Mushishi, Vol. 1

By Yuki Urushibara
Del Rey, 240 pp.
Rating: 16+

Reading the back cover of Mushishi, I confess that I anticipated something along the lines of The X-Files:

Some live in the deep darkness behind your eyelids. Some eat silence. Some thoughtlessly kill. Some simply drive men mad. Shortly after life emerged from the primordial ooze, these deadly creatures, mushi, came into terrifying being. And they still exist and wreak havoc in the world today. Ginko, a young man with a sardonic smile, has the knowledge and skill to save those plagued by mushi . . . perhaps.

The copy seemed to promise icky parasites, equally icky bodily afflictions, and a sarcastic protagonist in the proud tradition of Fox Mulder (if no bold, government-backed conspiracy to deny the mushi’s existence). What Yuki Urushibara’s series actually offers is a lovely, eerie—and yes, occasionally icky—meditation on man’s relationship to the natural world.

Mushishi chronicles the travels of Ginko, a rumpled, chain-smoking young man who aids people afflicted by mushi. As the copy suggests, mushi are ancient creatures that occupy a special niche in the ecosystem between the animal and plant kingdoms. When mushi come into contact with humans, the relationship frequently turns parasitic, with the mushi feeding off their human hosts and producing painful, even life-threatening symptoms. Ginko is part herbalist, part exorcist, helping the afflicted purge themselves of the mushi and their harmful effects while at the same time teaching the unwitting hosts to respect the power and beauty of these ancient creatures.

Volume one unfolds as a series of self-contained episodes. Though we learn a great deal about Ginko’s clients, experiencing the isolation, shame, and fear caused by their conditions, we learn little about Ginko himself—who he is, how he became a mushishi (or mushi master), why he travels through remote areas in search of the afflicted. I didn’t particularly mind the lack of character development, though I agree with reviewer Dave Ferraro that Mushishi’s freak-of-the-week formula may grow tiresome if replicated in future volumes. I did like the artwork, however. Urushibara’s character designs favor the kind of clean naturalism of Kei Toume’s work, and her evocative use of light and shadow cast a suitably spooky spell.

My chief complaint about Mushishi is the layout. Too many words disappear into the binding, and several images and word balloons are unceremoniously cropped. Given the consistently high production standards I’ve come to expect from Del Rey—from the fluid translations to the excellent cultural notes—this kind of sloppiness is surprising, and, frankly, a little disappointing. But if you savored the folkloric horror of Dokebi Bride, Shirahime-Syo, Mermaid Saga, or Rumiko Takahashi’s Rumic Trilogy ghost stories, you’ll find these production glitches a minor distraction from an engaging story. Volume two arrives in stores in May.

POSTSCRIPT: FUNimation has just released the first volume of the anime adaptation. Click here to read Carlos Alexandre’s review.