I know it’s been quite awhile since I’ve posted on this blog let alone a Mushishi post for that matter. My computer has been in the shop, and I finally got it back recently. So I am finally backlogging so many series including some from the new season that have just aired. Would like to say I haven’t watched Episodes 9 and 10 yet of Mushishi Zoku Shou yet, but when I do I will hopefully have a post about those final two episodes soon. Just to mention we will be receiving Episode 11 as a 1-hour special in August and for the Fall season the second half of this series will air.

This was fantastic! For the past two episodes we’ve had 1 week breaks in between. I guess the animators didn’t have enough time to complete what they wanted to tell in episodes 7 and 8. Definitely worth the wait. For one thing the director does one heck of job of creating an entirely different atmosphere each episode. Varied episode directors also allows for these stories to be stronger individually. Adashino’s back! I remember the artifact collector being subtle in his banter but he hadn’t been this funny before! Hahah that was great when he tried to look into Ginko’s container box. This really pulled out that mushi can very well manipulate humans in such varied ways.

This episode has the best animation that this series has had so far. That scene where the Torikaze were right above the ship was breathtaking. One thing that this season has set itself apart from the previous season was how fluid the animation has been. About 10 years later Artland keeps its consistent style all the while adding in a shinier tone to some scenes is quite impressive. I did not feel bad for Ibuki at all here. He was just asking for trouble. So you are told you shouldn’t use a power because something bad will happen. Yet Ibuki still uses his whistling ability.

This episode emphasizes greatly that Ginko may be a reoccurring character throughout but he isn’t the sole focus. We’ve seen him recommend ways to go on living with affliction by the mushi as well as directly getting involved. Which we saw in Episode 6 where he burned the house down. Here is where he plays more of a spiritual guide to humans and mushi. This developed nicely for Ibuki. Ginko warned him about a bad event occurring if he calls on the Torikaze, which he ignores giving consequences to his family.

The mushi in this series as I’ve stated before are just living out their lives just as the humans do in this show, and sometimes its the mushi manipulating the humans to better off their lives, and sometimes it can be the humans that misuse them. Powerful stuff here.

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 9/10

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