Mushishi
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| THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE. ---------------------------------------- Birth and rebirth, I just love the themes of this show. The awesomeness of nature (with the lightning) is very well animated imo. Need headphones on to experience the thrills. Really loved the transition between certain the emotional scenes though this episode. I thought it was neat. The motherly love is quite something in the second half. |
Stark700Dec 6, 2014 4:51 PM
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| Second consecutive depressing episode... I can't personally relate to the mother so I hated her guts for being so selfish and stubborn, but I can sorta understand that you can't force yourself to love something or someone. I choked up to see the son actually trying to do good and not show a single hint of resentment towards her mother even after what she's done. I'm sure his goodness will eventually reach the mother. |
| A mushi that calls the lightning. It really was something to see Reki tied to a tree then the lightning struck. When the second time it happened, Reki with those eyes looking down on his mother. That was really impacting. Shino being forced to marry someone else. Not wanting her baby as she sees that she can't love it. She does at least realize it really well. Unable to say the right thing to the point of crying and just wanting to die. Reki pushing his mother away so the lightning won't strike them both. The mushi leaving and Reki is living with some relatives. This was impacting above anything else. For some reason I wasn't too sad as it just had to go this way. |
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| I hate how selfish the mother was, but in the end, people like that exist in the world. |
| Oh god who are you people? |
| This epsiode was so sad...poor Reki. I really felt sorry for him. But it was really wonderful how his mother hugged him and told Reki that she would die with him and wished to be reborn as a loving mother. |
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| Yet another Mushishi episode concentrating on the relationship between mother and son. However, "At the Foot of Lightning" presents a rather poignant story; contrary to the typical. Mushi Trivia Felt bad for Reki as he had quite the harsh childhood, due to his mom's disliking and negligence towards him. Little guy was basically forced to mature at an early age. Even after hearing Shino's side of the story, I couldn't really reason with her mindset. Sure, she wanted to get married to another guy but Reki was her own child after all. Saying that she thinks she can't love him was a bit heartbreaking to hear. Though, I loved how she asked Reki to come back to her and embraced him when he refused to, even to the point where she decided to die together. What an enigmatic feeling/scene that was! Great episode once again. The ending could've been a bit happier with mom and son living together, but I'm just glad that Shouraishi has finally left Reki's body. Hopefully, he'll be having a good life with his relatives. |
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| Gees man, that ending was heavier than if he'd actually died. Very real though. |
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| A mushi who attracts lightning, a really dangerous one. Poor Reki, he was struck by lightning like five times, even though he didn't die that should have been painful. And both father and mother didn't do anything for him, just stand there and watch. Reki's mother was really selfish but she was forced to marry and have that child, it's difficult for her to love him. At the end maybe she showed a bit of affection (forced by Ginko though) when she tried to die with him but she saved both of their lives running away. And the end, at least for Reki was the best he could have, the Shouraishi left and he moved with a relative, maybe that relative will love him more than her mother never did. Another sad yet great episode 9.5/10. |
| I'm learning English so maybe I make mistakes :) |
| Thanks god he didn't die |
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| Magnificent episode and a sad one!!! Wish more people would watch this... |
| "Laugh, and the world laughs with you; Weep, and you weep alone". Ella Wheeler Wilcox |
soundscape said: Magnificent episode and a sad one!!! Wish more people would watch this... Actually this was the first Mushishi epidose of this seson which I don't like. |
| Dub = fake crap. Always. |
| I had goosebumps when the son got hit by the lightning while looking at his mother. Really intense scene. Man I love this show... |
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| This episode was so "cold". It was still beautiful, but it didn't impact me as much as most of Mushishi's episodes do. |
| Pretty hit or miss episode for me. |
