MUSHI-SHI

Spoilers ahead!

"The world is full of life unknown to man", says a woman's voice. Mushishi ends with this sentence.

First of all, Mushishi became one of my favourite shows. Sometimes you just want to feel struggling emotions, to see energy and action, sometimes you expect a plot which just begins and ends following a straight line of happenings. Conversely, sometimes you just need peace and introspection. Mushishi is a slow-paced, relaxing, sometimes boring and generally mysterious anime, which examines the beauty and the horror of existence.

Ginko is a Mushishi, a "Master of Mushi", being Mushi mere living essence. Sometimes Mushi can be perceived as ghosts, parasites, creatures so primordial to the extent of being less evolved than many bacteria or plants, and visible only to certain lucky (or unfortunate) people. The plot is basically a travel: as Ginko explores new places, mountains, forests, villages and so on, we become his companions and see him as he treats people's illnesses caused by some "parasite-Mushi", explains what he studied about them and how he discovered their features. If we look at it this way, it sounds pretty boring. Ginko's background is quite mysterious, even if some episodes of the total 26 are dedicated to explaining when his journey began. However, you don't really need to know anything more.

The real "main character" is not Ginko, but nature itself. As we understand that neither human beings nor Mushi can be classified as extremely good or extremely bad, but rather creatures merely living in the same world and age, trying to survive, everything gets clearer. Ginko's profession is a sort of curse, since he didn't really chose to become a Mushishi, to see his "master" die or to travel endlessly. His body "cohabits" with Mushi, and his aura naturally attracts them. As a result, he understands them and tries to make people afflicted (or blessed) by their close presence, to do the same. In one episode, he says: "It's neither your fault, neither Mushi's. You two are just trying to survive".

Another fundamental concept crossed my mind as I appreciated this anime: the whole show tries to convey an ECO over EGO way of life. Rather than insisting on the fact that we, as human beings, have the right to destroy the unknown, or to crush natural habitats in order to improve our living conditions regardless of the damages we inflict to other living creatures, Mushishi promotes an ECOlogic philosophical belief. We are living beings as a deer is, as a bacterium is, as a tree, as Mushi are. But it extends this discourse to a more poetical way of looking at the world we live in. Have you ever felt like our souls may reside in our pillows, and function as a medium between our daily lives and the dreamland? Mushi may need our sleep, the sounds we emanate, the heat we give off, the light we absorbe. Everything is the same thing, and we should value the "here and now". It's more than a philosophy, it's a meditation exercise. It's mindfulness at its finest. That is why there is no particular action: the best way to perceive life and death is to live in small villages, villages close to the sea, on top of mountains, to live in societies at their first stages, far from the hectic life of big cities and our sometimes too fast-paced lives, where human-to-human and human-to-nature relationships are extremely powerful. And to study, travel, deal with daily life problems, communicate. That is why Ginko is so mysterious: it's not an edgy choice, because a bizarre character draws the attention of thirsty people. Ginko constantly lives between two different worlds, and has become an expert of the unfamiliar. He can't be more interesting than what he actually has to offer, which is his experience and the results of his studies. That is why there is not a proper ending: Ginko will travel until his death, as the show encourages us all to do. Getting curious, helping people, living in harmony with nature, appreciating little things, accepting the course of events, grasping the nature of pain and sorrow.

Mushishi is not for people who adore feverish binge-watchings. This can be a flaw of the show, and it doesn't necessarily mean that people who prefer a different kind of show should feel outraged or insulted. This show is the cup of tea of people who need to see paintings-like screenshots, with a verdant nature and a musical background that is sometimes relaxing, oscillating between meditation sounds with their bells and gongs, sometimes disturbing and captivating. I personally found it deeply comforting and introspective, and it made me question some of my values and morals. Am I being too selfish? Am I being too stubborn? Am I being too kind, do I truly know myself?