Mushishi Episode 3 - The Tender Horns
Ginko’s latest case takes him to a snow-bound town in the mountains, where an epidemic of deafness has taken hold of the citizenry. After revealing a simple cure for the mollusc-like Un mushi that are causing the problem, he has one remaining patient; a young boy, Maho, who has gone deaf in both ears and grown four strange horns from his forehead. Ginko is dealing with a rare type of mushi indeed, which killed Maho’s mother, and Maho’s time is almost up if Ginko cannot cure him…
The most impressive thing about Mushishi is the effects animation, as I believe I may have mentioned before (it’s been a while since I last watched an episode!). While there’s quite a lot of static scenery, the moments when the mushi come alive or when there’s liquid involved are all especially well rendered. Aside from that, this was another strong episode; it’s interesting that Artland have chosen to open the series with three stories focusing on young children, considering that Mushishi is so squarely aimed at an older audience. Furthermore, Ginko’s otherwordliness is even more pronounced here than usual; he appears to be wearing a jumper just like one I own, but he’s clearly in some kind of early 1900’s environment (loved the snow!). Ah well.
December 10th, 2005 at 6:26 pm
Last time I watched it, I also wondered about his clothes and the age it takes place. Everybody wears kiminos but he wears trousers and shirts. Are you sure about early 1900s? It’s hard to guess because there’s nothing that could be considered modern like early machines or so but there seem to be no kings or knights either, so it’s not really ancient.
December 11th, 2005 at 12:31 am
oi….eu tb estou acompanhando mushishi se vc poderem me avisar sobre ele