News: 2nd Season of Mushishi to Air in April

A 2nd season for the anime Mushishi was announced Sunday during the premiere of its one hour special, Mushishi Tokubetsu-hen: Hihamukage.  The special was an adaption of the original creator's, Yuki Urushibara's, two-chapter special manga spinoff, which Kodansha published in its Afternoon magazine.  The 2nd season will be called Mushishi: Zoku-Shou, or Mushishi: The Sequel Chapter, and it will air in April 2014.  It will reunite most of the original staff of the first series.  Animation Studio Artland will once again be handling the animation production; Hiroshi Nagahama returns as the director and series script supervisor.  Yuto Nakano will be reprising his role as the main character named Ginko, and Mika Doi will be the narrating voice again.

Funimation released the first series and live-action film version in North America.  Del Rey published Urushibara's original manga that began in 1995 and ended in 2008.  The final volume of the manga was 3 volumes in one, and most of the series can be hard to find now.  The story follows a man named Ginko, who is a "Mushishi" or "mushi master."  His job is to cure the ailments caused by mushi, little creatures that shouldn't be able to be seen by normal humans.  When they concentrate in one area, however, their power increases and being effecting individuals around them.  As Ginko travels throughout the lands, the mysterious of his past and the mushi start to unravel before him.

It hasn't been revealed what the story will entail.  The first anime series ended up differing from the manga in a lot of ways, especially near the ending.  I'm hoping that this 2nd season will pick up where the last one left off and explore the different aspects of mushi more.  A new story altogether would be perfectly fine as well.  I loved Urushibara's storytelling and world; the first few pages and the first episode had me hooked.  It relies heavily on atmosphere and artistic vision, and I always felt she and studio Artland handled those elements extremely well.  I'm looking forward to diving back into Mushishi with all its magic and intrigue.  It was one of the first series I got into when I was starting in anime and manga.  Traveling alongside Ginko again will be a fun adventure to return to; I can't wait to see where they plan on taking him.

*source and second picture from ANN

*header image from Google Images