darkreaver94 said: However, when his mother started hugging him, hoping to die along with him and be reborn as a good mother. It somehow changed his mindset. He believed that his mother loves him all along. By pushing his mother away, he protected someone who he shown affection to as well as the same person who he believed to have shown affection to him. The mushi leaving from his body, it could have means that there is no longer a need to seek affection from the lightning. There is already someone who loves him all along. You were paying absolutely 'no' attention at all. |
| Another amazing episode of Mushishi! This is the first episode that made me very angry though! That mother was just despicable. She tried to kill her child once when he was in the womb, and then again when she tied him to the tree! She disagreed with her parents decision on an arranged marriage and she takes it out on the child by not showing him any love and by trying to kill him! I was really hoping that the bitch was going to get struck down dead and that the son would survive. Luckily for him they realized that the mother was never going to be able to love him and sent him to live with family who would hopefully treat him better. |
| So glad that I'm not a huge manga reader, because the manga readers WHINE WAY TOO MUCH and have to RUIN every adapted anime for the ANIME ONLY WATCHERS! |
TheNaturalPerm said: Yeah that was insane, it got across how much sees and understands the way his mother felt about him. It was like he was saying "here, this should make you happier right"I had goosebumps when the son got hit by the lightning while looking at his mother. Really intense scene. Man I love this show... edit: 2199th post |
AlexTheRiotDec 7, 2014 12:53 PM
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| Wow that felt like the darkest episode in awhile. At first I didn't like Shino either. I mean yeah she wanted to marry another man, but then ended up having a child with someone she doesn't love. It doesn't mean that just because she has suffered that she must make others suffer with her. Then I thought maybe she became so apathetic because she felt like she was ignored by her mother, and if she wasn't loved by her own mother, then she couldn't learn to love anyone else either after being rejected herself. Sure not everyone would react this way, but I believe it can happen; after all, there are even abusive parents out there who don't love their child. I think Shino did try, but she just couldn't. That's why she thought the solution would be just for both of them to die. When she said that she hoped to be reborn as a mother who can love her child, that was truly what she wanted. What a tragic and tear-inducing story. This episode wasn't even about the mushi, but about the relationship between a mother and her child. Family stories always hit hard for me, and it's heartbreaking to see that not all families could end up happy. The ending was a realistic one, separating the mother and the child. It was clear that Shino could never love Reki, and the only way for them to be able to move forward at all was to not be with each other (well at least for Reki. Seems like Shino will be apathetic for the rest of her life...she must have some sort of mental disorder like depression). But yeah, I can't imagine being like Reki, that a kid could be pushed to have that sort of mentally where he believes that he shouldn't be alive and thus seeks death. |
tingyDec 6, 2014 7:10 PM
Frost_Fox_Sinon said: darkreaver94 said: However, when his mother started hugging him, hoping to die along with him and be reborn as a good mother. It somehow changed his mindset. He believed that his mother loves him all along. By pushing his mother away, he protected someone who he shown affection to as well as the same person who he believed to have shown affection to him. The mushi leaving from his body, it could have means that there is no longer a need to seek affection from the lightning. There is already someone who loves him all along. You were paying absolutely 'no' attention at all. Ikr she didn't Loved him and at The end he Even went to relatives |
| Best episode so far in this season. The only one to truly hit my emotions. |
| Holy bacon... that was.... dark. O_O I can't really tell much about this episode, except that it has a strong atmosphere of misery and sadness. Not any misery, but a misery from being unable to love someone you wanted/supposed to love, which IMO is the worst miserable feeling you could ever feel. The loneliness can be felt too thorough this episode, thus using the lightning as a "plot point" of this episode. I see some people are questioning the ending. You can actually interpret the ending in a lot of ways, but I'll just interpret it in a "good" way and a "bad" way. Here they are: Good interpretation: We see Reki is holding his umbilical chord. This probably given to him by his mother. I think, this probably means that his mother is gradually and slowly trying to love him. Notice how she easily gave up searching his umbilical chord before. But at the end, she managed to find it. We see Reki seeing the sky, probably thinking not to depend on lightning anymore. Bad interpretation: That umbilical chord probably is already hidden by Reki. Moving to his relatives, Reki brought along his umbilical chord, means there are still some senses of discomfort and loneliness in him. We see Reki seeing the sky, probably about to seek "protection" in thunder. Another interpretation is that probably that umbilical chord did given by his mother, but means that she "gives up" loving him. Just choose which interpretation you want ;) Overall, a very sad but nice episode. And that last minutes (actually, the whole episode)....  5/5, like usual. Time to go to Alaska to fight with bears again to regain my manliness... AND DAT OST. F*ck, it just so beautiful!! I want it! |
