Mushishi

I have noticed that the positive comments so far have mostly said 1. "I'm a big fan of the original manga" and 2. "It was beautifully shot". Together, these phrases sum up exactly what's wrong with Mushishi. It is a high production value film that is content to appeal solely to a relatively small subset of its potential audience.

I was terribly disappointed by this film. It's not that it was simply slow, leaden, plodding, etc. I can fully enjoy a film that does all those things if there's a payoff, if it ultimately makes sense and gives you a sense of there being a complete wholeness to the underlying concepts.

This did not happen.

Clearly I don't live up to point #1 - I am not a manga fan.

OK, so let me say something positive - point #2 is true. It was beautifully shot and the production values are excellent. A very nice film to look at.

My ultimate impression - if you are not already a fan of the manga, avoid, avoid, avoid.

I was expecting Mushishi to be a wild fantastical ride full of snazzy special effects and martial arts. I was sorely disappointed with the latter, and more so when the movie had decided to jump right into the plot of things, with little explanation of what's going on.

Based on the Japanese manga written by Yuki Urushibara, Mushishi, or The "Bugmaster" follows the trials and tribulations of a young mystical shaman Ginko, who travels from ___location to ___location, healing people who are infected by the "mushi" creatures, spreading like the plague. However, the filmmakers decided to have made this for fan boys, and doesn't dwell too long with the backstories or relationship details between characters.

Started off quite impressively with a special effects shot of a huge landslide, the movie thereafter degenerated into a series of incomprehensible events that signals that the movie isn't really for non-fans. I was confused by the lack of explanation, either through dialogue or visuals, of what's happening. Imagine watching Star Wars with little or no explanation of "The Force" - things just happen, and you move on.

Come to think of it, it must resembles Star Wars in many ways. You have a manipulator of mystical energy, and have various practitioners belonging to various factions, and you have lineage issues with the lead. You even have a character with horns on the face, like Darth Maul.

For its length, I was hoping for something more epic., with the potential of being a classic. But sadly that was not to be.

While I absolutely loved this movie, I feel I'm highly biased. The anime and manga were some of the best I've ever seen as a long-experienced anime/manga fan. I'm more than impressed that something from a manga series could be turned into such a beautiful masterpiece. But it's not for those expecting something lighthearted or fun. It's a very deep, very spiritual, and somewhat slow movie. It helps to have seen other classic Japanese film first. It helps to know something of their culture. Otherwise, I can understand why the film could be confusing to most. Realize that the plot of this film was lifted from various episodes of the anime and merged together in a way they were not originally written, which might account for it being confusing at times. But since I knew the stories already, I had no trouble seeing the genius it took to write it as it was. So this film is simply not for everyone. Yet, for what it's attempting, it hits the mark perfectly. I dare say it even improved upon the source. I was blown away. I imagine that even if I couldn't follow the complex spiritual story I still would have at least appreciated it for it's sheer beauty and originality. Realize also that purpose of the movie isn't about any particular message. It's merely a spiritual journey that is beautiful and unpredictable. The message is dark, but the anime wasn't always like that. I would still recommend the anime first, then watching this movie. It helps a lot. In comparison to the anime it's much darker, much less spiritually moving, and a lot harder to understand. But they really aren't worth comparing since they are done in such extremely different styles of storytelling and medium. Yet, if you enjoyed this movie you will definitely enjoy the anime. Please watch it, it's available on DVD in both excellent subtitles and excellent dubbing (I'd recommend the dub.) And specifically, this movies plot corresponds to episodes 3,7,12, and 20, although I would also recommend episode 1 as an introduction to the series.

As most people would know by now, Mushishi is based off the manga with the same name, telling the story of traveler Ginko, a mushishi, or bug master. Because Ginko rarely stays in the same place for long, the manga is episodic in nature and unfortunately this is very hard to capture on the big screen that is better suited for grander stories with proper closures. The result is thus so-so at best, with the general feeling that when Mushishi really works it is fantastic, but most of the time it simply doesn't. A big problem why is because the episodic storytelling was attempted to be captured onto the big screen and the result is that we have four different plots but none of them truly relate to each other, making the movie itself feeling rather disconnected.

The first half almost seems to serve as a very weak introduction into the world of mushi, telling the story of how Ginko arrives in a remote mountain village during a snowstorm helping to cure the villagers from the parasitic mushi called Ah and Um. The general problem with this story is that it almost feels like it is there to take up space, but it does not engage the viewers like the original story did in the anime/manga, nor does it serve to fill any future purpose within the movie. In fact, I feel that if this portion of the movie had been removed and more focus has been put to flesh out the story about Ginko's background in particular, Mushishi could possibly had been brilliant. Now however, what we get is that we meet several characters a time but none of them aside from Ginko are not given much screen time thus making it impossible for the viewers to get to know them. Further, the small slice of life tidbits that are so common in the manga/anime are often not there at all, which unfortunately hurts the movie even more since these tidbits make up a large portion why Mushishi in fact is so enjoyable.

The result is that Mushishi in general feels very disconnected and there is no unity, and even though the pacing is slow the storytelling yet seems rushed because so much information is constantly left out. Would I not have read the manga and seen the anime beforehand, I am not entirely sure whether I could have understood a larger portion of the story at all.

However, Mushishi is not all bad. There are some positive aspects, especially the visuals. It is a very beautiful movie and the story between young Ginko and Nui is still captivating and engaging, as the movie attempts to push the story further than it was in the original manga wrapping it in mystery. It is sad this story wasn't fleshed out more instead of introducing side plots that really do not add anything. The acting also seems to be just as much as a roller-coaster as the story itself, where it is sometimes brilliant and sometimes really bad. While it is probably easier to accept Ginko if one had not read/seen Mushishi before, for people who have, he will most likely however feel very out of character in many situations, but in a few, it is completely spot on.

All in all, it is not a terrible manga adaptation, but it could definitely have been better. In general, it feels what Mushishi lacked was focus. It needed a focused story and it needed focused acting. Most of the time it delivered neither. Unfortunately, Mushishi is not something I would recommend others to watch unless they would already be die-hard fans of the original manga, but even then, I am sure they are to be disappointed. Mushishi has so much story and lore to work with, so it is sad to see this is the result. I definitely expected more than this. I also wished they had kept Toshio Matsuda's soundtrack they used for the anime. I felt it more strongly captivated the constant feeling of astonishment the world of Mushishi is able to induce.

I had the opportunity to view Bugmaster at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival. In all honesty, this was not high on my list of movies to watch, but my husband dragged me to it. I am very glad he did. I found everything from the plot line to the animation to be intriguing. The story has been adapted from Yuki Urushibara's relatively recent manga, and is crafted in such a way as to make the viewer believe this is an ancient Japanese myth. The cinematography is spectacular with a terrific blend of animation, colors, textures, and scenery. Rather than cheapen the production, as I thought it would, the animation truly enriched the movie. I was in awe of the relatively flawless addition of the animation to the live action. I'm not sure an actual landslide could look any more real. The costumes with their mix of colors and designs, and the indoor sets were beautiful and a real treat for the eyes. While the movie may drag a tad in a couple of spots, for the most part it was well paced and edited earning a no fidget factor rating on my part. I don't know if the subtitles reflect all that is said, but they give a complete story and are well written. If the opportunity to see this movie should ever present itself, take it. You will not regret it.