Mushishi ep.20

May 24, 2006 | 12 Comments

This episode highlights some of the differences that set this series apart from other anime series that are currently on air. This is particularly true of the voice actresses, who have the tendency to use adult voice while lending said voice to a character. This is quite a rarity in anime, where voice actresses often project a little girl's voice even when the character is supposed to be an adult. In Mushishi, however, the only time a character sounds like a child is when the character is of that age as well. As a result, it's quite easy to distinguish which character is supposed to be younger or older just by listening to the voice track. Anyway, it's nice to know that after this episode there are still 6 more to go. It would be nice, however, if the series is granted a second season. Currently there are at least 7 volumes of the manga and out of those 7, only around 4 have been adapted for the anime. That means there are sufficient material to make 12 new anime episodes.

This episode itself begins with a sour-looking old woman opening a door for Ginko. After he enters the house, Ginko asks the old woman about the condition of a person called Tanyuu. In reply, the old woman informs him that the person in question is resting at the moment. Ginko has also arrived with the intention of reading something from the house's library. Because of this, the old woman goes to unlock various doors to the library before asking Ginko to follow her. Inside the darkened library, the woman asks Ginko to hand over his cigarettes to ensure that nothing wrong will happen. Despite Ginko's claim that he won't smoke inside, the woman refuses to leave until the guy hands over his cigar. The old woman reminds him that this library contains more than just Mushi termination logs. Ginko eventually relents and hand over his cigarettes to the woman and starts reading a log written by the old woman himself, whose name is Minai Tama.

Tama is actually a Mushishi who is assigned to work for a particular family known as the Karibusas. The log that Tama has written contains a record about the birth of the 4th Karibusa family's 'recorder', Karibusa Tanyuu. A flashback reveals that Tanyuu was born with one charcoal-coloured leg much to her father's shock. Tama, who acts as Mushi-expert adviser for the family, informed Tanyuu's father that the mark on his newly-born daughter is a proof that the baby is the 'fourth recorder'. Fast forward a few years later, Tanyuu has grown up into a teenager who is bitter about the fact that unlike other teenagers, she can't walk without the help of crutches. It appears that the charcoal-coloured leg can't move normally like her other leg. She also complained about the fact that she's always forced to read and write the whole time. Feeling sorry for the young girl, Tama decided to inform the girl about the unusual condition of her leg.

Tama explained how the mark on her right leg is actually the remain of a forbidden Mushi that was sealed inside Tanyuu's ancestor's body by a Mushishi. Normally Mushi and humans live together and whereever animals and plants exist, Mushi will exist as well. However, a long time ago, there was a natural disaster where both animals and Mushi were dying. As it turned out, the incident was caused by a Mushi which attempted to erase all lifeforms. Unfortunately there was no recording of what this Mushi looked like or the sealing method that was used by the Mushishi. What Tama knows is that back then Tanyuu's ancestor was pregnant. When the Mushi was sealed inside her body, the woman's entire body turned into black. The Mushi then continued to live inside the woman until the woman died after giving birth to her child. Ever since then, every few generations there are those within the Karibusa family who were born with this black mark on their body.

Tanyuu became horrified upon hearing this and asked Tama if she'll die too because of this. Tama assured the girl that she is with her to prevent that from happening. Tama believed that Tanyuu has the power to put the Mushi to sleep so once Tanyuu got better at reading and writing, they will go to a secluded house to put the Mushi sleeping underground. By doing this, the mark on Tanyuu's body will disappear and Tanyuu will be able to walk again. Apparently 3 of Tanyuu's predecessors have done this as well and slowly they managed to put the Mushi to sleep. Back in the present day, Tanyuu is awaken from her sleep. She remarks that it's been a while since she saw that dream. Tanyuu then remembers how back then Tama told her how to put the Mushi to sleep. The process involves Tanyuu having to write down the story that Tama told her into a piece of paper. The stories are actually Tama's own experiences while she was an active Mushishi.

After hearing the story, Tanyuu needs to 'write' the story by placing her hand on a paper. When Tanyuu did for the first time, she felt some pain on her leg so she asked Tama if the Mushi is coming out of her body. Tama confirmed this and told the girl that the fact that she has killed Mushi acts as some sort of poison for this particular one. Tama also realised that it must be painful for Tanyuu but she asked the girl to bear with it. These words made Tanyuu realised that Tama probably became a Mushishi because of her so she wondered if Tama ever regretted it. Much to the girl's surprise, Tama said that she appreciated it ever since Tanyuu was born. Unfortunately, Tama quickly ran out of stories to tell. Because of this, she decided to invite other Mushishi to tell their story to Tanyuu. Tanyuu, however, quickly realised that most of the stories coming from the Mushishis are actually glorified story involving the murder of Mushi.

Tanyuu feels that these Mushishi simply take advantage of those weaker than humans. She also thinks that the murderous actions happen mostly because of humans' own fear towards something that is different. Bu when she suggested to a Mushishi that maybe they don't have to kill the Mushi, the Mushishi told her that unless she's a Mushishi herself, she doesn't have the authority to make such claim. One day, however, Tanyuu met a Mushishi who is different from other Mushishis. That person was Ginko. He told Tanyuu that he's heard that Mushishis can get access into the Karibusa library if they co-operate with the family. At this point, however, Tanyuu was sick of hearing stories involving Mushi killings. Because of this Ginko offers stories that don't involve killing the entity since he actually has more of these stories. Tanyuu thinks that if that was the case then the story won't be useful but Ginko told her the story anyway.

