book data
74 ratings, 4.12 average rating, 17 reviews
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published
January 30th 2007
by Del Rey
binding
Paperback, 240 pages
isbn
0345496213
(isbn13: 9780345496218)
description
THEY HAVE EXISTED SINCE THE DAWN OF TIME.
Some live in the deep darkness behind your eyelids. Some eat silence. Some thoughtlessly kill. Some...more
Some live in the deep darkness behind your eyelids. Some eat silence. Some thoughtlessly kill. Some...more
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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 93)
Read in May, 2008
Mushishi is the story of Ginko, who goes around remote parts of Japan more or less exorcising the mushi, who come into people's lives and present them with weird existential feelings of dread:)
I should be up front about this, that I love manga with supernatural, ghostbusting qualities, because I think that "scary" manga reveal much more interesting sides of character's personality, and of Japanese culture, than do ordinary stories, and this manga, or at least this volume, certainly...more
I should be up front about this, that I love manga with supernatural, ghostbusting qualities, because I think that "scary" manga reveal much more interesting sides of character's personality, and of Japanese culture, than do ordinary stories, and this manga, or at least this volume, certainly...more
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Read in April, 2008
I really enjoyed this manga, which was a belated Christmas gift from my younger brother. The basic idea is that there are creatures called Mushi, which are a bit like fairies, a bit like ghosts, and a bit like microscopic organisms. They are unspeakably ancient, and when they come into contact with humans, the results are often tragic. A young man named Ginko is a Mushishi, someone who studies and attempts to assist those who are afflicted by Mushi, and this episodic manga follows several of ...more
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Read in November, 2007
Basically --and this is not a very good explanation-- the world is full of little creatures that exist between life and death, in dreams or sometimes in hidden places in the heart of nature. They can be good or bad, but they really aren't either one consciously because they are just an ancient part of the way the world is. The problem is often their existence threatens that of humans and someone ultimately has to do something to protect human lives.
Every chapter involves Ginko, a mushi shi (or...more
Every chapter involves Ginko, a mushi shi (or...more
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Read in October, 2007
A nice, non-standard manga - the author worked on it independently and submitted it to a manga contest, then went back to their day job. When it won the contest, the author was surprised, then spent the next two years working on the follow-up stories. It feels rough in some places, but it's refreshing to see some manga that's venturing into different territory, rather than depending on the old "Ohmygosh I have super powers! Now what should i do with them?" plotline that you see in o...more
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Read in July, 2007
I’d heard wonderful things about Mushishi (maybe it was the anime, and not the manga?) but I wasn’t overly impressed with the first volume.
I liked the *potential* of the world in Mushishi more than I did the individual stories. The chapters were brief glimpses into strange lives and happenings, whereas I would have liked a deeper look at each mushi and host’s story. I would have liked to learn a little bit more about Ginko, the story’s main character. Very little information is...more
I liked the *potential* of the world in Mushishi more than I did the individual stories. The chapters were brief glimpses into strange lives and happenings, whereas I would have liked a deeper look at each mushi and host’s story. I would have liked to learn a little bit more about Ginko, the story’s main character. Very little information is...more
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Slower than many of its counterparts in the genre, and following no set path, this series is the story of a man who studies monsters in the oldest sense of the word; the creatures he follows are occasionally so far from human as to be unrecognizable. Some of them are as trivial as the spots of light you see when you blink too fast; some of them take on the forms of rivers or swamps or mountains, and hold tremendous power. But rather than being just about the mushi, the stories here are really ...more
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Read in January, 2008
Mushi are best described as "fungus ghosts". They do some really, really weird stuff. Ginko, the main character, travels through rural Meiji-era Japan helping people troubled by the mushi.
There's a shortcut that a lot of artists take, by having only a few basic character designs and reusing them, only changing hair and eye color. Here, because everyone except Ginko has black hair, everyone looks the same, but since it takes place in the sticks, it actually adds something to the art
There's a shortcut that a lot of artists take, by having only a few basic character designs and reusing them, only changing hair and eye color. Here, because everyone except Ginko has black hair, everyone looks the same, but since it takes place in the sticks, it actually adds something to the art
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Read in April, 2008
This series is one short story after another; the only connection is that each tale involves mushi, ghost-like ectoplasmic creatures made up of the same life force as humans, and a wandering shamanistic main character who perfoms exorcisms on humans afflicted with mushi.
I liked the stories enough to keep reading through the third volume, but few of the stories (if any) are poignant enough to stick in your head for more than a couple weeks.
I liked the stories enough to keep reading through the third volume, but few of the stories (if any) are poignant enough to stick in your head for more than a couple weeks.
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Read in June, 2008
It's interesting reading manga after you've seen something of the anime adaptation; I'm always surprised by how much is lost from the linework, even in the most faithful adaptations. As with the anime, the stories here are episodic, linked only by the main character, Ginko, and general setting. They are very quiet for ghost stories, but no less effective for that. My favorite chapters were "The Soft Horns" and "The Light in the Eyelids."
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Read in March, 2008
Mushishi reminded me slightly of Kino's Travels. I think it's the mysterious protagonist who's sort of at the edge of the story - that aspect of Mushishi that reminds me of Kino. I enjoyed the very imaginative, creepy stories in this volume, and I'm looking forward to checking out the second one!
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Read in January, 2006
Like discovering a new Hans Christian Anderson, a new trove of Grimm's. The raw *story* nature of myth combined with the careful shaping of art. Delicate, powerful, strong, sad.
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[Series Length: 7 volumes / Read: volumes 1-3]
(Would you like me to post a short review of this series? Feel free to place a request in my GoodReads InBox. Thanks!)
(Would you like me to post a short review of this series? Feel free to place a request in my GoodReads InBox. Thanks!)
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Read in October, 2008
This series is amazing. Usually I read your typical shojo manga and giggle along the way. This isn't shonen, I think but more "sci-fi". Maybe that's why I like it!
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Read in February, 2008
<a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/yalsa/b... Graphic Novels for Teens 2008 list</a>
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Read in March, 2008
Book was good.
Anime was gorgeous and delicate and quiet.
Anime was gorgeous and delicate and quiet.
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