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Sep 19, 2017 9:24 PM

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Apr 2013
2282
Sadi-st_Tanmoy said:
Episode 06 = Trivializing drug addiction.
&
Akouya = Ikigami = The drug addict.

Reason: Akouya (the drug/mushi addict) doesn't feel like living unless she lets the mushi to live in her body and so she does this by inhaling the flower (= drug) after being cured instead of going through rehabilitation. And when she does this, the characters don't get mad or sad, rather they "accept" it. This is the same as overlooking drug addicts in our societies and their taking of drugs. Just like Akouya, they lead a half-dead life of delusion and hallucination and say they are having so much fun.... rubbish.


^ This

And how the fuck can this be any good if you turn into a mummy every night ?
Sep 20, 2017 1:52 AM
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Dec 2016
43
Always-Hungry said:

And how the fuck can this be any good if you turn into a mummy every night ?


Yeah, the GRASS/WEED is greener in the eyes of addicts. There is something called Rehabilitation if you didn't know. Being mummy-like for not taking weeds means you are growing through it. And you will be better in future. But logics don't work on addicts. Only the weed is real.
Nov 27, 2017 11:45 AM

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May 2016
6248
This show never ceases to amaze me.
Dec 12, 2017 9:59 PM

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Dec 2012
16125
A truly breathtaking episode when the message fully sinks in. Akoya became so accustomed to the lifespan of the mushi that she couldn't cope with having a human perception of time anymore. It really resonates because the thought of eternity often unsettles me in a similar way.
Mar 19, 2018 11:16 PM

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Feb 2018
601
Sadi-st_Tanmoy said:
Episode 06 = Trivializing drug addiction.
&
Akouya = Ikigami = The drug addict.

Reason: Akouya (the drug/mushi addict) doesn't feel like living unless she lets the mushi to live in her body and so she does this by inhaling the flower (= drug) after being cured instead of going through rehabilitation. And when she does this, the characters don't get mad or sad, rather they "accept" it. This is the same as overlooking drug addicts in our societies and their taking of drugs. Just like Akouya, they lead a half-dead life of delusion and hallucination and say they are having so much fun.... rubbish.


You make a valid point, although, the episode can be interpreted in other ways as well.
For example, I have often wondered about and had pity for animals that live so short, for a day, or couple of days (I have heard many times that butterflies live for a day, although it seems to be incorrect, but they still don't live long), and this episode showed a positive side of that, how their every experience is precious.
After all, the point of the episode was different views on passage of time, and how each has it's own positive sides and Ginko says in the end "You have endless time ahead of you."

I found it a very encouraging episode, definitely a very deep one either way.
Apr 22, 2018 8:58 AM

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Nov 2011
7621
Another beautiful episode, which also offers a pearl of wisdom. Narration in line with the rest of the episodes seen so far, quite melancholic, but not so extreme with the previous ones, one is still fascinated by this anime series.
Aug 16, 2018 3:27 PM
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Apr 2008
246
Beautiful allegory for escapism and drug addiction, anxiety and comfort vs uncomfortable growth. Huge, huge topics unto themselves.
Mar 2, 2019 7:30 PM

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May 2016
12390
Akoya as an Ikigami only had to wait for time to surreally pass by to have a fresh beginning the morning after as if she had been reborn every single day. She was thrown back to reality so suddenly with the revelation that her father's been using her as a means to abuse Mushi and how he ended up dying right after so I don't really blame her for wanting to escape from the real world after that.

Life sucks and some people can't deal with that. If they have a way of finding their own happiness, it'll be hard to take that away from them even if you can try to replace it.








Mar 13, 2019 11:41 PM
Nekogirl~

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Mar 2014
3005
anoter just wonderfull setup.
Just love this anime LOVE <3


Jul 4, 2019 6:54 PM
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Apr 2016
13217
So, Ginko sells those stuff to collectors. The con artist abusing Mushi got what he deserved, he ruined a lot of people with his deceptions.
Sep 13, 2019 11:28 AM

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Sep 2018
1237
Another very melancholy episode, but also with a strong symbolic value, for the message it conveys: we must take our destiny with two hands and not let ourselves be carried away by the river of events. Excellent soundtrack.
Mar 24, 2020 12:10 PM

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Feb 2017
2389

"The sun rises today and sets again.
A flower bloomed in the morning, falls from its stem.
The sun sets today and rises again.
Flowers bloom to fill the land,
but not the flowers of yesterday."


