Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Mushishi – episode 1

October 28, 2005 on 9:55 pm | In Mushishi | 1 Comment

“The Green Chair”

This is beautiful, spiritual anime with that true respect for nature that is easy to recognise in some anime. Bad as it is to say, but if you want to capture me in your early days, you’ve got to be a little unusual; Mushishi has that.

Ginko is a Mushishi, that is, one who catches mushi. Mushi are apparently spirits that are not entirely dissimilar to bugs. They are “green things”, an ambiguous mix of plant, animal and spirit.
In this episode Ginko visits Shinra, a boy cursed with the “left hand of God”. Shinra wants nothing to do with Ginko’s investigation, but they get along well anyway …

This certainly is ambiguous anime. The mushi are not necessarily forces for good or for evil, but are natural parts of “society” that can swing either way. The mushi used in this episode seemed kind of sinister in their plans for the half-mushi contained within, but none of the characters appeared to consider this.
The story that the half-mushi had to tell was semi-tragic, but it was difficult to tell which part of the story was the sad part. This bleeds in with the character of Ginko, who looks like he’s doing good, but has a bit of a bastard streak about him. I can sense more ambiguity ahead …

The score is very green and mystic, composed by Masuda Toshio. This is a surprise has he has worked on considerably less inspired material, such as Excel Saga, in his time. Ginko has a mischievous look about him, and the mushi are just slightly bizarre. The scenery is nothing short of lush: a fine production that I look forward to more of.

Mushishi has the potential to become a horror show, but for now it is a peaceful reflection on nature. It’s hard to tell where this will go – not least of which because the OP is just leaves – but I’m open to surprises.