 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | FUNIMATION ENTERAINMENT | | | ▪ | ASPECT RATIO: | | 16:9 ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN | | | ▪ | AUDIO: | | ENGLISH AND JAPANESE DD 2.0 | | | ▪ | RUNNING TIME: | | 100 MIN | | | ▪ | RATING: | | TV 14 | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 02/26/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 04/01/2008 | | | ▪ | 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.”
The stories of the Mushi and the people they effect are all linked together by a traveling Mushi-shi or "Mushi Master" who seeks rare Mushi sightings and uses his shaman-like knowledge of Mushi to help the effected people. What are the Mushi and what do they want? Mushi-shi continues to be a really meaningful and artful representation of the spirituality contained in nature and the living world that surrounds us. It’s almost impossible to actually explain plot and happenings within this series without doing so in a very open ended way. The disc opens with a story about sound without source – a frozen voice. A consuming illness that cannot be seen is taking over all that it reaches. The sweet tones of childhood will damn those closest, but within the sacred smoke, the tale will be told. This tale involves a hamlet and its people being covered in a substance that looks a lot like rust. The people affected by this illness slowly lose their ability to move, much like how a rusted machine loses its ability to work and function properly – it’s all about metaphors and such, as is much of Mushi-Shi. So yes, even the buildings are covered in this strange rust, and the snow and cold of the setting gives this episode an especially dark feel to it. Everyone looks and feels like they are slowly freezing over and shutting down. The sound of this girl’s voice creates the rust – it forms when she speaks, or sings, or makes any noise at all that leaves her mouth. She decided to keep silent and not speak at all many years ago – she tries to be quiet so the rust won’t form at all, but even that doesn’t seem to be enough. The rust is of course another form of Mushi – it forms in her lungs and is spread to all the people around her. Ginko must cure her and save the hamlet by scattering these rust Mushi. Perhaps then th girl can again use her voice, and everyone will be happy. Next, a new species is discovered. Decisions made in arrogance and fear cause more problems then they are worth. The flames of the dead will find succor in the heat of the living and life will be undone. All this dark sounding foreshadowing is not a bluff – this is a very dark episode indeed. The town is overrun by Mushi that look just like tall weeds. The townspeople are afraid the weeds will kill all of their crops and then they will have no food to eat for the winter, so they decide to burn the weeds with fire. Ginko arrives just in time to warn them that such a destructive move could prove to be a bad idea if they don’t first stop and think and discover more about these new Mushi. They won’t listen though, and actually end up hurting Ginko so that they can continue with their plans to burn the entire mountainside. Once the weeds have all been burnt to nothing more than cinders, they actually turn into fire-based Mushi that are more dangerous than they were in their previous weed form. These new Mushi attack people’s insides and cause them to die of cold because they suck all the body heat out of their victims. Ginko saves the town by showing them that they must actually intake the Mushi into themselves to get better – they must burn themselves from the inside to cure the cold caused by these dangerous new evolved Mushi. The last two tales that comes next involve a world touched by four senses, until the fifth becomes overwhelming. A gaze across the distance, across past, present and future. Eyes closed against the onslaught, eyes closed to all but the truth. In the final episode of the series, three paths will meet for a time on the mountain, to roam and relish and learn the lessons there to be learned. Three paths will separate, yet even time cannot erase where the foot has tread. It offers a fairly rare look into where Ginko came from and what his life was like as a child. Saying much more than that would ruin the wonderful conclusion to this very delicate and understated piece of art. But it’s safe to say it goes out like a lamb, just as it came in. the art and the story and everything about this series that makes it so special is completely present until the very end. It’s a wonderful series that will be appreciated by the right people for years to come – it’s truly something that can set itself apart from so many other anime that have so much less meaning and art to them than Mushi-Shi. EXTRAS:
The disc extras include actor/director commentary, Mushi-Shi manga pages presented by Del Rey Manga, textless songs, and trailers. IN SUMMARY:
Mushi-Shi is and was always “really out there” – it’s different with a capital D. When everyone else wants to be a copy of something else, Mushi-Shi is an anime that stands alone and asks you to hear and feel and experience everything it has to offer. It’s an anime with a connection to nature beyond that of most others.
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