than Mayuri, but so very thin... But he's a guy. Looks great in a miko outfit... But he's a guy. It's already twilight And yet, it's so hot. The cicadas are crying. But... He's a guy."
Apr 19, 2014 6:53 PM

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Sep 2011
125
OMG, so perfect *-*
I was near to cry in the end T.T
Apr 19, 2014 8:38 PM

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Jul 2011
97
wait, did I miss the explanation for how he could breathe under the lake?
Apr 19, 2014 9:03 PM

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Oct 2013
68
samspot8r8s said:
wait, did I miss the explanation for how he could breathe under the lake?


This is one of the many flaws of this episode....
Apr 19, 2014 9:50 PM
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May 2010
16
Eutass said:
samspot8r8s said:
wait, did I miss the explanation for how he could breathe under the lake?


This is one of the many flaws of this episode....



I see that as a metaphor: the very walls a person erects to protect themself also cuts them off from reality, as well as human warmth and life. He was feeling the effects of (depending on your own beliefs) disassociation or clinical depression. So in one sense he was no longer fully present in the "real" world.

Another way of thinking about Toki's situation: he was already drowning, long before Ginko arrived.
Apr 19, 2014 11:01 PM

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Aug 2011
2186
Oh jeez, this episode stuck out to me as being particularly good. I think it's because it's on the slightly more tragic side of Mushishi episodes.
Apr 19, 2014 11:51 PM

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Oct 2013
791
>.< frostbite...
Apr 20, 2014 12:01 AM

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Oct 2013
1753
Another great episode. The events in this episode and the OST matched perfectly imo. Toki's situation was not very good but I really feel bad for Sachi, poor thing and she was just a kid. The dialogues between the siblings in the beginning kinda adds more sadness to her death.

I'm not sure if it is a good ending, more like bittersweet since Sachi is dead and Toki lost few fingers and toes. Well, at least he is still alive which is a good thing.

Ginko couldn't do much in this episode but that's fine, Toki himself had the courage to save Tae when she fell into the lake. Good job Toki, you saved a life!

I can't wait for the next episode now. :)
Apr 20, 2014 12:02 AM
Observer

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Nov 2007
5283
So who here watched the raw episode 3 at Sakura-Con 2014 with the DIRECTOR HIMSELF (Hiroshi Nagahama) in his panel 7 hours ago?

That was an amazing guest panel.

It was funny because he brought the entire footage of the anime with him. Episode 4, which hasn't aired is actually right after the episode 3. He nearly accidentally showed us a unintended preview of Episode 4.

Also, he confirmed the chapter in which Ginko travels underground will be episode 10.
bla bla bla
The endless debate between fans and haters. At one point, after spending a lot of time on MAL, you just realize it's totally pointless.
Niko-kun said:
On MAL, everyone who has used the lame rating system becomes a critic and an intellectual by default, haven't you heard?
Apr 20, 2014 12:06 AM
Site Admin
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Aug 2012
8288
AnimageNeby said:

Well put, Tingy.

I'm glad you like Mushishi too. I'm usually not too keen on anime where nothing much happens (slice of life comes to mind), but this kind of 'slow' anime, with a tinge of strangeness and mystery, is something I love. The music, the pacing, the calmness of it: it all fits.

Indeed, Ginko was mostly just an observer this time around. In fact, to some extend, he always is. But it shows, as you said, that he's only human too, and can't solve everything. I mean, what was he supposed to do: force the guy and chain him up close to a fire? That would have been out of character. He helps people who want to be helped, but for those that refuse help, he simply observes, albeit with empathy.

It's such a great character, and with the unseen world of strange 'living' creatures, it gives such a great but weird and mysterious impression as an anime. It's completely different than all other anime out there. The closest - in terms of strangeness - that comes to it, is Kino's Journey, but that has less of the soothing calmness in it.

Oh hey, I feel like I haven't seen you around for awhile. And yes, Mushishi has become one of my favorites since I watched the first season last summer, I'm glad you like it as well despite this type of anime usually not being up your alley ^^ The overall atmosphere of the anime is just one of a kind.