New_-Dec 6, 2014 8:50 PM
HOW TO SAVE ANIME IN THREE SIMPLE STEPS
Should even one of the above conditions cannot be done, anime is still at risk. |
darkreaver94 said: Frost_Fox_Sinon said: You were paying absolutely 'no' attention at all. I'm looking at it based on his perspective. He believed that the mother loved him even though it wasn't the case. The mother couldn't love him at all. He never for a second thought that she loved him, that literally could not have been made more clear. |
Wow. That was definitely a beautiful and emotionally powerful episode but that mother is just... Such a bitch. You still can't love your own child after all that? She just gave him his umbilical cord and said "deuces". If I was him, I'd just straight up tell her: |
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| I love these sad tales and depictions of moral choices. So good ; ; |
| Favourite episode of Mushishi, hot damn. |
| I am literally irritated right now. I don't care about the emotional and impressive stuff people talk about here, and which I think is not at all. How on earth would it be possible for a mother not to love her own child?! Were you that obsessive about marrying the other guy; so you end up with your current husband's child and not loving him? Or other excuses you have? That's the most pathetic thing I have ever experienced. Bitch. |
veluriel said: I can see how people hate the mother, but I don't. I think the exposition about her wanting to marry someone else actually hindered the episode. It made her seem selfish, but I don't think that's the point of the episode at all. Shino isn't selfish so much as completely aware of the fact that she probably couldn't love the child at all. She's emotionally broken in a way, and that may or may not be due to the way that she was raised. You saw how she cut her hair after she felt that her mother abandoned her to the arranged marriage. While a lot of anime can make fun of the 'rejection/break up haircut' I felt that its use here was rather poignant. Shino is a broken person with broken emotions. When she realized that she couldn't love her unborn she tried a home abortion. (YMMV based on your own politics here.) What you need to understand is that the concept of being unable to feel emotions is real. There are people who are unable to feel certain emotions for whatever reason. Some people are born that way, others may have suffered trauma or abuse. There is realism here, and an attempt at showing us that the human experience has much variation. I'm not trying to say that she's some kind of heroine. But Shino suffers. She suffers from a loveless marriage and emotional distress that has left her in what appears to be a dissociative state. She suffers guilt for not being able to love her child the way she feels that she should. Do you honestly think that she could just love him if she "tried hard enough?" That's not how emotions work. She cries during the storm and offers to die with Reki because she doesn't know how to be any other way. Yet she knows that she's missing a fundamental part of her humanity and that she's a failure as a mother. She knows these things, and she feels helpless because there's nothing she can do about it. Saying she could just love him if she tried is equivalent to telling a person suffering from depression that they should just cheer up and get over it already. I mean, don't you think she wants to? That's the meaning behind her attempt at sacrificing her life to die with her son. She knows she's broken and that her brokenness has negatively impacted her son, but she has no way to fix it. So she offers to die by his side, praying that she will be reborn as a better mother who is capable of loving her son. This episode was terribly tragic. It was hard to watch after the previous one as well. But this one had a genuinely happier ending. Separation was the only thing that was going to work in this situation. The reality is that Shino should have never had children in the first place; that's probably why they don't have any others. And what you need to understand is that there really are people out there like that. And I felt that this episode was a touching attempt at showing us the breadth of human experiences. Excellent post. People are much too quick to resort to emotions and thus react so negatively towards Shino without putting thought in to her situation. You did a great job explaining things, but unfortunately your words may fall on deaf ears. |
