“The True Story of Yasuke, the Legendary Black Samurai Behind Netflix’s New Anime Series”

“In 1579, an African man now known by the name of Yasuke arrived in Japan. Much about him remains a mystery: it’s unconfirmed which country in Africa he hailed from, and there is no verifiable record of his life after 1582. But Yasuke was a real-life Black samurai who served under Oda Nobunaga, one of the most important feudal lords in Japanese history and a unifier of the country.

He is also the inspiration for Netflix’s new anime series Yasuke—a project from creator and director LeSean Thomas and the Japanese animation studio MAPPA, executive produced by LaKeith Stanfield, who voices Yasuke, and Flying Lotus, who produced the soundtrack.

This is not the first time that Yasuke has appeared in popular culture. Author Kurusu Yoshio published the children’s book Kuro-suke about the samurai in 1968. Yasuke also showed up as a playable character in the 2017 video game Nioh. And in 2019, before Chadwick Boseman’s death, it was announced that the actor would play Yasuke in a film based on the warrior’s story.

The Netflix anime series takes a new approach in telling Yasuke’s story—one that combines historical elements with fantastical components. “Animation is always the medium where you can do things that real people can’t do,” Thomas told TIME. In the show, there are plenty of giant robots, magical beasts and otherworldly fight sequences involving supernatural powers. But there are also scenes inspired by events recorded about the African samurai’s life…”

https://time.com/6039381/yasuke-black-samurai-true-story/

“Justin Lin Talks About Warrior’s Surprise Season 3 Renewal on HBO Max”

Against all odds, the Bruce Lee-derived drama is getting a new season, and the executive producer/Fast 9 director says it will address anti-Asian violence.

“Here’s a piece of good news that should warm the hearts of action-TV fans everywhere: The drama Warrior is getting a third season courtesy of HBO Max. To say this development is unexpected is an understatement.

In its first two seasons, Warrior told lively and literally hard-hitting stories about a varied collection of strivers and immigrants, many of them Chinese, in 19th century San Francisco. It’s based on a treatment that Bruce Lee dreamed up back in the early ‘70s and is one of the very rare TV dramas not just to feature multiple characters of Asian descent but to make them and their relationships rewardingly varied, complex and non-stereotypical. 

Warrior’s top priorities usually revolved around delivering energetic fight scenes, sagas of friendship and romance, historically grounded plots about gang wars and fortunes made and lost; all in all, it was well-crafted entertainment that combined gangster swagger with terrific period detail.

But the show, which premiered in 2019, was incredibly timely as well: It demonstrated how powerful forces both exploited Asian labor and cynically whipped up anti-Asian hysteria in the post-Civil War era, a time that, whiskers and corsets aside, looks a lot like right now….”

https://www.gq.com/story/warrior-season-3-justin-lin-hbo-max-interview

“Black Is Magic: How Magic: The Gathering Is Transforming One Teacher’s Game Club”

“…Lawton says his students are attracted to Magic for different reasons, but it’s the art that keeps them coming back. “On the cover of all the welcome decks was all white people,” Lawton said. “And then a few years later, they updated it with much more diversity. Even something like that, students were much more intrigued, you know, [they] found it much more compelling.”

I know the feeling. Kaya, Orzhov Usurper is a Magic: The Gathering card I have never owned yet it is one of my favorite cards. Not because of what the card can do—I prefer big-ass creatures more common in green mana decks—but because of who is on the card.

Introduced in 2016, Kaya is Magic’s first Black female Planeswalker. And though she is by no means Magic’s first Black female character, she is definitely the first one I had ever seen in my years of on again, off again playing, and as such she became special to me. I coveted her cards (though I have still never had the luck of opening one) and I gorged myself on her stories.

Stories, as much as art, are important to Lawton’s students. In addition to Magic and board games, Lawton keeps a few books of Dungeons and Dragons around for students to peruse.

“I’ll never forget this Black girl that came in, a freshman, and she walked in and just kinda sized up all the games and asked, ‘Y’all play D&D here?’”

Lawton, excited by the prospect of initiating a new student to the D&D mysteries, gave her the books and let her go off and do her own thing.

