It's not freaky bug stuff like Uzumaki, but "mushi" means "bug" or "caterpillar," or something like that. The mushi of mushishi are not actual insects, but sort of spiritual insects, or germs, or other microscopic organisms, stuff super-low on the evolutionary scale--the building blocks of life. But spiritual entities, not physical entities, nevertheless. Throughout the series, they appear in a variety of forms, never the same form twice, and to me, some of the forms don't really jibe with the whole "spiritual microorganisms" thing to me, although it generally holds up as a nature-based metaphor.
I deeply loathe insects and freak out when I find them crawling on me or, worse yet, living in my house, infesting my garbage or food, and Mushishi, which is ungodly gorgeous, both the anime and the manga, has never triggered any real negative reaction in me (they aren't ACTUAL bugs, no matter what the metaphor). I'm just feeling hyper-sensitive right now on account of the larvae crawling through my barley, making little wounds in the plastic bags that will not heal...
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ninetydegrees
no subject
on 2008-09-29 05:29 am (UTC)I deeply loathe insects and freak out when I find them crawling on me or, worse yet, living in my house, infesting my garbage or food, and Mushishi, which is ungodly gorgeous, both the anime and the manga, has never triggered any real negative reaction in me (they aren't ACTUAL bugs, no matter what the metaphor). I'm just feeling hyper-sensitive right now on account of the larvae crawling through my barley, making little wounds in the plastic bags that will not heal...