SHAMAN KING (2021)

ANIME

STATUS
COMPLETE
EPISODES
52
RELEASE
April 21, 2022
LENGTH
24 min

DESCRIPTION

On a starry night, middle-schooler Manta meets Yoh Asakura, a young shaman who has the ability to talk to spirits, and also has the ability to let them possess him to use their powers. Yoh has a heavy duty on his shoulders: he must become the Shaman King by winning the Shaman Fight, a tournament between shamans that happens only once every 500 years. Joined by his spirit medium fiancée Anna Kyouyama, his personal samurai spirit Amidamaru, and his other friends, Yoh must also face a larger evil: Hao, a powerful man who aims to create a new world with only shamans by becoming the Shaman King himself.

(Source: Anime News Network)

CAST

Yoh Asakura
Youko Hikasa
Anna Kyouyama
Megumi Hayashibara
Hao Asakura
Minami Takayama
Ren Tao
Romi Park
Horohoro
Yuuji Ueda
Amidamaru
Katsuyuki Konishi
Johann Faust VIII
Takehito Koyasu
Ryuunosuke Umemiya
Masahiko Tanaka
Lyserg Diethel
Youko Soumi
Manta Oyamada
Inuko Inuyama
Chocolove McDonell
Motoko Kumai
Jun Tao
Michiko Neya
Matamune
Hideyuki Tanaka
Iron Maiden Jeanne
Yui Horie
Tamao Tamamura
Nana Mizuki
Silva
Hikaru Midorikawa
Eliza
Kanako Takeuchi
Marion Phauna
Kei Shindou
Mikihisa Asakura
Kenyuu Horiuchi
Hana Asakura
Kororo
Megumi Nakajima
Pai-Long Lee
Tooru Sakurai
Pirica Usui
Rina Hidaka
Bason
Kousuke Takaguchi
Tokagero
Wataru Takagi

EPISODES

Dubbed

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Not available on crunchyroll

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REVIEWS

Azzarrel
30/100
More Plot in less Episodes than the original adaption, what can I say?
The summary should give it away. Shaman King (2021) tries to adapt the original, complete story of the Manga with the same name in even less episodes than the original anime adaptation from 2001, which had an already pretty rushed alternative ending (due to the fact the manga was still on-going).

For roughly the first 20 episodes both anime adaptations are almost identical and it has really been nostalgic to me to re-watch a visually enhanced version of the same story I watched almost 20 years ago on kids-TV. While Shaman King (2021) looks quite good, staying true to the original adaptation while using newest technology, the fight scenes, the heart of any battle-shounen anime, are beyond bland. They barely even hold up to the 20 year old fight scenes in Shaman King (2001) and have a lot of stills and images with little movement. I never remembered Shaman King for awe-inspiring images or mind-blowing fights and neither expected any of this, but the new adaptation had fights so boring, I thought about skipping them.

Once Shaman King (2021) splits from the original anime, to finish the story of the manga, it really declined quickly, throwing new characters at the viewer in every episode, jumping through several arcs of possible plot points in sometimes as little as one episodes, killing off side characters as fast as new ones are introduced. At the end the plot becomes such a mess I didn't bother enough to keep track any more and just wanted it to end.

Aside from the abysmal and rushed story-telling Shaman King also suffers from the typical shounen anime problems. We have a MC, who mostly only beats down foes before letting them leave, despite them repeatedly trying to kill him or his friends. Normally this wouldn't be much of an issue, because important characters seem to never be in any mortal danger in shounen anime anyways - and I don't remember that I has been a big issue in the 2001 adaptation - but Shaman King (2021) is actually quite brutal in that regard, killing off characters left and right. In Shaman King (2021) characters get blinded, maimed or killed with most of the main characters still neither being serious nor apprehending the villains in any way.

This is all topped by Conchi and Ponchi, probably the worst animated characters since Jar Jar Bings. They are lound, annoying and fight mostly with their testicles. That's right these 2 animal ghosts have extendable balls, which they use to violently shove them their opponents - and the viewer - in the face on every possible occasion. These 2 are so unpleasant, that I can understand anyone dropping the anime just because of them.

Final Verdict: If you want to watch Shaman King, watch the 2001 version, which even though not featuring the original ending, still has a better plot than this hot pile of garbage.
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