Mushishi
They are not plants, not animals, not anything we have ever experienced. They simultaneously belong to a lower order than the life we know and transcend all orders, because they are so close to the source of life that their very existences are vague and ill-defined. They are Mushi, the Midori Mono (“green things,” green being the color of life in this series) that seldom cross paths with humans but cause many strange effects when they do. It is a rare person who can see them, and an even rarer who truly understands them.
Ginko is one such. He is a Mushishi, one who seeks after Mushi. He understands that the substrate of the visible world is silent emptiness, but that the silence and the emptiness themselves are so filled with life that they boggle the human mind. He also understands that even the Mushi who cause undesirable or damaging effects on humans are simply living their existences as they are designed to do, and this knowledge separates him from many of the other Mushishi who believe that the only good Mushi is a dead Mushi. Despite these understandings Ginko has a rough-edged personality and often comes off as self-centered, cocky, smarmy, and insufferably, obsessively goal-oriented. Underlying these qualities, however, is a mysterious and almost overpowering need to help people, a caring that Ginko cannot seem to control.
Mushishi is about Ginko, who wanders the land following rumors and investigating cases of conflict between humans and Mushi. As he does so he gradually reveals (and learns) more about both himself and the mysterious, beautiful, terrifying nature of the universe in which we live. Slow-paced and thoughtful without ever being boring or preachy, profound without being confusing, and visually beautiful without ever loosing sight of the concern for people which drives all good anime, Mushishi is the standout show of the year.
Since Mushishi is a 26-episode series, we are watching two episodes a night. The series is unlicensed, so episodes are available for downloading as we watch them.