I fell in love with the OP before the show started - the news that the song was going to be used was out prior to the show's first episode (quite some time ago!), and BluWacky noticed it... He linked to the site of the artiste that had the music video there. Being an immoral, horrible person I downloaded the music video, ripped out the song and listened to it again and again.
One of my favourite lines is "I robbed convenience stores cos I thought they'd make it easier." I love the subtle humour in it! Although it has nothing to do with Mushishi.
The lines they chose were good enough, although Ginko doesn't really have a love interest... maybe more like love for Mushi and helping people. As obvious as it may not seem...
I have the exact same reaction to arias about the OP video. The white light at the end was a bit much but I liked the flickering feeling. But you can feel it was created by someone who hasn't done any anime OPs before. (It was, actually.) The way the credits were presented and all shows. Quite a lot of people didn't like the OP, though.. even the song
.
As for the cost to use an existing piece of music, I got no clue, but Ally Kerr wouldn't have been too expensive, I should think. Another show that used an existing English theme song was Speed Grapher, the OP being Duran Duran's Girls on Film. I mourn for the bad treatment that potentially decent show was given... Still, if a show with a low budget like that could get that song it shouldn't have been too hard to get this song for Mushishi. What I want to know is
how they found out about it. Did the rep from Quincy Records approach them? Or were they channelled through a music production company which the producers of Mushishi approached when they needed a theme song for the show? AFAIR Ally Kerr has performed in Japan prior to Mushishi, actually.