Mushishi DVD box set arrived!

It came in good timing after my 2 weeks in confinement in BMT. My wildly anticipated package has arrive safe and sound. Now my experience from ebaying has been a positive one indeed and i hope it will continue to do so for future purchases.

Title: Mushishi
Licensed by: Funimation
Region: 1 (NTSC)
Resolution: 720×480 (16:9)
Subtitle: English
Dub: English 2.0, Japanese 2.0
Episodes: 1 to 5

Number of discs: 1

So i got Mushishi Volume 1 DVD with the starter set imported and it was amazing! Everything from the packaging to the anime itself was brimming with goodness.

Lets start with the packaging.

I bought the first volume DVD with the starter box so that you keep the future dvds in one neat package. The box comes with a jacket with the title of anime prominently display against a brown background, with ‘wooden grains’ making it feel textured.

Upon opening the jacket, the cardboard box is laden with
more illustration of Ginko, and there you will see the first DVD volume 1.

The remaining space in the box is filled with an empty but illustrated filler box. This box can be removed for future DVDs.

Now going into the DVD itself, the dvd casing is also wrapped with a cardboard jacket with Ginko in the illustration. The dvd box reflects what is on the cardboard jacket.

At the back of the cardboard jacket is filled with episode synopsis, details of the anime, DVD region etc.

Within the DVD casing comes with the dvd itself as well as a 12 page booklet, featuring excerpts about the anime from the director, background information of Mushishi and the characters. It also comes with a nifty little postcard with a gorgeous art of Ginko walking through snow.

Now onto the DVD itself. After the usual warnings and some advertisements on other animes by funimation, you are greeting with a beautiful menu with the background soundtrack running. Though nothing spectacular, the choice of static images for the menu is consistent with the DVD cover.

It has the “play” button, that lets you play all the 5 episodes in order, the “episode” button, that allows you to choose which episode to play, complete with episode title. The “settings” button allows you choose subtitles and language tracks. The “extras” buttons has alot of extras.

Each submenu is greeted with a different set of static images that reflects the episodes contained within. Here we have the “episode” menu.

The extras contain interview session of the original Ginko
Voice actor as well as the director. Both interview is 20 minutes each, longer than i would expect for extra content within Volume 1.
It offers great insights on the challenges met by the voice actor in pinning down the essence of Ginko.
On the director, he gave great insights on his direction in adapting the manga into an anime and the steps taken to ensure that it remains faithful to the manga as well being unique as an anime itself.
He also touched upon some of the little details that make mushishi unique from the majority of other animes out there.

Here are some screens from the DVD: