‘Life’s nothing but a drunken dream. And when you wake, you’re dead!’
Summary: While on patrol, Jinbei can’t understand why the people of Edo hate Shungiku. When Shungiku is accused of murder, Jinbei stands by his new sword master.
Sure, we haven’t reached the ‘main plot’ (if there even is one) yet but I’m enjoying the ride so far as it is and I’m not going to complain. I was sat in History (class) today and you know what I was thinking about? How boring Mr Malone is How excited I was for episode 3 of Mushibugyo. The great art, the (somewhat) compelling story and the light hearted nature that makes it Mushibugyo, yes, that is what I was excited for. And this episode did not disappoint. Now I (of course) was correct in my episode 2 review (can I even call these reviews? They’re way to subjective to be reviews…) when I said that this episode would be yet another character development episode and, like I said in my episode 2 ‘review’, that’s not a bad thing. Episode 3 delivers in so many ways, it gives Shungiku a interesting and appropriate back story that really defines his character, they deliver humor when necessary and in awesome amounts (colloquialism for the win!) and best of all they show us some ecchi show us continuity in the Jinbei and Hibachi friendship. Of course there were some flaws in episode 3, one of which was the seeming lack of improvement that Jinbei is making even though he’s been a Magistrate for quite some time now and a second thing that I’m really not enjoying is the lack of some characters who could really add something to the show (Oharu, Tenma etc.)
So, Shungiku’s was the character who received development in this episode. Turns out that this guy with the impossibly placed scars (that he 
apparently acquired during childhood without being mentally scarred) is actually a murderer… Yup. In all seriousness, Shungiku’s character receives a much better back story than Hibachi, not that Hibachi’s back story was good, it’s just that not everyone can mistakenly kill their father’s gang, then almost kill him and then later find out that it wasn’t in fact his father that had killed his mother and instead the group that Mugai (who I’ll get back to later) used to be a part of… I presuming that Mugai had nothing to do with it or had left before the incident occurred because otherwise I very much doubt that Shungiku would willingly work with him. But I digress. I like Shungiku as a character. He’s not assuming and he’s that one drunk character that you cant help but love. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for him when I watched the flashback… it was pretty darn sad, y’know? Apparently one things this show is going to accel at is character back stories… and I say that mainly because that’s pretty much all that’s been happening so far. When Shungiku is being pelted with rocks and Jinbei stand by him… yeah man, that’s the stuff that really pull at your heartstrings… Gotta love the sacrificial type…
Before we continue I’d just like to point out one thing. Jinbei skills have seemingly made no improvement since the first episode. Sure, he can kill a few insects now and then, and sure, maybe it is unfair to compare him with the other Magistrates, BUT… when are we going to see some REAL improvement. Let’s look at Mugai. Mugai is who Jinbei aspires to be (for some unknown reason) and yet Jinbei is so weak right now that Mugai wont even give him a second glance. Also, and I know this is off topic, but why does Jinbei’s sword always break? It must cost a lot to repair… ANYWAY, hopefully in Mugai’s episode (when Jinbei will presumably team up with him for an episode) Jinbei will make some improvement… hopefully…
Mitsuki and Mugai. Just who is this mysterious blonde? The bringer of death? A messenger from a far off future? No just some girl that Mugai used to know who’s come back to reenlist him into the Insect Hunters. Not much to say about her really other than that A. she’s pretty much the ecchi part of this anime and B. I can’t wait to see how Mugai’s past will affect the narrative. It can surely only make the story better!
And just who is the Insect Magistrate? Maybe he’s a bug… so many unanswered questions…
So next episode 4 will seemingly be Tenma’s episode and I’m okay with that. If it’s anything like episode 3 then all should be fine in the world. Problem is, what will they do after all the characters back stories have been covered? Will they finally delve into some plot? Will they deal with the Mugai’s past coming back to haunt him problem? Just how will this story develop? Just what kind of story can you even make from this? I’m really interested to see where this series is going and hell, maybe, just maybe, if it’s good enough a second season will be made… but I doubt it… I mean, they’ll probably just stick their own ending on… typical…