Mushishi
[Score: 80% = Rent+. Recommended Fantasy/Horror animes: sola (TV), Interlude]
- Drama: Low/Med (not really a series story but the episodes themselves do have drama)
- Comedy: None (basically one person trying to cure serious problems)
- Action: Low (occasional suspense elements, no actual fights)
- SciFi: Med/High (the magic nature of the scenario allows for these little stories)
- Ecchi: None (pure and clean, recommended for teenagers)
Breathtaking Art, and lots of realistic images of locations in nature - I didn't have this feeling since I watched Ghibli movies like Tonari no Totoro or Mononoke Hime. A soothing OP song in singer/songwriter style with English lyrics; soft and quiet Music. No action, no violence, no comedy, no nudity - but lots of atmosphere. A chill-out anime of sorts, living on its visual and emotional elements. This is for those who love anime as an Art, not as a device for storytellings and character development - which is why it gets lower grades for these attributes from me (which happen to be quite important for me). Then again, each Episode Story is exciting by itself, and it does provide some interesting characters although you learn so little about them. Therefore this series is way too good for a mere "Watch" rating.
As for the stories I can sense a feeling vaguely similar to X files (but without the police/politics aspect) combined with strong Japanese elements (such as fate, guilt, remorse, sacrifice, loss, ...) like in Kyuuketsuki Miyu (OVA) - that's why I consider it funny that this anime has a smooth English OP song (in singer/songwriter style). I there doesn't seem to be any contiguous Series Story; it's just Ginko visiting different places. Episode 5 was the first one to be based upon an earlier episode; episode 12 provided a pleasant surprise for me. Everything else is just "the Mushi of the week". Episode 19 is a great drama, episode 20 finally provides some more series story. The ending was interesting as well but I still miss a lot about the elements that I consider most important for a good anime. Just look how much better Haibane Renmei is in these aspects.
What I like about these short stories is that there's no automatic "all is well" ending - sometimes there's only so much a Mushishi can do. Then again, Character Development suffers a lot from the episodic nature of the story - the characters are interesting but basically shown by just one decision in their life which provides their whole story, thus limiting the rewatchability value of this series: Once you know what happened there's not much left for the next pass of viewing. But if you can live without an underlying story connecting these episodes and without any character development, then check this series out at any cost. And you might also want to give Kino no Tabi - the Beautiful World (TV) a try.
Last updated Friday, June 06 2008.
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