Life, Interrupted

Mushishi, Volume 1 by Yuki Urushibara

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I was enthralled with the anime made from the first six books of this series, so I had to try the manga. The same delicate, thoughtful peek into Japanese folklore and superstition is here, the surprising turns the stories take. This is an episodic series of tales about the wandering of a Mushi-Shi, or Mushi Master, named Ginko, and the strange and unusual mushi he finds helping -- or hurting -- humans through inadvertent interaction.

Mushi are very close to the base of the tree of life, part plant, part animal, looking a lot like bugs, or fungus, or dust in sunlight -- and always unexpected. Most mushi masters study them because of fascination, but a majority also usually eliminate the mushi when they clash with humans. Ginko has a more benign view of things. He will help humans all he can, but he sees no reason to kill the mushi if he can simply stop them from troubling humans. He can't stay in one place very long (mushi congregate wherever he is, part of the reason he smokes constantly, to keep them away from himself) so he makes friends where he can, and does all that he is allowed to do.

It's a gentle way of looking at the universe, especially considering how closely the mushi have altered his own life. I really can't begin to give examples of these tales without risking giving away too much. Just ignore the publisher's cover copy -- totally wrong tone for the book.

I did almost put "mature" on this book, however, because some of the images in it are scary-startling, and a young child might be very disturbed. Most teens could handle it with no problem. Not graphic-uggh, but graphic OMG that lives there and could do WHAT? You never know what people may have as a "button" so I'll just say that this is unlike any manga I've ever seen, and the artist has won awards for her work.

Ginko feels younger here than in the anime, and I had to make the transition from gloriously subtle color to the b&w of the manga, which was my only twitch between mediums.



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