Jujutsu Kaisen manga and anime

The manga series first appeared in a popular Japanese manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump, in March of 2018. The series was a prequel to Tokyo Metropolitan Curse Technical School. Later it was renamed Jujutsu Kaisen 0.

The series was created by Gege Akutami. In 2020, the animation studio responsible for the final season of Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin,) MAPPA, released a 24 episode adaptation of the manga series. The anime ran from October of 2020 to March of the following year.

What is Jujutsu Kaisen about?

The story follows young Yuji Itadori, a physically gifted student. He is quite sought after by his school’s athletics teams, but he avoids getting involved as a result of the time commitment involved with sports. Instead, he joins the school’s Occult Research Club, which will allow him more time to visit his ailing grandfather in the hospital.

On his deathbed, his grandfather leaves him with two gems of elderly wisdom. He tells Yuji to “always help people” and to “die surrounded by people”. He seems greatly affected by his grandad’s words, and distilled his wisdom into a single statement “everybody deserves a proper death.”

Shortly after his grandfather’s passing, he encounters a sorcerer, Megumi Fushiguro, who can control cursed animals. Megumi is in search of a powerful cursed talisman. Unfortunately, the item is in the possession of the Occult club, who have already unsealed the talisman. What follows is an attack of dark curses on the school.

Early Plottwist of the show

Curses, in the context of this narrative, are wicked spiritual entities born from the negative emotions that flow through humans. They consume the energy of sorcerers and other magically charged objects.

Yuki, probably acting on his grandfather’s last words to him, acts to protect his friends by swallowing the cursed object which has brought on all the mayhem. This causes him to be possessed by Ryomen Sukuna, a powerful evil spirit, who has the potential to bring about unspeakable imbalance in the world.

Sukuna is to be exorcized on sight along with his host. However, Yuji’s mental and other faculties remain unchanged. Megumi’s teacher takes Yuji to the Kyoto school of Jujutsu so he can propose a delay of the execution to his superiors.

The cast

The series was first announced as early as 2019, with MAPPA responsible for all products of the series. Producer, Sunghoo Park took charge of the adaptation, while Hiroshi Seko oversaw scripts. Tadashi Hiramatsu was in charge of character design.

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One of the first things that potential viewers ought to know about The World’s Finest Assassin is that it falls into the Isekai sub-genre of anime, therefore, one should expect to see themes usually associated with this genre – which might not be to everyone’s tastes.

That said, The World’s Finest Assassin is adapted directly from a light novel that was penned by Rui Tsukiyo, the very same writer behind the popular Redo of Healer – which may have something to do with this title’s fanfare. The anime series is brought to our screens under the directorship of Tamura Masafumi, who is a notable name in Japan’s animation scene and boasts titles like Two Car and Ange Vierge on his belt.

The anime series is a collaborative effort by Silver Link and Studio Palette, the former a veteran with more than 10 years in the anime industry – as for the latter, the production process behind The World Finest Assassin anime series is part of the learning process.

So, what’s it about?

Well, the title is quite self explanatory. The story revolves around our protagonist, Lugh. However, being that this series falls into the particular genre that it does, what we have is the usual suspect of an overpowered lead character.

The story plays out in a fantasy world of magic casting nobles who are also in the habit of hiring assassins to kill for them and

kicks off with our protagonist – not necessarily a good guy, but simply the lead character – finds himself being disposed of after fulfilling his duties. However, Lugh wins the favor of a goddess who reincarnates him as a member of a noble family.

“After spending my final day thinking through my options, I decided to stick with what I’d chosen the previous day.

I’d use Rapid Recovery and Limitless Growth to improve my fundamental abilities. Martial Arts would sharpen my movements. Spell Weaver and Total Affinity would greatly increase the tools at my disposal, and my D-Rank skill would be my ace in the hole.”  The protagonist thinking about what he’ll need to start his new life.

Naturally, this would not be much of a story if there wasn’t some kind of a twist. To that end, our protagonist is tasked with killing a hero in the future, so the whole story revolves around Lugh’s preparations to kill a target 18 years after his resurrection.

