MUSHI-SHI
a review by hamzafezzaz12
a review by hamzafezzaz12
Without spoilers :
If you have had enough of the usual shounen action anime, if you are seeking something different from what you usually watch, if you like atmospheric shows with supernatural elements, then mushishi may be the anime you are looking for. However, if you can't enjoy slow paced stories, with no action nor hype elements, if the word "boring" is what you use to describe what you call bad anime, if you can't handle episodic shows, then please don't even try to watch this anime, it's not for you.
Mushishi is about exploring some weird creatures called "mushi", a kind of living beings that are not humans nor animals, beings that are responsible for weird phenomenon that can't be explained by the laws we know. The main character is called Ginko, he is a person who spends all his time traveling in order to unravel the mystery of the mushi and eventually help people whose lives are threatened by these creatures. People like Ginko are called mushishi, thus the title of the show.
This is a unique tale of nature and life, a tale of hope and despair, a story about the meaning of one's existence, a show that tackles human problems in an original approach, with supernatural elements and mystery all along the journey. It has great world building, touching stories, sometimes sad, sometimes happy, amazing backgrounds and good animation, relaxing ost that fit perfectly the atmosphere and the themes of the show.
Because it's episodic, the rule of 3 episodes is applicable. If after 3 episodes you don't connect with the themes of the show just drop it, it won't get different after.
With potential spoilers:
In this part i will talk about what makes this show great in my opinion, and the problems i found when i was watching.
Let's start with the good elements:
1) the best thing in Mushishi in my opinion is the atmosphere. This show is mainly atmospheric to the extent that you feel transported to a mystic world while watching. It's like meditating and diving into your soul. This effect is the result of the the themes of the show, the manifestations of the mushi in particular and the great work the studio did with the visuals, ost and sound design.
2) when the anime lacks action and the other hype elements that attract the mass, the writer should compensate it with some great story telling, world building, dialogues and character development. In my opinion mushishi succeeded greatly in the 3 first elements, the character development isn't bad, but there is nothing impressive about it to be honest :
- worldbuilding and mystery : because it deals with creatures that exist only in this show, mushishi did a great job overall building its world, the creator gave a lot of time to show the behavior of the mushi, their interaction with nature, their positive or negative impact on humans and the particularities of each mushi. The mystery is also done well almost in every episode, the nature of the mushi and the lack of knowledge people have on them created a lot of mystery that add the tension to the stories. However, some episodes were confusing as hell, because there wasn't enough info to understand the mushi. I will talk about this later.
3) the themes: this is another strong point of mushishi. The anime deals with numerous themes that are related to nature, human society and life problems. The way this show tackles theses subjects with supernatural elements (the mushi) is simply amazing. It makes the watcher think of life in a way he never experienced before. Mushishi talks about the meaning of life, the well being of people and where they belong, how some people overcome their past and what hinders their evolution, how some people get stuck in their painful situations and never manage to reach happiness, how the good and the bad are not easy to define and how life can be either simple or difficult depending on how you view things.
4) the work of the studio: to be honest the quality of the visuals really shocked me, i still can't believe this anime was created back in 2005. The details in the backgrounds and the fluid animation are to praise, this anime is simply visually stunning when it comes to these points. The character design is however not that good, as a lot of characters look very similar and their expressions are not very detailed. The ost is amazing, the man who did the ost of the original naruto is the one who composed mushishi, he nailed the mystic and the historical vibes, his music was so relaxing a fitting the atmosphere.
The sound design is one of the best i've seen in anime, the sound of animals, the rustling of plants, the sound of wind, the footsteps, the breathing... Every sound is done perfectly and with a lot of care.
Now, let's talk about some problems i think this show has and somethings i wish they did but they didn't do:
1) going back to the worldbuilding and the mystery, some episodes were confusing due to the lack of info about the mushi and especially due to the absence of laws that can be applied to the world of mushi: in fact there is no specific laws that are applied to all the mushi that show their limtits, the only law we know is that they seek well being just like humans. I really wish they had constructed the world of mushi with laws so that the watcher don't get confused at some points, and to limit the plot conveniences that could occur. For example, in ep 19, ginko gave the unseen girl some medicine and people started to see her, we don't know why the medicine caused that effect as we don't know the limits of the that mushi, and thus it felt convenient. Another thing that bothered me is who can see the mushi, they never said what does it take to see the mushi, why some people see them while others not. I think they could have done better with these details.
2) a lot of the stories are forgettable although they leave you with a strong feeling or impression. I think this is due to episodic formula of the show.Except from ginko and adashino, all the characters appear in only one episode, which makes their stories fade away as you continue watching other stories and as time passes. I don't have a problem with the episodic approach, i think it worked very well with Mushishi, but i would have preferred to see a main plot line that they can return to, and some other characters that we could go back to.
3) there was something that was repeated almost every episode and i keep questioning it, but so far they still haven't talked about it in details, i'm talking here about how ginko and other mushishi have so much knowledge about mushi: Except from one episode, ginko knows the names of all the mushi he was dealing with, he knows their behavior and their properties. I really wish we had episodes where he discovers ghe mushi for the first time, where we can be shown his methods of getting knowledge from those mushi. We've only seen one episode where he doesn't know anything about the mushi (the one who reincarnate the dead) and he ironicly didn't do well in that episode and drew some conclusions that weren't very accurate.
4) the last point i'll talk about is ginko's character. I think he is a fun character to watch, his personality is likeable, and we did have some character development via some flash backs. But what i don't understand - and i think the show somehow neglected - is his motivation, why does he help people he doesn't know? We know that he attracts mushi and want to explore their world further, but why does he take risks to help people in every situation? Sometimes, he was about to die doing that, and we never got some explanation about it. I think they should have given some time to develop this point, cause it's important in order to fully understand the character.
To conclude this review, i think mushishi is a fantastic anime with a unique concept, an anime that i've never seen something like it before. It sur has its problems that i hope they will avoid in the second season, but they are negligible when you see the great stuff of the show. It's not for everyone as a lot of people will get bored while watching the slow paced stories, but for those who are interested in nature, in old and simple life style and some deep interpretation of life, they'll probably fall in love with this anime.
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