Mushishi Zoku Shou – 04
Most ominous high five ever
 |
I love how every week provides us with a new way of saying “nature is beautiful, but also absolutely terrifying.” It makes you want to go outside and hug a tree, while simultaneously having a panic attack out of fear it will fall on you or poison you with some strange fungus. Yeah, nature is pretty, but it can also fuck you up and there is literally nothing you can do about it. And yet I still feel like it’s a healing anime. Well, let the healing begin… |
Ginko’s just jealous he gets to pet a deer
So you want to be the King of the Mountain, huh? You want to prance around at night without a lantern or worrying about being chased by animals. You want the power to be able to make living things big and small bow down before you and die by your hand. It sounds like a pretty cool title to hold, but it’s that sort of pride that backfires on Tatsu. Again, we see that when humans try to control nature, they cannot handle it.
When inflicted with some sort of “condition” from a mushi, the patient usually responds in one of two ways. 1) OH GOD GET IF OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF or 2) this is pretty cool actually. Just think back to Toki from last week. He lived in a bitterly cold village and the mushi haunting him took away his ability to feel the cold. It’s no wonder he wasn’t dancing with joy when Ginko came to tell him how to regain his ability to feel the sting of the icy wind. Similarly, Tatsu isn’t in any rush to give up his power. It lets him do his job efficiently and makes him almost invincible. If he gave it up it would just mean putting more effort into hunting, a higher risk of getting attacked by animals, and no sweet hand tattoo. It’s no wonder that he refuses to give up the Fuki’s magic eye.
His soft spot is his little brother. He only panics about the effects of the Fuki when he learns about what it will do to Usuke. His whole demeanor changes when Ginko mentions this, and he suddenly becomes very interested in ways to get rid of this nasty mushi. But for himself? He doesn’t see an issue. Like an addict who doesn’t even realize they are an addict, Tatsu continues to slaughter animals for fun. He doesn’t even smell the rotten stench coming off of the meat he hunts. To him, there is nothing wrong with playing God and abusing his powers just to make himself feel good.
It’s hard to blame him, though. We later find out that Tatsu is actually quite afraid of hunting, the dark, and any combination of those two. To cover up his fear of all the unknown creatures roaming around at night waiting to eat him, he goes around killing things to show them who’s boss. As much as Tatsu wants to be the King of the Mountain, he’s just a normal human who’s afraid of the dark. He doesn’t have any true power. But he wants to live in the illusion of power for as long as he can. Who wouldn’t? He has to hunt for a living and it’s terrifying. It’s a normal fear, but Tatsu never learned to get over it in a healthy way since he’s been able to rely on his powers.
It’s ambiguous whether the mushi directly causes the change in personality or that having power corrupts the host. Is it because the Fuki is poisoning their minds or that if you give anyone a big red button, they’re gonna want to push it? It’s hard to tell. But regardless of the cause, Tatsu learns the hard way that you cannot dominate nature. He learns a lesson that he must keep with him for the rest of his life. Oh, and what an ironic lesson it is. Tatsu fears being hunted…so he becomes the ultimate hunter….and by doing this, he becomes hunted! Even worse, he’s shot by humans in the dark because he was too cocky to bring a lantern with him – so he’s mistaken for a bear. Even worse, his arm is pecked off by small birds, which he previously waved off as being such easy targets to hunt that he didn’t even pay attention to them.
So I suppose this episode was about killing animals then having your arm ripped off by crows while you’re conscious, with a side story of alcohol curing everything. Oh man, Mushishi is really bringing it this season! It always has a bit of a dark undertone to it, but it never becomes overbearing or depressing. We know that Tatsu learns his lesson by the end and that he’ll live a happy life with Usuke. We also know not to mess with mountains because oh my god, just don’t, you’ll get eaten by birds. It’s a fluffy, warm message mixed with some stern warnings. Man, I love this show.
