[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Mushishi episode 5: The travelling Swamp
It’s getting harder and harder to put the visual aspect of what I’m reviewing into words so I’ve decided to try putting a couple of screencaps in, just to give you an idea of the aesthetic side of things. Mushishi is a great example of this: I can give you a run-down of the story but the artwork has to be seen to be believed!
In this episode, The Travelling Swamp, our hero Ginko (above) stops at a coastal village where he is discussing his recent travels with the local doctor. It’s good to have references of past episodes appearing here but the main focus of this story is that of another strange phenomenon that he has witnessed. As he made his way through the mountains Ginko thought he’d seen a swamp that moves! His curiosity was heightened when he noticed a strange girl apparently living in the swamp (below): if his suspicion that this swamp is some mushi-related manifestation is correct, the girl’s life might be in danger.
It is a race against time to find out the route taken by the travelling swamp and also to find a way to rescue its trapped occupant. Mushishi always proves to be an emotional rollercoaster and this instalment is no exception - the story behind how the girl came to be living in the swamp is quite a sad one, and the suspense really kicks in towards the finale when Ginko and the people of the village rush to save her.
I’m thoroughly enjoying Mushishi so far. Granted, Ginko is still an enigma and apart from a few details this episode is pretty much unrelated to the others but it has a magical quality like some dark fairytale: the sort of thing old Japanese people tell their grandkids over a cup of hot sake on cold winters’ evenings. The idea of a moving swamp is certainly the stuff of fairytales, so there’s no way of knowing what the writers of this strange but compelling show will come up with next.
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