“She brought in her friends and they all started making characters. They made characters for months….”

https://kotaku.com/black-is-magic-how-magic-the-gathering-is-transformin-1846669868

“Michael B Jordan to Make Directorial Debut With ‘Creed III’”

“Michael B Jordan Jordan will star, produce and make his feature directorial debut on “Creed III” with Tessa Thompson and Phylicia Rashad expected to reprise their roles, MGM announced on Wednesday.

The third installment is set to be released on Thanksgiving 2022. Keenan Coogler and Zach Baylin are writing the script based on an outline by Ryan Coogler.

“Directing has always been an aspiration, but the timing had to be right. ‘Creed III’ is that moment — a time in my life where I’ve grown more sure of who I am, holding agency in my own story, maturing personally, growing professionally, and learning from the greats like Ryan Coogler, most recently Denzel Washington, and other top-tier directors I respect.

All of which sets the table for this moment,” Michael B Jordan added. “This franchise and in particular the themes of ‘Creed III’ are deeply personal to me. I look forward to sharing the next chapter of Adonis Creed’s story with the awesome responsibility of being its director and namesake…”

https://www.thewrap.com/michael-b-jordan-to-make-directorial-debut-with-creed-3/

“‘Lovecraft County’ Star Jamie Chung to Asian Creators: ‘No Better Time’ to Tell Your Stories”

“Art often serves as a lens into other cultures. Take HBO’s “Lovecraft Country,” a drama set in 1950s Jim Crow America that examines how the Black community battled the real terror of racism in addition to supernatural terrors. The show also dedicated a storyline to Ji-Ah, a Korean nurse whose backstory is rooted in Korean mythology. For actress Jamie Chung, who played Ji-Ah, having that story told was a blessing.

“Being on a show like ‘Lovecraft,’ which amplifies Black artists and Black stories, I thought it was so lovely that they were able to share that platform to highlight a Korean experience and what it was like to live through the Korean War,” Chung told TheWrap.

That’s why Chung is now serving as the ambassador for HBO’s annual Asian Pacific American Visionaries Short Film Competition, which provides emerging directors of Asian and/or Pacific Islander descent the opportunity to showcase their work….”

https://www.thewrap.com/jamie-chung-hbo-apa-visionaries-short-film-competition-asian-creators/

“After the Scars of ‘Fresh Off the Boat,’ Eddie Huang Took Control on ‘Boogie'”

“What were the challenges of getting this movie made? Not just to bring Focus on board but to get your first film as a writer and director greenlighted?

Focus believed in it from the beginning. They were the only ones that believed in it. We went all around town. Nobody raised their hand. Everyone was like, “We’re interested in you. We love what you did with ‘Fresh Off the Boat.’ This feels a little less easy.” It was like, “You want to come back with something with an all-Asian cast? You want to give Awkwafina a call?” Nobody wanted this. I fought to get somebody to sign onto this, but once I was at Focus, there wasn’t that much fighting.

I do a lot of explaining about my culture and a lot of explaining about downtown New York culture, or Black or Latino culture, and I end up having to explain stuff. But that’s part of the job, and I accept that. And to be honest, I don’t complain about that. That is my journey and that is my experience.

I had a lot of good partners at Focus who wanted to understand my journey and wanted to get in my head, and once I allowed them into my head and I wasn’t scared of explaining, things really took off…”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/scars-fresh-off-boat-eddie-171237112.html

“Oscars: Diverse Field Sees Asian Actors Finally Break Through”

“Last summer, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced it had met its A2020 targets to double the numbers of women and people of color in its membership. Although that doesn’t necessarily mean gender and racial parity have been achieved, the first post-A2020 yield of nominations are promising.

For the 93rd Academy Awards, performers of color comprise the majority in both actor categories, with Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal), Chadwick Boseman (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) and Steven Yeun (Minari) in the lead race and One Night in Miami‘s Leslie Odom Jr. competing with Judas and the Black Messiah duo Daniel Kaluuya and LaKeith Stanfield in supporting. Ahmed is the fourth Muslim actor (after Omar Sharif, Shohreh Aghdashloo and Mahershala Ali) to receive an Oscar nomination, and the first in the best actor category, of which the Korean-born, Michigan-raised Yeun is the first Asian American nominee.

