Mushi-shi: A Beautiful, Contemplative Anime Series

Mushi-shi is an anime series about a man named Ginko who travels the countryside to learn more about mushi, creatures that are neither animals nor plants that are invisible to most people. Ginko can see mushi and has studied them, so he can help those people whose lives have been affected by mushi. Ginko is a mushi-shi, part biologist and part doctor, who helps people learn to live in balance with mushi, curing the illnesses and other phenomena that mushi can cause when they come in conflict with humans.

It's time to get excited about The Legend of Korra again

I was already planning on writing a post with this title after Nickelodeon released the trailer to Book 3 of The Legend of Korra:

Then Nickelodeon announced that Book 3 will start to air on Friday (June 27), giving us even more reasons to get excited!

Contains spoilers for previous books!

One Epic Knight: A fun, hilarious endless runner

When was the last time you played a free mobile game that was genuinely fun, made you laugh out loud, and was endlessly enjoyable without spending a single cent? One Epic Knight is a free endless runner from Simutronics featuring a wise-cracking knight venturing forth into a dungeon to collect loot, fight monsters, and avoid traps before inevitably dying hilariously. If you own an iOS or Android device, there's really no reason not to check it out!

Lupita Nyong'o and Gwendoline Christie will be in Star Wars VII!

Photo from the starwars.com announcement

What a time to be alive!

The folks at starwars.com have announced Lupita Nyong'o will indeed be joining the cast of Star Wars Episode VII, and will be joined by Gwendoline Christie. Christie, known for playing Brienne of Tarth in Game of Thrones, will bring the total number of new women characters to three. When you add Carrie Fisher's return as Princess Leia to the number, you get four major roles for women, which is four times the number found in both the original trilogy and the prequel trilogy.

A New(er) Hope? Star Wars VII may still cast a woman of color

Lupita Nyong'o; image from Forbes

Maisie Richardson-Sellers; Image from The Hollywood Reporter

In the wake of the cast announcement for Star Wars Episode VII, the internet is up in arms about the single new woman and the single person of color in the cast. It sounds like there may still be hope, though: J. J. Abrams has announced that he is looking to cast one more woman for a major role, and rumors indicate that it may be a woman of color.

'Star Wars: Episode VII' Casting: It's Not Over Yet on The Hollywood Reporter

The EU is Dead, Long Live Star Wars

Probably the most reposted picture on the internet today

Today the Star Wars website announced some big news, ending months of rumors and speculation. In addition to the returning, original Star Wars actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford, the seventh Star Wars movie would star John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, Adam Driver, Oscar Isaac, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, and Max von Sydow. Also returning would be famous suit-wearers Kenny Baker, Anthony Daniels, and Peter Mayhew.

In with the new, out with the old: today's announcement follows up on another announcement a few days ago that the Star Wars creators are setting aside the established "Expanded Universe" of Star Wars novels, comics, video games, etc, and relegating them to "Star Wars Legends."

I feel like I am still wrapping my brain around some of these changes, and clearly a lot is still left to be revealed, but I wanted to share some of my first thoughts.

Manga Review: Pluto

These are the covers for the American translation of Pluto

If you've been reading my blogs for a while, you know that I love the Protomen, who sing a rock opera about a robot boy who fights to save mankind, and you know that I love Naoki Urasawa, the genius manga artist who created 20th Century Boys. So it should not come as a surprise that I was blown away by Urasawa's Pluto, a manga series about a robot boy who saves the world.