The mountains are ablaze with splendor.
What They Say:
“Depths of Winter”
They are creatures only known as ‘Mushi,’ whose abilities range well into the supernatural. While their existence and appearances are unknown to the humans around them, there are a few like Ginko who is a ‘Mushi-shi’ that travels around to investigate and find out more about the ‘Mushi.’ During the course of his discovery and understanding, he helps those who are troubled by the Mushi themselves…
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
It’s not often that we get an episode like this. Off the top of my head, I can think of “One-Eyed Fish” and “The Sound of Footsteps in the Grass” from season one, and even they aren’t this introspective—this cerebral. The two Mushi named in the episode, the Koumyaku (Light Vein) that Ginko is following and the Oroshibue (Winter Mountain Wind Whistle) that traps him aren’t Mushi to be dealt with as they usually are. The former is a Mushi he is investigating and the latter have no mystery around them. The mystery surrounds the mountain, perhaps dying from a typhoon.
The episode features no other characters, but harkens back to “Inside the Cage” when Ginko couldn’t leave a bamboo forest. The problem here is different, though. The Mushi were trapping Kisuke, not Ginko. Here, they’re trapping Ginko, whoever they may be. Or maybe it’s not a Mushi at all and it’s the Mountain Lord—a turtle.
The Mountain Lord is trying to heal the mountain and Ginko surmises that he was lured there to give sustenance, Kouki, to the weakened Oroshibue. The Mountain Lord is looking out for his mountain, just as the catfish in “The Sound of Footsteps in the Grass.”
The episode is not about Ginko, but about the resilience and power of nature. But also its kindness. It uses Ginko, yet spares him. And Ginko understands that he was just being used for the sake of the animals, and Mushi, that dwelt on the mountain at the time of its hibernation. Ginko, in fact, worries about the creatures that may die due to its hibernation, but his fears are quickly quelled when he gets sucked into a hibernation of his own.
In Summary:
These 24 minutes passed by quickly. By the end of the episode, I was wondering where the rest of it was, but we also reached a nice stopping point. For once, Ginko is the man being acted upon and we even (gasp) fear for him a little. He’s put into a situation he’s not used to where he’s not in control or, at the very least, he’s not quite sure what’s going on. And I love the show for being able to do that.
The end card said the rest of the show will air in the fall season, so we’ve got a while until episode 11. Until then!
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: Radeon 7850, 24” Dell UltraSharp U2410 set at 1920 x 1200, Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II