sevki said: I am literally irritated right now. I don't care about the emotional and impressive stuff people talk about here, and which I think is not at all. How on earth would it be possible for a mother not to love her own child?! Were you that obsessive about marrying the other guy; so you end up with your current husband's child and not loving him? Or other excuses you have? That's the most pathetic thing I have ever experienced. Bitch. It's like you're under the impression that literally (you did not need to use literally in that situation, dude. I don't know how you can be metaphorically irritated) every mother out in the world loves their child. |
Kondo-Isao said: It's like you're under the impression that literally (you did not need to use literally in that situation, dude. I don't know how you can be metaphorically irritated) every mother out in the world loves their child. Kondo-Isao, I am not 100% under that impression; at least not for our world. I explained above. |
TyrelDec 8, 2014 4:59 PM
Shock_Yin said: Discrediting everyone with "I don't care about the emotional and impressive stuff people talk about here, and which I think is not at all." Because you dont personally care for it, isn't that a bit direspectful and a bit narrow minded on your part? Yes I went overboard with my accusations and tried to discribe a person through one comment, yes you're right I shouldn't have done that, especially when I haven't had contact to that person before now. You're totally right in your complaints and I shouldn't have been so condescending and out-topic as you actually described it. I interpreted something that wasn't even in your text. Mushi-Shi takes place in the past as you can see from most people being farmers or fishemen, there are doctors too, but calling the people naive just because they are from a simpler time, isn't really an explanation for why a mother can't love her child or did you miss the episode 2 of Mushi-Shi where a girl gets left behind by her own family. So yes a mother not loving her child has happened in the series before. Seriously a lot of the charm of Mushi-Shi comes from it's potrayal of emotions. Firstly, thanks for your understanding and reasoning. I'm glad this is a discussion instead of an argument. :) In my first comment I have not explained my thoughts in detail I see now, so it is not unnatural for you to think of me generalizing everyone. But anyway, I can name like 10-15 reasons for my feelings of that episode. But that does not matter that much. I still think a mother should feel something for her child no matter what the conditions of having him/her; or no matter who she is married to. This sentence by itself sounds so simple, but I really think that within those earliler ages, the bonds were stronger. Even though it is not enough and does not make every mother love her child unconditionally; for that spesific episode I still feel anger towards that woman. That emotionless face of hers oh god! I cannot emphatize at all! She seems like she does not even try! That hugging part was so forced. Yes, this incident happened before. But I at least felt sorry for that mother/woman. For this episode, all I feel is the things I already mentioned. |
| The ending was great and that mushi was beautiful. Also this shot: |
| Aw man, another episode with a sad ending, albeit it was as sad as last week's. Overall, excellent episode of Mushishi once again. |
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| That was quite cruel of her... not loving him is one thing but to tie him to a tree when there is thunder outside... |
| I found the reasoning of his mother never gaining the capability to love him PERFECTLY symbolic, as this show always is. To represent the phase of his life where he believed or seeked her affection, the show used the mushi to represent that affection in the form of lightning. His belief in his mother's affection was given fuel by the fact that the lightning could give him affection as well. Then, when he could no longer attract the lightning by the mushi leaving his body, he was also able to realize that, just like true lightning, he can't always gain the attention of something he seeks. As Ginko said, sometimes it just has to be this way, just how you can't control where lightning will strike (in their day and age.) Basically the uncontrollable nature of lightning is symbolic of not being able to control whom one does or does not love. Also, to that brewing argument above, I saw one sentence that made me wonder something i thought was true. I figured that the child was born from the mother and the husband she "didn't" want to marry. Only because the kid said that both his mom or dad never looked at him in the eye. Therefore I think the dad is equally discomforted in the fact that this child isn't his own. But someone in that argument (to lazy to search and quote) said that it was the child of the new husband. Which is it? |
ASimpleLotusDec 7, 2014 7:46 AM
