Mushishi: the mature, jaw-droppingly beautiful anime of 2006.

[SailorAlea]

Mushishi--basically "master of mushi." In Japanese, "mushi" means "bugs," but in this story, mushi are basically primordial lifeforms that took a very different evolutionary path than we did.

They're invisible to most people, and they tend to follow a river of light (again invisible to most people) that flows throughout the Earth. They don't normally intersect with our world, and most are harmless. Occasionally people will be directly affected by them, and if so--seek the aid of a Mushishi, master of mushi.

Ginko, the protagonist of the story, is one such Mushishi. The anime follows him in his search for more knowledge of Mushishi.

I found the quality of the art in the show breathtaking. It's very detailed. The music is perfect. One thing I absolutely loved is that it is extremely eastern, as opposed to the faux-western we see in almost every other show. It's set in feudal Japan, and has no focus whatsoever on combat, violence, etc. It's drama/suspense. Many shows have extremely hyperactive, unrealistic characters; Mushishi is extremely down-to-earth and low-key.

The episodes are self-contained stories; you don't even have to watch them in order. (They're not in the same order as the manga was, either.) The last DVD was just released in the US last month. Do yourself a favor and check them out!

 

[Brim]

Thought about watching this a few times, you say the stories are self contained, is there an underlying long term plot? Or is it just a collection of tales?

 

[imkongkong]

great anime, i loved it

 

[Adaptus]

Sweet, I'll check it out. :3

 

[SailorAlea]

Thought about watching this a few times, you say the stories are self contained, is there an underlying long term plot? Or is it just a collection of tales?

Hm. Well, there is "progression"--it introduces you to new concepts which are shown later, but there's no "build up to an exciting, boss-killing finale" like in some shows.

You also learn more and more about Ginko as time goes on, but it's not really an underlying plot. Don't let this turn you off, though--it means you don't have to watch it in a row for fear of forgetting plot points, like Law and Order of today, or the Simpsons/etc.

Each one is a well-crafted story in its own right.

 

[sub]

Why would the main character look for these invisible critters? Why does he care?

I sense a starwars vibe thing going on here, with the invisible creatures being the force.

 

[imkongkong]

each story is its own individual one, which reveals a piece of the entire world w/ mushishi. there's no real main purpose other than to understard the world around him and how these critters affect the world as well. think of it as trying to uncover the mystery of the world kinda thing

 

[SailorAlea]

Why would the main character look for these invisible critters? Why does he care?

I sense a starwars vibe thing going on here, with the invisible creatures being the force.

Maybe it's just hard to explain without seeing. These creatures exist throughout the world, specializing to their own environment just like we do.

They don't usually bother people, but when they do, a mushi-shi is called because normal people have no expertise with them (since they can't see them).

You don't know this in the beginning, but Ginko is always on the move because Mushi are attracted to him for some reason. If he stays in one place long enough, all sorts of mushishi will take over the area.

So he travels around, learning more and trying to help people afflicted by negative ones.

 

[wheres_]

Hmm I tried watching this, but found I couldn't really keep myself interested. I by no means think it's bad, I can appreciate a good piece of animation when I see it. The first episode just didn't capture me the same way that say, cowboy bebop or samurai champloo did.

I have it on HDD though so I'll give it another shot just to keep Alea happy.