One highly anticipated 2021 anime was the recent reboot of Shaman King, which was meant to be a more accurate adaptation of the original manga than the 2001 series. Unfortunately, a recurring issue with the show is just how fast it's gone through the material so far. This has left little downtime for character development or world-building like in the old show.
Strangely enough, Digimon Adventure 2020 has the exact same issue. A modern reboot of the first Digimon anime, the show plowed through its story with little regard for its character. Their bad pacing makes the reboots of Digimon and Shaman King jettison their potential and the success of their predecessors in favor of blazing through set pieces.
Shaman King 2021's Pacing Problem
As mentioned, the reboot of Shaman King is a more manga-accurate version of the franchise's story compared to the first anime. This stems from it adapting a story that's already been completely told, whereas the first anime adaptation was concurrent with the manga and thus had to start telling an original story once it caught up with it. While this on paper should make the new Shaman King superior to the first, the problem lies in how fast it tells its story.
The original show, in having to space things out with filler to not catch up with the manga as quickly, had more elements that characterized the cast and developed their relationships. The new show has none of this and instead hurries through the story at a breakneck pace. Thus, characters, both hero and villain alike, are introduced and put into harrowing situations without really being developed, making the stakes a lot harder to care about. This weakness in character thus extends to the plot, which is a lot less interesting by virtue of lacking strong characters.
How Digimon Adventure 2020 Had the Same Problems as Shaman King 2021
The recently ended Digimon Adventure 2020 sadly suffers from a similar affliction, being the victim of pacing that's uninterested in its characters. While it is not quite a "remake" in the same vein as the new Shaman King, it still very much follows the same story beats as the original Digimon Adventure, albeit at an unbelievably fast pace. This means that all of the Digimon's different evolutions are run through without any of the pomp and circumstance of the old show. This pacing makes them much less major developments and more akin to mere forgettable moments. This also sees the various threats encountered in even the first few episodes seem mundane, as the pace doesn't allow for them to be fleshed out and made into a big deal.
Likewise, none of the characters besides Tai are focused on, let alone developed, with more time being spent on the obligatory fight scenes in order to advance to the next set of story beats from the original show to adapt. The series also can't seem to figure out if it wants to be a monster of the week-style series or have a broader saga-style plot like more modern anime. It fails to be interesting as either, however, due mainly to how it's just plain uninterested in its own plot.
The different evolutions that the series brings in could be seen as the equivalent of Shaman King being adapted closer to the manga, but this doesn't see either show become better than their predecessors. Unfortunately, the spirit isn't strong for either the young shamans or the digital monsters, with both modern reboots being wasted potential that just wanted to be done with themselves.