"Boku Mushi" is, on the one hand, a fairly interesting manga to read if you are already into the Nishioka siblings' works and want to take a look on some of their earliest pieces. It is striking to see the difference, especially in aesthetic terms, between their works from the late 80's and the ones throughout the early 90's. Thematically, on the other hand, this manga bothered me sometimes. I am not by any means trying to imply something about the authors' character or anything of the sort, but I found it remarkable how often they tend to rely on violent imagery directed towards female figures,be it physically or conceptually. Of course that is not a political statement by itself, since their work as a whole relies heavily on such aesthetic portayals of an amoral apathetic reality. Even so, there are moments in which the violence seems quite gratuitous and meaningless (not in the good sense). There are some others (as the Rainy Day and Windy Day duo) that do deal with it well, though.

Besides that main complaint, there are some really striking chapters in here. The Nishiokas' style is one of a kind and I cannot avoid how much it resonates with me on an emotional level, even in its less creative moments. I still cannot recommend this work as much as I would like to, since I believe they tend to be more thematically creative and consistent in their more mature pieces, making the reviewed manga a must only once you have already read the best they have to offer.

The manga itself recognizes these are their "leftovers" from the "Jigoku" collection, which displays a healthy amount of self-awareness. Although, as they put, "there might be a place for leftovers".