The Best Episodes of Mushi-Shi
Last Updated: Feb 6, 2019
They are neither plants nor animals. They differ from other forms of life such as the micro-organisms and the fungi. Instead they resemble the primeval body of life and are generally known as "Mushi". Their existence and appearance are unknown to many and only a limited number of humans are aware of them. Ginko is a "Mushi-shi" who travels around to investigate and find out more about the "Mushi". In the process, he also lends a helping hand to people who face problems with supernatural occurances which may be related to the "Mushi".
#1 - Lingering Crimson
Season 2 - Episode 13
At dusk, about to go home after playing with her friends, a young girl named Akane found a shadow without a caster. On that same day, she disappeared. Several years later, Ginko is told the story of Mikage, a girl who appeared with no memories at Akane's village shortly after the vanishing of the latter.
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#2 - Fragrant Darkness
Season 2 - Episode 12
A man feels something vaguely familiar, yet terrifying, as he smells the scent of flowers at night. As an old man, walking through the woods, he finds a tunnel, and is compelled to enter it. While going through it, he reminisces about important events in his life up to that point, but it seems there is something he can't quite recall. Perhaps long ago, the visit of a traveler looking for shelter on a rainy day, might help shed light on the unsettled feeling he has.
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#3 - One-Eyed Fish
Season 1 - Episode 12
"Don't let yourself be blinded by fear and anger. Everything is only as it is..." A boy named Yoki, who's able to see Mushi, was found in the woods by some mysterious lady named Nui with only one eye. It turns out that Yoki was travelling with his mother when a mudslide crushed his mother and he was left all on his own. Yoki's leg later heals itself however he doesn't seem to have anywhere to go so he stays with the Nui and begins to learn some things about the Mushi known as "Tokoyami".
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#4 - Cushion of Grass
Season 2 - Episode 11
After his encounter with Nui and before becoming a mushishi, young Ginko moved from place to place, due to his condition of attracting mushi. At one point he found himself instructed and cared for by a mushishi named Suguro, in the lands of a dying Mountain Lord. Ginko wonders about his place in the world and the natural order, as Suguro worries that the new Mountain Lord hasn't yet appeared.
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#5 - A Sea of Brushes
Season 1 - Episode 20
Ginko arrives at a secluded place to meet an old acquaintance, who seems to be in charge of a lot of an archive of confidential text. Ginko is allowed to read the text and ends up reading some of the writer, Tan'yu's work. Tan'yu is the descendant of the Karibusa family being born with a black mark on a part of their body. This means she contains devastating Mushi within her body but Tama is there to help remedy that.
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#6 - Tree of Eternity
Season 2 - Episode 20
A restless man, Kanta, on his way home to his wife and young daughter (Futaba), sits down to rest in a forest. He is tired and thirsty so he eats a red fruit that was lying on the ground near him, and gives thanks to the plum. Some time after this, he starts having vivid memories both in his dreams and while awake of times going back before his birth. He goes looking for a huge tree but finding it does not make him happy.
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#7 - The Sleeping Mountain
Season 1 - Episode 11
Ginko arrives at a village where the men are in a heated discussion about the mountain. After learning of Ginko's identity they ask for his help to find another Mushi-shi called Mujika, who happens to be the master of the mountain. While on his trek through the mountain Ginko stumbles across a boy who's also looking for Mujika. Later they manage to find Mujika but this isn't the end of it.
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#8 - Lightning's End
Season 2 - Episode 18
Multiple lightning strikes have been observed hitting the same tree, and Ginko investigates. He meets a strange boy who attracts lightning to himself due to a mushi's influence. His mother believes he is doing it to spite her and struggles with the fact that she doesn't love her child.
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#9 - Pickers of Empty Cocoons
Season 1 - Episode 17
"There are countless fissures in the physical world. Those who vanish like smoke are lost in such hollows. Without their memories, without their souls..." Ginko receives a letter in a cocoon but it isn't to him but to someone he already knows, called Aya, so he later goes to meet this old acquaintance. Ginko is concerned about Aya as she is still searching for her sister, who has been trapped in an Uroana for 5 years.
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#10 - The Pretense of Spring
Season 1 - Episode 15
"When all are sheltering within, there comes an imitation of spring. Linger in bliss for too long and your flesh will soon be frozen..." Caught in a blizzard, Ginko is decides to look for shelter and finds a home where the owner, Suzu allows him to stay the night. The next day Ginko sees a boy, Miharu who seems to be fascinated by Mushi. Ginko learns that Miharu once disappeared into the mountains in the winter and then suddenly came back in spring, able to see Mushi. Miharu has been repeating this since and it may be caused by a "Harumagari" so in the end, Ginko decides to teach him more about Mushi.
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#11 - The Cotton Changeling
Season 1 - Episode 21
A lady named Aki discovered a green stain on her wedding gown, one year later she gave birth to a boy who, now grown up, has the same marks on his body. It turns out that the boy was originally born not as a human but as some shapeless green blob, which then turned into a human. Her husband asks for Ginko's help yet he is unable to save her son because it's the work of a "Watahaki".
