Product Details

• Actors: Kôjun Itô, Yûto Nakano, Travis Willingham, Kenny Green, Randy Tallman
• Directors: Hiroshi Nagahama
• Writers: Aki Itami, Yuka Yamada
• Producers: Hiroyuki Ooizumi, Shin Hieda, Yoshiaki Tamura
• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Language: Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Funimation Prod
• DVD Release Date: July 31, 2007
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B000NQR8K6
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,249 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Mushi-Shi, Vol. 1" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

2006 Tokyo Anime Awards Winner for "Best Television Series" and "Best Art Direction" Neither good nor evil they are life in its purest form. Vulgar and strange they have inspired fear in humans since the dawn of time and have over the ages come to be known as "mushi." The stories of the Mushi and the people they effect are all linked together by a traveling Mushi-shi or "Mushi Master" who seeks rare Mushi sightings and uses his shaman like knowlede of Mushi to help the effected people . What are the Mushi and what do they want? Genre: ANIMATION/ADULT SWIM Artist: MUSHISHI UPC: 704400051005 Manufacturer No: 1-4210-0291-4

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully humanistic and psychological drama, August 16, 2007

By 

errorfound482 "errorfound482" (Walla, walla Washington) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mushi-Shi, Vol. 1 (DVD)

I've seen the entire series and I have to say this is one of the most beautifully written and soulful series out there (anime or non). Please note, this is NOT an action-packed anime although there is action from time-to-time. This isn't particularly a tear-jerker either, but there are stories of profound sadness. What it is, is a drama that lets itself take itself to develop the story.

The plot over the series is that Ginko - a Mushi-Shi (kinda' like a shaman or doctor specializing in supernatural ailments) travels Japan to investigate and solve people's problems. Each episode is an independent (but loosely continuous and connected) short story. Endings are often surprising and thoughtful.

Volume 1 covers the first 5 episodes.
EPISODE 1 - About an isolated boy whose writings and pictures come to life, but is haunted by a quiet ghost.

EPISODE 2 - About a girl with mushi-infected eyes locked away in total darkness and her cousin who comes to visit and play with her.

EPISODE 3 - An isolated snowfallen village is infected by mushi which eats up all noise. One child is infected so badly, he mysteriously grows horns like his mother.

EPISODE 4 - A man's dreams are infected by Mushi which gives him dreams of disasters to come (and avoid), but the dreams aren't the prophecies he thinks they are.

EPISODE 5 - Ginko finds a travelling swamp which disappears and reappears and a special woman looking to belong who becomes the swamp's companion.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting, beautiful and fascinating, May 17, 2008

By 

Taryn East - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mushi-Shi, Vol. 1 (DVD)

Beautiful and engaging, this series follows a man whose work is to help people affected by "mushi" - creatures partly alive and partly inanimate - and generally inhabiting a world just beyond our reach... except when that world touches ours.

The world is painted in brilliant, living colour, populated with deep and varied characters and a fascinating mythology full of strange creatures - all backed by a haunting and magical score.

Exceptional watching!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A SEEKER OF MUSHI, October 9, 2007

By 

Sesho "www.sesho.libsyn.com" (Pasadena, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mushi-Shi, Vol. 1 (DVD)

Mushi are the oldest lifeforms in existence, even below microorganisms and fungi. They evolved so long ago that most humans cannot even see them in their true form. Most of the time they appear as floating, almost plankton-like organisms drifting through the air and effortlessly passing through anything material in their way. Some can even take human form. Mushi are neither good nor evil. They simply are. But on occasion the very presence of mushi can lead to problems for humans. For example in one of these episodes, a girl becomes extremely sensitive to sunlight and has to stay in the dark all the time with a cloth over her eyes because mushi have taken up residence there. When mushi are involved, using the standard problem solving procedures such as doctors and such meets with very little success. No, someone with special abilities has to be called in. Enter the unassuming and serenely calm Ginko, a travelling Mushishi who tries to end any negative consequences caused by the interaction between humans and mushi. A lot of the victims of the mushi tend to be young such as a girl following a moving swamp which is actually a collective mushi. Or a boy whose drawings come to life and another who has grown extremely sensitive to noise and has grown horns!

The problem that keeps Mushishi from being a great show is its single-minded devotion to the mushi. Because of its monster of the....I mean mushi of the week, the show can get a bit repetitive. Kinda like Inuyasha's over reliance on Naraku as the main antagonist which can suck the life out of original ideas. I mean the writers had to somehow turn every episode of Mushishi into a hunt for mushi. I will admit that the writers did a good job making us sympathize with all of the supporting characters. If you don't care for the people Ginko is helping out, you must be really emotionally remote. I haven't read the manga but the director of the anime, Hiroshi Nagahama took very careful steps to keep the anime version as close to the manga as possible and was a big fan of the series before he got involved with the anime version. Really, the show reminded me a bit of Sergio Leone westerns in which a lone gunfighter comes to town and straightens out the world temporarily. I look forward to finding out more about this mushishi in the next couple of volumes.