That's exactly what I was getting at, how Ginko can't help everyone unless they want to be helped. It's one of the things I like about Mushishi, how not every story will end up a happy one. As a mushishi, he encounters all kinds of people and all kinds of "endings," and that makes it feel quite realistic.
Apr 20, 2014 12:36 AM
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Feb 2013
623
Haleth said:
Eutass said:
samspot8r8s said:
wait, did I miss the explanation for how he could breathe under the lake?


This is one of the many flaws of this episode....



I see that as a metaphor: the very walls a person erects to protect themself also cuts them off from reality, as well as human warmth and life. He was feeling the effects of (depending on your own beliefs) disassociation or clinical depression. So in one sense he was no longer fully present in the "real" world.

Another way of thinking about Toki's situation: he was already drowning, long before Ginko arrived.


Yes, that and bradycardia, vasoconstriction and blood shift, which offsets the classical hypothermia syndrome. It's like when a kid falls into freezing cold water and as a result, sometimes the brain 'shuts off'; maybe you heard of that condition. It allows the human body to survive without oxygen replenishment much longer than normal. Though usually only a few hours maximum (IF it kicks in, which isn't always the case, with mammals).

That said, maybe the snowmushi helped in getting an extreme form of it.

Voila, explained! ;-)
Apr 20, 2014 5:53 AM

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Sep 2008
1624
Eutass said:
samspot8r8s said:
wait, did I miss the explanation for how he could breathe under the lake?


This is one of the many flaws of this episode....


flaw? we've seen mushi miracles throughout the show, like holes int he mountain, human being being revived, people disappearing and flying and stuff, its not hard to imagine the snow mushi helping the guy survive in the water, it was already helping him go on notwithstanding the frostbite and shitty condition of his body. AnimageNeby above came up with a good explanation.

It wasn't specifically explained, but just because it wasn't explained doesn't mean it was a 'flaw'.
eyerokApr 20, 2014 6:00 AM
"...our faces marked by toil, by deceptions, by success, by love; our weary eyes looking still, looking always, looking anxiously for something out of life, that while it is expected is already gone – has passed unseen, in a sigh, in a flash – together with the youth, with the strength, with the romance of illusions.” - Joseph Conrad ('Youth')
Apr 20, 2014 6:05 AM

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Sep 2008
11495
Another great episode. I was just about ready to see a sad ending this time.
Apr 20, 2014 8:52 AM

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Oct 2013
1315
Ginko once again proves himself to be useless. I'd give this episode 4/5
Apr 20, 2014 8:56 AM
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Dec 2012
407
Eutass said:
samspot8r8s said:
wait, did I miss the explanation for how he could breathe under the lake?


This is one of the many flaws of this episode....

It's just a retarded plot hole to give off the feelz and smth.
Apr 20, 2014 9:53 AM

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Oct 2012
223
I really hate cold weather, and frosbite is one of the reasons.
Apr 20, 2014 11:17 AM

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Jan 2008
1250
It's amazing how many people seem to watch this show under the assumption that Ginko is some Naruto or Ichigo-esque hero figure. Heh.
Apr 20, 2014 11:38 AM

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Jun 2009
693
Winter episodes are so chill.

Oh, I kept expecting the worst to happen ;_; Thank goodness it didn’t. A tragic yet quite hopeful tale. But that can only mean the sadder episodes are coming… ;_;

About how Toki survived underwater—I highly doubt the snow that fell around him was ordinary, given that it never melted and kept falling “out of nowhere”. Most likely, it had other mushi-induced properties. It could be that the snow acted like a blanket and protected him; it covered his mouth and nose, so rather than drowning, it only dulled his senses even more: body shutting down thus leaving him unconscious, like someone else explained before. He was left sleeping “under the snow” until he heard the ice crack. His body suffered the consequences, but not as severely as it would have without the mushi’s help.

