Hmm, not as good as the previous episode, but that can be because the fight that took up most of the episode featured Honoka going berserk. This isn’t always a good idea, as it abandons all kinds of strategy. Still, the aftermath resolved this in a really good way. Millie was awesome again, and we learn a few more things about Bogie, Ikus and Joganki.

The great thing about the fight was that we saw yet another side of Honoka. She really was too angry to concentrate, which didn’t work too well along with her injured wrist. I loved the way she totally wasted the opportunities she had with the PSP. Still, the fight remained boring, unfortunately. It just contained Honoka trying to hit the Blue Breaker for a bit too long of a period. Luckily, Millie managed to resolve this into a good ending in the end. Honoka also really has learned from this experience, so with a bit of luck, she’ll use her head even more, get even stronger, and provide more awesomeness in future episodes.

Ikus also provided a nice twist. It seems that he’s the first recorded species of a sentient alien. So that means, that aside from humans and The Third, there’s a third party somewhere out there. It doesn’t seem to be hostile yet, but it can really take the story at a lot of possible directions. There’s also got to be a reason why he sought Honoka, and why he was sent to Earth in the first place. These aliens also must be quite smart, if the likes of them are able to stay out of The Third’s sight. I’m quite interesting to learn more of them.

Bogie indeed remains a machine, but he does remain an awesome one. His AI is extremely high developed, so that he can even begin to feel emotions. He also reveals that he considers himself as Honoka’s guardian. This might be because she bought him, and they kindof grew to each other, but there also might be another reason for this. It’s, by the way, very nice that the creators made such a good use of a poem. It fits perfectly, and it blends extremely well into the story.

Joganki seems a strange case. In the last episode, Honoka revealed that he wanted her for her power, but this episode it becomes clear that there’s another reason that he wants her. Could the two of them be related somehow? I can really see this guy becoming Honoka’s father. In any case, he does hold her dear in some way, otherwise he wouldn’t worry about her like that, act so friendly around her, and he would use a bit more desperate measures in order to catch her. It also seems that he and the woman share the same rank. This means that they both make important decisions, but they both have to work right next to each other. This also means that they aren’t the leaders of The Third. We have yet to see the guy who is. I can see him becoming a major bad guy in the future.

Overall, a nice episode, but I know that The Third can do much better. It did provide some nice material for future episodes, though.

Finally, Mushishi returns after a two-month absence, and it’s just as I hoped: they saved the best for last. This episode just turned me utterly speechless. It’s just so brilliant, so awesome, and such a beautiful tale. During its full 20 minutes of time, this episode had me entirely captured, without showing any sign of weaknesses AT ALL. It really reminded me again of why Mushishi is so incredibly awesome.

The case this time: a pregnant woman has been the victim of another mushi. This one settles inside the yet-to-be-born baby, and takes control of it once it’s born. It then flees into a dark place - mostly under a house or in an attic - and remains there for a year. From that point, it releases a baby every half a year. Though this child mostly is the mushi, wearing the child’s body and using it in order to spread its seeds.

But still, what do you do when such a thing happens to you? After all, it still remains your child. It can think. It lives just as a normal human being, only it just grows a lot faster than normal children do. The woman in this case indeed chooses to raise the child, and all of its following successors. Then, however, after a couple of years, the child gets sick, and reaches the point at which it’ll die and at the same time release a huge amount of seeds. It was just too sad to see the parents see and accept the truth.

To make things only better, in the beginning, the first child to die may look like a ten-year old boy, but he still behaves like a little kid. Not being able to talk at all. When the second child is about to die, however, the mushi had gained the ability to speak, so this child got this ability as well. This means that killing off your child already was terrible. But what if you’re about to kill another one of your children, and it really BEGS you not to kill it? It really made for an awesome moment and I totally loved it!

It’s also very interesting to see the difference in reaction when you look at the mother and the father. The father is scared by the truth, but after he thinks about it for a long while, he realizes that there’s no other way, and that he’ll take the responsibility of killing off the rest of the children when they get sick, even though it pains his heart. The mother, however, gets mentally broken when she hears that her children, whom they both raised for three whole years, are about to be killed. She indeed loves her offspring so much, that she decides to not let them be killed, and even goes as far as stabbing Ginko with a large kitchen knife (I loved Ginko’s sarcastical reaction to this, by the way). The father understands the mother’s feelings very well. Even more if you consider her history, and he tries indeed to easen her sadness.

The ending. The ending just totally blew me away. A sad ending is just awesome enough, but the way this ended is just incredible. The mushi gained the ability to think, and also the ability to realize that Ginko’s coming to kill it off. In order to protect its seeds, it kills off the children, turns them into liquid, and burns the house, along with its root. The root turns into a very compact, large round seed. Ginko gives this to the mother, telling her that one day, it’ll awaken again. Though they may not live to experience it. He also, however, collects the liquid that once were the children into a glass bottle, and hides this from the two parents! He takes it along with him, and tells the liquid (it can talk!) that he’ll keep it alive. Still, he must’ve had a very good reason in order to hide a thing like this from the father and mother. Okay, I think Ginko’s merchant-side has something to do with it, but still.

Overall, this was just Mushishi at it’s best. Pure brilliance turned into a story. Mushishi easily makes for one of the best series ever.