This Japanese film tells the story of Ginko; he is a 'Mushishi' or 'bug-hunter'… these aren't normal bugs but supernatural creatures that can affect the population. As Ginko travels he cures people who have been affected. One day he learns that Tamyu; a woman who records historic details of the bugs has been affected. He heads to help her, travelling with another man who is hoping to catch a rainbow; somethings others mock him for but Ginko understands that what he is after isn't an ordinary rainbow.Intertwined with this story is the story of a Yoki, a young boy who is looked after by a mushishi named Nui after the death of his mother. Nui cautions Yoki to stay away from a pond where strange one-eyed fish live. She tells him that her study of the bugs in the pond caused her to lose an eye and her hair turn white. It later emerges that what this story is very much linked to Genko's story.The first thing that must be said about this film is that it looks absolutely stunning with magnificent rural Japanese scenery and seamless CGI special effects that look great. The story is told at a gentle pace, some might say it is slow, but that didn't bother me. I liked how the two stories are told and ultimately shown to be linked. At times the story does get a bit confusing but not overly so and the ending is more open than some viewers would like. Director Katsuhiro Otomo did a fine job capturing the story and his cast are equally good at bringing the characters to life. Overall I certainly enjoyed this, I can't comment on how it compares to the anime as I've not watched that.These comments are based on watching the film in Japanese with English subtitles.

Already the beginning of this movie is amazing. The mystic forested mountains covered in fog, two people marching through the rain, mystic cloudy shapes emitting from the earth, a sudden landslide, all accentuated by this music. Impressive.The cinematography is definitely one of the highlights. The scenery and costumes are also superb. The special effects are simple and of low quality (except for the landslide), but yet they work out very very well. Visually and acoustically the movie is wonderful. For real! I also like the cast, especially Aoi Yuu and Ri Reisen.I haven't read the manga or watched the anime, though I was aware it existed, before I watched this movie. But I had no problem at all to follow the storyline. Yet, it is a demanding movie which only works on a spiritual level.I think a problem many people will have with this movie is, that it lacks a dramatic structure, an arc of suspense.It's not for everyone, but I enjoyed it.

I really appreciate Otomo's Anime works. A thing I can not say about this adaptation of the manga and anime series. Having finished the anime series just a few days ago, I feel utterly disappointed with the movie. While the anime is able to create a meditative and spiritual journey never seen before in anime, Otomo's movie seems to be based at creating a traditional movie about Japanese traditions. Adaptating the manga in this way could have also been interesting, but Otomo completely blew it. However, after reading some of the other comments about the movie my expectations were already low. And I found my worst fears confirmed in the opening scene: If you want to make a traditional movie about feudal japan, don't use a didgeridoo. It is unbelievable ignorant. The next shock came with the appearance of Ginko-San. Seldom have I seen a more displaced actor: Jô Odagiri does not show an inch of the magic charisma of Ginko as he is presented in the anime. In the anime Ginko is constantly smoking (for a reason) and never appears to be weak or making mistakes. Hell, he does not even show emotions most of the time. But in the movie he looks like an average-weirdo and mostly plain stupid. But as if this wouldn't be worse enough, the script seems to be written by a complete ignorant person. Frankly: The way the movie is told doesn't make sense at all. It looks like Otomo or the scriptwriter has taken a scissor, cut the manga and then rearranged it in a way that neither fits to the anime/manga nor makes a good movie. For people who haven't seen the anime, the scenes do not seem to make much sense as there is no real background story. Making things worse for those who have seen the anime, they are using different episodes, but weave them into each other or explain them in a very senseless way. (Like the rainbow episode who seems to have taken the burden to glue all the short-stories together) Something that does not go along well with the anime or manga, as it looks in comparison dull and illogical. If you haven't seem the anime you are therefore completely lost. I gave the movie 2 stars, 1.5 for the beautiful scenery and 0.5 for the music, which isn't that bad. I can't recommend watching this with a good heart. But if you do, it would be wiser to watch it after you have seen the anime, as I think most people wouldn't give the anime a try, when they have seen this flick before. And this would be a shame, as Mushi-Shi is one of the most beautiful animes, ever.

I am incredibly happy that Mushishi was made the way it was - calm, beautiful, moody and seemingly almost timeless. That it doesn't get a higher score is just because I'm exceptionally stingy with my 9:s and 10:s, and I feel Mushishi could've been even more subtle than it was, for example with the music and sounds: instead of using those to provoke dramatic effect, sometimes simple silence is best. I also feel that there was a little too much of forced narrative coherence towards the end, and would rather it had kept just flowing along - which it otherwise succeeded quite well at. Like the mushi themselves, for big parts, the film just is.And of course, I'm incredibly happy that things were kept mysterious, without superfluous explanation. It's interesting to read the comments of people who haven't read the manga or seen the anime though, as many seem to think that Ginko is a manipulator of mystic energies. He isn't. He just knows a little more about certain aspects of nature than most people. But that really doesn't matter, I think it's nice it's actually vague enough to allow for such interpretation.I love the final shot. Simple, suggestive and beautiful. And I love the dampness and dirt. Wandering hills and forests can be muddy.