Ginko, a wanderer who travels Japan looking for rare and unusual Mushi (a sort of elemental spirit) returns in the second volume of Mushi-Shi.  This time around the enigmatic traveler encounters five more unique situations that only his expertise and skill can unravel.  This show, while being low keyed and sedate, is actually one of the more interesting shows to be release of late.  It paints an interesting world that is very much like ours, but with an added sense of mystery and wonder.

Series background:

Mushi are the most pure creatures that exist.  Not base and vulgar like humans or animals, Mushi are beings that are in touch with the essence of life.  Invisible to normal people, these creatures are all around us, though humans rarely interact with them.  One person who is able to see these creatures is Ginko, a Mushi-Shi or Mushi Master.  He travels the countryside carrying only a mysterious wooden box on his back and collects Mushi artifacts (items that are created in our world through interactions with Mushi) and helps people who have been infected with malicious or unwanted Mushi.  Though his travels he encounters many odd and bizarre situations things that only a Mushi-Shi would be able to understand.

This volume:

The five stories presented on this disc are just as good as those on the introductory DVD.  They all involve Mushi interacting with people, something that rarely ends well.  In the first show Ginko comes across a living god, a young girl who grows old and dies in front of a crowd of people, only to be resurrected the next morning.  Then he encounters a man who is looking to catch a rainbow in a barrel, and another gentleman who is looking for his bride who disappeared in a strange fog at sea years ago.

All of the episodes on this disc are very good, but the final two stories are the strongest.  In one, Ginko comes across a village that is reaping a bumper crop while all the neighboring villages had a very poor growing season.  While the villagers all think that it is due to their honoring on their ancestors, the real reason is more sinister and involves a human sacrifice.  This is one of those stories where there is no right or wrong, a tale that's fully in the grey area.  Would you save 1000 peoples lives if it meant that the weakest among them would die?

The final tale on this disc brings us back to the doctor who collects Mushi artifacts.  When a group of kids sneaks into his shed and finds his collection, they all come down with an odd illness after using an ink stone.  They are cold and can't seem to warm up.  Unfortunately the doctor has no idea what the ink stone actually is, so he sends for Ginko who has to unravel the mystery and find a way to cure the children.

As I mentioned in my review of the first volume, this show is very different from most of the anime out there.  If I had to pick one word to describe it, that word would be serene.  It is a quite and gentle show.  It's like a walk in the forest on a cool day; enjoyable, refreshing, and oddly tranquil.  That's not to say that there's no action or that the series plods along, because that's not the case.  Every episode has a mystery that Ginko has to unravel, but the mysteries themselves are often just as fascinating as the solutions.

One of the aspects that make this show such a breath of fresh air is that it isn't about Ginko hunting Mushi.  He doesn't try to kill or destroy the Mushi since, even when they are hurting a person or village, they aren't malicious.  The Mushi are just following their nature, like a cat that chases a mouse.  Ginko is just trying to arrange things so that two sets of beings (Mushi and Humans) can live together in a non-confrontational or hurtful manner.  This is quiet different from most anime where non-human entities are routinely killed on sight.

This is an episodic show, and though they sometimes refer to previous events in passing, there really isn't any link between the shows.  While I prefer shows with a good amount of continuity, this program is so strong and interesting I'm drawn to the next episode like a moth to a flame.

This disc comes in a clear keepcase with a reversible cover and a nicely illustrated slip cover.

Audio:

Viewers have the choice of watching the show with either the original Japanese soundtrack or an English dub, both in stereo.  As I often do, I alternated tracks and found them both to be very satisfactory.  Neither track shows any trace of distortion or background noise.  The English actors do a very good job of matching both the lip movements and the feeling of the scenes in the dub track too.  A nice sounding set of episodes.

Video:

The 1.78:1 anamorphically enhanced video looks pretty good with only minor problems.  The show takes place mainly outdoors and there are a lot of greens and blues in the color palate that they use.  These colors are reproduced wonderfully.  They are vibrant and strong and really make the show a joy to watch.  The blacks are solid and the lines are tight.  On the digital side there is a touch of aliasing here and there, but it is a small amount especially when compared to most anime.  There are a couple of scenes where banding is a slight problem, but again this isn't major.  The only other defect that's worth noting is some mosquito noise in a few of the dark scenes.  Overall this disc looks really nice.

Extras:

Like the first volume, this disc has some solid bonus items.  The highlights are two interviews with the director Hiroshi Nagahama, in one he's joined by art director Takeashi Waki.  These run 14-15 minutes each and have a lot of interesting behind the scenes information.  There's also a clean opening and closing animation, and a series of trailers.

Included with the disc itself is a nice 12-page booklet that has character sketches as well as comments about the people in the show.  It's a very nice booklet and I'm glad they included it.

Final Thoughts:

This is one of my favorite current series.  It's a story driven show, but the tight story telling and unique plots make it a joy to watch.  This is an excellent program that should appear on a lot of year-end Best of 2007 lists.  Highly Recommended.