Genre: Supernatural
Range: OT 16+
Price: 12.99 USD
It's a string coming out of the sky... I wonder what it's attached to.
Yuki Urushibara's award-winning hit manga reaches its sixth volume in English. This very original manga has inspired an anime and live-action versions.
In theory, every manga is its own universe, but many borrow more heavily from established and more familiar themes. What makes Mushishi work (but also sometimes works against it) is the original supernatural universe created by Urushibara.
"Mushi" are "spirits" in this world. That definition goes far beyond the Western idea of a "ghost" or "spirit" and even further than the massive Yokai Ningen of Japanese lore. Our lead actor is Ginko, a mushishi, or "spirit master". This travelling problem-solver goes from town to town solving supernatural problems and rescuing those who have been pulled into the negative (evil?) mushi world.
Ghost wranglers are hardly unheard of... and these theme has gotten some deserved attention in recently published-in-English series like Mail and Ghost Talker's Daydream. Mushishi is different in that the spirits Ginko takes on are less scary, but at the same time less predictable and more more mind-scrambling. Where Mail and Ghost Talker's have their roots firmly in the horror genre, Mushishi is a little harder to nail down.
Ginko himself is a bit bland as a lead character after we get the gist of the stories. The mushi themselves definitely take center stage. I think that is OK, as the unpredictable mushi can carry a story, but I sometimes wish Mushishi was a bit more like Mail and had a lead with a bit more personality.
However, Mushishi satisfies in its quiet darkness. More than the earliest volume, the mushi here are less personified, less traditional, smaller, but just as dangerous. I think the later stories carried more impact than the earlier ones in this volume and the final two ("Under the Snow" and "Banquet in the Farthest Field") are particularly dark and moving. (The titles hint to that, don't they?)
Mushishi continues to satisfy in its subtleties. The horror of Mushishi is much more on the vein of "Rosemary's Baby" than a "Hostel" title like Hell Girl. Urishibara has cleverly expanded the mushi universe bringing in original ideas with his careful writing. Some stories are more fulfilling than others, but the over all result will keep me keeping an eye on Ginko's travels.
8.5