Genre: Supernatural

Age Rating: OT (16+)

Price: $12.95

I love Yuki Urushibara. Her manga seems to me completely unlike so much that's out there, both from an art standpoint--her pages are filled with delicate linework that teases out the nuances of character and setting-- and from a story standpoint.

The series is about Ginko, a mushishi, or spirit master, who travels around Japan solving problems where the balance between Mushi (magical nature spirits? Their exact natures are nebulous, which is part of the wonder and versatility of the stories) and humans has gone awry. The volumes and stories are episodic, set in an older time period (it's unclear whether this is the 17th century or the 19th century, or even some isolated towns and villages of 20th century Japan) and cleave to a simple structure: mysterious problem involving a warping of the natural order is introduced, often involving children, Ginko arrives and, filled with a gruff, warm, enigmatic spirit, resolves the difficulties.

The solutions are often bittersweet, and the stories are filled with characters feeling lost and alienated, often from themselves, or family, or community, or even the very world around them. And here is the crux of why this feels so different: Mushishi is a series that draws on classic manga elements to push its story and its central characters forward. The episodic feel reminds me of older manga like Lone Wolf and Cub, another series that used the single, episodic tale to great effect. Urushibara is interested in a struggle to bring some sense of balance to the natural world while all the time just going about the difficult task of daily living, and the quiet wonder she wrings out of these themes is fantastic.

This third volume ups the ante, giving us as close to an origin story for Ginko as we're ever likely to see, demonstrating that he's not simply an agent for change, but also closer to the everyday townsfolk and villagers than you'd imagine.

9