Each season, members of my Patreon get to vote on a 13-episode retro anime they want me to review. This time around, we’re fudging the rules a bit and doing the first half of a 26 episode series Mushi-shi.
It’s not hard to see why 2005’s Mushi-shi and its sequels hold a place in so many hearts. After all, there’s nothing else quite like it.
Even as Japan stands on the edge of the modern era in the mid-to-late 1800s, life continues as it always has for those in the rural villages that litter the countryside. They fish, weave, and farm. They find their joy where they can as they grow up, marry, and, eventually, die. But sometimes, their normal lives are derailed by something strikingly supernatural–the work of a “mushi.” When a mushi is involved the people send for a “mushi-shi”–an expert on mushi–to help them. Of course, even with a mushi-shi on hand, things are rarely solved so easily.
Mushi-shi is an anthology series. Each episode is a stand-alone story that typically follows a completely new set of characters as they are plagued by the supernatural. However, there is one thing that ties them all together: the appearance of Ginko. The titular “Mushi-shi,” he travels Japan working to help those afflicted by the mushi we share our world with. But make no mistake, this is rarely his story. Rather it is the story of those he encounters and how their brush with the supernatural changes them as people.
Each episode is a mystery of sorts. Ginko must discover what mushi is causing problems and how to stop it–often coming across the secrets or troubled pasts that those involved are attempting to hide. But this is just the window dressing for something much deeper: an exploration of human nature.
Mushi-shi is actually a series of parables–each exploring some facet of human nature. Over the course of the first 13 episodes, it covers the main themes of fear, greed, hubris, obsession, innocence, and loss. It even does deep dives into topics such as the dark things a person will do for love and the folly of being unable to let go of the past.
Sometimes people are able to overcome the damage to their soul as well as the mushi affecting them or those they love. Other times, however, they are unable to grow. While the mushi are always dealt with thanks to Ginko’s intervention, this doesn’t mean a happy ending is guaranteed.
While the mushi are always involved with the problem facing Ginko each episode, that doesn’t mean that they’re evil or even malicious. Mushi are an existence inherent to our world. Some are nearly human in look and action. Others defy explanation in their alienness.
However, just as a mosquito isn’t evil for sucking your blood, neither is a mushi for doing what it does. They are simply animals of a different type–animals that science and superstition alike have little answer to. While they often cause harm, they have no intention to. Rather it is when innocent mushi come into contact with humans that things have the biggest chance to turn towards the bad.
From all this comes an anime teaming in otherworldly imagination. The visuals, while beautiful and nature-filled, feel supernatural. The mushi likewise reflect their origins, looking more like creatures from the natural world than eldritch abominations. Yet, at the same time, they convey a sense of the unexplainable.
This is bolstered by the music–and often the lack thereof. The soundtrack is performed by period-appropriate instruments–meaning that it’s all music that could potentially appear in the world we are seeing. This, in turn, pulls us deeper into the “reality” the anime is building.
But even more vital is the lack of music in many scenes. Music is used in TV and film to influence the emotions of the viewer. Take something as simple as an alligator walking. Score it with happy, silly music and it seems friendly and harmless. But score it with tense, serious music and it seems dangerous and threatening.
Likewise, the lack of music is unnerving. We have been conditioned to expect music in film–for it to subconsciously tell us how we should be feeling. While your conscious mind may not notice it when the music is missing, your subconscious does and is not happy about it. The effect is that it leaves you creeped out and not knowing why–perfect for a series filled with creatures we can’t hope to truly understand.
In the end, Mushi-shi is a morality tale, beautiful in both story and visuals. It dives deep into the human soul using our own fear of the unknown as a vessel–making it one of those shows that will teach you about yourself just by watching.
…Just don’t go in expecting a single epic story spread across its episodes–it’s not that kind of anime.
Mushi-shi can be seen in English on Crunchyroll, Funimation, and Hulu.
Top image source: アニメ蟲師 on Twitter
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