Mushishi ep.21

June 2, 2006 | 13 Comments

It's nice to see this creepy episode after the rather tame episode 20. It helps that the Mushi looks rather disgusting this time around thanks to its green colour and slug-like movement. This episode also drives down the fact that some Mushi are actually parasites that feed on its host and can pose a threat to those that are in its way. Animation-wise, this is still as good as the rest of the series. With only 5 more episodes to go, however, I'll really miss this series once it's over. It's rare to find a series that has a combination of good script, acting, and animation. It's even harder to find one that can actually maintain these qualities over the course of the season. So far, Mushishi writers and animators have done a good job on the series that I hope they'll be working on another interesting series after they wrapped up the production of this one.

The episode opens with a woman saying how when she got married, she passed over the north woods and believed that it was probably then that 'the thing' attached itself. It was not until the wedding, however, that she noticed a green-coloured stain on her bridal gown. Right now, her eldest son, Watahiko, is suffering from a disease which displays the same green mark that she saw on her bridal gown. Upon hearing this story, Ginko directly asks the woman to forgive him if he's wrong but he wants to know if during his birth the boy looked like a human. The woman is surprised to hear this and suddenly becomes protective of the child she's holding. She then admits that the child wasn't born as a human. 3 months later, Ginko returns to the same house and is greeted by the woman's husband, who apologises for not following Ginko's advice. Ginko is surprised to hear from the man this soon so the man explains that there's been some unexpected developments.

The episode then returns to the time when Ginko asked the woman, whose name is Aki, if her child had a human form when he was born. Aki immediately looked sick so her husband ended up being the one who told the story of their son's birth to Ginko. He explained to Ginko how back then, Aki actually gave birth to a disgusting green-coloured slime. The slime then managed to slither its way out of the house and into the ground underneath the house. Aki became depressed after the incident because she has always wanted a children but by then she thought it's impossible. One year later, however, the couple heard scratching noise coming from underneath the floor of their house. When the husband took a lantern to check the source of the noise, he's surprised to see a baby boy left alone underneath the floor. The husband thinks that someone probably has left her child behind but Aki believed that this is their child, the one that was born one year ago.

Despite the baby's green skin, the husband admitted that the child does look like Aki. But the husband became worried when the kid, whose been called Watahiko, grew up quickly. Within half a year, the boy already looked like a 3 years old. But even though it looks like a kid, the boy has the mentality of a baby and is incapable of showing emotion or speaking like normal kid. Despite this, the husband gradually became attached to the kid as well. One night, however, the couple heard a cat's noise underneath the floor. When the husband tries to scare off the cat, he realised that the cat was hissing at another baby left underneath the house. The husband became afraid again and wondered if there are more coming. True enough, every half year, another baby appeared from beneath the house. Strangely, even though the husband has dug out the ground, he couldn't find anything. Eventually, the couple ended up with 5 green-skinned children.

One day, however, the eldest son slowly began to change. He ended up sleeping for the majority of the day and started to develop green rash on his body. The doctors don't know what's wrong with the kid and because of this, the couple thought that a Mushishi like Ginko could probably help them. Much to the couple's disappointment, Ginko told them that even Mushishi can't save the kid because he simply has reached the end of his lifespan. Ginko then explains how the couple's children are what Mushishi normally called 「綿吐」- Watahaki (Cotton's spew). The Mushi has green colour and can normally be found floating in the air. The Mushi has the tendency of entering a pregnant woman's womb and becomes a parasite on the egg. When the woman gives birth, the Mushi will appear in a mud-like form and makes an escape to the bottom of the floor or the roof. When one year has passed, a 「人茸」- Hitotake (Mushroom people) is sent to the surface.

Because of this, Ginko asked the couple if he can take a look at the bottom of their house. The husband offered Ginko a lantern but Ginko refused it since he can see it well without it. He told the couple that as he suspected, the Mushi is located under their house and is growing exponentially. Because, the husband told Ginko that he couldn't find anything when he dug the ground, Ginko put some of the mud on the husband's hand and asked the husband to see it under the sun. Upon doing so, the mud suddenly moves and jumps out of the husband's hand. Ginko then explained that the body of a Hitotake is connected to the main body of this Mushi. The main purpose of the these children is to send nourishment to the main part of the Mushi's body. Ginko believes that Watahiko is in his final stage of life as a Hitotake. After the kid dies, a Hitotake will vomit a lot of seeds on his deathbed. Before this can happen and create problem, they have to kill the creature.

The couple obviously got angry at Ginko's words and reminded him that he was brought in to save the child. Ginko, however, is resolved in his belief that there is no child that can be saved anymore. The Hitotake kids are basically Mushi that is covered with the skin of the woman's own dead children. He explained that in order for this Mushi to be born, it had to kill the woman's own fetus. After a while, the couple eventually agree to let Ginko to give Watahiko a lethal injection before burning the creature in the forest. The husband, however, begged Ginko to let them bring up the rest of the children until they start showing the green rash. Because of this, Ginko warned the husband that the lifespan of a Hitotake can range from 10 to 30 years. That means the couple has to keep killing each kid everytime one develop the rash. Ginko also reminded the husband about the fact that he is actually afraid of the children.

