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Mushishi: Episode 26 Art Boards
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The Sound of Footsteps on the Grass [Kusa o fumu oto]
Director: Hiroshi Nagahama (also series director and series composition)
Screenplay: Kinuko Kuwabata
Animation Director: Yoshihiko Umakoshi (character designer, chief animation director) with Takahiro Kagami
This gallery collects a large group of artboards from this impressive episode, the conclusion of the first series. These are the sheets on which the final form of the backgrounds are planned out. As most of these drawings, done in blue and orange pencil, intense black (marker?) ink, and a variety of highlighter colors, were done on top of high-quality color copies of the layouts, the results are often visually rich.
However, it's not easy from a scan to distinguish the original artwork from the copy (it really takes a loupe and a strong light in places). Visit the first entry for an introduction to the problems this hybrid art form presents. The notes also detail the extent to which the copies have been revised and elaborated by the studio artist.
CAUTION: SPOILERS IN DESCRIPTIONS! Really, though, this series is so laid back that in places it nearly has no plot but is all atmosphere and mood. This stand-alone episode, like many in the series, describes an isolated natural paradise, which is eventually destroyed through a combination of accident and poor decisions. At the end, though, the shaman Ginko provides a partial healing, and the episode concludes by affirming that something of the original power of the landscape survives.
A special treat is the sly performance of Ami Koshimizu as Isaza, the lad from the mysterious wandering band of strangers who becomes friends with the local boy. Experienced at playing both young male and female roles, Koshimizu later became much more celebrated as the voice of Holo in Spice and Wolf.
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