Sleep Is For the Weak

PG-13/16 for vague scariness official series website

Everybody seems to like Mushishi. I’ve read multiple glowing reviews that praise its storytelling, characters, moral ambiguity, and tone. There’s just something about this series that critics seem to love.

I’ve got to say, though, I just don’t see it. I like the concept that mushi – the pseudo-magical natural forces that affect humans in strange ways and that the main character Ginko is an expert on – aren’t good or evil, just powerful natural phenomena. Mushi have to be dealt with in the same way people deal with natural disasters – this story is less about exorcising demons and more about telling people that if they don’t want their house washed away, they should move out of the flood zone. This is a neat idea, one that I hadn’t seen expressed in quite this way before. There are many stories about the power of nature over humans, but not many where nature is portrayed this neutrally.

That’s it for interest from Mushishi, though. A single idea does not a good story make, and the rest of Mushishi is nothing but a little tone spread over stock characters. Human beings don’t have nearly the moral complexity of imaginary plant-spirit thingies; almost every human character’s personality defaults to “calm, vaguely good-natured, and a little sad.” Toward the end of manga volume two we get “generically evil” to mix things up a bit – not exactly breaking new ground from a character perspective. As far as storytelling is concerned, each chapter seems more like a tutorial on imaginary folklore than a story. The serene, zen-like tone and pacing help to distance the reader even more from the characters, just in case he or she could empathize with these people in any way.

Look, I’m not saying that this needs to be some sort of hack-and-slash bloodfest or melodramatic sex romp to keep my attention. I just want to be able to get involved with the things I read and watch. I like stories that illicit an emotional response – empathy or disgust for characters, surprise at plot twists, illumination when new ideas are presented, sadness at serious bits and laughter at jokes. Mushishi seems like it’s aiming for the opposite – it wants to keep me from feeling anything. I can’t think of anything more boring than that.

Initial impression: Pass. Or, well, chances are you should give it a try since so many other people seem to see such great things in it. Just read the first chapter of the manga in the store before you decide whether to buy it – I can assure you, the rest of the volume will be more of the same. (NotHayama)

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