Mushishi ep.25

December 19, 2006 | 32 Comments

It's nice to see another powerful episode after some rather lacklustre ones that preceeded this one. Although I enjoyed all episodes in the series, I find that my favourite episodes are always the ones where the Mushi's creep factor is quite high. This includes episode 4 (Imenonoawai), 12 (Tokogami), 17 (Uro-san), 21 (Watahaki), and this one (Ganpuku). This episode also contains a much richer color pallette for some reason. Normally a Mushishi episode is heavy on one principal color (ie. Green for Spring, White in Winter, etc). In this one, however, the animators use various colours to illustrate the difference between those with normal sight and those without one. Come to think of it, have we seen how the world looks through Ginko's eyes? Especially considering the fact that one of his eyes was eaten by Tokogami.

The episode begins with a woman claiming that only smell, sound and taste exist in her world. She believes that this is enough. Cut to a shot of a girl seeing light coming from her supposedly blind eyes. Eventually, she gets to see the colourful world around her. A few years later, Ginko arrives in a town and notices a Biwa performer singing a song about a dark, hair-like entity coming down from the ceiling and into her nose. Ginko realises that the girl is singing about a Mushi and asks her where she heard the story from. The woman claims that she heard it from her father and asks 'Mushishi-san' if he'd like to hear more. When Ginko asks her how she knows that he's a Mushishi, she explains that she just feels that he'd be one. Before Ginko can protest or refuse, the girl and the Inn owners already force him to stay at the inn.

After hearing the girl's songs, Ginko believes that the girl's father was a Mushishi. This is the reason why her stories are true. The girl confirms this but unfortunately her father has passed away. The two then talk about her eyes, which Ginko assumes to be completely blind. The girl tells Ginko that is not entirely true since she can see things, such as Ganpuku, a supposedly rare Mushi. When Ginko asks her where this Mushi is located, the girl decides to tell him the story of her life. In return, she wants him to bury her eyes in the mountain. A flashback then reveals that the girl's name is Amane. When she was a child, Amane was often left behind by her father because his work as Mushishi required him to travel to other places. Despite this, she loved hearing her father's travel stories. It was then that her father told her that he managed to get his hands on Ganpuku, a Mushi which he believed to be a Myth up till now.

During his last trip, he managed to obtain the eyeball of a guy who saw the Mushi. Apparently the guy's eyesight was getting better and better after he saw Ganpuku. Even the remains of his eyeball did not rot. Amane's father believed that the eye can lead them to Ganpuku, which he believed can restore his daughter's eyesight. While Amane's father was inspecting the eye, something jumped out of the organ. He believed that the thing was actually Ganpuku itself. After the incident, Amane's father searched the entire mountain but he couldn't find the Mushi. One month later, when Amane was in the forest looking for mushrooms, she felt that something entered her eyes. Her vision eventually became brighter and she finally able to see the world with her own eyes. Amane tells Ginko that back then she understood for the first time what 'to see' actually means. Back then she felt ecstatic more than she ever thought she would.

Amane's eyes can also see things which are in different location from where she is located. For example, she can see the hill behind the wall or the sea beyond the mountain from inside her room. Amane loved seeing things and observes people's life in faraway places but it didn't take long before this took a toll on her health. At times she felt dizzy and had trouble walking. The only times she can have peace was when she closed her eyes. From that point forward, she's had her eyes closed most of the time. However, as time goes by, she started seeing things even when she doesn't open her eyes. For example, she saw a man falling from a stair when he tried to pick apples from a tree. In reality, the man was fine until a few minutes later. As it turns out, Amane has the ability to see the past and future of everyone around her every time she closes her eyes. Because of this, people started to come and ask her to foretell their future.

All the visions that Amane saw quickly became true and she was perceived as an Oracle. However, even when Amane warned them of imminent danger, what she saw would never change. Eventually, people only come to her to ask about criminals. Although her eyes are valued, in time she has no one she can called friends. One day, Amane finds out that she can see outside even when she closes her eyelids. In fact, she could see both outside sceneries and her father's future at the same time. Back then her father promised her that he'd come back in three days. However, he never did. Amane tried to find him using her second sight and one day she found her father at the bottom of the valley. She travelled to mourn for her father and told stories he once told her using her Biwa to raise money. After she found her father's remains, she no longer intent on returning to her house. Because of this, she continued travelling to cities and playing her Biwa.

