Mushishi AKA Bugmaster Review

"Mushishi" is based on Urushibara Yuki's long running manga of the same name published by Kodansha starting in 1999. It told the story of a young, white-haired shaman/mystic by the name of Ginko who has the unique ability to see ghostly and supernatural insects ("mushi") who would inhabit and afflict their human hosts with a number of mysterious ailments and sicknesses (some bordering on the grotesque). Using his supernatural abilities along with his medical/mystical knowledge, Ginko would travel feudal Japan to cure and treat those afflicted by the strange "Mushi".

It's one part the "Ghost Whisperer" mixed in with Tezuka Osamu's classic medical thriller "Black Jack".

The movie is visually very stunning with beautiful locations showcasing the colorful, lush and rustic Japanese countryside. The CGI effects for "Mushi" in particular are convincingly creepy and unnerving. The medical ailments range from the uninteresting (ear infections) to the painful (skin infections, protrusions) to the very bizarre (irratic behavior, tissue degeneration).

Yet as with his anime projects like "Memories" and "Steamboy" Otomo seems to get too caught up in the visual styling that the storytelling suffers from it. The story is told in a deliberately slow and methodical pace that may try the patience of modern audiences and the MTV crowd already accustomed to more frantic and faster pacing.

I'm not familiar with the source material, so it was very hard at times to follow the crux of the story. We never are told where these "mushi" come from and/or why they they do what they do which was a bit frustrating.

At two hours, the movie is overly long and I often found myself struggling to keep awake, hoping for some sort of exciting and climactic event that will hopefully shed light on all of these proceedings. That unfortunately never materialized.

Odagiri Joe doesn't really do much in his portrayal of Ginko rather playing the character as a atypical, stoic, silent hero who deals with the fantastical events he encounters with a disengaged almost bored manner.

Manga/comic adaptations are becoming all the rage now with "Death Note", "Dororo", "Nana" and the recent "Ge Ge Ge No Kitaro" having had much success on the big screen. "Mushishi" may be a case-in-point to producers that not all manga were meant to be adapted and that perhaps some stories are better kept to the confines of print publication or anime.

Review by James Maruyama