Mushishi

• Ja Kanji — 蟲師 • Genre — * Adventure • Iyashikei • Supernatural

• Type — manga • Author — Yuki Urushibara • Publisher — Kodansha • Imprint — Afternoon KC • Magazine — * Afternoon Season Zōkan • (October 10, 1999 – October 10, 2002) • Monthly Afternoon • (December 25, 2002 – August 25, 2008) • First — October 10, 1999 • Last — August 25, 2008 • Volumes — 10

• Type — tv series • Title — Mushi-Shi • Director — Hiroshi Nagahama • Writer — Hiroshi Nagahama • Music — Toshio Masuda • Studio — Artland • Network — Fuji TV, BS Fuji • First — October 23, 2005 • Last — June 19, 2006 • Episodes — 26 • Episode List — List of Mushishi episodes

• Type — tv series • Title — Mushi-Shi -Next Passage- • Director — * Kōichirō Sōtome (chief) • Hiroshi Nagahama • Writer — Hiroshi Nagahama • Music — Toshio Masuda • Studio — Artland • Network — Tokyo MX, GTV, BS11 • First — April 5, 2014 • Last — December 21, 2014 • Episodes — 20 • Episode List — List of Mushishi episodes#Mushi-Shi -Next Passage-

• Title — Anime television specials • Content — * Mushi-Shi: The Shadow That Devours the Sun (2014) • Mushi-Shi -Next Passage-: Path of Thorns (2014)

• Type — film • Title — Mushi-Shi -Next Passage-: Bell Droplets • Director — Hiroshi Nagahama • Writer — Hiroshi Nagahama • Music — Toshio Masuda • Studio — Artland • Released — May 16, 2015 • Runtime — 46 minutes

• Title — Live-action film • Content — * Mushishi (2006)

• Portal — yes Mushishi is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara. It was serialized in Kodansha's seinen manga magazines Afternoon Season Zōkan from October 1999 to October 2002, and in Monthly Afternoon from December 2002 to August 2008. The individual chapters were collected and released into ten tankōbon volumes by Kodansha. Those volumes were localized to North America by Del Rey between January 2007 and August 2010. The series follows Ginko, a man who dedicates himself to solving problems caused by supernatural creatures called Mushi. Mushishi was adapted into an anime television series by Artland, which aired in Fuji Television and BS Fuji between October 2005 and June 2006. It has been licensed by Funimation for release in North America, while Madman Entertainment and Revelation Films licensed it for Australia and the United Kingdom respectively. A second anime series aired between April and December 2014, which has been licensed in North America by Aniplex of America, with two television specials airing in 2014 and an anime film released in 2015. A live-action film, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, was released in late 2006. It has also spawned a video game and many types of merchandise. The Mushishi manga has been well-received by both critics and audiences. In Japan, it has frequently ranked in the weekly top ten list of best-selling manga, and the entire series has sold over 3.8 million copies. Both the manga and the anime have received several awards, such as the Kodansha Manga Award and the Tokyo Anime Award.

Mushishi is set in an imaginary time between the Edo and Meiji periods, featuring some 19th-century technology but with Japan still as a "closed country". The story features ubiquitous creatures called Mushi that often display what appear as supernatural powers. It is implied that there are many more primitive lifeforms than normal living things such as animals, plants, fungi, and bacteria, and Mushi is the most primitive of all. Due to their ethereal nature, most humans are incapable of perceiving Mushi and are oblivious to their existence, but there are a few who possess the ability to see and interact with Mushi. One such person is Ginko, the main character of the series voiced by Yuto Nakano in the original version and by Travis Willingham in the English dub. He employs himself as a Mushi Master, traveling from place to place to research Mushi and aid people suffering from problems caused by them. The series is an episodic anthology with no overarching plotline in which the only common elements are Ginko and the Mushi. Ginko is a man with one green eye, who not only can see various types of mushi but also attracts them. Because of this ability, he is constantly wandering and smokes cigarettes made from a special or Mushi Soot Grass in order to keep the mushi away. He appears to have a generally laid back personality, however, he can be very serious and focused on his work when it comes to protecting people from mushi. He stresses that the mushi are not evil, but merely trying to survive like everyone else. A majority of the stories do not focus on Ginko but rely on him as a catalyst to move the story forward by diagnosing or curing mushi-related illnesses and phenomena.

Written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara, Mushishi was first published as a one-shot in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon on January 25, 1999, after it won the Grand Prize of the Winter 1998 'Afternoon Four Seasons Award'. It later started its serialization in the first issue of Kodansha's Afternoon Season Zōkan, released on October 10, 1999. The magazine ceased publication after 14 issues on October 10, 2002, and the series moved to Monthly Afternoon on December 25, 2002, where it was serialized until August 25, 2008. Kodansha collected the chapters into ten tankōbon volumes, published under the Afternoon KC line, from November 22, 2000, to November 21, 2008. On November 21, 2013, Kodansha started to re-release the series in an format in their KC Deluxe line, concluding with the tenth on July 23, 2014. At the 2006 Comic-Con, Del Rey Manga announced that it had licensed Mushishi for an English-language translation in North America. Del Rey published the first volume on January 30, 2007, and the last volume, a combined edition covering volumes 8 to 10, was released on July 27, 2010. Kodansha USA also released the manga in digital format between July 29 and August 12, 2014. In February 2025, Kodansha USA announced that it would publish the series in an omnibus collector's edition, with the first volume released on November 4 of that same year. In addition, two new chapters were published in Monthly Afternoon on November 25 and December 25, 2013, respectively. They were compiled into a single tankōbon volume titled Mushishi Special: The Shadow That Devours the Sun, released on April 23, 2014. Another short story, titled Mushishi Extra Short Story: The Shadow That Soars Through Land, was published in Monthly Afternoon on March 25, 2021.

