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Title:
  Mushishi vol 1

UK Distributor:  Revelation Films

BBFC Certificate:  PG

Suggested Retail Price (SRP):  £15.99

Episodes:  1-5 (of 26)

Audio Options:  English 5.1, Japanese 5.1

Subtitles:  English

Reviewer:  Rich (Webmaster)

 

Christmas is fast approaching and usually the latter half of the year sees a drop off in the amount of new series hitting the shelves.  However, the trend that normally sees a host of boxset releases and a rush to complete older series has passed Revelation by, and instead they launch another brand new series.

The story follows the wanderer Ginko, who follows rumours of incurable illnesses and supernatural activity and help those affected.  Ginko knows that these strange events and unusual ailments are caused by Mushi, a strange and complex form of life normally invisible to the human eye.  Mushi vary in size and intelligence and need very different forms of sustenance to life as we know it  Some feed on sound, some on silence and some even on dreams, often with adverse effects to the humans who inadvertently sustain them.  Some seem to work to a design unknown to humans and interact with people for reasons unknown.  Ginko is a Mushishi, an expert on Mushi and their effects on humans, and uses his knowledge to cure people of the effects of Mushi.  Some Mushi can be driven off or their debilitating effects controlled with medicine, some have to be destroyed, but even Ginko doesn't know everything about all of them.  As he wanders he seeks to learn more and help as many as he can, but why do Mushi get involved with people at all?  And what is Ginko's link to them?
 

   Of all of Revelation's releases this year I must admit that Mushishi has been the one that has intrigued me the most.  The main reason for this is that even after reading and hearing about it I still wasn't entirely sure what it would be like.  Even after watching the first volume it still isn't easy to categorise.  There's no real action or - to be honest - overarching plot, and the pace of the series is very slow and considered.  If I was to liken it to anything it would most probably be ADV Films' classic Kino's Journey, as it has a similar feel and

structure.  Like that series Mushishi sees an enigmatic main character coming into a series of situations and influencing them through his actions.  However, the setting of Mushishi is much more feudal Japanese, and it has a very distinctive style all of its own.

Each story on this first volume is pretty much unrelated, but all are intriguing.  The first sees Ginko meet a boy with the 'hand of god', a power that breathes life into anything he draws with his left hand.  Mushi have taken an interest in the boy, but don't seem to be threatening him.  The boy has more to fear from humans who would see his power as demonic, and so he lives as a recluse, but unbeknownst to him there is a mysterious entity sharing his house.  Ginko has to not only find out what the creature is but also balance his curiosity over the boy's power with his duty to protect it.  Other episodes see him aiding a village where an infestation of Mushi is causing deafness in the populace, trying to track down a living swamp which is making an inexplicable journey to the sea, aiding a girl who's eyes have become ultra-sensitive to light and a man who is having premonitions that keep coming true.
 

It's an eclectic mix of stories and the tone of the series is constantly changing because of it, with some being more reflective and couple being pretty horrifying.  Ginko makes a suitably mysterious guide to the supernatural happenings, and you feel there is plenty to his character that remains unsaid and will be explored in more depth later.  At the moment the lack of a major story arc isn't much of an issue because there's enough variety and imagination to keep things interesting.  However, if the series has a problem it's that it 

sometimes doesn't delve deep enough into the long term effects Mushi have.  The episode about the man who has premonitions is truly disturbing, but leaves too much unexplained and fails to get across the true horror by seemingly skirting over some aspects of the story.  In places on this volume the series does suffer a little from a lack of focus, and this stops it from moving too far into one genre.  Whilst this makes for a truly intriguing mix of ideas and stories, you get the impression that there's a superb horror series hiding in there somewhere.  It'll be interesting to see if this comes out more in future volumes.

Despite my cries of what might have been, it can't be denied that Mushishi vol 1 is a superb mix of interesting stories that keeps you hooked from the word go.  There's plenty of mystery and imagination throughout and you truly don't know where it is going to go next.  The stories come across like a series of folk tales and legends, with Ginko on hand to explain the reasons behind them and the bizarre effects the Mushi have.  Yes, the pace is slow, and yes, in places it is a bit contrived (pretty much everything is because of Mushi, can't a landslide happen without Mushi causing it?), but Mushishi is very, very good.  It is certainly the most intriguing series I've seen for a fair while and I'm not quite sure where it's going to go.  Because of this I highly recommend Mushshi vol 1 and I personally can't wait to see volume 2.

Extras:

There are damn good extras on this disc.  There is not one but two lengthy interviews with the Japanese director, one of which sees the director in discussion with the voice actor who plays Ginko.  Both interviews are around 20mins long and are very interesting to watch, with the director discussing the process of planning and developing the anime and Ginko's voice actor discussing the role.  There's also the usual clean opening and closing sequences, and if you shell out a couple of quid more you can get the starter set which comes with a sturdy artbox to hold all the volumes in the series.  Superb.

Ratings

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