As mentioned before, this is an isekai and because of that, viewers won’t find very much in the way of character development. I mean, our protagonist starts his new life already knowing what to do, what skill sets he has at his disposal and a wealth of experience as an assassin in his past life.

That’s the one of the biggest challenges that come with overpowered lead characters; the only way to add depth to a story is either to limit the character, or incorporate similarly overpowered adversaries. The World’s Finest Assassin opted to go with the latter option, however, our equally matched opponent remains a distant concept until the actual encounter with our protagonist – and It doesn’t look like we’re anywhere near that point.

All in all, this is a series that has the potential to be a good viewing, however, there are those points that let it down. If one feels like those are forgivable, then The World’s Finest Assassin could be a good choice for them.

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Produced by David Production, the Fire Force anime series is adapted from a manga that was written by Atsush Ōkubo and was first published by Kodansha in September of 2015 – and it’s still going strong by the way.

So, what’s it about?

Before going into exactly what Fire Force is about, it might be worth remembering beforehand that very few things are truly flawless and this anime title is no exception. To that effect, the early stages of Fire Force could leave many viewers disinterested due to the rather generic story behind the lead character.

The protagonist in this series follows the typical blueprint of coming from a background of tragic events which fuels an insatiable appetite to be the best at what he does, we’ve seen this countless times and not just in anime. To make matters worse, the series takes a bit of time in getting viewers to the fin parts.

That said, Fire Force is set in a fictional period in a time dubbed Tokyo’s Solar Era. The year is 198, more than two hundred years after The Great Cataclysm. An event that saw entire nations being wiped out as the vast portions of the world were set ablaze and people perished from spontaneous human combustion.

However, those who spontaneously set on fire don’t die as a result, instead of turning into a horde of flaming demons known as infernals. These living infernos are a first-generation result of the phenomenon, which are soon followed by the second generation of a more powerful horned variety of called demons. There is also a third-generation, one that has the power to control fire – an ability referred to as pyrokinesis – while retaining their full human form and characteristics.

As the rest of the world collapsed, a pocket of humanity was able to thrive in Tokyo with the help of Haijima Industries, and their belief in the sun god, Holy Sol. This is where our protagonist, Shinra Kusakabe, joins the Fire Force, an elite unit made up of mostly pyrokinesis powered people and It’s not long before questions about the origin of the internal are questioned.

What’s good?

Fire Force puts a nice fanatical theme on fire fighting, which is a theme that’s been played with more than a few times but never in this manner – the series has a way of playing out this fantasy in a way that still manages to incorporate a good amount of realism.

What’s not?

Though Fire Force has its shiny facets, it is not perfect. Being an action-packed story of fighting with fire, it doesn’t seem to match up with its most comparable series – Promare. Furthermore, the series is shonen to the core, so it carries all the pros and cons of this genre of anime.

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The main plot of Seven Deadly Sins

As it stands, the series plays out over five seasons and there are two films.  So, there’s a lot of content for those who are interested in what has become one of the most popular anime series on Netflix. The story follows the life of Meliodas. He is the leader of a group of disavowed knights known for being framed for trying to plot a coup.

Known as The Seven Deadly Sins, our band of heroes is on a mission to liberate the kingdom of Liones from The Holy Knights. The knights are adversaries who started a rebellion and framed them in order to seize control of the kingdom of Britannia.

What are The Seven Deadly Sins?

Each one of the Deadly Sins carries a beast marking with a name that is symbolic of the crimes they were convicted of. However, they once dominated the kingdom of Brittania as the most powerful unit of the Holy Knights.

Characters and their sins

The main character Meliodas – bears the sin of wrath and is marked with a dragon.

Diane is marked by a serpent and carries its sin of envy. Then there’s Ban, who is marked by a Fox and carries the sin of greed. King carries the Grizzly’s sin of sloth while Gowther bares the goat’s sin of lust. Merlin, the most powerful mage in the kingdom, carries the Boar’s sin of gluttony. Lastly, Escanor bears Lion’s sin of pride.