As time passes by, she can see more and more things through her eyelids and nothing could obstruct it. She can no longer stand straight during the day. However, there is one thing that she still could not see: her own future. But now she can see it as well and as a result, she knew Ginko would pass by. Upon hearing this, Ginko wonders if she's going to ask him to get rid of her eyes and bury it in the mountain. In return, Amane tells him that she knows that she could have done it herself. She admits that her eyes have brought happiness to her at one point and this is why she put up with it no matter how vile they might seem. However, soon her eyes won't be hers. Just like the Ganpuku that she saw, she believes that the Mushi will fly out of her eyes and dig itself into the ground and wait for a new set of eyes. Because of this she wants Ginko to bury her eyes deep in the mountain so that no one else has to go through what she did.

Ginko thinks that there might be a treatment out there but Amane reminds him that what has been decided by 'fate' can't be changed. That night, Ginko tries to write a letter asking another friend for advice so Amane wonders why he wants to help her so much. She believes it's because he lost his left eyes. Ginko wonders if she can see it but Amane claims that she can't see his childhood because it's pitch black. Ginko admits that his earliest childhood memory started from ten. He remembers walking in the dark in the middle of nowhere, unable to see a thing except a fake white moon which rise and set over and over again. Eventually, however, he came to a place where he could see the sun rise. He remembers how thankful he was that he could see the sunlight and wonders if Amane is not afraid that she'll lose that light forever. Amane admits that it's fearsome to lose the light but a world filled with nothing but light is more terrifying.

Amane wonders which one is better: seeing everything but unable to change anything and living freely in the darkness? She believes that it'd be better living in the darkness while remembering the light. That night, Amane sees a future where her eyes 'died' on her. Ginko wonders if the recent changes in Amano's eyes means that the eyes are becoming independent from her. He knows that the Mushi infects the eyes by being seen. It also transform the eyes so it can continue living even after the body dies. Since Ginko still has not receive reply from his letter, he can only ponder about the meaning of 'fate' which has been decided. One night, Amane realises that she can't see past the bedroom. She, however, is freaked out when her eyes start to move on their own. Before she knows it, her eyes pop out of their sockets and two black Mushi jump out of the organs. Thankfully Ginko manages to capture both Mushi and place them in a jar.

Ginko asks Amane to bear with the pain for awhile since he's going to get her a painkiller. When she can feel her tears, Amane realises that one does not need eyes to be able to cry. That day Ginko goes to the mountain and buries the Mushi into the ground. He then asks Amane how far she can see now. Amane can see that her eyes are buried inside the dirt but they soon rises above ground as an animal approached the area. Beautiful flowers then appear in the animal's eyes and as soon as they get suck into its eyes, everything becomes black. In the aftermath, Amane informs Ginko that he should get the response to his letter by now. When Ginko pulls out the letter, he finds out that there is no known cure to this problem. Judging from her smile, Amane knew this right from the start. Amane is also happy that she can no longer see the future. Before they part ways, Amane asks Ginko to greet her if they ever meet again somewhere.

Impression:

This was one of the more horrific episodes of Mushishi and I can't be more happy about it. I was caught off-guard when the eyes pop out of their socket that I felt a chill that lasts until the episode ends. Having said that, I really don't understand Amane's and Ginko's decision to bury the Mushi on the ground. Wouldn't it be better for them to just kill it? I realise that the series always advocate a harmonious living between Mushi and other creatures but I feel that this is one of the cases where I think that the Mushi is a threat not only to human but other creatures as well. It's true that Amane gets to see the world briefly but it then gets snatched away from her. And then there is the pain and fear associated with knowing that she can't change what she sees in her vision. It would have been better if she never got the sight in the first place because then she never knows what she's missing and would not have to put up with the pain.

This is especially interesting when contrasted to Ginko's preference. For Ginko, who had to endure traumatic experience in darkness, being able to see light is important. On the other hand, Amane was already used to the darkness. If anything, the exposure to the light that she received was more of a cursed than a blessing. Because of this, she prefers total darkness. There is one interesting scene which illustrate this point in a literal manner when Ginko is depicted standing near the source of light when talking to Amane in the room while Amane prefers to stay in the darkness. Another interesting point presented in the episode is the concept of unchanging 'fate'. It makes me wonder if the person would be drowned in a river if he doesn't go anywhere and just stay inside his house. I can only see this being a problem when circumstances forces him to go into the river (ie. he's a fisherman and his livelihood depends on it).

Ginko's Girls:

Which of the following "Ginko Girls" do you like the most:
a) Tanyuu (Episode 20)
b) Amane (Episode 25)
c) Aya (Episode 17)
d) Suzu (Episode 15)
e) Others (name her in the comment)

© memento 2003