This episode is imediately notable for a distinct change of direction. Mushishi usually begins with Ginko wandering about beautiful landscapes, finding his next job and meeting new people, here the first 13 minutes are told as a flashback, in which tragedy inevitably occurs. The latter half of the episode is all about finding true emotional…

Again dealing with the pain felt at the loss of a loved one, episode 17 at least concludes with a ray of hope after 20-odd minutes of forecasted gloom. I’m not saying it’s bad that Mushishi sometimes portrays hopeless situations, it’s just nice when someone’s dreams are fulfilled and we leave the show in an…

There is no skirting around the fact that episode 16 of Mushishi is a thoroughly depressing affair. Every day a woman loses fragments of her memory, whether it be the definition of a sneeze or the identity of her sister, it’s a mysterious problem that only someone like Ginko can solve. There are some things…

Having suffered through some heavy tragedy in the last few episodes of Mushishi, it was nice to see the show returning to it’s well established style of surreal, metaphorical story telling this time around. Here we meet a chirpy young boy who like Ginko can not only see Mushi but takes an active interest in…

It seems almost ridiculous to say, but every episode of Mushishi I see is my new favourite episode. Number 14 is an outstanding piece of story telling, possibly the most heart breaking yet and still, an ultimately uplifting and optimistic masterpiece. Shades of green fill the screen as Ginko stumbles about a forrest. He bumps…

As the is the norm for Mushishi, I left episode 13 with a mixture of emotion and intrigue. The two lead characters for this week are obviously in love but one of histories worst traditions, that of arranged marriages, again causes the kind of intense termoil that can only result in tragedy. These kinds of…