Being that The Seven Deadly Sins is a series where the magic takes center stage, it should not be surprising that many of the characters in the series are in fact millennia old. Take Meliodas as an example; though he may not look the part, he has been alive for more than 3000 years.

As for the ages of the other Deadly Sins, Diane is far younger than Meliodas at 750 years. Ban has a more relatable age of 34. Gowther and King have also been alive for very long for over thousands of years. It is expected that a grand mage like Merlin will have many years behind him. That is exactly what we get here as he is also well experienced at 3000+ years old.

Closing

As noted above, The Seven Deadly Sins manga has been around for a while and as a result, has branched out to many films apart from the already numerous episodes. So it might be a good idea for viewers who are new to the series to get acquainted with it in chronological order, picking out a random episode may only result in confusion.

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Nobody knows for sure, but the difference between the Attack on Titan anime and manga is likely a result of creativity clashes. So without further ado, here they are.

The main protagonists are portrayed differently in the manga vs the anime series

Firstly, the anime series shows Aramin in a completely different light to the manga. The anime characterizes Armin as a fearful and submissive personality who later learns to use his intelligence as his sharpest tool. However, the manga gives him a different and more well-rounded character who doesn’t fold over too easily.

The same can be said of the anime’s portrayal of Eren. The comic gives a more holistic approach to revealing his character and shows him as someone who is driven by more than anger and the desire to eradicate Titans – a yearning for true freedom that he shares with his friend Armin.

The manga also describes Micasa in a different light. For one, she isn’t so obsessed with Eren in the manga as she is in the anime. Those who take the time to explore the manga will note that she socializes a lot more than what is depicted in the anime series.

Eren does NOT beat Annie in their epic encounter in manga

This was a very climactic moment, however, the exact sequence of events that leads to Annie coating herself in “diamond” to avoid interrogation is where things start to differ quite a bit.

In the anime series, Eren gains the upper hand and defeats Annie as they fight it out in Titan form. However, in the comic, Eren comes out second-best and needs the intervention of the Survey Corps to get her into her crystal cocoon.

There are differences in the censorship

Being such a brutal animated series, one might find it a little hard to believe that the Attack on Titan anime toned down some of the gore found in the manga. For fans of that kind of sheer brutality, it makes for a very satisfying experience.

Kenny and the Ackerman clan are given more depth in the manga

The manga goes into more detail about Kenny’s history and that of the Ackerman clan, even dropping a few hints about Micasa’s history. Kenny is also depicted more as a multifaceted character rather than a person who is simply fueled by destructive desires.

Even his history with Levi and what led to a souring of their relationship gets a more detailed description in the manga series.

Closing

Attack on Titan is not the only anime title that strays slightly from the manga series. To reconcile these differences, one should consider that time is of the essence when it comes to television, animated or not.

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Developing in Japan, the shinobi art was crafted for a lateral form of warfare; information gathering, spreading of misinformation, the odd poisoning, etc. Very rarely would one carry out an application at the rate at which popular culture would have one believed. A true shinobi would need to be able to hide in plain sight, and only sometimes employ martial arts or specialized weaponry on missions.

The specter of the shinobi referred to as the ninja in popular culture lives on in Japan as well. There are a decent number of Japanese Manga comics dedicated to the ninjas. Here are a few ninja-based Japanese manga comics that we’ve picked out.

Basilisk

Based on a Tokugawa era event, which saw two rival ninja clans dueling to the death to determine the next shogun. Two clans, the Iga Tsubagakure and Kouga Manjidani have been locked in a rivalry for 400 years. Only a truce orchestrated by the great Hanzo kept it from erupting into an all-out blood bath. Now the aging Tokugawa needs to select an heir, and he leverages the rivalry between the clans. Each to represent one of the potential heirs.

That’s not all, there is a love story mixed into it all. Gennosuke of the Iga, and Oboro of the Kouga are madly in love, and you can imagine how inconvenient it would be for them if their respective clans were to go to war against one another. The tension is especially heightened by the fact that Oboro is the only Iga clan member who can kill the formidable Gennosuke.

