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Mushishi, One of the best anime that I have ever seen?

Pray tell good sir, how exactly would an English release, which will undoubtedly be released with Japanese audio and English subtitles ruin this show?

one3rd wrote:

...fairly typical monster of the week kind of show.

Well, the "monster of the week" comment is pretty accurate, but I wouldn't say typical. In essence it does just present a new Mushi to be dealt with by Ginko each time (successfully or otherwise...), but it does this so much better than other series that follow a similar pattern. Even after 24 episodes (all I've seen so far) the situations are still fresh and interesting.
Still, the lack of anything more than this is why I don't feel I can really call the show a masterpiece - although I did rate it excellent.

Just go into it expecting to watch an episode or two at a time, and be ready to take a nap afterwards

If it does get licensed, I believe it'll keep the name Mushishi. I really don't see a reason for them to change it. Utawarerumono was just a bit.... too weird, and really didn't have anything to do with the plot or anything.

If the show continues the way it has after the few episodes that I've seen, it will probably only get a "Decent" rating out of me. I don't throw around high ratings very liberally though. Out of over 200 titles that I've seen in part or in whole, I've only rated two as Masterpiece and less than 20 as Excellent. I didn't even my favorite series (Full Metal Panic! and sequels) a Masterpiece rating.

Almost all the episodes focus on people and their relationships and the emotional hurtles they can't get over. The mushi tend to feed off of these things. Thus, Ginko is at times both an emotional doctor, as well as a spirtual/supernatural one.


I don't throw around stuff like "Masterpiece" lightly either- but I have to say I still think this show is one of the best I've ever seen, and I'm sure I've watched over 100 or more titles. I don't really keep track, but....

I dunno-- it has great art, but that's not the only reason I like it (like someone hypothosized earlier); it has (to me) an absolutely wonderful soundtrack, on par with some of the best from Yoko Kanno or Hirasawa Susumu, but that's not the only reason I like it either. The production is good all over-- voice acting, etc. but there are other shows that are also very "high quality" that I never enjoyed half as much as this show.

I just don't understand how people can say that the characters are not very interesting, or not well written in this show. I admit that Ginko is largely a foil for other characters (kind of a Colombo type of character, plot wise), but I'm always so amazed by how well written the characters are, and how much development you can achieve in just 1 ep. There's a certain weight you get from having a continuous story over a whole season or two, and that elbow-room sometimes allows you to explore more complicated themes and topics more thouroughly, but I don't somehow dock Mushishi points for not being those things. It's not trying to be. In essence, it's a series of amazingly well-written short stories, and as that form, I've seen no better show.

I can see someone saying the show was too slow for them, or too quiet and meditative, or that there wasn't enough about Ginko as the main character (as the show's not really about him, per se), or that they wanted more re-occuring characters, or didn't' find the spiritual aspect of the show to their liking-- these are all matters of opinion or temperment-- but I have a hard time seeing how anyone could say that this show was anything other than a top notch production-- in re: to the script, acting, sound, art, etc.

Finally, I could see how someone might be turned off by the "monster of the week" aspect of the show, it's the formula they use. However, I still hold by my earlier statement-- namely, that this show is so remarkable in large part because it's totally unbeholden to that format. Mushishi is never about the mushi, the "monsters", and is always centered on the people who are involved with these other beings, particularly because the mushi often feed on/are drawn to a certain weakness of the characters. They're really, at the root of it, simply well-made metaphors and manifestations for the problems the characters are facing. I guess, to me, it's shows like Mushishi and Princess Tutu that demonstrate so well how a show can break the mold of certain genre, even as it plays by many of its rules. Because, in the end, I would never have described Mushishi as a "monster of the week" show, even though a arguement can be made that it is, structurally.

By the way, If one Mushi is called a Mushi, Are two Mushi(s) called Mushi or Mushi's? That is just a little bit confusing to me.....Any hoo.

I can see someone saying the show was too slow for them, or too quiet and meditative, or that there wasn't enough about Ginko as the main character (as the show's not really about him, per se), or that they wanted more re-occuring characters, or didn't' find the spiritual aspect of the show to their liking-- these are all matters of opinion or temperment-- but I have a hard time seeing how anyone could say that this show was anything other than a top notch production-- in re: to the script, acting, sound, art, etc.

Honestly, any anime fan rating this show any less than an 8 (maybe a 7 if they just hate all of fantasy) would make me really wonder how objective they're being about it.

The very nature of the rating system is for it to be non-objective. I don't rate titles based on what everyone thinks, I base them on what I think. I certainly hope that ANN users aren't being objective about their ratings. If people attempted to rate objectively rather than subjectively, then the ratings would be worthless because it wouldn't be an accurate reflection of what people actually think is good or not.

Honestly, though, I'm not sure if I want to put this much effort into a response about ratings talking to someone who has rated Naruto a masterpiece. I think you'll find that ratings of 6 or 7 in my MyAnime list are not uncommon. In fact, I just added them up and out of 215 titles that I've seen in part or in whole, I have rated 96 of them either 6 or 7. If, in my opinion, a show doesn't do anything particularly exceptional, either good or bad, chances are, it will get a 6 or 7 rating. I don't find this to be unreasonable at all because they are still generally positive ratings.