History Manga / Mushishi

* RealismInducedHorror: From a mundane perspective, the families of those who become afflicted with a ''mushi'' condition are often helpless to do anything for their loved ones, because they've never heard of the cause of the condition or have any idea of a treatment. This has happened many times throughout human history.

* DelicateAndSickly: Someone close to you (and it's often a child) becomes ill with a strange affliction, and you're helpless to do anything about it because you've never heard of the cause or any kind of cure.

* IllGirl: In "The Hidden Channel", a girl named Yura has had heart trouble since she was very young. She's also developed a kind of {{telepathy}}, thanks to the influence of that episode's ''mushi'', and uses this power to connect with her former caretaker, Sumi, the only person she trusts to help her through her pain.

** One of the girls from "Shadow that Devours the Sun" appears to be albino due to her ''mushi'' affliction.

* AdultFear: Someone close to you (and it's often a child) becomes ill with a strange affliction, and you're helpless to do anything about it because you've never heard of the cause or any kind of cure.

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: Ginko in the first few chapters hardly looks like he normally does. He resembles a much more anime styled, lanky teenage version of himself, and he even has some stubble in ''The Light Of The Eyelid''. Additionally, as mentioned elsewhere on this page, there are instances of characters having contemporary styles of clothes in an early chapter.

The series was born from two short story comics Urushibaya wrote under the pen name Soyogo Shima: "Banquet on the Rooftop" and "Azure Music". These stories were collected into the 1997 compilation ''Bioluminescence'' and its edited 2004 re-release ''Filament''.

* SymbolicBlood: The Shinboku tree from "The Eternal Tree" had this trope applied to it. When the villagers that usually venerate it decide to cut it down and sell it to make ends meet, the tree first flowers red petals as if it could sense the danger coming towards it, and then is cut down senselessly. The Kouki that flowed out of it after it had been cut looked like the pooling blood of a hunted animal.

** "Pickers of Empty Cocoons" shows a ''mushi'' that inhabits enclosed spaces in areas close to the Light Vein, mostly silkworm cocoons, linking them together through a [[TeleportersAndTransporters labyrinthine network of extra dimensional silk tunnels]]. Anything that's enclosed with them gets carried along through the tunnels, a characteristic which the ''mushishi'' take advantage of by sealing the ''mushi'' into a specialized pair of cocoons which can then be used as a sort of pre-modern email.

** The Watari, a wandering tribe who study ''mushi'' and aid the ''mushishi'', are also eternal wanderers. Ginko tagged along with them for a while when he was younger, and still meets up with them briefly from time to time.

* CheerfulChild: There are a few - Jin's young daughter Mayu from "The Pillow Pathway" and Isana from "Shrine In The Sea" in particular.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: [[spoiler:The head priest in "The Heavy Seed" is turned immortal thanks to Ginko feeding his recently-deceased body the Narazu seed- though the head priest agreed to consume the seed, in order to watch over his village.]]

* AngstySurvivingTwin: "Pickers of Empty Cocoons" deals with a girl whose twin sister was kidnapped five years earlier by a ''mushi'', and her attempts to contact her despite everyone telling her that it's a lost cause.

* ArtEvolution: And how. In the first volume you get pages like [[http://www.mangareader.net/904-37391-13/mushishi/chapter-1.html this]], and it gradually transformed into the style that fans of the anime are familiar with.

* TwinThemeNaming: Some sibling pairs will engage in this. '''Shi'''nobu and '''Shi'''geru from "The Mud Weeds" and '''Hi'''yori and '''Hi'''nata from "The Shadow That Devours the Sun" are two of many examples.

** [[spoiler:The unfortunate couple who had to watch their Hitotake "children" burn down their house to get rid of all traces of the ''mushi'' were told by Ginko that a ball of mud was its "core", and that they could probably get the "children" back if they wait for it to open up in a few decades. In reality, after destroying the source of the Hitotake and vestiges would likely die in a day; the couple had already been through so much (including the wife previously being divorced for being barren and then three years of dealing with the "children" rapidly growing and then dying) that telling them wouldn't do them any good.]]

* BookEnds: The manga begins and ends with a chapter involving the 'Ring of Light'. "The Green Gathering" involves an unlucky girl who becomes a mushi after consuming kouki from the Light Circle, and "The Drops of Bells" involves another young girl ''submitting'' to the Light Circle and [[spoiler:sacrificing her mortal life to save Ginko and become a part of the ofie essence.]]

* BookEnds: The manga begins and ends with a chapter involving the "Ring of Light". "The Green Gathering" involves an unlucky girl who becomes a mushi after consuming kouki from the Light Circle, and in "The Drops of Bells" involves another young girl ''submitting'' to the Light Circle and [[spoiler:sacrificing her mortal life to save Ginko and become a part of the ofie essence.]]

* BirthDeathJuxtaposition: "The Drops of Bells" reveals that the announcement of a new Mountain Lord (marked by beautiful bell-like ringing and a special fruit being produced from vines) also comes with the immediate daeth of the previous Lord. [[spoiler:When Kaya gives up her mortal life, the vines finally bear fruit, and while the audience doesn't see the new Lord the manga makes it perfectly clear that the new Lord has been born.]]

The series was born from two short story comics Urushibaya wrote under the pen name Soyogo Shima: "Banquet on the Rooftop" and "Azure Music". These stories were collected into the 1997 compilation ''Bioluminescence'' and its edited 2004 release ''Filament''.

''Mushishi'' is a {{seinen}} {{manga}} that ran from 1999 to 2008 in ''Monthly Afternoon''. It was adapted into an {{anime}} that ran for 26 episodes, ending in mid-2006. The spring 2014 anime season saw a sequel series, ''Mushishi Zoku-shou'', running for an additional 20 episodes. Three [=OVAs=] were also made: two in 2014 and one in 2015[[note]]The final one, "Suzu no Shizuku", is technically classified as a movie as it had a theatrical run, however it looks no different than any other episode[[/note]]. Most episodes are stand-alone stories, though a few interconnect with other episodes in an oblique manner.

* IllGirl: In "Hidden Cove" a girl named Yura has had heart trouble since she was very young. She's also developed a kind of {{telepathy}}, thanks to the influence of that episode's ''mushi'', and uses this power to connect with her former caretaker, Sumi, the only person she trusts to help her through her pain.

* ArtInitiatesLife: Shinra, the boy from "The Green Seat", has this power, but only when using his left hand.

* BookEnds: The manga begins and ends with a chapter involving the "Ring of Light". "The Green Gathering" involves an unlucky girl who becomes a mushi after consuming kouki from the LIght Circle, and in "The Drops of Bells" involves another young girl ''submitting'' to the Light Circle and [[spoiler:sacrificing her mortal life to save Ginko and become a part of the ofie essence.]]

* BookEnds: The manga begins andends with a chapter involving the "Ring of Light". "The Green Gathering" involves an unlucky girl who becomes a mushi after consuming kouki from the LIght Circle, and in "The Drops of Bells" involves another young girl ''submitting'' to the Light Circle and [[spoiler:sacrificing her mortal life to save Ginko and become a part of the ofie essence.]]

* BlueAndOrangeMorality: The cleverer ''mushi'' tend to possess this. Few are actively malicious, but they mostly seem oblivious to the harm they can do humanity.