Makai Tenshou (Ninja Resurrection)

This Action Thriller, with supernatural elements heavily pumped into the story,follows the plight of the legendary swordsman, Yagyu Jubei, who returns to his namesake home village after a time serving in feudal conflicts. Life back home is as peaceful as it can be for a war veteran. That is until rumors of four dead warriors returning from the grave to wreak havoc on forces that the tired warrior back into battle.

A Bat in a Blue Sky (Souten no Koumori)

This is a once-off,63-page manga that tells a whole story at a frantic pace. The story revolves around a shinobi who wakes up in a mansion and is promptly introduced to a fellow who is next in line to run things. The circumstances behind his arrival at the mansion, and a good amount of other details, are left out as there is no time and a lot has to happen now. That’s the feel this manga offers, in a brilliantly told, Tarantino-esque style that is supported by detailed art that makes the sparse sword fight look quite epic.

Path of The Assassin (Hanzou no Mon)

Path of The Assassin follows, in panel form,the life of Hattori Hanzo, the man charged with protecting a young Iyeyasu Tokugawa. As the protector of someone who would go on to unite Japan, the shinobi had to be adept in a vast array of skills. The manga even touches on the close friendship formed by the two, in all the time they spent together.

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The Plot

One Punch Man is set on a supercontinent Earth, beset by powerful monsters. In response to the frequency at which these monsters start appearing to threaten Earth’s cities, the government establishes the Hero Association. The organization employs vigilantes, of all sorts, to combat the destructive forces.

An unassociated Saitama, who hails from City Z, fights evil as a favorite pastime. Saitama has little trouble dispatching baddies, as he has trained himself to superhuman strength and is in a state of perpetual boredom, as he derives no challenge from his heroic tasks.

He is eventually convinced to become a member of the Hero Associate by Genos, a disciple that the hero reluctantly takes on. Genos wishes to get stronger, under the training of Saitama, as his main desire is to avenge his family, and hometown by killing the Cyborg who ruined his life. However, Saitama, who wishes to be a great hero, is given a low rank by the Hero Association, and many of his great feats go under the radar.

It isn’t until the Hero Association’s seer, Shibabawa gives a warning of a great evil before dying, that Saitama is given a shot at center stage. Shortly after they gather its operatives to a meeting, during which it divulges to the Heroes, Shibabawa’s dying vision.

Not long after those events, Earth is attacked by an extraterrestrial known as Boros. Members of the Hero Association combat Boros’ forces outside his ship, while Saitama goes onto the spacecraft and battles Boros, who takes not more than a single punch from Saitama before ultimately folding under the Hero’s might.

What Makes One Punch Man Stand Out?

Well, for one, how the the creator, ONE, merges and subverts themes typically found in the Shounen genre of Japanese manga and anime media, as well as the classic tropes that make up a great western comic book hero’s tale. The fact that Saitama is introduced, already at the peak of his strength, instead of the narrative being laid out as a chronicle of an underdog’s rise to greatness is the first thing that leaps out at the viewer.

The One Punch Man story also explores how a hero who has reached his peak would feel about never being able to test the limits of his abilities. Instead, it is his supporting characters, Genos, and Mumen Rider who seem to have their sights set on self improvement. Saitama is more concerned with attaining acclaim for his heroic deeds.

To really poke fun at comic book lore, the hero’s home city, City Z is constantly being destroyed by powerful invaders, and being rebuilt within a few days of the incidents. The members of the Hero Association will be seen discussing their potential to rank up depending on their performance, instead of worrying about the potential loss of lives.

What ties it all, so expertly, together is the show’s comedic element. It follows a lighthearted theme, and wonderfully designed action scenes, that really drive home the fact that the main character is really underwhelmed by all the action.

Conclusion

If you’re looking for a more typical anime, this isn’t the one for you. One Punch Man isn’t very hard to fall for, as it explores the less explored side of being an animated hero. It’s packed with comedic moments that make all that is going on seem very light, as the characters will blatantly ignore the villain’s monologue and have conversations of their own.

