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Title:
  Mushishi vol 2

UK Distributor:  Revelation Films

BBFC Certificate:  PG

Suggested Retail Price (SRP):  £15.99

Episodes:  6-10 (of 26)

Audio Options:  English 5.1, Japanese 2.0

Subtitles:  English

Reviewer:  Rich (Webmaster)

 

Mushishi vol 1 was one of the most remarkable anime DVDs of last year, a superbly animated and unique collection of episodes that was like nothing I'd seen before.

Because of this I couldn't wait to see more, and volume 2 certainly lived up to my expectations.  Once again the story follows Ginko, a wandering 'mushishi' who seeks out and stops problems caused by Mushi, strange primordial creatures of varying effect and appearance.  Mushi are invisible to most people, but their existence can often have an affect on people living nearby and cause strange phenomena to occur.  Ginko is striving to learn all he can about the thousands of different types of Mushi, and help those affected by them.  This volume sees Ginko journey to an island where a 'living God' with healing powers grows old and dies each day, only to revive the next morning.  It sees him come to the aid of a man who is chasing rainbows, and aid a village who have unnaturally large crops, but seemingly at the cost of a villager's life.  It also sees him come to the sea, where a man waits for his wife to return, although she was lost to a strange mist months before.  And it also sees him sought out by his friend Adashino, after a group of children got into his personal storehouse and fell ill after inadvertently releasing a Mushi sealed within an inkstone.  Ginko moves from place to place, helping where he can to restore the balance of things without harming people or the Mushi.
 

   Mushishi is a hard series to describe in words, but one thing I can say is that it is probably the best anime series I've seen.  It's just simply not like anything else, the episodes are pretty much standalone but each is like a self-contained film in its own right.  The animation and artwork is stunning throughout as well.  It's got its own style when it comes to character design that may not be to everyone's taste, but when it comes to background and scenery Mushishi puts most anime films to shame, let alone series.  Each story comes 

across like a folk tale, with Ginko explaining the cause of a certain superstition or phenomena and doing his best to discover the Mushi that cause them.  It brilliantly evokes a strangely halcyon air which is hard to pin down but draws you inexorably into its world.  The characterisation is superb in each episode, and the world is brilliantly realised.

The stories on this volume are, if anything, even better than those on volume 1.  Whereas the previous volume looked almost entirely at Mushi that purposefully affect humans, this one often looks at Mushi that inadvertently affect humans that disturb them in their natural habitats.  The way Mushi tie in perfectly with nature and only generally affect people when they encroach on their habitat is brilliantly depicted, making it seem strangely realistic despite the almost magical phenomena the Mushi cause.  The best episode on this disc, and of the series so far, is episode 6, where a young girl called Akoya ages and dies every day and comes back to life the following morning.  She is revered as a God by the people on her island, but there's a dark side to the tale.  A young boy named Nagi has brought Ginko to the island as he thinks that Akoya is inhabited by Mushi and is being exploited by her family.  Nagi used to be good friends with Akoya, but when she became the next living God her personality completely changed, and she became withdrawn and barely speaks.
 

  If Mushishi has a problem it's that the episodes generally follow a pattern where Ginko comes to a village where something odd happens, finds that it's caused by Mushi, and then solves the problem and moves on.  The interest comes from what the issue is and the method of resolving it rather than any mystery about what is happening.  However, this episode gives the series something else, as this time the resolution isn't as clear cut as usual.  What this episode - and several others on this disc - does is challenge the morality of

the series, in some cases is what Ginko doing correct?  Is it in fact the fault of humans who, for example, exploit the Mushi like in episode 6 and episode 8, or inadvertently encroach into their environment like in episodes 7 and 10?  This volume takes what has gone before and expands it's horizons, asking new questions, and creating mystery not so much in what has happened but why.  It also spends time to reflect on things, in episode 9 for example a man waits for his wife to come back from sea after her disappearance in the middle of a Mushi phenomena months before.  Is he right to hold on to hope or should he move on?  Is there anything he can actually do if the phenomenon happens again?  It's contemplative rather than explosive, and that's what the series really is like.

Whether this is for you depends on what you want from anime.  Mushishi vol 2 doesn't have many answers, or action, or romance, or comedy.  What it has is thought-provoking drama and a superb sense of realism backed up by beautiful art and music.  It is a more immersive experience than pretty much any anime I have ever seen, drawing you into its world and making you care about who people are and what happens to them.  The five episodes on this disc could all be films in their own right, and I'm at a loss to explain how the creators succeed in creating such in-depth stories and well rounded characters given that each episode is just 25 minutes long.  Basically, in my opinion Mushishi vol 2 is the latest must-have volume in what is probably the most must-have anime series available in the UK.  It's truly remarkable.

Extras:

As with volume 1 the extras are a cut above the norm.  As well as the usual clean opening and closing sequence and trailers there are two lengthy interviews, both featuring the series' director.  The first has him in discussion with the character designer and the second the art director, and with the two combined clocking in at just shy of half an hour long, they give a great insight into the creative process of bringing the story to life.  Superb.

Ratings

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