Upon hearing Ginko's story about Mushi that eats mole, however, Tanyuu became interested. And since Tanyuu wants to hear more stories about Mushi living in harmony with humans and animals, she decided to ask Tama to allow Ginko to come more often. In the present day, Tanyuu is informed by Tama that Ginko has arrived at the house so Tanyuu asks Tama to bring him to her. At the same time, Ginko is in the middle of reading some of the manuscript inside the library when he notices a Shimi's egg suddenly appearing from inside the paper. He quickly realises that the forbidden Mushi is awakened. When Tama arrives at the library, Ginko warns the old woman that the Shimis have started to eat the words. Because of this, he believes that the seal will soon be broken. As soon as he said this, Ginko sees lines of texts appearing in front of him. It doesn't take long before these texts moves out of the library and into the room where Tanyuu is sitting.

Despite the seemingly bad situation, Tanyuu assures Ginko that the Mushi won't be able to leave the room. Nevertheless, she's amazed to find out that the Mushi is alive even though it's been asleep for hundreds of years. Ginko is surprised to see Tanyuu looking so relaxed and wonders if she can put the Mushi back. Tanyuu simply smiles at the guy and tells him that there are some Mushi seals that she also can do. All of a sudden, however, the Mushi stops moving. Tanyuu explains that the walls inside the room contains a special glue. Tanyuu then asks Tama to open book 1853 chapter one while she uses a chopstick-like device to pull the Mushi off the wall before throwing it to Tama so she can stick it back into the page. Ginko is surprised to see this because it means Tanyuu has memorised every single page. Tanyuu said that whether there is Shimi or not, paper will eventually fade so she has to ensure that the Mushi is properly sealed.

After Tanyuu overcomes this problem, she decides to transfer some forbidden Mushi out of her body and into the paper. In order to do this, she closes her eyes and points her fingers into the paper. Soon enough, a bunch of texts-like Mushis begin running down her face and hands before settling down into the paper. Despite being exhausted after the transfer, Tanyuu asks Ginko if he can take her out into the field. As the two walk into the field, Tanyuu asks herself when she'll be able to walk. Ginko advises her not to rush since the mark almost disappears. Tanyuu, however, believes that she needs to transfer the Mushi before she dies or else, it'll be inherited to her descendants and they may not accept it. Ginko then asks Tanyuu what she wants to do after her leg is healed. Much to Ginko's surprise, Tanyuu wants to travel with him to see various Mushi. Because of this, Ginko promises Tanyuu that that if he's still alive by then, he'll take her with him.

Impression:

Seeing another Mushishi at work is a good reminder of how different each individual approaches this unusual profession. When Ginko is the only Mushishi within the story, it's easy to think that all Mushishi are as easy-going and kind as this slacker. But just from this episode alone, one can see that some Mushishi are fixated on their Mushi killing success while others battle a debilitating affliction. In this episode, the later of the two archetypes was represented by Tanyuu. As a human, she was essentially 'cursed' by her bloodline. Right from her birth, she was given the task of carrying a dangerous Mushi inside her body. This in return, makes it impossible for her to realise her desire to venture out like other Mushishi. Her freedom is limited to the confine of her house and a short walk into the field. Any further than that, however, is impossible for her. Her situation is a good reminder how people often take their ability to live a normal life for granted.

The only way for Tanyuu to get rid of her affliction is to transfer the Mushi into a piece of parchment little by little. And in order to facilitate this process, she needs stories from other Mushishi to write onto the paper. There are several interesting points that can be highlighted out of this information. First of all, the Mushi that is within her body is classified as 'forbidden', a rather unusual term to describe a Mushi. While admittedly that most Mushis have not exactly been beneficial, Ginko has always argued that these creatures simply try to live their own life. This particular Mushi, however, tried to erase all kinds of lifeforms and nothing about its origin is known. Judging from its colour and the effect it has on its host, the Mushi looks like some kind of a plague which is capable of debilitating those who got invaded by it. Another interesting part about this Mushi is that it is immediately viewed as an entity that has to be destroyed immediately.

Bear in mind that humanity's survival instinct does have the tendency to classify those that threaten its livelihood as its enemies. But what if the sealed Mushi is actually an ecosystem's way of resetarting life on Earth? If one thinks about it, around 65 million years ago ecosystem did a restart by decimating pre-historic lifeforms to allow mammals to become the dominant lifeform on Earth. The difference is that unlike dinosaurs, humans posssess high intelligence and a more resilient survival instinct. As a result, it's not difficult to understand that humans will also be more willing to kill anything that threatens its survival. This point will actually be emphasised in the next episode of Mushishi. Suffice to say, that episode will show that when push comes to shove, Ginko's survival instinct as a human overrides his interest to preserve Mushi. It'll be interesting if towards the end of the manga, Ginko ends up facing this particular Mushi.

Another interesting point about this Mushi is that it doesn't seem to like stories about Mushi's extermination. This is why Tanyuu needed other Mushishi's stories because apparently the story acts as a counter to the Mushi within her. By hearing the story, the Mushi is repelled from her body, making it possible for her to transfer them into the parchment. It's interesting to note that when transferred into the parchment, this Mushi ends up becoming words and texts. There is something poetic about seeing texts-like Mushi being repelled by words and stories from other Mushishi. Anyway, moving on to other topic, the relationship between Ginko and Tanyuu is another element that is worth mentioning. While I don't think romance is on the agenda yet, it's quite obvious that Tanyuu is interested in Ginko. It's hard to figure out what Ginko thought when Tanyuu reveals her wish. But for someone who's used to travelling alone, it probably was not easy for him to accept her request.

© memento 2003