Mushishi: The Next Chapter

Episode 14

Oh thank goodness, the theme song is back this week! I missed that folksy, Feist-y little ditty. Speaking of little, this week's episode of Mushi-Shi is one of the smallest in recent memory. The story spans just two locations, separated by a beautiful series of canals to create a setting marrying pre-Meiji-era Japan with Venice into one fog-layered fairytale world.

The story itself is also standard fairytale stuff. Two people from vastly different stations in life share a love forbidden by a stern family member and are forced to meet in secret, traipsing the edge of a dangerous fate. The two lovebirds in this case are a young heiress and her handmaiden, who became best of friends when the heiress was a little girl and only this one servant could calm her frequent heart palpitations. (Her disease is never clarified beyond "serious heart condition," but it's bad enough that she can't exert herself too heavily.) The bond they shared became stronger and stronger until the heiress' father became afraid that his daughter would never learn to be independent and sent the servant away. The heiress was still too weak to go visit her friend in person, but their invisible bond still connected them telepathically. They could see and speak to each other in their mind's eye, amidst an endless field of fog. The more the heiress spent her days lost in this hazy void, the easier it became for her to slip away from her lonely reality...and her real body. Enter Ginko to solve the problem.

Of course, a mushi is to blame for this supernatural link between souls, and as with most mushi, if the heiress continues to use its powers, her soul will eventually leave her body, and the same could happen to her connected friend. Ginko offers both girls medicine to excise the mushi, at the cost of their ethereal connection. The handmaiden agrees to take it for the good of her friend, but the heiress refuses until her father forces the issue. Sure enough, the medicine does its work, but will it really solve the problem? The real problem?

This episode has some gorgeous imagery and thematic ideas, but emotionally it's a little shallower than expected. I love the connection between the unstoppable flow of the watery canals that connect the town and the "channels of thought" that connect two souls in love and can't be broken by any force, physical or supernatural. I love the connection of the fog over the town to the "ether" of thought that can both connect and isolate people depending on how much time they spend lost in their own feelings. Still, "Hidden Cove" was one of the most feelings-light Mushi-Shi stories in a while, and I think it's Ginko's fault.

For whatever reason, the decision was made to frame most of this episode from Ginko's perspective. That can work wonders for some Mushi-Shi episodes where the way mushi affect a person reflects Ginko's own personal experiences, but he doesn't have any personal connection to this particular story, at least not that we've been told. It's definitely not implied by the episode that he has any personal experience with "the ether" in the way that he does with the River of Light or mountain gods. It seems like an episode about the emotional connection between two young women should be framed more firmly from their independent perspectives, but the focus is only shifted to the heiress in the back half of the episode, so it doesn't get the emotional attention that we expect from most Mushi-Shi episodes.

It's still a good story in its progression, imagery, and strong message, but "Hidden Cove" could use a little more of the series' trademark intimacy. It's a story about love, after all! Not a bad outing this week, but the show may be biding its time with a variety of simpler vignettes before landing any of the heavier blows seen in The Next Chapter's opening episode or the various specials leading up to it. For a simple little love story with a gorgeous setting, it's a nice way to spend twenty minutes.

Rating: B

Mushishi: The Next Chapter is currently streaming Crunchyroll.

Hope has been an anime fan since childhood, and likes to chat about cartoons, pop culture, and visual novel dev on Twitter.