Shaman king has always been acknowledged as one of the battles Shonen classics with it’s bizarre characters, epic battles between stand users, and a surprisingly amount of depth in the story compared to its shounen brethren of the time. And its legacy has left an immeasurable impact on tons of weebs globally, as they harmonize over the legendary OP to this day (Play shaman king op). But even shaman king is not without faults because of the infamous anime original deviations, leaving the animated series incomplete for 20 years. Until recently, with shaman king 2021, a faithful adaption of the source material covering where the anime left off. So basically, shaman king brotherhood.
And while the announcement of the remake was extremely hype inducing, it’s still bizarre shaman king of all anime has been given a second chance. Considering there was literally nothing happening with the series for the anime to advertise. And my suspicions don’t stop there with the revelations of the 52-episode count. Now compared to most series, this is a humongous amount of air time so you would think there would be no problems with the coverage of the manga. Well, unfortunately shaman king 2021 HAS MAJOR PROBLEMS!
Starting off the bat with the most egregious issue, the pacing is faster than supersonic and wallace west flash combined. The plot moves so fast leaving little time for the audience to digest any information; as soon as an important event is showcased, rather than spending time to develop the plot in a reasonable manner, it blitzes through the scenes at a rapid pace. Now you would think after the resolution of an arc, there would a plentiful of downtime showing the consequences of the last clash, and establishing bonding moments between the characters.
NOPE; it instantly transitions into the next event, throwing endless battles at us like it’s supposed to excuse the lack of clarification for the jumbled plot. And the fights aren’t even produced well enough to distract me from the horrid pacing. It’s very reminiscent of 2000s battle anime with its constant still frames and dragon ball rapid punch affects to replicate action. And it’s not like cheaply produced battles can’t be entertaining; if that was the case, the majority of action series back in the day would’ve flopped. He'll look at OG shaman king fights; they’re packed full of passion and intensity making me still jump out of my chair in excitement today.
Coincidently “passion” is what shaman king 2021 lacks. The fights feel so uninspired and boring compared to its peers today. The standards have risen tremendously as the majority of great action series are gorgeously animated. Hell, FMA brotherhood released 12 years ago and is still one of the most wonderfully produced series to this day. I’m not asking for jujutsu kaisen and demon slayer levels of production, but at least show effort!
And the mediocrity of the clashes stem from the lack of weight behind any confrontation. Because there is little priority to flesh out the characters; as zooming past the plot points is most important for studio bridge. While ironically in their pursuits to be completely faithful to the manga; it resulted in the quality of the show somehow being inferior to the original loaded with filler by studio xebec.
Because despite xebec aborting from the source halfway in, the large portion they did adapt was handled with care and passion. You grew to feels a strong emotional bond to the characters while being entranced into the intriguing lore of shaman king. Therefore, when every eventful battle occurred, I was on the edge of my seat because the stakes where present as xebec established detailed context leading up to the fights.
Unfortunately, 2021 shaman king is failing to live up to its predecessor and I don’t see it improving any time soon because it’s impossible to faithly adapt a 288 chapters long manga, not even including the final addition adding an extra 33 chapters. And you’re probably thinking there will most likely be a season 2, well you’re WRONG! Because the director of the anime stated that they will complete the entirety of shaman king in 52 episodes.
Such a shame to see such a legendary series get this appalling treatment; so much for shaman king brotherhood. Nonetheless, shaman king 2021 isn’t horrible, it still has that charming nature of early saturday morning cartoons overlapping the entire show. So, I will still watch this despite my loss of enthusiasm because there is joy to be experienced if you enjoyed the original shaman king, or just want a nostalgia feast of classic 2000s battle shounens.
But I’m curious to hear your thoughts on shaman king 2021. How do you feel it matches to the OG anime?