Reviews

I know what you’re thinking, you have looked at Mushishi and heard it praised, but the premise of it just doesn’t sound too interesting. The premise is very basic and perhaps boring at first glance, but this could not be more untrue. The fact of the matter is that Mushishi is masterfully executed, in pretty much every aspect. In the world of Mushishi, small life forms exist called Mushi. The Mushi has no other purpose than to live and reproduce, which makes their interaction with the world interesting and without judgment. Since these Mushi know no empathy or emotion of any kind, the results of Mushi range from miraculous to catastrophic. You would think that Mushi could be exploited by humans, but the catch is that only very few people can see them. Our main Character Ginko can see these Mushi and makes his living by being a so called Mushimaster, who travels around the country (which in Mushishi is rural Japan) helping people with seemingly mysterious problems. Ginko is different from other people, in that he has white hair and only one eye. Why this is, is explained in an episode, so I won’t go further into it, but it results in him having to stay on the move as he attracts Mushi.
Being the main character and only recurring character Ginko, as a character, has a lot on his shoulders. Luckily he performs his role masterfully. He is completely unique and he never gets old. I think I could watch a thousand episodes of Mushishi and never get tired of Ginko. Ginko focuses on his discoveries within the Mushi field, and you can genuinely tell he is fascinated by them. Despite of this Ginko always manages to help out the people to the best of his ability, while still trying to preserve the Mushi. While doing this he always remains calm, collected and respectful to those around him. Ginko is meant to be the star of the show and carry it to victory, which you might think is a lot to put on his shoulders, but he does so flawlessly. There are other new characters in each episode, but these are not nearly as interesting as Ginko and you pretty much forget about them in the next episode. This is the result of an episodic anime and it is hard to avoid, but I will not criticize it too much as Ginko himself more than makes up for it.
Another great strength of Mushishi is how philosophical and mind-pondering it is. It raises questions such as “Is all life equal - and should it be treated as such?” and “Is there limits to how much humans should interfere with nature?”, while never giving anything but a hint of the answer forcing the viewer to think for himself. This is something I value highly in animes and movies in general, and Mushishi does it to the highest level.
Each episode of Mushishi has its own story and premise and there are several times years between episodes, which definitely helps strengthen the mystery that solves Ginko and the Mushi. It works to Mushishi’s strength that it is an episodic anime. By not seeing every one of Ginko’s moves it feels like you are being told a story, where you get the highlights. This story is Ginko’s life as a Mushimaster. The pacing in each episode is also picture perfect. You never feel rushed into a situation. You usually get a small backstory to what is happening and then you see Ginko showing up. You are pretty much always on par with what’s happening, which is extremely important in an anime as philosophical as this one.
All in all Mushishi is a very well executed series. The pacing is never off, Ginko is the show’s superstar and performs to the highest grade and the premise of Mushi is much more interesting than it appears on first glance. While I didn’t touch upon it great detail the art and sound are pretty average. This is not an anime to watch for its art or sound quality, but they do their job and don’t let you down.

The good:
- Very interesting premise and setting
- Amazing main character in Ginko
- Flawless pacing
- Very entertaining
- Highly philosophical
- Forces the viewer to think for himself
The bad:
- Forgettable characters besides Ginko
- Average art/sound quality
Final score:
- 10/10