What's “Cruising the Crunchy-Catalog?”
Finding a good anime to watch can be like spotting a denizen of the spirit world: it's a lot easier to do with the help of an experienced guide. In this sense, “Cruising the Crunchy-Catalog” is like your friendly neighborhood Mushi master. Each week we seek to provide additional information and cultural context to help anime fans decide whether or not they'd like to take an unknown series for a test-drive.
What's MUSHI-SHI The Next Passage?
MUSHI-SHI The Next Passage is an 2014 anime TV series based on Mushi-Shi, a supernatural manga by Yuki Urushibara that was serialized in Kodansha's Afternoon Seasons Zōkan and Monthly Afternoon seinen manga magazines from 1999 – 2008. The series is directed by Hiroshi Nagahama and features animation from Animation Studio Artland.
Crunchyroll describes MUSHI-SHI The Next Passage as follows:
“They are creatures only known as ‘Mushi,’ whose abilities range well into the supernatural. While their existence and appearances are unknown to the humans around them, there are a few like Ginko who is a ‘Mushi-shi’ that travels around to investigate and find out more about the ‘Mushi.’ During the course of his discovery and understanding, he helps those who are troubled by the Mushi themselves…”
This is an excellent description that burrows to the core of what MUSHI-SHI The Next Passage is about, but there are other elements to consider when pondering what makes the series such a rewarding viewing experience.
The Shape of Shapeless Things.
Rather than attempting to convey a continuing, serialized plot-line, MUSHI-SHI The Next Passage is highly episodic. Each episode is akin to a complete short story with the recurring character of Ginko at the center. This creates episodes that are narratively dense and thematically rich, as Ginko attempts to smooth over the problems that arise when Mushi encroach on the human realm and vice versa.
The structure of MUSHI-SHI The Next Passage also allows the series to explore different tones within the fantasy genre. Some episodes are essentially tragic, some are subtly horrific, and some strike a wistfully optimistic note, but every episode of MUSHI-SHI The Next Passage is visually arresting and exquisitely paced.
Inherently Human Drama.
Unlike the ghosts and goblins of many other supernatural stories (such as Mononoke), the Mushi of MUSHI-SHI The Next Passage are not inherently malevolent. Most of them possess no conscious will and many of them lack physical form. Although their presence may cause people to suffer, the Mushi are no more intrisically evil than a colony of bacteria or a patch of yeast.
The drama of MUSHI-SHI The Next Passage stems from essentially human conflicts. Although supernatural afflictions strike, they are ancillary to ordinary stories about ordinary people coming to grips with grief, dealing with loss, or learning to endure in desperate situations. Like the human characters, the Mushi are simply trying to get by as best as they can in life.
Further Journeys into Fantasy.
MUSHI-SHI The Next Passage is actually the sequel series to the first animated adaptation of Mushi-Shi, which ran from 2005 – 2006 on Fuji TV. The earlier adaptation is also directed by Hiroshi Nagahama and features animation by Artland. Funimation distributes the 2005 – 2006 Mushi-Shi series on home video and via online streaming. There's also a 2006 live-action film adaptation of Mushi-Shi directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, the author of Akira. This version stars Jō Odagiri as Ginko, and it is also licensed and distributed by Funimation.
Due to the episodic nature of the series, it's possible to watch The Next Passage without seeing the original TV series or the live-action film first, but each iteration has something special to offer, so the earlier adaptations are worth checking out. Additionally, an English language version of the original Mushi-Shi manga is published by Kodansha and distributed digitally via platforms such as Amazon's Kindle Store and Comixology.
Crunchyroll streams MUSHI-SHI The Next Passage in 194 countries. The series is available with Japanese audio and subtitles in English, Spanish, Latin American Spanish, French, Portuguese, Italian, German, and Arabic.
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