Yeun and co-star Youn Yuh-jung also finally snapped Hollywood’s “bamboo ceiling” (a phrase originated by leadership strategist Jane Hyun to describe the difficulty Asian Americans in the corporate world face in breaking through to senior executive roles). The disheartening streak had heretofore seen Asian actors shut out of recognition from their otherwise decorated films (Parasite, The Life of Pi, Slumdog Millionaire, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and The Last Emperor all garnered multiple Oscar nominations, including best picture, without a single acting nod). A year after Korea’s Parasite swept the Academy Awards (except in the acting categories, of course), the two have become the first performers born in that country to earn Oscar recognition…”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/2021-oscars-diversity-asian-actors-shatter-a-bamboo-ceiling

“The Resurrection of Kelly Marie Tran: On Surviving ‘Star Wars’ Bullying, the Pressures of Representation, and ‘Raya and the Last Dragon'”

“As the first woman-of-color Star Wars lead and first Southeast Asian Disney princess, Tran is well aware that she is a symbol of representation, and is getting better at wearing the mantle without letting it suffocate her.

“I understand why there’s that sort of label on the things I’ve done. As a kid, I saw people working in this industry and thought they were somehow elevated human beings, and that if I ever got to that place, I would never feel any insecurity or doubt, and that’s just not true,” she says. “So I acknowledge and validate the label of these things being historic, and I’m so grateful to be part of them, but for my own sanity I have to not think about that too much….”

Tran was an outgoing theater kid from San Diego, performing in local musical productions and an active participant of too many high school clubs. Her parents were refugees from Vietnam who did what they had to in their new country (including working at a funeral home) to provide for their three daughters.

Tran, the middle child, studied communications at UCLA and then joined Los Angeles’ aspiring actor ranks. While working a day job as an office assistant, she honed her comedy chops in local improv shows and video sketches…”

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/resurrection-of-kelly-marie-tran-on-surviving-star-wars-bullying-the-pressures-of-representation-and-raya-and-the-last-dragon

“Raya and the Last Dragon: Creating Disney’s First Southeast Asian-Centered Movie”

Raya and the Last Dragon is Disney’s first animated feature starring characters of Southeast Asian descent. And the team behind the film did a significant amount of research to create a world that was at once vivid and fantastical — a world where dragons once roamed and where a fantasy villain could turn living beings into stone — while being realistically grounded in elements of Southeast Asian culture and geography.

Raya is set in the fantasy world of Kumandra, which is split into five distinct dragon-inspired regions: Fang, Heart, Talon, Spine, and Tail. Each region has its own topography, architecture, and personality, influenced by the countries of Southeast Asia. To bring this world to life, artists took trips throughout Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and Vietnam. “We committed ourselves and all of our collaborators to do deep, deep research, community engagement, and constant collaboration with our cultural departments,” said co-director Carlos López Estrada.

Disney also worked closely with their “Southeast Asia Story Trust,” a coalition of specialists in various fields, including visual anthropology, linguistics, botany, choreography, architecture, martial artists and others. Producer Osnat Shurer, who had previously worked with a team of Oceanic experts for Moana, described the creation of the Southeast Asia Story Trust as, “a really organic process. We met many people as we were preparing for the research trips, and we met some people on the research trips….”

https://www.ign.com/articles/raya-and-the-last-dragon-creating-disneys-first-southeast-asian-centered-movie

“The Mandalorian: Rosario Dawson Tells All About Ahsoka Tano “

“Star Wars fans have likely all seen the photo of George Lucas on the set of The Mandalorian, cradling Baby Yoda like a proud grandfather, but there is something about that slightly blurry snapshot that they don’t know. Just out of frame stood another beloved galactic figure who until then had only existed in animation—Rosario Dawson as Ahsoka Tano.

Her casting was long rumored online, but no one else got to see her as the Force wielder with the blue and white headtails and twin lightsabers until last Friday’s new episode of the Disney+ series. That chapter—“The Jedi”—not only unveiled the live-action, grown-up version of the The Clone Wars and Rebels hero, but also dropped new information about Baby Yoda’s past and hinted at another fan-favorite Star Wars figure, Grand Admiral Thrawn, who may appear in the future.

Dawson and Dave Filoni, the writer-director of the episode who developed Ahsoka with Lucas during their years working together in animation, spoke exclusively with Vanity Fair about the biggest revelations—from the Child’s name and backstory, to the reason for setting the story on a wildfire-stricken planet. Dawson also addressed a lingering personal controversy that has concerned many fans of Ahsoka…”

https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2020/11/rosario-dawson-dave-filoni-mandalorian-ahsoka-tano-grogu