Gin's manga / #supernatural(368)

Are mushi insects, parasites, plants, viruses, or nature spirits? Described as "neither good nor evil, they are life in its purest form. An unseen river shaping the path of man, through their presence our life is changed." No one seems to know much about their origins, except that they've been around since the beginning of time. Possibly set in Meiji/late 19th century Japan, Mushishi is a series of related, yet separate short stories featuring Ginko, a mushishi. A mushishi or "mushi master" is a cross between a researcher/scholar/doctor/shaman who travels across the countryside searching for mushi in their many forms. Ginko wanders from town to town to find people, young and old who are affected by the mushi. He offers explanations, sometimes medication or direct intervention to try to cure the afflicted of their mushi-related problems.

A young girl's nightmare becomes the search for the truth, a search that leads her to the secret and extremely dangerous world of Contractors and the Hells Gate. Hei and Mao try to protect Kana from the Contractors who are trying to silence her forever, while Kana clings to the hope of finding her father and piecing her life together again.

After recently moving to Onomichi, Hiroshima, high school student Tasuku Kaname is thrown into despair at the possibility that he may have been outed for being gay. Convinced his life is over, his despair turns into shock when he sees a woman jump out of a window of a nearby house. Tasuku races to the house in a panic only to discover that it's a public meeting lounge owned by the woman he saw before. Tasuku comes face to face with the woman as she walks past him unharmed, but not before she implies that she had been watching him from afar. Confused, Tasuku follows her up to the top of a steep hill where she offers to briefly listen to what's on his mind. Although Tasuku doesn't go into too much detail, he later accepts her invitation to come to the lounge to meet others with similar troubles.

An earnest little demon ends up in dire straits as he's summoned by a human with a libido rivaling that of a devil. A college student Satoru Shiiyama had a crush on Jun Mariya ever since middle school, but the object of his affections dies in an accident. In the midst of his grieving, Satoru accidentally summons a demon and gets a once-in-a-lifetime offer: "In return for your life span, I'll grant you a wish." Having lost all hope, Satoru agrees. Just what is the wish that he made...? This is a heart-warming(?) love story between a selfish, lustful guy and an honest, cute little demon.

The ordinary Santarou has an extraordinary secret. And it's that he gives off pheromones to the boys around him. His childhood friend Sukai, transfer student King, classmate Mimi and even Tomomatsu. He's used by them over and over again! B-B-But, this won't do! He's not some sex slave! But it feels so gooood...

Story 1 (ch01-02) Read this while praying for the fate of two people, a BL that will save your soul. "You will be my other half." Having infiltrated a religious organization to save Lief, who adores the cult leader, Catholic priest Ross is instead captured and held captive. "If you become my other half, we can both be saved," Lief believes blindly. Giving Ross a drug which dulls his senses, Lief then rapes him. Believing in the precepts of his faith, Lief pities Ross and convinces him to resign himself to accept this relationship, but... A dramatic story about a young cult follower x a Virgin Mary type Catholic priest. Story 2 (ch03-04) Collected together with the following magnificent stories: A discarded houseplant that becomes human... Do I recognize that face? And a mysterious couple.

A collection of short stories. Aside from "Grass Cricket" and the commentary pages before each chapter and at the end of the volume, these were reprinted in Filament.

For generations, the Kagurazaka family have possessed the power to speak with the messengers of Inari, a power that has been sustained through the centuries by intermarriage with women of the Ujou family. Having waited long for his bride, Rio, the current heir to this power, is shocked to find himself abandoned by his bride-to-be when she elopes with another man. Shortly after, her younger brother Nagi presents himself to the shrine as her replacement, declaring “As a man, I can’t produce offspring, but I can have sex”. A story of family scandal involving an emotionally wounded young man and the conflicted heir to the shrine.

In the midst of a blazing hot summer beset by water shortages, middle-school girl Chinami faints from heat exhaustion. Upon waking up, she finds herself in a mysterious town by a beautifully pristine river whose waters hide many secrets...