Mushi are spirits
of the natural world that can affect humans in adverse ways. Ginko, known as a mushi master, has the
ability to commune and control them. He
travels the countryside of Japan where ever his abilities are needed to save
people who have been infected by mushi.
The best way to
describe this series is dream like. The
color pallet and background designs are soft and warm and the character
designs are simple and somewhat realistic.
It is hard to determine the time period that the series takes place in,
some aspects say sometime in the Tokugawa Shogunate, but others say the Meiji
Restoration. Either way there are no
cars, trains or other modern conveniences.
There is no over arching plot, each episode is essentially a self
contained story, following the patterns of Ginko arriving to the aid of someone
who is being consumed by a mushi. He
then works through the problem using his extensive knowledge and experience to
cure the person of the problem. The
mushi are just an outward way of showing human weaknesses and you could say
that Ginko is really part therapist and part priest, helping people to realize
the things they have done to cause them such pain and trouble. Even if the mushi is able to be exorcised the
person still pays a price for their problems.
I am not very versed in Japanese folk lore, but most of the plots seem to
deal with many of Japans animistic traditions.
With that said, this is a really good series. I really enjoyed watching it, even if it took
me 8 years to finish!
The series is
available on DVD and streaming in North America. There was a 1-shot OAV that came out New
Years 2014 which is available on Crunchyroll.
A live action movie was made in 2007, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, is
also available. There will be a second
series beginning in Japan in April of 2014, which is what really prompted me to
finish this excellent series.
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