A great hang-out anime to watch with friends, or if you’re in the mood for something with less Shonin intensity. Overall, it ranks among some of the best series we’ve seen.

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Religion in Japan and its media

The media often uses mentions of Japanese religion and folklore as metaphors. In many famous animated feature films, series, and comics, elements are drawn from Shintoism and Buddhism play an important role in the main story.

Most audiences may recognize some of the storytelling mediums. However, other metaphors designed to connect with Japanese audiences can fly over the minds of audiences that have grown up in other cultures. You can find subtle religious hints in your favorite anime; Perhaps the protagonists visit the shrine on New Year’s Day, obtain charms or amulets, or offer incense to the deceased.

Difference between the portrayal of western and eastern religions in manga/anime

An interesting occurrence is that the majority of slice-of-life manga/anime often has elements of Shinto religion incorporated. Examples of that are a New Years’ episode where characters go to a shrine and pay respects to the local gods. However, dark and mysterious anime such as Hellsing or Neon Genesis Evangelion have plenty of Christian symbolism within them.

Western religions, particularly Christianity, are used for a sense of exoticness. Evangelion relied heavily on it because the Japanese audience wouldn’t be too familiar with certain terms such as the Dead sea scrolls. Another way Christianity is incorporated is because of the sentiment of absolute evil and absolute good. That sentiment doesn’t exist in the Japanese variations of Buddhism and Shintoism. Anime and manga do tend to make ideas thematic and religion is subjected to this process more often than anything else.

Portrayal of Church

Even the most religious places aren’t safe from evil. Corrupted Church is often perceived worse than a simple supervillain or League of Evil, because when even the holy priests turn to the dark side, what hope is there for humanity. In anime and manga, the Corrupt Church trope can be seen in many of them. Fullmetal Alchemist shows the Letoist church led by Father Cornelio. He is a pastor who uses the philosopher’s stone ring to create “miracles’ ‘ and induce Leo’s citizens to believe in a fabricated religion So that he can use them as soldiers to help him take over the Nation.

The Wall cult of Attack on Titan started as a group of zealots who worshipped the walls as a gift from god. After the fall of the wall, Maria gained rapid influence. One of the most dominant ones is the corrupt Church in the Fate series, where particularly the entire anime revolves around it. These are just one of the many examples.

Religion shown in Western Comics

A popular theory is that Superman is actually a re-written Moses. In the Superman comics, you have a story where his parents put an alien baby on a shuttle. They sent him to the land where he grew up, named Clark Kent. In the myth of Moses, his parents put him in a basket and then he became the liberator of his people. Superman, later, is named Kal-El, which is Hebrew and means “voice of God”. Superman is often portrayed as an image of Jesus as well. If you watch the trailer for the Batman vs Superman movie, there will be a picture of a superman statue with “false god” written on it, and Superman in the sky with the sun setting. He is just a shadow, giving people an angel-like or Christ image.

In addition to the mythical and sometimes even saviour image of Superman, religion, and comics are intertwined in different ways in several different titles, subtle or more obvious. For example, the superhero Thor himself is a god. If we even go beyond the characters, some comics try to address the meaning of religion, such as the popular series “Evil Men and Gods”, which compares celebrities to reincarnated ancient gods.

Catholic symbolism

Even Western comics rely on Christian symbolism, just in more of a friendlier manner than the Japanese manga. In the comics or recent Netflix series Daredevil, Matt Murdoch’s Catholic faith is part of the story. Sometimes he struggled with faith, sometimes he trusted it, but no matter what, he often appeared in the church. The most recent arc in the comic tells the entire story from Daredevil’s perspective. An interesting one from the confessional, telling the events to the priest. In this regard, the image of Catholicism often appears traditional churches, clerical costumes, and statues of saints.

A topic that has been a discussion by Batman fans is Batman’s religion. His parents’ graves have crosses on them, and he was a holder of the Holy Grail for a while. So, it is speculated that he might be Catholic. Throughout entertainment, the Knights Templars and The Holy Grail have been often covered in both eastern and western media. The Fate franchise features the Holy Grail in all of the shows and novels.

