Mono no aware

I was extremely interested in the Mushishi live action film right from the first rumours and announcements; not only is it one of my all-time favourite animated TV shows (I really ought to read the graphic novels sometime), the fact that Katsuhiro Otomo was in charge as director made me preorder a copy without a second thought. Unfortunately it didn’t impress me as much as I’d hoped; if anything the end result was actually quite lacklustre. Considering the quality of the source material and the collective talent on board, I have to wonder how it didn’t manage to realise its potential.

The TV show (and the graphic novel series, from what I’ve heard) was strictly episodic in structure, so any feature-length version has to splice a number of the individual stories together and smooth out the screenplay to make a coherent narrative. This is one thing that the movie does reasonably well: it features several story arcs that fans are familiar with but emphasises the background to Ginko’s childhood and its relevance to his present life in an over-arcing theme throughout the film. The cinematography is also excellent, but beyond that…I’m far from convinced.

Now this is what I call going full-circle. Back when I first started anime blogging Mushishi was the one series that really cemented my burning desire to write. The self-contained nature of each instalment suited my episodic approach at the time but above all else every outing, without exception, was crammed with insight and meaning that begged to be talked about at length. Just before the final subbed episode was released though, the C&D orders went out and I put my following of the show on-hold until the DVDs were released. Over two years later I can finally finish what I started.

The Sound of Footsteps on the Grass isn’t the best episode in terms of emotional impact: there were several earlier occasions when the gravity of the events portrayed moved me to tears and left me speechless at how profound they were…not to mention of course episode #21, which wins in terms of unsettling creepiness with those mushi kids. In many ways this is ‘just’ another episode but it does offer some of those rare insights into Ginko’s early life, which is a neat bonus for those of us who have followed the series so far. Besides, any Mushishi episode delivers more than most anime anyway.