A totally different feeling is evoked from this compared to this
About Overcooled
A neuroscience graduate, black belt, and all-around nerd. You'll either find me in my lab or curled up in my rilakkuma kigurumi watching anime.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
Artland just keeps building it up and up. The irony in this episode just reached out from the screen to envelop the viewer. Irony is best when subtle, but not this time as they just kept building layer after layer of it. Great storytelling.
…and it’s wonderful as the show goes on, how the lyrics to the OP keep on adding to those layers…
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
I thought him getting shot by a hunter would be enough misery to teach him a lesson. Getting devoured by birds just pushed it to a new height, and I loved it. And yes, once again, Artland makes it look wonderful!
One of the few shows where I always listen to the OP. Now that you mention it, the lyrics are pretty appropriate. Especially (well, more literally) for the snowy episode.
POWUH: Occasional (51-75) with 60 comments
My post was eaten.
The folks at Anime Suki didn’t share your sentiments. I keep hearing how weak this epsidode was compared to the other 3 episodes. Personally I thought this episode was great. The message was great.
To be frank Mushishi does dark and brooding just as well as colorful and beautiful.
This series is only getting better episode by episode.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
7 pages of spam and I didn’t see your comment. :/ I guess we’ve been getting a lot of spam lately. Sorry!
It’s a darker episode, so I guess you won’t be as pleased if that’s not your thing. Although it’s really not that much darker so I dunno what’s up there. Mushishi always has a mix of dark and light, and that harmony is part of what makes it so good.
I’m enjoying it more and more each week as well. I’ll never NOT be in awe that Mushishi came back for a second season.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I’m baffled and astonished how relaxing watching this series can be yet it’s ominous and unsettling enough to give you the creeps at the same time. Amazing… Tsk, now I’m really upset I didn’t start watching anime online a lot sooner.
Disabling the ability to speak then rearranging the body’s nervous system now making one’s being decay until they fade out of existence. Whether it’s intentional or not, Mushi are apparently destined to severely foul up a human’s senses. Tatsu’s lost arm was a price to be paid for his arrogance. Nature is a force not to be trifled with. He’s lucky for not sharing his father’s unfortunate fate.
That’s a display of self-preservation. If a human feels cornered with no other option, they’ll instinctively resort to killing to save themselves. Though we may be a higher species with all the scientific achievements, discoveries and such, we still have vulnerabilities that make us seem like animals.
The coloring for the animation was richer this time around. The view of the mountain at night was as if you’re looking at some painting in a museum.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
A dude literally gets his arm pecked off and I still felt relaxed after. I can’t explain it either! Glad you’re enjoying it, BB. I would recommend watching the first season if you haven’t already. There’s also a live action movie but it’s…not that great.
Mushi can do some crazy things to people. They’re tiny, but mighty.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.”
Douglas Adams.
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
True that. We want to believe we’re superior (I know I do) but it’s such an abstract concept…
POWUH: Beginner (20-35) with 20 comments
The message I got from this episode was, “HUMANS: KNOW YOUR PLACE!” In all seriousness though, it was a neat example of how the show demonstrates the natural order of things. I suspect that’s where the ‘healing’ aspect comes from – whether the journey is pleasant or not (‘not’ in this case, at least for Tatsu) the sense of balance is restored in the end.
I think this is the darkest episode of the second season, which is good to know actually. Mushishi can ‘do’ dark and tragic very well indeed, and those episodes were none the worse for that…this is another one of those. For anyone who’s not seen the first season, the brooding atmosphere and horror elements might be a bit of a surprise but yeah…Artland are equally adept at rendering darker, creepier episodes like this one. Fantastic stuff!
POWUH: Meta Team and The Mad Scientist with 5525 comments
Pretty much! Not much you can do against a mountain full of hungry animals. I’ve had a hard time placing my finger on why it’s a successful healing anime despite the dark aspects, but I do agree that seeing things unfold according to the natural order of things is reassuring. Like no matter what, life moves on.
This was definitely the darkest one yet, with the shark/fish massacre being second. I actually don’t remember how dark season 1 was because I saw it so long ago, but I think it had a similar tone.
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 131 comments
mushishi in a nutshell