Quote:
Originally Posted by Divaa
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While it's usually silly to reply toa two-month-old post that is itself a reply to nine-month-old post, I thought I'd just chime in with a few inputs on Ep17 while this thread remains somewhat fresh.
Within the episode itself, there's fairly clear evidence to suggest that it was one of Aya's many letters that finally led her sister out of the
Uroana: Ito-chan was seen carrying that letter in her kimono when she burst out of the silk cocoon. So, it's not so much "pure speculation" as it is conjecture based on pretty strong proof.
What interests me more, though, is the heartachingly beautiful layering of metaphors and themes in this episode. As with almost every other episode of
Mushishi, there's usually a hidden story running beneath the surface plot, a more fundamental tale about the human condition and life in general that's encapsulated in the symbols of each episode.
With respect to Ep17, the deeper meaning lies in the connection between two individuals, as symbolised by the fragile thread that connects each pair of
uro-san cocoons. The mushishi rely on these paired devices to communicate across great distances, vaguely aware that the letters pass through an infinite space to get to them. They don't know how the mechanism works, and are only vaguely cognizant of the minor miracle of receiving near-instant mail.
The
uro-san cocoons
must work in pairs. Without at least two connected cocoons, the mail system cannot work. And, yet, as with all things in nature, the connection between them is not meant to last — the tunnel through space-time would eventually collapse, and the paired cocoons would become useless, separated forever.
When the worldly-wise Ginko told the heartbroken Aya to give up her search for Ito, it's more than likely that he was thinking about the inevitable fate of paired
uro-san cocoons. Given the odds, there was supposed to have been no realistic chance of Ito ever coming back to the real world. And, as a hardened realist, Ginko did not believe in miracles; he was fairly certain that Aya's hopes were in vain, hence his advice to her to "close the hole in her heart".
For once, and thankfully not for the first and only time, it's nice to see that he was wrong. Ginko had underestimated the strength of the emotional bond between a pair of identical twins — a bond that does not collapse the way an
uro-san's tunnel does. Aya's thoughts and heartfelt concerns spanned across infinite space to reach Ito through this bond, not unlike the way a tiny scrap of paper reaches a mushishi through an invisible thread across vast emptiness.
In sharp contrast to the handling
uro-san — where one must be careful never to open or close the pathway to an empty space — humans will
always have a need for definitive closure. The human heart cannot long endure an emptiness that has no end — not without deep, abiding faith. So long as Aya believed, with all her heart, that her sister was still alive, then her connection to Ito would remain intact. They were inseparable twins; if the bond between them were to be severed, neither of them could truly be "alive" any more. Neither of them would be able to truly "function".
Not unlike a pair of broken
uro-san cocoons.
I like Ep17, unlike many earlier
viewers. It's a heartfelt tale that reinforces a simple parable: Where there's life, there's hope. The human heart, for once, proved stronger than the mysterious workings of a mushi.