Why is Japan much more critical of the Church in comparison to the West?

It is no secret that the Church has done some shady stuff in the past. While Japanese society is extremely secularised and Christians make 1% of their population, they don’t have to fear losing sales because of the critical viewpoint of the Church. With the West, that is not the case. In the USA Christians make up 65% of the population as of 2020. It would simply be too risky to criticize it.

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The TV anime is produced by Studio Pierrot based on manga of the same name. The Director of the show is Shuhei Morita. During the surge of vampire anime, Tokyo Ghoul managed to stand out and leave a footprint in the industry choosing a less popular mythological creature. The opening of the first season (Unravel) is arguably the most popular opening of all time. Like many similar anime, Tokyo Ghoul took supernatural beings and made them look sympathetic despite their violent tendencies.

The main focus of the show was on two things: how the main character deals with his internal dilemma and his life being drastically changed practically overnight and the ongoing ‘’war’’ between ghouls and humans. The CCG is an organization designated to hunt down and kill ghouls. However, some ghouls eat already dead people, meaning not all of them are essentially bad. CCG’s denial of this part about them can be transferred into a lot of real-life situations with government organizations.

Main Critique of Tokyo Ghoul

The anime started pretty strong when the first season aired. A lot of hype surrounded the release and Tokyo Ghoul gained immense popularity. Season 2 upset a lot of people since it strayed from the manga material. It had a few plot holes and a bit of bad pacing. The third and fourth seasons were fully based on the sequel manga, Tokyo Ghoul: re. This is when Tokyo Ghoul became quite infamous. The anime rushed the whole story, cramming even 10 books (120 chapters) into 12 episodes and skipping the middle of the story. This was a disservice to the anime watchers since season 3 starts with absolutely no regard to what happened in season 2, which makes it hard for people who haven’t read the manga to follow.

Animation

Overall the animation was pretty good. At least for the part that we could see. Due to the gore nature of the anime, some TV channels censored a lot of the blood and ultimately disabled viewers to see the most interesting fight scenes. That is because the censoring was done horribly. Black blurry spots cover bloody or dismembered body parts and beams of light obscure wounds. During some battle scenes that were a bit more bloody than the rest, the colors were inverted causing the blood to appear a light shade of neon blue. The change from the original colors to the inverted ones was done drastically, making it seem distasteful.

The famous soundtrack of both Tokyo Ghoul and Tokyo Ghoul:re

The tracks in this show are very beautifully made. The main thing I like about them is that they are longer than the majority of tracks in other anime. Because of that, one track or song was often split up so no individual song is playing for an extended amount of time. This created a nostalgic feel whenever a part of a song that played earlier in the show reappears.

Conclusion

Despite the most confusing, unexplained time-skips, I enjoyed the anime. There are a lot of interesting characters and good developments. However, as the show progressed, they left out characters quite often which can be infuriating if you started to like them. The music is amazing and the themes of ambiguous morality are prominent. There are a lot of lessons that we could take from this fantasy anime.

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Written and illustrated by acclaimed manga artist (mangaka), Junji Ito, Uzumaki uses a common Japanese symbol menacingly, and attaches it to a mysterious force, which the story’s protagonists must contend with. Ito expertly explores the concept of obsession, having himself obsessively studied spiral shapes in the creation of the original manga work. 

Uzumaki, received massive critical acclaim at the time of it’s release, even going on to be nominated for an Eisner Award. Adaptation of the narrative, and haunting atmosphere of the manga to other media however, have previously failed to fully capture it’s spookiness. Video games, and a live-action film adaptation have fallen short of doing Ito’s work any justice. So much so, that the mangaka was reluctant to agree to this iteration of his narrative. Except, the proposed director, and the fact that it remains true to it’s monochromatic origins won Ito over.

