Story: 9/10
The story gravitates around Mushi -a misterious lifeform that resemble ghosts- and the main character, Ginko, who is a Mushishi, a specialist in dealing with this lifeforms. Each episode has an entirely different scenario and, at least at first, it seems like nothing comes together. However, small pieces of information appear in every episode and the mistery around the protagonist and the "mushi" starts to disappear. I will not go deeper into it because I want to avoid spoilers of all kinds(if spoilers can truly happen in this series).
I gave the story a 9 because of the other features that the whole series has. In itself, I found the story truly boring. No dynamics, no plot twists, no attention catchers whatsoever. However, this series was not created for its complicated storyline, but for the atmosphere around the story. This is the strong point about Mushishi. The images and the symbols do the talking.
Art: 10/10
The art of this anime is simply fantastic. It is a pleasure watching the scenery. If I may exaggerate, it is the only thing that kept me going through this series when I got bored. The producers really did a great job on the aestethic part.
Sound: 10/10
Really good sound effects and , also, good music. The quality is flawless but the important thing is that it provides the necessary ambient for the atmosphere of the series. Both the intro and sound effects throughout the episodes offer a peaceful and calm ambient in which you can't but get lost in. I remember countless times as I was watching and I almost fell asleep. Really relaxing.
Character: 9/10
Here, things get tricky. Aside from Ginko, everyone is a temporary and secundary character. This means that the development of the secundary characters start "rock-bottom" at the begging of the episode and by the end it goes "sky-high". This seems a little abrupt but it gives off a strange, yet pleasant feeling. On the other side, Ginko's development is very slow-paced and there are no big changes in his character as he is very flexible and reliable no matter what the difficulty. All things aside, a good diversity of character development and personality types.
Enjoyment: 8/10
To put it bluntly, I was bored quite often. Maybe I just don't understand the peaceful and almost static action of this type of series. What I enjoyed, though, was the scenery, the symbols and the lessons at the end of the episode. Very insightful about a large deal of "normal" problems, described in a fantasy world.
Overall: 9/10
To be quick about it, Mushishi is very relaxing and static. It lets you discover a new fantastic world in which mistery is around every corner. If you like this type of slow-paced shows, I recommand this series to you. If you like more complicated storylines or more action in your anime, please search something else or give this a try, but don't despair.
