Mushishi is a masterpiece. Plain and simple, it has all the ingredients that make it a really enjoyable read. The stories are interesting and varied, the art matches the feel of the story and is consistently good, there aren't any characters that will annoy the reader and more than most are highly likable. My overall enjoyment while reading Mushishi is a straight 10. There is a strong balance of tension, release, excitement and catharsis in each chapter which makes the whole reading experience amazing. This is a masterpiece.

So why do I give it an overall rating of only 7?

Mushishi's problem is that while each individual chapter easily outdoes most full length manga, there is little in the way of an overarching story and the similarities between each chapter slowly eat away at the enjoyment of each chapter. As a result, the pacing of Mushishi starts off perfectly fine but gets steadily worse the further you read as the lack of plot or character development becomes more and more obvious. After a while I began to loathe the first page of each chapter when I realised that the chapter would be just another short story from the main character's adventures.

This kind of storytelling won't be an issue for everyone. If you don't require long form narrative in your manga then this issue (the only issue with Mushishi as far as I'm concerned) won't bother you. Even better, if you are a fan of anthologies or are partial to the iyashikei genre then this is definitely one to read.

All in all, Mushishi reminded me a lot of Aria- a slow burn where every chapter is a 10/10 but the fact that there isn't any strong connection between chapters makes the overall experience drag on and lose its magic.

My recommendation is that everyone should at least start this manga. Regardless of how far you get into the full 50 chapters, I can guarantee that it is an enjoyable read.