Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Mushishi: The Next Chapter
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XerBlade
 SubscriberExempt from Grammar Rules  Posts: 162 Location: Depletion Garden, Nashville, TN |
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I'm not really sure whether I want to ask what gave you the impression that episode 14 was so obviously a "love story." I honestly know no one who got that impression of the episode, much less an impression so clear that it warranted a straight-up "is" along with many other words that clearly are meant to say it definitely is one and there can be no doubt. Then again, I've read a ton of your reviews over the years (and agreed with almost none of them, but many of them were still useful to at least guage what a series was about after factoring in some of your obvious biases and filtering those out), so I guess I should be used to the crazy ways you like to throw your own idea onto shows, often with no real prompting, by now.
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2430 Location: Germany |
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How is ep.14 a love story ? Mushishi could use gay characters but there were no romantic aspects in the episode or the original chapter.
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JacobC
ANN Contributor
 Posts: 3728 Location: SoCal |
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The two shared an incredibly powerful connection that was more than friends but less than lovers to where they couldn't bear the thought of not seeing each other anymore even if they lost their souls in the process. Okay, one girl did. The other one was able to say goodbye forever to protect her friend, but was really torn up about it. It may not be a sexual love or anything, which is why my review said "maybe friends, maybe something more" and doesn't specify. But I would definitely call it love. It's "but I don't want anyone else" times a thousand, there's a deeply personal, irrational aspect to it that's much stronger than "Well they were friends." They were like soul-bound or something. I'm comfortable calling that a love story, romance doesn't have to be part of it. |
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residentgrigo
Posts: 2430 Location: Germany |
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The term romantic friendship refers to a very close but non-sexual relationship between friends, often involving a degree of physical closeness beyond that which is common in the contemporary Western societies; it may include for example holding hands, cuddling, hugging, kissing, and sharing a bed. Wikipedia to the rescue and German girls do it all the time.
I hug my male friend  too.
I also answered my own question. The new Mushishi volume is identical to the two sisters episode 11 and 12(or special if you like). I also find Mushishi NOT to be boring but i view it as the MOST boring anime ever. The sheer commitment to no service of any kind to the reader/viewer has to be admired ! There is only deep storytelling and the beauty of nature nothing more. The mangaka had a vision to tell and did´t care about the reader one bit. Ether you get on the slowest train if all or you go home. A friend of mine i now forced to watch the series described it as gently walking through a forest. I couldn´t describe it better. 10/10 and the best Mono no aware of all. |
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SailorTralfamadore
 Posts: 499 Location: Keep Austin Weeb |
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"Romantic friendship" was a way for people in homophobic societies to disguise their actual romantic/sexual relationships as something else, or a misinterpretation of their actual relationships as "friendship" by the clueless and heterosexist. That's why this term was popular 100 years ago and is virtually nonexistent now. (Also, I've known quite a few Germans and never heard of this being currently "popular" there.) If this wasn't about homophobia, it wouldn't be a term that is used pretty much exclusively to refer to same-sex friendships rather than opposite-sex ones.
That doesn't mean you have to agree that the two girls in this episode were into each other like that; I saw overtones there but I'm with Hope that it's ambiguous (and you can have powerful, possessive love of a more familial than romantic variety). But that term as a justification for "no homo" is kinda tired. |
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here-and-faraway
 Posts: 1528 Location: Sunny California |
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I have a question about the "lightning" episode. It spoils the ending, so please don't read under the spoiler tags until after you've seen it...
spoiler[I was confused about how Reki came to have the umbilical cord at the end. Did his mother simply find it and give it to him or was she purposely hiding it because, even though it made her feel guilty, part of her wished that he would die? Or was he hiding it from her all this time (seems unlikely). Do you think the fact that he had it at the end shows that he is somehow connected to her despite their difficulties or is it there to show how he has literally been cut away from her? (Despite his love and forgiveness, poor boy...) Thoughts? It's such a slippery metaphor for me. ] |
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JaggedAuthor
 Posts: 981 |
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Great review(s)! I got kind of worried when I didn't see a Mushishi review last week, although in light of the episodes' similar themes, a dual review makes perfect sense. I think I have a slightly more favorable impression of Azure Waters than you, but I agree that it's one of the series' weaker episodes.
Just curious - does anyone know if The Next Chapter is going to encompass the remainder of the manga? If not, I think I'll finally bite the bullet and start reading it. |
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Jaeger-bomb-bastic
Posts: 21 |
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C+ for episode 17, I don't think this guy knows what he's talking about.
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residentgrigo
Posts: 2430 Location: Germany |
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The manga has 50 chapters so does the math work out ?
Thread of Light is a Vol.10 story. The manga has no ending but read it anyway later on. I even prefere it but both are perfect 10s. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11404 |
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@ Jaeger-bomb-bastic: Your comment might be more useful if you'd explain why (and take a second to at least know the name of the person you're criticizing).
I liked episode 17 just because it's so rare that Gin screws things up.  If he'd left it at the medicine, which the mother said was enough for her, would it have turned out differently? Maybe it was just destined for a sad end no matter what. I did raise a brow that the woman didn't seem to question that spoiler[her baby was born 10 months after her husband died though. ]
As for 18, I didn't get the impression that the father didn't love his son. He just seemed to have the typical-for-whatever-era this is set in that raising kids was woman's work and he had other responsibilities. I also didn't feel like she was trying to abandon him to the elements in that flashback. I thought he was probably crying about something and she took extreme measures to not have to hear it, unaware that a storm was coming because she had her ears covered. If abandonment was her aim, I'd think she'd have taken him farther than her back yard. But I was so glad they didn't take the easy way out with reconciliation all around. Not that I really expected this series to do that. Btw, at the end, spoiler[did his mother give him the umbilicus, or had he snuck it out himself to avoid being separated from the mushi?] |
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residentgrigo
Posts: 2430 Location: Germany |
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I also liked 17. B+ and good dilemma. I think it was given Gina and the dad seemed also like a period father to me.
"Fragrant Darkness" was the second to last story in the manga so we may skip one or two chapter at most. Let´s hope not. This is the last round Arthouse. 1to1 Artland, 1to1. |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11404 |
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Tree of Eternity
I think that just might be my favorite episode out of the entire franchise. I was afraid at first it was going to be some sort of insular object lesson like Wizard of Oz (don't go see the world, stay at home and appreciate it while you can), so it was a real delight that it wasn't about that at all. The only problem was in the scene where spoiler[they're cutting down the tree, it's in the middle of a pristine forest untouched by fire which they would have been logging instead.] I guess the artists got too caught up in their gorgeous background work to remember what was going on in the storyline.
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gedata
 Posts: 615 |
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spoiler[Not to mention, the red flowers on the tree seemed to disappear as it was falling] |
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11404 |
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Well, by that point, spoiler[the danger had passed, so their function was served. The same thing happened to the flowers on his feet after the disaster.] It was interesting that not everyone could see them though. I thought you had to be special to see mushi at all, but in the previous episode, everyone could see these particular ones, and now in this one, most of the people could see them. And it also wasn't clear whether they only saw the spoiler[water or if they could see its glow as well.]
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Minami-Asakura
Posts: 104 |
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Its extremely sad to see so little interest in mushishi, and exceptional masterpiece.
Guess not enough tits and moe for todays fandom, sad bunch, I feel pity for them. Looking forward to the movie next year. |
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