Anime Pilgrimage RTT

Mushishi – episode 5

November 28, 2005 on 11:01 pm | In Mushishi | Comments Off on Mushishi – episode 5

“The Traveling Swamp”

This episode introduces a new recurring character and clears up a lot of the moral ambiguities of the mushi. Lots of my favourite shows raise questions about the nature of humanity, and Mushishi is no exception.

Ginko makes his way through the mountains to meet Adashino sensei, a kind of mentor who buys mushi related artefacts and has a wide knowledge of all things mushi. Ginko relates to Adashino the story of Io, a girl who was migrating across the mountains with a traveling swamp: the suiko mushi.

This episode raises interesting points about human will and the form of “death” enforced by the mushi. Adashino-sensei is another kind of mushishi: one who stays in one place and is a kind of authority. The scenes between Adashino and Ginko clearly illustrate the differences in their methodologies, and that people within the same field can approach their work in wildly different ways.

Seeing what Ginko said about the case of Renzu opened my eyes to the world of the mushi. I had always thought that they were generally detrimental to humans, but now I know that it’s important to consider what a human wants for himself when a mushishi deals with them. That might just be Ginko; I can completely imagine that some mushishi would do whatever they wanted.

The ideas of desire and death perception, as well as discussion of times just recently passed, gave Mushishi a good sense of perspective. Another fine episode in a fine series.