Mushishi: The story of Mushishi is a little bit difficult to explain at first, because you have to understand the base concepts in order to understand what it is about. Mushi are spiritual life forms, invisible to most humans, though they are an integral part of the world in which we live. When they come into contact with humans they can sometimes be like diseases, bringing seemingly supernatural illnesses to the humans who have been infected. Ginko (who can be seen in my avatar) is a Mushishi, a "mushi doctor" if you will, traveling about a land suspiciously similar to ancient Japan; studying mushi, helping people who have come into contact with Mushi, and often helping to save the Mushi as well.
Most of the episodes are stand alone stories, dealing with one case that Ginko treats per episode. Mushishi isn't high on action by any means, there are no battles or anything like that, instead it sells itself with breathtakingly beautiful scenes, interesting stories, and a quiet contemplative atmosphere. There are some deeper thoughts on life as a whole to be drawn from Ginko's life, and I often find Ginko's commentary very insightful. For anyone who enjoys it the Manga on which it is based is also excellent (the show is very faithful to the manga, though there are more stories in the manga that did not appear in the anime), and Katsuhiro Otomo (best known for writing the epic six volume manga Akira, then directing the film based on it) directed a live action adaptation of the show which is itself quite a masterpiece, though I imagine it might be somewhat confusing to someone who had not seen the show already.
Kino's Journey: The Beautiful World: Kino's Journey tells the story of a young girl, Kino, traveling about a fantasy land from one city-state to another on her talking motorad Hermes. While this premise may sound a little silly, the show itself is far from silly (except when it wants to be). Where Mushishi is thoughtful, Kino's Journey is genuinely philisophical. The show does have some action sequences, but they're far from mindless, appearing not to fullfill some arbitrary action quota, but because they genuinely add to the plot.
Kino's visits to each city-state last three days each, which she states is because it gives her just enough time to get a feel for a place, without becoming too involved. Much time is devoted examining the nature of life, studying the way we as humans interact with each other, and even looking for the deeper meaning of everything from our work to our wars, and the way we are affected by literature. That said, the show often does not outright state an opinion on an issue, prefering to open up the question, present some viewpoints, and allow the viewer to think it over for themselves while Kino and Hermes ride off for the next city.
very good.
