Mushishi

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It's surprising to see the lack of reviews for this manga, considering the fact that the anime boasts 56. Now, I've never seen the anime, so I don't know how it compares to the manga. However, I have read a large scope of manga, of many different genres, and I say this honestly: Mushishi is a masterpiece, a one-of-a-kind work of art, and the mangaka, Urushibara Yuki, is one heck of a storyteller.

The plot in Mushishi develops in a rather episodic format, rather like Natsume Yuujinchou or the anime Cowboy Bebop. Each chapter follows Ginko, who is a wandering 'Mushishi', a specialist who deals ... with 'Mushi', curious lifeforms whose existence may define the meaning of life. Most of the stories deal with Ginko coming across a mushi-related problem during his travels and solving it, however the story avoids becoming sluggish by occasionally breaking the flow with tidbits of Ginko's past. This change in focus offers us something more from this tale and keeps it interesting.

Despite what I said there, the mushi-of-the-week stories aren't something to fool around with either. Each are extremely original and varied, some happy and hopeful, some tragic, some bittersweet, and each with something to add to Mushishi's already complex kaleidoscopic world. Indeed, one of Urushibara's strengths is her ability to present clear storylines and sympathetic characters within the limits of each chapter without overreaching herself; Instead, she cleverly uses wide blocks of scenery and close-ups of conversations and monologues to create a slow languid narrative which, by the end, haunts you and lingers in your memory.

In this case, the art works well. With her pen Urushibara brings to life her bizarre mushi and the wild, earthy feel of nature. Except Ginko, everyone wears a kimono, setting the manga in rural Japan, complete with hills, swamps and rice patties. The style is between sketchy and solid, with clear lines and clean backgrounds present for the most of the time, while sketchy styles animate the wilderness of nature.

Character development is effective in this manga. The protagonist , Ginko, is truly a wonderful character. His calm and reliable persona is one, which I've yet to see in any other manga and it automatically puts you to ease as you follow him on his journey to discover more about mushi. However, although he is the protagonist, he is presented as more of a side character in the stories and it is the 'mains' (the people with the mushi problems) who are given ample focus to develop their personalities. While you may not remember all their names, you learn enough about them so that you want to know what happens to them, or even care about what happens to them. It's a powerful achievement, considering that most of the characters only appear once in the whole manga.

Ginko, on the other hand, is an enigma with his western clothing and white hair and green eye, and his character is developed only by a couple of chapters revealing his past and through his numerous interactions with others within the manga. While this could be a weakness in other mangas, it is a strength in Mushishi. Ginko's lack of background story allows more focus on the other characters, the mushi, and their problems. He acts unbiasedly, and only does what he thinks will be best for the people who ask him for help. While the manga follows Ginko, the story is all about the mushi and how they affect the world.

In the end, the story is about that: Mushi, life and nature. We see the effects that Mushi have on people and their lives. We see the array of their powers. We see how they coexist with nature. We see how we can mistake them for the supernatural. And we see how they can bring out the best and worst in us. If you are a fan of fairytales, the supernatural, or even slice-of-lifes, give Mushishi a try. I think you'll find it's graceful way of storytelling a beginning to an addiction.

"It’s not your fault. Nor was it the Mushi’s fault. You were both just trying to live. Nobody is guilty. Don’t die. You’ve done nothing wrong." - Ginko

"Its a beautiful painting with an amazing story on it" - Me, describing this manga

Mushi is a creature concept that Yuki Urushibahara made for describing strange event that happen in this manga, so we can said mushi are the causes of strange phenomenon that happen in this story. so, is that mushi bad? quotes from MAL,
"Mushi": the most basic forms of life in the world. They exist without any goals or purposes aside from simply "being." They are ... beyond the shackles of the words "good" and "evil"" And Mushishi itself, we can said its like a doctor or maybe researcher, because Mushishi is a people who declare theyself for researching about mushi.

This story involves about Ginko, a mushishi who always deals with the strange phenomenon, the focusses of this story itself was The character from each charapter and their odd event. since in this manga, is 1 chapter 1 story (episodic), and of course the character itself from each character is different except for Ginko. So whats so good about this manga?

1. Ginko is not your "all-can-do-hero", he is not god. he is usually help people with what he can do, and again, he is so much different with other Mushishi who thinking Mushi is bad creature that affects so many people. for himself, Mushi are beyond the shackles of the words "good" and "evil". Furthermore, he is always think rational and logically, the calmness that Ginko shows was the main reason why this manga is in top 30.

2. The story itself was really spectacular yet its so calming. The joyness from reading Mushishi is when you're tired after working or school then when you're reading this manga you will feel your tired is gone and your body feels light (based on my experience), from what i read, the story is focus on the character that have a strange phenomenon and Ginko was like the side character (since sometimes he appears so slightly) but that was make this manga is so appealing, we can really feels the strange phenomenon itself more deeper, and even sometimes i dont realize that my tears were fallen.

3. For some readers, maybe this manga is like a picture book, since so many beautiful scenery pictures that appears in this manga, but for me especially, this manga is like a painting with story. You can enjoy the magnificent story with a beautiful art. Cool, huh? and what make this manga appealing was the traditional ink that Yuki Urushibara used. I believe you will not get bored seeing the art in this manga.

4. And what makes me more surprise was the character development that this manga has. with just one chapter (50-60 pages) Yuki Urushibara can make us falling in love with each different character that appears in each chapters.

5. Its not always happy ending, yet it can be a sad ending. Yeah, this story was not for you who seeking a happy ending (although there was a happy ending), each chapters ending can make you feels happy, sometimes can make you feel sad or cry and even your tears can fallen unconsciously.

If you're looking for an amazing manga, this manga is surely what you're looking for.

Story: 6/10
Usually when we start a manga the first impression is usually the one we use when we decide if we want to continue reading or not. For me and mushishi that was not the case. I read the first two books and felt completely confused, so I continued reading. after about the 4th book I understood everything and the story started getting interesting (why wouldn't it be? it's about a guy who roams the country in search of scary insect thingys (mushi) and tries to cure people of them, now that's dang interesting). But once I finished the 4th book I noticed a ... repetitive storyline. He goes to one village, cures it of a "disease" and quickly runs off to save another village. The other repetitive part was that the diseases were all related to people's eyes, hands/feet, and ears. There wasn't anything related to any other part of the body that could provide a change from the basic routine.

Art: 8/10
The artist really knows how to weird it out. He drew the weirdest things to use for mushi which would add to the effect of mystification. The people that were drawn didn't look anything near inviting to look at, but it added to the effect of the hardships they face with the mushi.

Characters: 7/10
Ginko is really cool in the fact that he is really calm and it sometimes feels like he isn't human because he knows all of this about mushi, and because of the setting and the events. The negative part about the other characters is that compared to Ginko, they are either really superior, or really inferior, there is rarely a good balance between the power characters have over one another and/or the intelligence of the characters.

Enjoyment: 7/10
I enjoyed this manga for books/chapters 5-7. Then I got bored but for some reason kept on reading it. Probably cause I didn't have anything else atm. But there's something about this manga that kinda makes people want to read it till the end, where there's nothing left to read.