Mushishi eps 1 to 4 review

Mushishi has been on my computer in my “anime-to-watch” folder for a while before I finally sat down and marathoned the first 4 episodes last night. I’ve heard a lot of good things about the series, and after watching these few episodes, I think it definitely deserves the praise it gets…

I haven’t seen a series this unique in a while. Starting right off with the eerie but fascinating introduction to the Mushi, then going into the strangely gentle and beautiful opening theme(which is in English and features only nature-ish backgrounds without showing any actual characters), I could tell after just a few minutes that this series wasn’t afraid to be different.

Going into the episodes, the first thing about Mushishi that caught my eye was the gorgeous background art. Thought it’s mostly just trees, nature, and old Japanese houses/villages, there’s a ton of detail in them and they look almost as good as in a Ghibli movie. As for the character designs, they’re pretty standard, but look good enough and don’t stick out against the background art. The other thing that quickly caught my attention about Mushishi was the music, as well as the lack of music. A lot of the time there was silence, with no background music and only sound effects or characters talking. Not that this is uncommon in anime, but it seemed even more common in Mushishi, and it really helped add to the mysterious and suspenseful tone of the show. And when there was background music, it was gentle, slow, and very Japanese-sounding, which again helped add to series’ eerie feel. Because of the series’ “quietness” and detailed background art, watching Mushishi almost feels like you’re watching short anime movies rather than episodes of a TV show.

As for the story, it’s certainly one of the most interesting I’ve seen. The brilliant detail of the Mushis’ existence, how they’re connected to an unseen world, and how they can infest the human senses, is all very engrossing. What’s also unique about it is how this plot is executed; rather than the Mushi being depicted as vicious monsters or demons, and the main character, Ginko, having to fight against them in order to protect people, etc., the Mushi are depicted as mysterious living beings that are just trying to survive. And rather than using flashy super powrs to destroy them, Ginko uses his skills and intelligence to understand the Mushi and find a way for them to coexist with people. This is quite a refreshing plot from the norm. Also, Ginko seems to be the only main character. I’ve noticed that a lot of series’ that only have a few important characters, such as Noir and Asatte no Houkou, usually turn out to be pretty special, and Mushishi will probably end up that way as well =)

Anyway, that’s all I’ve got to say about Mushishi so far. Though they were all great, these first 4 episodes were very episodic, so hopefully more of a story will develop later on. Well, I look forward to watching the rest of this fascinating series ^_^