Mushishi 8/9/10
by Yuki Urushibara
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Book Summary Information
Author: Yuki UrushibaraEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2010-07-27
ISBN: 0345505603
Number of pages: 720
Publisher: Del Rey
Book Reviews of Mushishi 8/9/10
Book Review: A very different kind of manga
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the final translated book comprising three total volumes of Mushishi. It's pretty huge. Mushishi is an episodic, "period" manga full of wisps of Japanese folklore, traditional culture/setting, the supernatural, and a strong inclination towards natural spirituality. Each chapter has a thoughtful, slice-of-life pace and ethereal feel. Sometimes it's dark; other times, bittersweet, and yet other times, there are happy endings.
Many of the chapters deal with difficult moral issues that arise when humanity interacts with these spirit-life-forms called "mushi," which can get incredibly abstract (e.g. a mushi that eats "sound"). How is life measured and valued? Is one life more valued than another? How does an individual fit into the greater scheme of things? What happens when the right to life of one living thing requires the parasitic death of another? Many questions and there aren't always answers. That's not to say it's always about "humans vs. nature," though. Many moral questions arise from humans being their own desperate selves--behaving in such ways only after mushi trigger something indirectly, or after exploiting mushi for their own survival.
I kind of feel the chapter "The Bed of Grass" should be read last for a better closure, but that's me.
Now, Del Rey's (Flanagan's) translation is top notch not in the sense of pure accuracy (because I can't read Japanese, so I can't compare translation) but in respect. You can definitely tell by the use of transliterated Japanese terms, honorifics, and copious volume notes detailing cultural/linguistic items that Mushishi was treated with care, and this means a lot to me. And probably to the mangaka (manga author) too.
This is definitely a manga best appreciated by more literary adults.
The Mushishi anime is very much worth checking into because it's an extremely rare example of an animated adaptation that is identical to the original manga. (Though in that sense, some people may be inclined to buy the anime boxset and buy the manga volumes that came afterward.)
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