Mushishi is a manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Mushishi (蟲師) is a manga series written and illustrated by Yuki Urushibara, published in Kodansha's Afternoon magazine from 1999 to August 2008.The manga was adapted into an anime television series in 2005. The Artland production was directed by Hiroshi Nagahama. A live-action feature film adaptation, directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, premiered on March 24, 2007.
The Mushishi manga won an Excellence Prize at the 2003 Japan Media Arts Festival and the 2006 Kodansha Manga Award.
Due to the episodic nature of the series, there are very few recurring characters, and the list of voice actors is fairly lengthy. Ginko is voiced by Yuto Nakano and Travis Willingham in the English dub.
Ginko's unusual white hair and green eye color is the result of an incident that occurred when he was a child. No explanation is provided within the context of the story as to why his rather modern clothes do not seem to match the time period reflected by all other characters, although the author has explained it is a character design artifact from the originally planned setting in modern times. Ginko is a rare person who attracts mushi. This inspires his peripatetic lifestyle. Staying in one place too long will gather a potentially dangerous amount of mushi. He also smokes constantly in order to keep mushi away. In terms of personality, Ginko is rather laid back. However, he can be very serious when it comes to protecting people from mushi. He also often stresses that the mushi are not evil, but merely trying to survive like everyone else.
The only two other characters who have repeat appearances are Adashino, who appears in episodes 5, 10, and briefly in 18, and Nui, who appears only in episode 12, but whose voice can be heard narrating some of the opening and closing lines characteristic of each episode. Veteran seiyū Yūji Ueda and Mika Doi voice those characters, respectively.
Ginko's unusual white hair and green eye color is the result of an incident that occurred when he was a child. No explanation is provided within the context of the story as to why his rather modern clothes do not seem to match the time period reflected by all other characters, although the author has explained it is a character design artifact from the originally planned setting in modern times. Ginko is a rare person who attracts mushi. This inspires his peripatetic lifestyle. Staying in one place too long will gather a potentially dangerous amount of mushi. He also smokes constantly in order to keep mushi away. In terms of personality, Ginko is rather laid back. However, he can be very serious when it comes to protecting people from mushi. He also often stresses that the mushi are not evil, but merely trying to survive like everyone else.
The only two other characters who have repeat appearances are Adashino, who appears in episodes 5, 10, and briefly in 18, and Nui, who appears only in episode 12, but whose voice can be heard narrating some of the opening and closing lines characteristic of each episode. Veteran seiyū Yūji Ueda and Mika Doi voice those characters, respectively.
