Series recommendation: Mushishi

Rating: 5/6

This is a pondering anime series, filled with amazing art and great effects. We follow the mushi-shi named Ginko. A mushi-shi is kind of like a researcher of a form of life called mushi. We follow Ginko as he travel around chasing rumors of occurrences that could be tied to mushi. He hopes to understand their place in the world’s hierarchy of life, which could lead to the meaning of life itself. Mushi simply are. They are not good or evil, but can come in many forms, and cause quite some problems for humans. It’s a paranormal thing, kind of hard to explain, but to put it simply we see examples of them in this series. They also can't be seen by everyone.

The series is (mostly) episodically, which I usually don’t like because of lack of flow, but you can't really make it any other way with a series like this. In every episode we experience a new miracle, not always good, caused by mushi, like some kid growing horns. It’s presented in a very pondering way, with those mushi always lurking around, and it gains the fantastic and eerie feeling of a fairy-tale. A dark fairy-tale at least, as there’s certainly some sadness involved in some if not most of the stories.

The art is also really great, which is essential when creating a world of creatures in almost every possible shape. There’s light, there’s shapes and it’s really magnificent. The characters are well made as well, as far as I can tell.

It being a pondering-and-thinking-anime, you might think it’s a boring series with infinite talking. Well there is talking, as he always explains the phenomenon happening, but it’s not boring. In fact, this was among the first series I watched after beginning learning Japanese, meaning I didn’t understand what the heck he was talking about unless I checked afterwards, and I still found it interesting. Well you might say I'm hooked on supernatural stuff, so when it’s dragged into reality by the help of some life form, of course I’m thrilled. But then I guess I’m not really the only one.

The only downside by the anime, as I see it, must be it being episodically, which makes it less addicting and the story more shallow, and that’s why I’m not giving it a 6. But hey, maybe you like it that way.
Either way, if you are a ponderer, and into supernatural stuff, I reeeally recommend this series.

Music video: Do NOT watch past 1:37 if you, like me, have spoiler-allergy.