Mushishi

This is a GREAT series.

Mushi-shi is about the closest you'll ever get to a Japanese version of X-files. No, not with government conspiracy and aliens, rather, with all kinds of undiscovered life-forms. The story is basically a disjointed tale of a man who travels Japan at some point in its primitive history trying to help people with mysterious plagues that no one else can. It's a pretty tame suspense/horror style storytelling that doesn't fail to grab your attention.

But it's not without flaws. For one, it feels like it ends short. Its pacing is also pretty slow, and the art doesn't work for everyone. A real shame there weren't more watercolor spreads (the artist is far more talented in that medium).

Nevertheless, I definitely advise you to give this a try. And while I'm at it, I also highly recommend the anime adaption, which was simply beautiful in not only music and sounds, but was extremely faithful to the manga. (beware that it stops short, somewhere around volume 6?) Permalink " "

This is a rather mystical seinen, and I don't feel the slow pacing is a flaw at all. It's really for adults, anyway. There is no overarching plot, no arcs. Everything tends to be episodic by chapter, although there are a few chapters with a recurring character besides Ginko.

The anime is nearly identical panel by panel with the manga up to the first chapter of vol.6. Both are very worthwhile, but the anime is probably better at giving the right pacing feel.

This has been licensed by Del Rey in the U.S., and their adaptation is quite good as well. Permalink " "

The artwork is simple but gorgeous, the story line mellow yet also in a way, intricate. But it's definitely not a manga for those who love fights and the cliche shounen characters.

Some people might find the chapters slow paced, but I think that is part of Mushishi's charm. It lets the story and characters soak through, before moving on to the next chapter.
It's easy to see why this manga is award-winning. Permalink " "