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#12 - Inside the Cage
Season 1 - Episode 14
Ginko is approached by an odd man, while resting in the bamboo forest and then the man, Kisuke tells Ginko that he has been lost in the forest for 3 years. Ginko seems to have also become lost in the strange forest and decides to go off and figure something out about the forest. After managing to get out of the forest Ginko figures out that it's the work of a "Magaridake".
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#13 - The Sound of Footsteps on the Grass
Season 1 - Episode 26
Taku is a peculiar young boy who has always wondered who the people were that always passed by the mountains during the rainy seasons. One day he meets a boy named Isaza, while catching fish. It seems that not only Taku can see the Komiyaku in the mountains however Isaza seems to know a lot more about the mountain than him. "The world is filled with life unknown to man..."
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#14 - Eye of Fortune, Eye of Misfortune
Season 1 - Episode 25
"All that is in my world... is seem sound taste and touch. That is all. That is enough..." Finally able to reach a city, Ginko comes across a "biwa hoshi" named Amane, singing songs about Mushi and she is immediately able tell that he is a Mushi-shi. So she forces him to stay a night at an inn when she later reveals that she once saw a "Ganpuku" a very rare Mushi that will make the host see better and better until they die.
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#15 - Floral Delusion
Season 2 - Episode 6
Ginko meets a woman with a striking beauty that lacks all five senses and according to the man who takes care of her, is over 80 years old and has lived in his family for generations. While investigating the mushi responsible for it, Ginko discovers an even darker secret involving the two.
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#16 - Underwater Shrine
Season 1 - Episode 22
"Give birth to me once more. I want to meet you once more. I want to see this beautiful ocean once more..." Ginko arrives on an island asking about the so called "Rebirths" but to no luck. At night he later meets a peculiar lady who happens to be able to see a strange light in the sea and she ends up inviting him to her home. She later explains to him what "Rebirths" are; when a person is about to die they can be taken deep inside the Ryuugu, where they are reborn.
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#17 - Depths of Winter
Season 2 - Episode 10
On his way to answer a summons, Ginko is trapped on a mountain that has been sealed by the mountain lord, and is experiencing an eternal winter because of some trapped snow-mushi. Why has the mountain lord sealed the mountain, and how will Ginko escape this eternal winter?
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#18 - String from the Sky
Season 1 - Episode 19
Seijirou is fascinated by the stars and enjoys stargazing. One day he was by the riverbed with the village nanny Fuki when she notices a string coming down the sky and as she tries to pull all of a sudden she disappears, right before Seijirou's eye. Ginko is travelling through the mountains and is being followed by a peculiar girl. It turns out that it's Fuki, who has been exposed to a strong Mushi presence and can't be seen by anyone.
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#19 - Azure Waters
Season 2 - Episode 17
Ginko encounters Yuuta, a boy who is excellent at swimming and fishing but has webbed hands and cold skin. After discovering the boy's unnatural affinity for water, he sets out to treat the rain mushi causing his strange behavior.
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#20 - One-Night Bridge
Season 1 - Episode 13
Just managing to cross the treacherous Kazura Bridge, Ginko meets up with a man on the other side who takes him to meet a lady called Hana, who fell from the same bridge 3 years ago. Even though Hana survived, all she does is sit under the sun and nothing else and nobody seems to know what's wrong with her. Hana is feared to be a "Tanimodori", which are people whose minds and memories are wiped clean and they die on the night that the "One Night Bridge" shows up. From the info gathered Ginko knows that Hana is possessed by a Mushi called a "Nisekazura".
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#21 - Thread of Light
Season 2 - Episode 15
A young boy named Gen troubles his father by being too rough with other kids, who pick on him due to his absent mother. The child, too strong for his age, also claims to be able to see strange creatures that no one else sees. As Ginko arrives at Gen's place, the story behind Gen's strength is revealed as the mushishi recounts the day he met a woman who'd woven a mysterious seamless garment.
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#22 - The Warbling Seashell
Season 2 - Episode 2
Near a village by the sea, a girl lives with her father on a secluded crag. She wants to make friends, but her father, for some reason, doesn't want her associating with the village people. When Ginko arrives, he finds a mushi that's an omen of disaster. Will the girl's father be able to forgive past events and help the village?
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#23 - Beneath the Snow
Season 2 - Episode 3
Ginko visits a village where it snows most of the year to study snow mushi. He finds a boy with a strange affliction that causes snow to fall on him perpetually. He's become insensitive to the cold, and warmth is painful for him. It's dangerous for him to expose himself to the cold so much, but he doesn't even seem to care.
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#24 - The Hand That Caresses the Night
Season 2 - Episode 4
A young man has the power to lure animals to him using a scent issuing from his hand. He inherited this power from his father, and it makes hunting easier. But it makes the meat from his prey taste foul. More serious is the risk of losing his mind to the power and confusing family with prey. There's a cure, but will the boy be willing to give up his power?
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#25 - Banquet at the Forest's Edge
Season 2 - Episode 1
A sake brewer once lost his way home and chanced upon a strange ceremony. There, he tasted a sweet, glowing sake that he's never been able to forget. Years later, his son has followed in his footsteps and is trying to brew a sake to match his dad's. When he, too, encounters a late-night ceremony, he pretends to be part of it, meeting Ginko during the occasion.
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