leslie7622 said: Ok what was that last scene about? Was that his umbilical cord that Reki was holding? Did he take it so that his mother couldn't find it? Did he not want to get rid of the mushi? The way I see it, he obviously took it when Ginko asked for it. At that time, he knew that finding the umbilical cord would mean losing his ability to attract the lightning. According to Ginko (who I assume is right) the child sees this as losing the ability to protect his family/village from the lightning. So I think showing him holding it at the end meant that, even upon knowing he could die, he wanted to keep the ability anyways. So I think it shows his resolution in being a martyr/protector. Symbolically this could have many more implications. I think showing him hold it at the end also physically represents the severed mental connection between his mother and him, so showing it disconnected after explaining that he moved could be a visual metaphor for him coming to terms with no longer having anything to do with her. OR I also interpret it as a "second" cutting of the umbilical cord. Since he's starting out at the lightning clouds, the cord could represent him finally being cut off from the Mushi, who is something like an abstract second mother to him, and born anew. The third interpretation I have (and it could be all of them) is that instead of using this scene to tell the audience something, it could just as simply be him cherishing what this umbilical cord meant. The only time he was truly attached/connected to his mother, was when his umbilical cord wasn't cut. Anything afterwards was just her negligence and cold-heartedness. It's his only good remembrance of his mother...pretty much. |
ASimpleLotusDec 7, 2014 7:40 AM
| Ginko teaching "How to be a parent 101" was so fun to see XD Reki looked really cool when he got shocked with his eyes wide open :O Gave me goosebumps. |
Barion-ZaraDec 8, 2014 3:14 AM
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darkreaver94 said: Shock_Yin said: No you haven't paid attention at all. Reki finds it creepy when his mother tries to hug him and he knows, she doesn't love him, he even says so earlier in the episode to Ginko, did you even pay attention? because clearly you didn't or else you wouldn't be saying this. She even outright states she doesn't care if Reki dies, do you think Reki wants to die with someone, who clearly doesn't love him. No he wouldn't. No he doesn't care for his mother, so why should he bring happiness to someone, who clearly didn't do anything good for him? Next time think before you post something so illogical. Okay, I'm going to rewatch this again. Good points by the way. Sorry but thanks for answering. God, what were you guys smoking when you were watching this episode? "Reki finds it creepy that his mother hugged him...he doesn't want to die with someone who clearly doesn't love him" "It was enough for him to hate his mother as shown from his eyes. He sees lightning as something that loved him because of how it always seek for him no matter where he was." were we watching the same thing? Thats not how it happened at all. Because of the mushi inside him, the lightning would falll where he was, as in his location. He attracted lightning. Which means that would endanger the people around him, which is why he used to go to that tree which was a safe distance away from his own house (and his parents) as well as the villagers. That's what Ginko tells the mom. Her mom's explanation, that he goes out to attract lightning because he hates her was complete BS because she didn't understand his reason, until Ginko explained it to her. He was saving their (and her) ass. That's why he pushed her away at the end, not because he did not want to die with someone who didn't love him. He was saving his mother. And everybody else. I wish I was as tough as that kid. He's my new inspiration. I'm baffled by some of the comments here, and how this episode did not seem to faze people. I had goosebumps at least 3 times during the episode, and I felt that it was one of the most moving Mushishi episodes. Excellent, even by Mushihsi standards. Which is saying a lot. Anyone else notice how we've had 3 episodes based around mother-son relationship this season? sevki said: I still think a mother should feel something for her child no matter what the conditions of having him/her; or no matter who she is married to. You "think" and you "feel" such and such should be a fact of life, but its not. I've seen mothers who have been absolutely horrible with their children. This was nothing in comparison with what I have witnessed, heard and read in real life. You know about mothers who have actually murdered their own children, like this one mother I read about once in the states who drowned all her children in a bath tub? Your opinion doesn't matter when in reality things are different. There are all kinds of weird people in this world, including those mothers and fathers who don't give two shits about their children. In the case of this mother in this episode, she just didn't or couldn't love her child. She just doesn't have the capacity to, and there's nothing unrealistic about it. |
eyerokDec 7, 2014 3:35 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') |
| Gorgeous episode. Everyone give veluriel's post on page 2 a read. |
| such a good depiction of a mother-son relationship |
"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." |
| Weakest episode this season. |
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