The story is centered around a small coastal town, Kurouzu-cho (Black Vortex town), which appears to be plagued by a supernatural force that has a thing for spirals. Kirie and Suichi, the star-crossed protagonists of the tail,play witness to the effects – on town and citizens – of the spiral curse, as it warps it’s way through reality. Obsession & paranoia are the order of the day, as even Suichi becomes a recluse after losing his parents in spiral related incidents.

Kirie herself isn’t spared from the spiral curse as her hair develops a will of it’s own, draining her of her life force, playing havoc with people’s minds, and even trying to kill her when she attempts to chop it off. A signature Junji Ito theme.

Terraced houses are central to the narrative, as Ito first imagined the manga playing out in a traditional Japanese terraced house. However, the terraced house theme expands to a point where the spiral curse forces Kurouzu-cho’s citizens to move into such structures as the spiral curse destroys all buildings, except terraced homes.

The pair, after witnessing, and experiencing a series of supernatural spiral related tragedies, and a failed escape from the town, venture into the centre of the spiral curse. This leads to the discovery of the origin of the curse, an answer which artfully hints at the infinity implied by spiral patterns. 

Ito was inspired to develop the Uzumaki narrative when he noticed the positive representation spiral shapes received in local media and decided to subvert spirals in a horror theme. 

“Usually, spiral patterns mark character’s cheeks in Japanese comedy cartoons, representing an effect of warmth. However, I thought it could be used in horror if I drew it a different way.”. Junji Ito

Throughout his career, Ito has subverted many common, positively viewed, themes. A recurring theme in his work is that of a female character with living hair, itself being a subversion of the tradional Japanese feminine ideal. Ito also attests to drawing a great deal of inspiration from the work of horror novelist H.P. Lovecraft, who’s atmospheric expressionism and story development had a large influence on the creation of Uzumaki.

The Uzumaki animé adaptation is under the development of animé house Production IG and will air on Adult Swim’s Toonami. Although originally slated for release in the middle of this year, Covid-19 related delays have caused the show’s released to be pushed back to around October of this year. 

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Based on a Manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara, the animé had a 26 episode run from 2005 to 2006. With a second season, Mushi-Shi: Zoku Shō. first airing in 2014. The series was first brought to life by director, Hiroshi Nagahama, for the animation house, Artland. Later licensed by Funimation and various other firms for international distribution.

The show has garnered critical acclaim for its surreal atmosphere and unique storyline. Set in a time between the Meiji and Edo era’s of Japanese history, the narrative centers around a fellow known as Ginko. Ginko works as a Mushi-Shi, or Mushi Master, who traverses the countryside, helping people who find themselves affected by Mushi. Ethereal creatures, which possess otherworldly abilities that can either be beneficial or detrimental to humans (in a symbiotic, or parasitic kind of way).

Capable of affecting nature, Mushi are said to be the most primitive form of life and are invisible to most people. With the exception of Ginko,who possess an encyclopedic knowledge of the entities. Ginko also attracts Mushi for some reason, and is therefore always smoking to keep them away.

Episodes of the show follow no main overarching narrative, but rather, play out like a textbook of Mushi related cases, with Ginko and the Mushi being the only constants. The character serves as the tour guide through this bizarre, dreamlike, exploration of the very concept and functional parameters of life.

The show borrows a great deal from Japanese folklore, with Mushi suggestively being fingered as the root of such myths. The Shinto faith also has a noticeable influence on the storyline. The ancient faith believes that all natural forces, wind, water, mountains, plants, animals etc, are all connected to a single spiritual source, or kami.

Japanese Taoist philosophy also seems to play a big role in the development of the story, as nature is a central theme in the tale. Taoist belief is similar to Shinto, except that it puts emphasis on water as being an example of Taoism as work. Water is gentle, nourishes life, and constantly adapts to the shape of its path. Ginko gives viewers a glimpse of life itself, in one episode, depicted as the Kouki, a river of light, said to be the birthplace of Mushi.

There are times when the series seems to be trying to give us an idea of how people explained diseases and other ailments, in a time before science revealed the microbiological world, with the invention of the microscope. Mushi-Shi is unoffensively bizarre, artistically surreal and gently prods one to consider more deeply, the very nature of existence itself.

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