Apr 1, 2020 10:38 PM

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Aug 2018
2486
The ending was really deep and well made. The episode itself is beautiful and theres nothing I can complain about it
Apr 4, 2020 6:46 AM
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Oct 2018
26
Definitely a metaphor for drug addiction. Now Akoya will live out her life completely useless to society. Sad ending, but again another beautiful episode.
May 5, 2020 8:24 AM

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Apr 2010
958
Heartbreaking... tragically beautiful
May 26, 2020 8:12 PM

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Aug 2019
1153
damn that was a pretty sad tale. Cult shit freaks me out honestly, humans are probably the scariest being to touch this planet i swear.
ahhhh it pained me having to watch the poor girl go back to the Mushi. In a way, the Mushi this time around is like a form of addictive drug. I guess the more your on it, the more used to the Mushi's heartbeat you feel in the day where everything would fee faster and better like a fat dopamine rush but for like 12 hours, but after when that Mushi's lifespan dies and gets reborn your body piratically resets and the cycle contiunes. I guess the addictive part would be when people were cured of it, they would feel anxious as there body breaks the weird cycle and returns to reality. Would make sense why people weren't happy about being cured and would go back.
Aug 19, 2020 11:19 PM

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Jan 2019
598
What a sad and existential episode:(
At least it ended on a happy note
Oct 15, 2020 8:09 AM
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Mar 2019
17
This episode's theme is brilliant and amazing. It's shows how human won't let go of their beliefs easily, even we'd rather live in fantasy if it can giving us hope and happiness.
Jan 17, 2021 1:07 PM

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Jun 2019
6584
That man definitely deserved death. Piece of crap human. Poor girl.
Apr 6, 2021 5:55 AM

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Jan 2020
1935
I think Ginko should offer Akoya his smoke
May 11, 2021 8:29 PM
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Oct 2019
4330
not a good episode. that girl is a moron. i can't stand stupid, helpless people

the episodic nature of this series is beginning to wear on me, unfortunately. it was pretty interesting at first. the first 2 episodes or so were really good. but the last couple haven't been. just kind of rinse, wash, repeat
Jul 6, 2021 11:37 PM

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Jan 2021
1615
I feel like, when Akoya becomes Ikigami she is like being reborn after waking up from her sleep, and that's what scares her when the Mushi inside her is taken away by Ginko. Plus the fact that her own father used her all along.

When the Mushi was still perched inside her, she was not aware of the real time of human, her heart felt full because according to her everything felt fast and like it was okay. When she returns to being a normal human, everything becomes scary for her because human time feels so long.. she became worried about many things, her heart didn't feel full anymore.

Nagi said that "we are not all that different" we are referring to Nagi, Akoya, and the people there. Not knowing what to do, long periods of time are scary and worry us. But as Ginko said, just live a normal life, live as usual. Normal life is not easy but we have unlimited time ahead of us.

I agree with the opinion that this episode is about people who are addicted to drugs and also about the time of human life, the time we live everyday.

This episode was beautiful and sad.. I myself once felt like Akoya, when time flies without worrying about something my heart feels full, but when it returns to "normal" it becomes quite scary. But life must go on.

Great episode.
hanakocheeksJul 6, 2021 11:43 PM

Feb 9, 2022 4:04 PM
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Nov 2020
2445
I like how the further we get into the show, the more and more deadly and dangerous these mushi get; leaving more and more people near death or people actually dying like the dad in this episode. Looking to see what happens next.
May 29, 2022 3:36 AM

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May 2018
985
I'm scared, not that I know how drug addiction works, but this looks like how people who is addicted to drugs acts. Watched this episode for the second time and this is really a good episode, I love it.

Sep 30, 2022 4:46 PM
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Jul 2016
40
Episode 6 was a bit of a snoozer for me. I've been captivated and warmed by every episode up to this point. This one just didn't hold my attention.
Oct 7, 2022 8:40 PM

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Jul 2015
97
Humans return to drugs on their own volition after all is said and done. Sometimes, one simply does now want to be healed.
Have a healthy, happy, day of hilarity!




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Nov 1, 2022 10:56 PM

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Dec 2019
634
It's pretty funny how I share the same exact experience as someone in this thread who posted like 10 years ago. I first watched Mushishi in 2020 and I never found this episode particularly memorable, but now that I'm rewatching I find the content really powerful. I don't see it as a 1:1 analogy for drug addiction as well, though I can see why people would come to that conclusion, especially with the theme of escapism present in this episode. The ending was very bittersweet. The main idea I took away from this episode was that despite all anxieties about the future, the best thing to do is to appreciate the life you were given and keep living it. My favorite episode on this rewatch, a smidge above Pillow Pathway because it left me thinking for a while longer.
Nov 26, 2022 8:03 PM

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Sep 2008
1624
Strangely enough, 9 years after watching this the first time, I don't feel like this reminded me of drug use at all. I think I kind of get the situation the girl was in, being emotionally dependent and attached to her father and her family. She found the prospect of living without those ties too much, the idea of the vast uncertainty of living a long life on her own, it scared her. She had not become her own person, and maybe was scared to be independent. Maybe in the end, her way out of the trauma of seeing her father killed (therefore the severance of her emotional and life anchor) was to live in that oblivion of living and dying every single day. It wasn't for the pleasure of the mushi, or even the forgetting of her real life exactly though. It was the thought of going on that scared her.

