Mushishi Season 2 Episode 1 “Banquet at the Edge of the Forest” First Impressions

 

 

 

 

I would call them teasers, but I think it’s a bit late for that. I wanted to let it sit for a bit anyway. Mushi-Shi is, after all, a continuation of not just something very good but of one of the only anime I’ve ever seen that gets the prestige of suggestion without qualification. There’s no part of the first series that makes me go, “This is good except this part.” That’s a lot to live up to.

And, so far, we’re on the right track. Mushi-Shi did, and does I guess, many things very right. There’s a undercurrent of reverence for the little things that make life possible, beautiful, scary, and unique. That comes with a solid atmosphere that that undercurrent wouldn’t work without. The mushi designs are still some of my favorite creature designs. The effect of making most of them look like dust motes or floaters you can’t ever seem to focus on properly hold on in this one, and the inclusion of so many always gives the sense that there’s more to learn. When Ginko is explaining mushi in general while the little white puffs float by, you wonder what they are and what stories there are about them. Some will be simple, some will be beautiful, some will be terrifying, and it’s all so interesting to learn about that you can’t wait for the next story. And if this series can generate the beautiful pathos and catharsis that the last series did, we’re in for more incredible stuff.

Like before, it’s almost like the author, Yuki Urushibara, is creating her own folklore. The mushi are like folklore creature, and the stories they create with people are exactly like old myths and legends. It splits the difference between mysticism and science in a way that creates such a unique world and way of viewing it.

If there’s anything I’m hesitant about, it would be music. Not because it’s bad by any stretch, but because we heard so little of it in this episode. The first series has an amazing soundtrack. Every track is worthwhile and evokes emotion so well. “Bound for Bonfire Field” has such great intensity, “The Dew Consuming Swarm,” despite it’s name, is this very sad track. You can feel the weight of something so bittersweet building inside you as you listen to it. I want to hear more of this season’s music before I can weigh in on it.

Mushi-Shi: Zoku Shou is airing on Fridays. You owe it to yourself to check it out.

(Images from Yaraon. You can get more from them too)

Row 5 Col 1: Cigars. Row 5 Col 2: Reminder to Get More Cigars

 

Just a friendly reminder that Mushishi Second Chapter is starting next month. Whatever reason has brought you here, this is a show you should be crazy excited for with the original show being an instant classic. To get you on the hype train, the Twitter posted these picture of a full replica of Ginko’s backpack/chest of drawers from their AnimeJapan 2014 display. It’s amazing the amount of things they came up with for him to carry. I don’t recognize it all, and I’m looking for specifics like the little cocoon mailbox or the jar with the fungus mushi in it. That would probably be hard to do though.

If you want to see more like this, there isn’t much, but you can see the occasional cool thing like this cake with Ginko on it or this reference mountain picture at the twitter.

Mushishi Second Season Confirmed for April 2014!

The wind in spring brings a nostalgic scent. Memories fill our hearts with the joys, the pain, the love, the adventure of days gone past. But do not be swept up in the scent of the past lest the visions of the future pass you by.

If my attempt to imitate the first series’s poetic intros wasn’t a big enough hint, it looks like that hour long special wasn’t a one off after all. Mushishi has been confirmed both by tweet and the emergence of a new website to be getting a second season. It’s confirmed for 2 cour, that’s somewhere in the area of 20 – 26 episodes, of original stories featuring my personal favorite white haired fantasy exterminator Ginko as he travels Japan solving people’s problems with magic ghost bugs.

As I said when the trailer for the hour special came out, Mushishi is one of the best shows. The list I mentioned with RRR? “Things I can recommend without having to qualify part(s) of it?” This show is on that list. This show may be the top ranker on that list for being engaging at all levels while genuinely building a world of wonder. It effectively used the feeling of folklore to make even the most low key things like rust or a a clump of mold into truly mesmerizing supernatural events while remaining lowkey. The director, Hiroshi Nagahama, is back. The composer of the fantastic music, Toshio Masuda, is back. The sound director, Kazuya Tanaka, is back. It looks like we just picked up where we left off. If this new show is half the show the original was, it will be something to behold.

Mushishi: Zoku-Shou or Mushishi: Second Chapter will begin airing on April 10th.

Mushishi Tokubetsu Hen: Hihamukage PV 2 and Air Date!

A trailer for the new Mushishi one hour special is out. For those who have never seen the first Mushishi, stop. It’s free on Hulu. Go watch it right now. I can say with no hyperbole that the first Mushishi series would easily fall into a Top 5 list if someone asked me to make one for some reason. So when they start gearing up for a new special with the same director from the series Yoshihiko Umakoshi, it’s time to get excited. The shorter length should mean they can bolster the character animation while keeping the gorgeous backgrounds and design of the mushi. Yes. “Excitement” is the word.

Mushishi Tokubetsu Hen: Hihamukage will air on January 4th.