Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Finished reading Mushishi


Finished reading Mushishi (1999) on 9/10/2014.
Story and art by Urushibara Yuki.
50 chapters.

Ginko is a wandering doctor. And the ailments he treats are that of a supernatural nature caused by tiny, shy, spirit-like beings known as mushi, which despite their size can be the cause of large-scale, devastating phenomena.

7.5/10 – This manga has a very interesting concept and is presented in a magically nostalgic and melodramatic way that connects with me in a weird, scary, yet gentle manner. However, even though I'm happy with getting into Ginko's past and how he became a mushishi I still think the story had a lot more potential for a deeper complexity that it never really reached aside from some exposition. Most of the stories were self-contained and at one point they got really repetitive to the point where I almost gave up. The final story was also a sort of self-contained two parter that almost made me think that Ginko was going to become something more. But he didn't, and I wasn't aware that that was the end of the manga until the last page where the author says 'farewell'. Still, this is one of the best manga I've read so far and the idea is very original. I just really wish the story would've gotten more interesting.