It is hard imagine an apter first episode than that of "Mushi-shi: Zoku-Sho". A self-contained story, it features a sake brewer who spends years perfecting his recipe to recapture the taste his father once described to him. He experiments with different sorts of rice, koji, and mould, until he creates a drink so polished it gives light.
I mention this because the creators of "Zoku-Sho" have done the same thing. I never liked the original "Mushi-shi" as much as I wanted to. For all its deliberate storytelling, it struck me as just a bit shallow and lacking in atmosphere. But lo, after a decade of labour the creators have refined their recipe precisely to my taste.
It is hard to overstate how craftily the series' look has been improved. In effect, only two changes have been made: the bloom has been toned down, and the colour palette has been extended beyond grey and faded green. So now, when the animators try to paint a sparse and mysterious landscape -- pine groves in the morning mist -- it actually looks sparse and mysterious instead of grey and dull.
But the biggest refinement has been narrative. Like the folk-tales that inspired it, "Mushi-shi" is really about humans -- about the choices we make and how we must learn to live with those. And God bless the writers for getting rid of the morals. No longer are the series' messages hammered down as if taught in elementary school. Instead, we are often left with a partially unresolved situation, an emotional uncertainty. The stories linger in your mind, rather than being digested and ejected from the rear end.
"Mushi-shi: Zoku-Sho" is now my favourite chill-out anime. I watched it one or two episodes a night, before going to bed. Not because "Zoku-Sho" put me to sleep, but because it left me fulfilled enough to end my day. A heartier recommendation I cannot give.
I mention this because the creators of "Zoku-Sho" have done the same thing. I never liked the original "Mushi-shi" as much as I wanted to. For all its deliberate storytelling, it struck me as just a bit shallow and lacking in atmosphere. But lo, after a decade of labour the creators have refined their recipe precisely to my taste.
It is hard to overstate how craftily the series' look has been improved. In effect, only two changes have been made: the bloom has been toned down, and the colour palette has been extended beyond grey and faded green. So now, when the animators try to paint a sparse and mysterious landscape -- pine groves in the morning mist -- it actually looks sparse and mysterious instead of grey and dull.
But the biggest refinement has been narrative. Like the folk-tales that inspired it, "Mushi-shi" is really about humans -- about the choices we make and how we must learn to live with those. And God bless the writers for getting rid of the morals. No longer are the series' messages hammered down as if taught in elementary school. Instead, we are often left with a partially unresolved situation, an emotional uncertainty. The stories linger in your mind, rather than being digested and ejected from the rear end.
"Mushi-shi: Zoku-Sho" is now my favourite chill-out anime. I watched it one or two episodes a night, before going to bed. Not because "Zoku-Sho" put me to sleep, but because it left me fulfilled enough to end my day. A heartier recommendation I cannot give.