▪	RELEASED BY:		FUNIMATION ENTERTAINMENT
		▪	ASPECT RATIO:		16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN
		▪	AUDIO:		ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD.2.0
		▪	RUNNING TIME:		125 MIN
		▪	RATING:		TV14
		▪	RELEASE DATE:		07/31/2007
		▪	REVIEW DATE:		08/10/2007
		▪	REVIEWED BY:		SCOTT CAMPBELL

From the DVD cover: “Neither good nor evil. They are the purest form. Vulgar and strange. They have inspired fear in humans since the dawn of time and have, over the ages, come to be known as “Mushi.”

Mushi-Shi is a complex, and yet completely natural form of expression. It’s an anime series that deals with subjects like nature, our relationship with nature, our power over nature, and the power nature has over us. With those concepts in mind, Mushi-Shi has many dark moments, and just as many bright moments of revelation and peace. It’s a really wonderful series, both visually and in story. As much as it relates to the mysterious organisms known as Mushi, there is still a lot of focus placed on the relationships between people as well, and the goodness that the Mushi related conflicts can bring out in these characters.

Episode one deals with a young boy who lives alone in the woods because of a powerful gift he possesses. It’s explained that once in a great while, an individual is born into the world with a rare and wonderful ability – the power to create life. But for one who cannot define reality, such talent will become a curse. When this boy draws with his left hand, his pictures spring to life and become living creatures. This seems to ring true for creating certain objects as well. Before his grandmother died, she asked him to promise to never leave the house in the woods so that his powers would not be discovered by anyone that would want to use them for some evil purpose. Ginko is a traveling “Mushi-Shi”, and individual with great knowledge and understanding of the purest forms of life – the Mushi. Some Mushi you can see, some are invisable, and some seem to phase in and out of existence. The boy doesn’t know it, but he is in need of Ginko’s help. The boy’s grandmother hasn’t really left the house, and only Ginko and the boy’s powers combined can help to bring her some form of peace.

The other episodes contained on the disc relate to more conflicts and difficulties caused by the presence of Mushi, each containing different sets of characters and their interactions with the traveling Ginko. It’s amazing how quickly you can care about the character's difficulties, especially because each separate conflict is only given a single episode to play out. It says something for a series if you can sympathize with an animated character after only 20 minutes or so of understanding their situation. In one instance a girl goes blind because of a Mushi infection of her eyes, and she is banished to a dark shed so that the light will not cause her pain. The problem is that the darkness only helps the Mushi to multiply, but only Ginko knows how to help save her sight. Another deals with a young boy losing his hearing. When there is silence around him, his deafness grows. Mushi have gotten themselves into his ears and his head, though he never realized, nor saw it happen. Ginko helps him to reclaim his hearing and to destroy the Mushi that are plaguing him. It may sound straight forward, or repetitive, but it most certainly isn’t. Each episode deals with nature, spirituality, coexistence, etc. It’s very intelligent and really quite interesting if you have the maturity for it. It may be a slightly off comparison, but a lot of what is dealt with in this series very much reminds me of Princess Mononoke by Miyazaki. Princess Mononoke is a fantastic film, and Mushi-Shi deals with many of the same nature/conflict related ideas that this film does. Nature can cause humans a number of problems, but cause just as many difficulties to our natural world. And nature isn’t truly evil for what it does because it’s only trying to exist and look after itself. Mushi in a way represent the nature of things, and the will to exist by any means possible. Sometimes it is necessary for Mushi to live within and damage a human body so that it can live. Mushi-Shi looks at these relationships in a spiritual and sometimes metaphorical way.

The animation itself is stunning. It’s near to being film quality throughout, paced just in the right way for the series, and mixes CG with traditional animation flawlessly. Nothing is ever awkward or moves by too quickly. It was obviously thought through with a lot of care and made in a way so that it doesn’t deviate from the intended feel. It’s just very good, and very much full of meaning and substance. There’s a lot of comedy and action anime out there, so it’s always a treat to enjoy something different - something that is on an artistic level that Mushi-Shi sits at.

As for extras with the DVD, this one came with the added art box. It’s no surprise that the box is done up with a lot of very naturalistic style. It has a wooden looking finish with roots flowing down it, and paintings of plant growth, etc. Inside there’s a nice booklet that discusses the series, the characters and the design concepts. There’s also an art card that could be used as a postcard, or could just be displayed. The DVD itself has an attractive cardboard sleeve, as does the box itself actually. The box has space for all the future volumes of Mushi-Shi. It’s pretty deluxe – a box sure to make collectors happy.

EXTRAS:
The disc extras include Director interview #1, Production Studio Tour, Textless Songs, Trailers, 12 Page Insert Booklet, and Mushi-Shi Art Card.

IN SUMMARY:
Everything about Mushi-Shi proves without a doubt that the creators of this series, and that of the physical product, all cared very much that what they did was of a higher quality. If anime is an art form, Mushi-Shi sits up there somewhere on the highest podium.