The Mushishi anime adaptation was animated by Artland, directed by Hiroshi Nagahama, and produced by a group called "Mushishi Production Committee", which consists of Marvelous Entertainment, Avex Entertainment and SKY Perfect Well Think. The first 20 episodes of the series originally aired between October 23, 2005, and March 12, 2006, on Fuji Television. A digest was broadcast on May 7, 2006, by BS Fuji, which aired the last six episodes from May 14 to June 18 of the same year. Marvelous Entertainment and Avex released the series from January 25 to September 27, 2006, in five DVDs for sale, and at the same time in nine DVDs for rental. On March 28, 2008, a DVD box set containing all episodes was released; it was followed by a Blu-ray box set on March 27, 2009, and a Limited Edition Blu-ray box on December 20, 2013. The anime series' licensing was announced by Funimation to North American release in January 2007. To promote the series' release, it hosted Nagahama at the Anime Expo 2007 between June 29 and July 2. In addition, Funimation exhibited the first four episodes in New York and Texas' locations such as ImaginAsian Theater, Studio Movie Grill, and Alamo Drafthouse, on July 23 and 24 of that year. The series was released in six DVDs between July 31, 2007, to February 26, 2008, by Funimation, which also streamed series on its own channel, Hulu, Joost, Anime News Network, Crackle, as well as distributed it to Comcast cable service. Funimation also released four box sets with all episodes: on December 16, 2008, on October 6, 2009, on July 6, 2010, and November 8, 2011. In United Kingdom, the series was released between October 22, 2007, and November 17, 2008, by Revelation Films in six DVD. Madman Entertainment acquired the series' distribution rights at AVCon in 2007, releasing it in a six-discs box set on January 14, 2009, in PAL region. Based on the 2013 two-chapter side story, a special titled Mushishi Tokubetsu-hen: Hihamukage was broadcast on Tokyo MX, Tochigi TV, Gunma TV, and BS11 on January 4, 2014, and streamed by Niconico. Aniplex released the special on DVD and Blu-ray on April 23, 2014. A second anime television season titled Mushishi: Zoku-Shō started airing on April 5, 2014, on Tokyo MX and other channels. As with the special, the second season featured the same director, the same studio and main cast from the first season. After the broadcast of the tenth episode on June 21, the "first half" was finished. Another special, Mushishi Tokubetsu-hen: Odoro no Michi, aired on August 20 on BS11. The latter half of the second season started to air on October 19, and ended on December 21, 2014. Zoku-Shō first DVD compilation was released on July 23, 2014, in Japan, and the sixth—and last–was released on July 22, 2015. A sequel anime film titled Mushishi Zoku-Shō: Suzu no Shizuku, based on the manga's last arc, was announced in December 2014 and released on May 16, 2015, in Japan. Hihamukage was streamed by Crunchyroll for premium members on January 4, 2014, and made available for free user a week later. In March, the second season was licensed for streaming by Aniplex of America and Crunchyroll as Mushi-Shi -Next Passage-. In November, Madman Entertainment acquired its home media release rights for Australia. Late in the same month, Madman also licensed the series for streaming and made it available on its site AnimeLab. Madman released a DVD box set containing all Next Passage episodes, Path of Thorns and Bell Droplets on December 7, 2016. In January 2026, Kodansha began streaming the first series on its "Anime Manga Official" YouTube channel, offering the series in both Japanese dub with English subtitles and English dub.

Several books based on Mushishi have been released. A guidebook titled Mushishi Official Book was released by Kodansha on January 23, 2006. An artbook and a book with staff commentaries on the anime series production were released on June 30 and July 20, 2007, respectively. Two Anime Hōsōjun Selection books were released on April 23, and May 14, 2014; a Utage-hen and a Odoro-hen respectively. On June 19, 2015, a "large format" art book was released by Kodansha. The music for both Mushishi anime adaptations were composed by Toshio Masuda. Two soundtrack albums were released by Marvelous Entertainment and Geneon Entertainment for the first anime adaptation; the first on March 24, 2006, and the second on July 23, 2006. On June 25, 2015, the soundtrack for Next Passage was released by Aniplex. A live-action Mushishi feature film, released at the 2006 Venice International Film Festival, was directed by Katsuhiro Otomo and starred Joe Odagiri as Ginko. Also known as Bugmaster and Mushi-Shi: The Movie in English, it was released in Japanese theaters on March 24, 2007. Mushishi was also adapted into a video game; the Nintendo DS game titled Mushishi: Amefuru Sato was developed by Tenky and published by Marvelous Entertainment in Japan on January 31, 2008. From March 18 to 29, 2015, a "stage reading" event, which adapted six chapters from the manga into six separate performances, was held in Tokyo. It was directed by Mushishi anime director Hiroshi Nagahama and its original script was written by Kazuaki Nakamura, while the anime voice actors acted as their respective characters. The production used augmented reality on its visuals, which was designed to span a 270 degree field of view.