Another aspect to the episode is that of the concept of time - we think our lives are short, too short. But everything is relative. Compared to the lives of animals that only live a day or two, our lives are vast, entirely different kind of existence. What we do with it, is up to us. Our choice.

Sadi-st_Tanmoy said:
Episode 06 = Trivializing drug addiction.
&
Akouya = Ikigami = The drug addict.

Reason: Akouya (the drug/mushi addict) doesn't feel like living unless she lets the mushi to live in her body and so she does this by inhaling the flower (= drug) after being cured instead of going through rehabilitation. And when she does this, the characters don't get mad or sad, rather they "accept" it. This is the same as overlooking drug addicts in our societies and their taking of drugs. Just like Akouya, they lead a half-dead life of delusion and hallucination and say they are having so much fun.... rubbish.


Which leads me to this comment I completely disagree with. Even assuming this takes place within the theme of drug addiction and society (which it isnt cuz Akouya was literally used by her father/elders for a purpose to live a specific life without her choice or say in it - a point that weirdly enough no one has talked about in this thread), even assuming this theme is exactly about drug addiction, addicts cannot be forced to rehabilitate. At a certain point, people with addictions, traumas, mental health issues need to want to get better - a support system is crucial (the boy), yes, but not enough on its own.

KayY_Y said:
The ending was very bittersweet. The main idea I took away from this episode was that despite all anxieties about the future, the best thing to do is to appreciate the life you were given and keep living it. My favorite episode on this rewatch, a smidge above Pillow Pathway because it left me thinking for a while longer.


I think this is it. The crux of the episode.
eyerokNov 26, 2022 8:18 PM
"...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')
Jan 18, 2023 2:45 PM

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Jun 2020
412
really hard rewatch after introducing my ex to this show who ended up dying from addiction
Jan 22, 2023 7:44 AM
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Feb 2019
272
A powerful example of not being addicted to drugs and a bunch of sniffers is...
Apr 2, 2023 2:49 PM
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Dec 2019
11
deeply disturbing
Apr 17, 2023 6:54 AM

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Jul 2016
2391
They're putting chemicals in the water to make the friggin swamps move!

Really like Ginko as an MC, dude's so sly
Apr 18, 2023 8:18 AM

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Jul 2016
2391
One of the more bittersweet endings so far. That dad is such a scumbag, tho I wonder if whoever "manages" the next living god is just as big of a scumbag.
May 23, 2023 8:51 PM
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Feb 2020
255
I honestly did not like the ending of the episode. Like yes she felt happier that way, but she sniffed the flower out of fear because she killed her dad and had a sense of time again. I liked the ending in episode 5 better because yes she felt attached to the Mushi, but she got out of it and was happy to live there. I feel like this episode should have ended similarly. She could have learned how to live life day by day and not forget what happened the previous day.

As far as I've noticed, the Mushi are their own sentient beings, but the people infected with them essentially have diseases that need to be cured. That's what I thought in this episode. She was cured. Why did she want to get infected again? It honestly annoyed me.
passing_throughMay 23, 2023 8:54 PM
Nov 14, 2023 8:58 PM

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May 2019
817
Brilliant episode. Living the lifespan of the mushi each day. I found it sad she smelled the flower again but it's understandable.
Jan 4, 3:41 AM
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Nov 2016
46
Mushishi, even with weaker episodes compared to the first, is established with a mature narrative and life lessons, which address the drama with problems brought by Mushi. In the 6th episode the story of Kaya is born, a girl who is forced to live as a kind of God, where she cannot even speak. The saddest thing about all this is seeing how her father took advantage of her and cared more about his own benefits than about his family.

In the end, even after freeing herself, Kaya chooses to continue living as a God because it was the only way she felt alive. She has people by her side, that's good, but it's sad to see how people can't be happy being themselves.

As usual, there are lessons from Ginko, who stays on the Island 1 month longer than expected and heals the citizens.
Feb 1, 7:40 AM

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Apr 2016
516
I don't like the similarity with drugs, but this episode talks about the two ways of living: to live every day as the only one, and to live your whole life.
And that's beautiful.
Aug 23, 6:45 PM

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Jul 2017
1710
This episode touched upon the power of routine and ritual and took a nuanced view of how these can affect people. Was the girl wrong to want to stay in that environment? I can't say myself.
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