Manga Review

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Story and art by: Yuki Urushibara
Publisher: Del Rey
Rating: Older Teen (16+)
Price: $12.95

MUSHISHI, Volume Two

By Nadia Oxford July 27, 2007

MUSHISHI, Volume Two by Yuki Urushibara.
© Del Rey

A lone wanderer travels in a hostile world to sniff out and fight a mysterious threat that plagues humanity. Sound familiar? Who cares? Mushishi is a damn good manga.

Ginko is a soft-spoken, white-haired warrior with a bit of a smoking problem. As a "Mushishi," he protects the human race against the mushi -- a hostile life form that is capable of taking on countless shapes. Some mushi appear primitive and are easy to wipe out. Others appear almost human, but are no less fatal for the grey moral area they inhabit.

Mushishi is very episodic as far as manga goes; a reader will have little trouble jumping straight into volume two, as each "chapter" presents a new challenge Ginko must overcome. At the same time, the stories weave together and give structure to the world and the unusual threat of the mushi. Their history is explored, as is their capabilities and purpose, but plenty is left to reader interpretation. Volume two does start up seemingly a little slow and awkward for anyone who's not familiar with the series, but by the third story -- "They Who Breathe Ephemeral Life" -- you'll suddenly discover you're drawn in, and even your hungry dog chewing on your leg won't make you put the manga down.

Yuki Urushibara's gentle "watercolour" inking is a good counter for anyone who says all manga and anime is about nothing but big eyes and gaudy colours. Ginko himself is a stoic character, though still very likable because he is, in his own quiet way, friendly and helpful. His calm personality is, surprisingly, not etched out so much through his actions, but by the way people react around him. The expressions of pain and joy on the villagers he encounters make him seem all the more collected without being a typical cold anime guy.

The writing in Mushishi is similarly well done. Manga tends to present a threat up-front, then it evolves very little as the series progresses and focuses on its characters instead of the danger in the backdrop. Mushishi, on the other hand, starts with Ginko's battles against nondescript, non-sentient plant mushi, and by the last story in the volume, he has to figure out how to deal with a distraught, lonely mother who won't let him near several mushi who have presented themselves in the form of human children.

Well-written, episodic manga is hard to come by, and Mushishi is good for any manga fan who doesn't want to take linear doses of tankobon just to know what the heck's going in a story. Slightly oversized at 200 pages, volume two of Mushishi retails for $12.95.

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