I just watched... Mushishi

How often have you seen human creativity blossom?

                Episodic series are always an oddity when it comes to your personal motivation to watch it. Your mind has a tendency to frolic between extreme motivation to watch another episode and nil motivation to watch anything at all, like a frog hopping around on a pogo stick while overdosing on sugary treats. See, episodic series are akin to movies in the fact that they tend to start off and stop, just like a movie, but in every episode. This leads to a curiously strong dosage of excessive start and stop, as it occurs in every single episode owing to each one holding its own independent story.
You could say that episodic series lack a very strong hook, since you can’t really create hype and anticipation for the next episode, which is going to have another story disconnected from the previous episode almost entirely save for a few common threads, like the main character. Kino’s Journey was in a similar boat, but suffered less from the Episodic-Motivation inverse proportion since it lasted for only 13 episodes. Mushishi, on the other hand, goes on for double that length at 26 episodes, and arguably suffers doubly so from the problem.

Ginko's a rather interesting and amusing fellow. 

                To go on a completely different tangent, do you know this thing called human creativity? Yes, the same thing that tends to find itself in drudge, like a rat in trench endlessly sprinting back and forth hoping that a magical staircase will suddenly appear to let you out of the trench and into the whole wide world only to get squished, leading to things like the Call of Duty franchise or Twilight. But occasionally human creativity is blessed by the foamy golden light of brilliance, leading to mouth-watering things like Fullmetal Alchemist or Dark Souls, and the latest entry to my hall of respect, Mushishi.

Side characters can vary in terms of intrigue and importance. 

                You see, one of the benefits of being derangededly insane is that my mind works on tangents, as well tangents off these tangents, as well as tangents off these tangents off these tangents, and occasionally breaks into concentric circles, each with their own tangents and tangents off these tangents. What I’m not saying is that I’m crazy, I’m sure everyone is already well aware of that, it’s the fact that because I’m crazy I have a tendency to think some crazy things. The plus side is that I think of crazy things. The down side is that most of the world has becomes very ‘meh’ for me. Woe is me, for it is difficult for me to be impressed or gain respect for a work. One easy way, however, to attain by incandescent respect is to create something so singularly brilliant and luminously creative that my bind is bedazzled and my undergarments put in a luxurious knot (translation: it makes me genuinely go ‘I could not have thought this up!’); unfortunately, such things are far and few between, fortunately, Mushishi is one of them, hence it enters my mind palace gallery of fame.

                If you were to put a gun to my head and ask me to explain what Mushishi is about, in a nutshell, I’d ask you ‘why the fuck do you have a gun?’. But if I were to describe Mushishi in a nutshell I’d describe it as a cross between supernatural mystery and medical mystery. “My, doesn’t that just sound like the most strange combination?” you say, and I’ll reply “Aaaah! How did you get in my room?”

Mushi tend to vary greatly in terms of size and power.

                Mushi are a kind of supernatural race of organisms akin to micro-organisms (minus the micro part), which are invisible to most humans. They live in harmony with man, flora and fauna, but there is the occasional malignant interactivity which causes humans to come to harm, be it directly or indirectly, or not at all. Ginko is a travelling Mushishi, someone who solves Mushi related problems, who spends his time travelling and offering his services to those in need. 

The laws of the Mushi world can seem a bit contrived sometimes, but it all fits together overall.

As the first paragraph of this suggests, the series is episodic, with Ginko solving a different unique case in every episode. And as the second paragraph suggests there’s some serious creativity going on; while some of the concepts are rooted in some philosophy and metaphysical beliefs, all the Mushi and the problems they cause are products of the writer’s mind, and there’s some really crazy stuff to be found here.

Everyone's favourite 'vein of life' or 'lifestream' forms a component of the Mushi world. 

                Sometimes I just had the desire to take a step back after an episode and just try to trace how the writer could have thought up some of her ideas, each case is dripping with uniqueness and its own quirkiness.

                If I were to just get down to it and state the main flaws of the series, one is definitely the character design, as many of the side characters tend to have dull, repetitive designs. This is not always the case, there are numerous instances where they have their own styling and quirks, but in many instances their designs feel dull when compared to the more interesting ones and the Mushi.

Even malignant Mushi aren't really evil. 

                Another one is the previously spoken about episodic nature, though this can be taken as a moment to counter-argue that the episodic format works really well for this series; especially since it’s not the kind of series that is meant to be overly dramatic or suspenseful, but is more the ‘drink green tea, relax, watch peacefully and ponder on life’ kind of series which makes the episodic format more fitting. Furthermore, it’s tough to see it working any other way, how would you link so many unrelated mysteries, which are definitively unrelated?

The generally optimistic nature of the series makes the tragic episodes even more powerful. 

                Atmosphere is arguably a ‘simple’ component of a story, a piece of work, but it can go a very long way in making something far more enjoyable and memorable. Which leads to a counter-argument that by that argument atmosphere isn’t all that ‘simple’ and I would agree. True atmosphere is very difficult to capture, often hanging by a string, a string that can easily snap and dispel the atmosphere. Furthermore, as silly as this is going to sound, atmosphere goes beyond being atmosphere and goes to become the ‘feel’ of a work, to the extent that the atmosphere can often become the defining point of a work which gives it a unique flavour. 

The prettiness really adds to the atmosphere. 

This goes to the extent that you can ‘feel’ the story and the world, and after you leave it behind you’ll ‘feel’ the absence of that world and story. And to be blunt about it, Mushshi nails the atmosphere part of the deal. One of the things that will likely keep you captivated and motivated to keep watching is the atmosphere and how beautiful it is despite its simplicity. The music and ethereal visuals both play an important part in building and keeping this atmosphere.

There's a rather hopeful tone to everything, even when things don't end well. 

                All in all, Mushishi is an incredibly odd and thoroughly intriguing series that’s bound to keep you interested if you don’t mind its slower pace and episodic storytelling. It’s not the most dramatic and enthralling thing you’ll ever see, but it’ll definitely be one of the most creative. And there’s a Season 2 that’s currently airing!