The man admitted that this is true but he wanted to do this for Aki, who he thinks will be very sad if she lost all the remaining 4 children, whom she has now called 'Watahiko' as well. He revealed that Aki once married a another person and gave birth to a normal child but the child died before it even reached 1 year old. Ginko tried to argue that records suggest that there usually won't be any more problem after all of Watahaki's 'children' are killed but he can't guarantee if the same thing can be said here. And since Ginko is not the kind who kills anything that he doesn't understand, he agreed to let the husband keep the remaining for children for now. Ginko tells the husband that he will come back in 3 months but if there is an unexpected development, he wants the husband to send him a letter. In less than 3 months, however, Ginko received a letter from the husband and because of this, Ginko has now returned to the house again.

In the present day, Ginko's 2nd arrival is not greeted with open arms by the Hitotake kids. They all believe that Ginko has arrived to kill them but the youngest one tries to assure the others that they'll be okay. The baby then talks to Aki telling her that Ginko has arrived. Aki hears her husband informing her of the same thing, so she goes to greet Ginko. When Ginko enters the house, however, Aki runs towards him and stabs Ginko with a knife. Ginko immediately passed out and when he regains his consciousness, he's already bandaged by the husband, who now apologises on behalf of his wife. He then informs Ginko that he tried to persuade his wife to kill the children but found the attempt to be difficult. It doesn't help that the children started to become more human-like. For example, the 4th child suddenly knew how to peel chestnuts even though the couple only showed the technique to the 2nd child. One day, the 2nd child also gained the ability to talk.

Eventually, the 2nd child started to show the same green rash that the 1st children had 3 months ago. However, when the husband tried to inject poison, the kid told his father that he's afraid and asked the father to save him instead of killing him. Because the children has become human-like, the guy eventually didn't have the heart to kill it. Upon hearing this, Ginko tells the husband that he believes the children have developed a new ability after the death of the first one. He thinks that the children can now share the information that has been received by one because all of them are connected to the root of the Mushi. Ginko, however, thinks that no matter what, these kids are not humans but merely creatures parading as one. Meanwhile, the Watahaki's children are in panic because their plan to kill Ginko failed and they forget what they know so far. However, in order to protect the seeds, they decide to send one of them to read up one of Ginko's books.

The next day, Ginko decides to visit the sick 2nd child so he can inject him with a poison. The kid tries to tell Ginko to save him instead of killing him but Ginko tells the kid that it's useless to say anything to him. Because of this, the kid asks Ginko why he wants to kill them and Ginko tells him it's because they eat other people's children. The kid tries to counter by saying that they're not bad but Ginko also tells him that he and the couple are not bad either. Having said that, humans are stronger and it is important for them that Watahaki dies without leaving seeds. Upon hearing this, the kid looks resigned but outside the house, it's obvious that his last words is used to signal the other kids to burn down the house. Ginko who finds out about this wonders if the kids are trying to burn the root under the floor. The 2nd kid tells Ginko that they learn about fire from one of his books and will be able to do it better the next time they have to protect their seeds again.

Aki tries to save her kids but by the time she gets into their room, they all have morphed into green blobs and disappear in the fire. Later on, Ginko told the couple that in the case of danger, Watahaki usually destroys all of its Hitotake and the roots that connect them to the main body before going into a deep sleep as seeds. He then gives the couple something that looks like a green ball and tells them that one day it may be awakened again but it could be outside the couple's lifespan. Ginko then leaves the couple but halfway through his journey he hears a sound coming from a bottle containing a green liquid with the face. As it turns out, the liquid is a Hitotake that hasn't turned into a seed yet. The creature asks Ginko what he gave to the couple so he tells it that he gave them a mineral because the couple had lost everything. The Hitotake thinks Ginko is a strange being and wonders why Ginko didn't kill him. Ginko claims that the reason is because the creature is still alive. Ginko then puts the bottle back into his jacket and asks the creature to go to sleep already.

Impression:

Of all the Mushi that have been featured thus far, Watahiko is probably one of the more interesting ones because it seems to possess an intelligence. Because of this, it's hard to know if the creature was genuine when it claimed that it has no evil intention. Bear in mind that the creature actually tried to kill Ginko more than once. However, it can be argued that those incidents were merely its attempt at self-preservation. As if trying to drive the point home, this episode shows that Ginko is also quite willing to 'kill' to ensure the safety of other humans and himself. Of all Mushishi, Ginko is probably one of the more balanced and fair ones because he judges the Mushi on a case by case basis instead of applying a label to the entire species. From time to time, however, such as in this case, he has to make some hard decision regarding a Mushi's life. Good intentions aside, sometimes humans' survival instinct will override any feeling they may have of other creatures.

This will obviously become problem when there is conflict of interest between humans and the other creature. Watahiko is probably one of the more disgusting Mushi that have appeared thus far and the fact that it actually eats the woman's unborn fetus to support itself makes the idea of co-existing with the creature sounds repulsive. As a result, when push comes to shove, Ginko made the decision to terminate the Mushi's life for the sake of the humans. He, however, reminds the Mushi that like it, he believes that he's not evil but simply stronger than the creature. One has to applaud the writers' decision to place this episode right after an episode which brought up the idea of humans and Mushi co-existence. It makes the series feels a lot more honest and realistic. Although towards the end Ginko seems to spare one of the Watahikos, it's likely that his motive in preserving the creature has more to do with monetary gain than a philantropic one.

© memento 2003