The king has returned. Shaman King was a supernatural action series that had its spot among Shonen Jump's greatest, such as One Piece or Naruto, yet it never had the same level of popularity as them. It starred Yoh, a young spirit medium who must participate in a huge tournament where the winner will become the powerful Shaman King.
Regardless of its standing with other giants, Shaman King stood its ground and got itself an anime adaptation, but it sadly ended before the manga did. To its credit, Shaman King garnered itself a good fan following, but the anime-original ending left something to be desired. Years passed and eventually, it was announced that Shaman King would be getting a reboot in 2021. While most are excited about this, some are understandably worried too.
10 WORRIED: THE TRAILER KEEPS THINGS VAGUE
Shaman King's reboot was announced in the form of a teaser trailer, showcasing the various characters in slightly flashier and more animated versions of their manga panels. While this did get fans excited at the prospect of Shaman King's return, it didn't exactly reveal a whole lot about the anime itself.
It was a decent trailer, but it left out key things such as how the new anime was going to look or if the voice actors would return to reprise their roles. As you'd expect with a teaser, it's vague, but this one is so vague that it's too early to call anything.
9 EXCITED: A NEW ANIMATION STYLE?
While fans still have fond memories of the old Shaman King anime, some admit it wasn't perfect and that aspects of it haven't aged well. This includes the animation, which was impressive for its time, but as anime grows and the animation becomes bigger and better, Shaman King's animation seems dated by comparison.
With new styles and techniques for animation taking center stage lately, fans expect that the new Shaman King will follow suit to look bigger and better than ever before while retaining the stylization of the manga, perhaps even being closer to that style than the original was.
8 WORRIED: WILL THERE BE CG?
With every passing year, animation techniques develop further alongside the technology used to make it. While anime has primarily remained in the realm of 2D, 3D is sometimes thrown in there to give certain things a little more depth. Occasionally some anime are completely 3D, though anime like Sailor Moon Crystal and Berserk that have used CG, have had negative reactions.
With not much shown of how the new Shaman King is going to look, there is the possibility that it could have CG sequences or be completely animated in CG, which could be a turn off for some anime fans.
7 EXCITED: THE REBOOT FORMULA HAS WORKED BEFORE
There are a lot of anime that have been in the exact same position as the original Shaman King anime, canceled years before the manga's end, and with a lackluster anime original ending to boot. In the past, there was little chance that an anime that ended in such a way would continue, but lately, a lot more anime are given a second to try it again.
Popular anime like Fullmetal Alchemist (seen above) and Fruits Basket have gotten reboots that are closer to their manga counterparts and it paid off pretty well for them. If they had a chance and made it work, then Shaman King could too.
6 WORRIED: NOT EVERY REBOOT IS A SUCCESS
While a lot of older anime have gotten another ride, not every anime reboot ends in a win. Despite having their source material completed and laid out before them to map the story, some fail to successfully execute it. A great example of this would be the Netflix reboot of Saint Seiya (seen above), which many fans believed was an inferior version to the original.
Shaman King's manga is completed and with good characters and a fascinating supernatural world, it has the potential to be a great anime. However, if it's not properly executed, then it may not be the success fans are hoping for.
5 EXCITED: CLOSER TO THE MANGA
The original Shaman King anime definitely ends up deviating from the manga's plot quite a bit. Aside from the ending, the story starts going its own way somewhere around episode forty, some characters were left out, and tons of character backstories were omitted. Some of those backstories helped to flesh out certain characters and give the story depth, especially in regards to the villain, Hao.
While it wasn't disliked, manga readers believed that the anime wasn't nearly as good as the manga. With the reboot aiming to be closer to the manga's story, there's a great chance that fans of Shaman King will get to see the story presented in the way it was originally intended.
4 WORRIED: IS THIS THE RIGHT TIME?
The first Shaman King anime came out in 2001 and ended a little over a year later. It had its fans but sadly between the manga being incomplete at the time and it having to contend with more successful anime of that time, it wasn't a huge success. With the reboot coming in to reinvigorate the series in anime form, whether or not this is the right time for it does come into question.
Shaman King didn't make the same splash as other Shonen Jump manga adaptations, and what was the anime's popularity might also not be as strong as it once was. If interest for the series doesn't bloom between old fans and new ones, then the new Shaman King might not last very long.
3 EXCITED: IT HAS THE CHANCE TO TAKE THE SPOTLIGHT
Shaman King was admittedly never one of the most popular mangas in Shonen Jump, and when its anime adaptation aired it was still being overshadowed by its Shonen Jump rivals. With most of those series already coming to a close (not including One Piece, of course), Shaman King might finally have time to shine.
Despite not being at the top, like Shonen Jump's "Big Three", Shaman King still had all the elements of a good shonen series, while being unique in its own right. With its story ready to be told, anime fans might discover a new love for Shaman King.
2 WORRIED: IT COULD BE RUSHED
While the ending is important to a story, the journey to that end is just as important. In regards to the ending, Shaman King had a bit of a rocky ride in the anime, having a rather cliched and anticlimactic finish to its final battle. It just wasn't what fans were hoping for, especially compared to the manga's ending.
While fans would probably love to see this ending play out in anime form, it'd be a shame if the anime rushed its way through the story to get there. It's happened before too, the revival of Houshin Engi notoriously rushed through a lot of its story to the ire of fans. Hopefully, Shaman King will decide to pace itself and not rush to the finish line.
1 EXCITED: THE ENDING IT DESERVES
Believe it or not, the original Shonen Jump run of Shaman King wasn't exactly the smoothest either. The manga's quality slipped here and there towards the end and was abruptly canceled after two-hundred and eighty-eight chapters, rushing out the ending. Eventually, through reprints and extra chapters, the manga finally got its "true ending".
After all the waiting, the original anime's less than stellar finish, and all the spinoff/sequel series', Shaman King has the chance to play out its story the way it was meant to be, uninterrupted and as an anime no less. This of course means, fans can be treated to the animated version of the ending the series was meant to have too. Hail to the king.