“Feeling myself so strongly seduced by both the light and the darkness is something that I never want to forget…”
– Yuki Urushibara, author of the Mushishi manga

The Japanese anime series “Mushishi” has a very special place in my heart, so I wanted to dedicate several lines about it since a long time. But it took me a second look at the old series and a fresh first view of the new series to be able to get to the point of writing about it.
And now I reconnect with the real idea behind the emotion which pushed me to explore this beautiful and emotional piece of Japanese animation. The true mystery of life is life itself. Something inexplicable, something controversial, but still engaging and profound. The Japanese folklore is truly an amazing source of bright inspiration for the author Yuki Urushibara. And we can clearly feel why.

It is not important how we get it – it is interesting that no matter of our own level of perception, we all, the viewers understand emotionally every chapter, every episode of this journey through the people and their life between the darkness and the light. Each story is standing alone and is yet sufficient by itself. Each character doesn’t need a prolonged back story. We see and hear and feel the sensation and connect to the human feelings presented to us.

Mythological creatures called Mushi represent the eons old human beliefs. We as a species have always, are always and will always try to explain the world around us through something magical and inexplicable. Each and every event and experience in our lives (no matter how bright or dark it is) is perceived not through the sense, but via the heart and the soul. The imagery is so simple…, but yet it is enchanting. We as viewers do not know how, but we feel sympathy to the heroes in each story, because they live like us and have experience so similar to the real life that we simply accept through out hearts.

And here we come to the conclusion that this both naturalistic and imaginary style of representing life is an elegant symbol of humanism. We all value the flow of life which sometimes really feels surrealistic. And this thought makes us feel more comfortable living it, doesn’t it?