Aren’t mushi a lot like snowflakes? There’s never two alike… Well, though the same goes for humans. Fascinating, huh?
I think, then procrastinate.
Therefore, I am.
Apr 20, 2014 2:23 PM

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May 2013
95
This episode reminded me that sometimes there the ending isn't always completely happy (considering the frostbite), but that's what's some amazing about Mushishi ;~; Never fails to make me feel happy in the end


... It's a work in progress.
Apr 20, 2014 2:35 PM

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Sep 2011
9879
Another great episode. Was really sad to see that his sister died ;_;. Much feels. Mushishi just gets better and better each week.
Apr 20, 2014 3:06 PM

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Oct 2012
373
Excellent once again. The atmosphere and everything really drew me in more than usual this week. I think mushishi is at it's best when its not always happy.
Apr 20, 2014 4:49 PM

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Oct 2010
369
Eutass said:
samspot8r8s said:
wait, did I miss the explanation for how he could breathe under the lake?


This is one of the many flaws of this episode....


Y-you do realize that Mushi are basically magic right? We've seen them do tons of crazy shit before, but breathing underwater....that's going too far.....
Apr 20, 2014 5:25 PM
Site Admin
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Aug 2012
8288
AnimageNeby said:

Probably one of the better explanation here so far, I learned something today about hypothermia :)

That and what Haleth said, it's seems to be more metaphorical than anything else. I was on Random Curiosity and here's what Enzo said:

"As is so often the case in Mushishi there’s a strong metaphorical component to these fables, for Toki grows as cold emotionally after his sister’s death (which he wrongfully feels responsible for) as he is physically. And when he himself falls through the ice one frigid night, it’s the Tokoyuki which keep him alive – forming a protective layer of “snow” around him even under the water which keeps Toki alive until the cracking of the ice wakes him up. There’s little effort to disguise the symbolism here – they way our emotional walls both protect us and put us at risk, allow us to continue living even as they isolate us. And how it’s sometimes the warmth of another person that finally brings those walls down, leaving us damaged and exposed but somehow more alive than we were before."

Unlike what Pandarenboy said about only to give more feels, there is an actual significance to that scene.
Apr 20, 2014 6:34 PM

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Mar 2014
109
Is it just me or has Ginko been irrelevant for all three episodes? In comparison to season one I mean.
Apr 21, 2014 5:22 PM

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Sep 2013
238
Good episode, though not nearly as perfect as the second one. Ending was very emotional for me as well. Overall, it's a 9/10 episode and this series is by far better than Ping Pong so far, which I am loving.

I felt like this episode was very metaphorical in its messages. The coldness that fell down on him represented the loss of feeling and numbness he that possessed him after he lost his sister. His rather lack of emotions when he meets Ginko shows how much the accident had changed him, and instead of confronting the emotions and he blocks it out. He gets back his emotions through the warmth of the heart of someone close to him, even though it hurt him figuratively in the process, and it broke him down into tears when he recalled the moment that his sister's life had abruptly ended in his arms years ago. However, the emotionally pain from the regaining of his senses was a less devastating than a greater consequence had he kept living that way (literally, the frostbite and death). That maybe covering his sadness with a blanket of snow is much more detrimental in the long run. At the end of the episode, he asks Ginko if maybe the snow had protected him. After a short pause, Ginko responds with "No."

The silence of the tragedies such as when his sister fell through the ice really helped to create the emotional effect. A part of the reason why my heart sank when it happened was how quiet it was; if it was a different anime it would had bludgeoned me with melodrama and theatrically "poignant" music
Apr 21, 2014 8:32 PM

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Jan 2013
11047
Another good episode.
A sad one, but not tragic.
Apr 22, 2014 1:27 AM

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Jul 2013
2347
I should be bored by this show but I'm not..
Apr 22, 2014 3:30 PM

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Aug 2011
52
Adverse said:
Is it just me or has Ginko been irrelevant for all three episodes? In comparison to season one I mean.


Yeah I agree with you. So far he just kinda stands there and observes. He has yet to do any "save the day" type Ginko stuff.

I blame the new voice actor! It's a curse!!!!
Apr 23, 2014 7:35 AM

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Nov 2011
10
why you people care about what ginko does or not?
Apr 23, 2014 3:00 PM

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Aug 2011
52
pantyshot said:
why you people care about what ginko does or not?


That is what was exciting about the first season in my opinion. Ginko coming across crazy mushi and finding ways to get rid of them.

But that's just me.
Apr 23, 2014 8:00 PM

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Aug 2013
4245
Cute adorable sister come in. Excited about the lake icying.
''His sister died drowning in the lake.''
Fuuuuuuuuuck.

Damn, right in the feels this episode. My heart skipped a beat when his vision started to blur. I thought that they would both die in the snow.

I didn't get how he survived in the water. Was the snow acting as a suppleant for him. I guess there is only one answer for everything in that show : mushi.

Well, Ginko is a mushi specialist, but he can't revive the dead. That man will be forever broken.
«Time is passing so quickly. Right now, I feel like complaining to Einstein. Whether time is slow or fast depends on perception. Relativity theory is so romantic. And so sad.»
- Kurisu Makise a.k.a. The Zombie
Apr 23, 2014 8:41 PM

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May 2013
223
This episode was good. It dealt with depression really well.
Armageddon was yesterday, today we have a problem.
Apr 24, 2014 12:07 PM
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Jul 2018
564072
Beautiful episode, very emotional. A lot of potential subtext to be read here. Certainly Ginko seems a bit of an observer than a protagonist of late, but I'm okay with that because it allows for a bit more focus on the stand alone characters, all surprisingly well developed in 20 mins really.
Apr 24, 2014 2:42 PM

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Oct 2009
3293
Hmm liked it but wasn't that good honestly, was predictable and yeah Ginko wasn't awesome as always D:
Apr 25, 2014 2:10 PM

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Nov 2010
2047
Wonderful story again with some beautiful snow scenes
Toki grieving about his sister finally passed when he rescued Tae
I would say besides her warmth, Tae caring might have cured him of that Mushi and sadness
Apr 25, 2014 5:52 PM
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Mar 2013
16285
These episodes end so quickly I often wonder, where does the time go?

Winter is my favorite season, and ever since I was little I've loved to play around in it and watch the hills become blanketed in white.

This episode was very somber, similar to the last episode. It was tragic how the little sister died, she had so much more to live for.

I'm glad Toki came back to his senses though. I sense he and Tae are going to be more than just friends, they really care a lot for each other.
Apr 25, 2014 9:31 PM

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Dec 2011
6101
Those are some really interesting Mushi especially the Snow Roly Poly one that looked so fun.

It was such a tragic episode.
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Apr 26, 2014 2:10 AM

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Jul 2008
11009
Not the perfect ending this time but everybody lives. Toki's story really pulled at the heartstrings.
Apr 26, 2014 3:11 AM

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Aug 2012
193
Mushishi is always so interesting.. I really like how imaginative all the mushi are. Plus how relaxing, melancholy and thoughtful the stories end to be.
May 2, 2014 9:16 AM

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May 2010
2452
Ahh.. This ep felt cozy. Maybe because of the setting. (Winter and stuff.)
But it wasn't as great as the previous episodes. Still gives that warm-feeling though.

And oh, I want that snow-rolypoly!! :D
May 7, 2014 11:40 PM

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May 2012
1998
03:09 dat weird voice

19:40 tears cured him

7.5/10 for this episode.
Isayama Hajime should be awarded The Manga with The Highest Inconsistencies of Characters' Appearances.
He keeps performing multiple plastic surgeries on those Shingeki No Kyojin characters in a SINGLE chapter.
Yes, I've read up to the latest chapter of Shingeki No Kyojin manga.
Forced myself to read through the kidsketching chapters after the anime's ended. At least from now on, I only have to go through the hell once a month.
Patiently awaiting SNK TV/movie/OVA anime-sequel.
The 2015 SNK live-action movie would probably suck.
May 10, 2014 7:57 PM

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Oct 2008
4667
Draykho said:

I blame the new voice actor! It's a curse!!!!

err, what do you mean? if you're referring to Ginko, it's the same voice actor.
Jun 11, 2014 5:14 AM

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Apr 2013
229
Aww snow episode. Once again wonderful. Not that it matters, but you can't help but think Ginko didn't do anything at all this episode xD. He was just there :D
Jun 27, 2014 9:53 AM

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May 2013
1310
Great episode.
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