This page deals with the 2001 series that diverged from the manga. For Hiroyuki Takei's original manga and its direct anime adaptation, please see Manga.Shaman King.
An anime adaptation of Shaman King by the animation studio Xebec aired from July 2001 to September 2002 on TV Tokyo for a total of 64 episodes.
4Kids Entertainment obtained foreign television and home video distribution rights to the Shaman King anime on May 15, 2003. Fox Box began airing Shaman King in the United States on August 30, 2003.
The anime series, while originally faithful to the manga, eventually deviated from the storyline as the manga was still being serialized. As a result, the later episodes are completely unrelated to the manga, with a separate and definite conclusion created for the series.
Provides examples of:
- Actionized Adaptation: The 2001 anime is on the whole more action-driven than the manga.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: In the manga, Horohoro first appeared in chapter 32 after Yoh's fight with Silva. The 2001 anime, however, introduced him in Episode 10 long before the story arcs where Ryu Meets Tokagero and Yoh learns the power of Over Souls were adapted yet.
- Adaptation Drift: The 2001 anime follows the route of the manga with only slight changes up until the Shaman tournament begins, at which point both stories diverge fairly radically down to the anime getting a much different ending where Hao is defeated, while in the manga The Bad Guy Wins.
- Adaptation Expansion: In the manga and 2021 anime, it's not shown how Ryu passed the Shaman Fight preliminaries, although the 2001 anime expands on this and shows him winning some battles.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: 4kids created a different opening for American market (that was imported to some other foreign markets in Europe). It's quite catchy
. - Ambiguous Ending: Hao is defeated, but it's unclear if the Shaman Tournament has been cancelled and if the characters will be forced back into normal lives. Manta even suspects Yoh will have to say goodbye to Amidamaru. However, at the very end, Ragoh appears in the sky once more, implying that the Shaman Fight is back on. The dub clarifies through Manta's narration that the Shaman Fight has begun again, turning the ending into an And the Adventure Continues.
- And the Adventure Continues: In the dub of the 2001 anime, Manta's narration indicates the Shaman Fight is back on once more.
- Ascended Extra: Billy, the one who usually drives Yoh and the team all-around America, shows up many times in the 2001 anime compared to the manga where he only appears once.
- Ascended Fanboy: In the 2001 anime only, Manta actually becomes a shaman.
- Bowdlerize:
- The 2001 anime censored much of the manga, such as changing Faust vivisecting Manta to just having him phase his hand inside his body with his powers. It also changed Chocolove/Joco's backstory from him being a former gangster changed by the power of laughter to just being a wannabe comedian from the start.
- The English dub of the 2001 anime censored it even further, such as changing the graves in the Faust fight from crosses to gravestones, and poorly editing Marion Fauna's guardian ghost Chuck's pistols... into rattles.
- The Cameo: Sachi and other characters from Butsu Zone have an appearance in Yoh's imagination of the Roku Jizou in episode 4 of the 2001 anime special.
- Discard and Draw: Lyserg abandons Morphin in favor of a mecha angel spirit like the rest of the X-Laws, though eventually, she comes back to him.
- Divine Birds: In the 2001 anime adaptation, energy flowing to or from the Great Spirit is depicted in the form of glowing birds.
- Dub Name Change: The 4Kids dub for the 2001 anime exchanged many Japanese names for more American or international ones. Some examples include Morty (Manta), Rio (Ryu), Trey Racer (Horohoro), Zeke (Hao) and Joco (Chocolove). Curiously enough, Joco ended up sticking as Chocolove's official English name ever since to avoid unfortunate implications. Subverted with the Italian dub, which despite being adapted from the 4Kids one kept many of the original names intact.
- Gecko Ending: The anime-original ending is tad more action-oriented than the manga, basically boiling down to Yoh and Hao clashing. Hao nearly overpowers Yoh until the other Shamans pull a Gondor Calls for Aid and donate their powers to Yoh, effectively putting him on par with Hao until he eventually cuts him down (leading into a bit of
Fridge Logic as it's been shown killing him hardly solves anything). The tourney is put on hiatus for a few months as the characters go about their lives... and then it promptly starts again. - I Was Just Passing Through: Inverted and overlapping with Embarrassing Rescue. In the 2001 anime, our heroes save their " enemy" in this fashion. Hao is pissed with the X-Laws for meddling with Yoh and decides to have his minions teach them a lesson. However, Yoh and the others can't stand to watch the slaughtering and decide to step in. In true Determinator and Ungrateful Bastard form, the remaining X-Laws respond to their rescue by continuing with their plans resulting in their saviours being sucked into the Gate of Babylon.
- Horohoro: Whoa, don't get the wrong idea here.Joco: It's not like we came to save you guys.Ren: It's just how things turned out.Marco: If I'm at the mercy of my enemies, then I'd rather choose a noble death!Ren: Do whatever you like. But if you want to die, do it somewhere we can't see you.
- Lampshade Hanging:
- Ren has some very Expressive Hair and in one scene this is pointed out by Bason when Ren is angered.Bason: Ooh! Young Master's spiky hair has stiffened!
- When it is revealed that Hao is Yoh's twin brother. In a dramatic shot, we see an uncharacteristically solemn-looking Yoh seemingly deep in contemplation after this revelation until he breaks the tension with a sigh and a smile...Yoh: It's no use. Even though you just said we're twins, it still hasn't sunk in.
Horohoro: Weren't you just full of anxiety and couldn't talk?! God, you're so confusing! - The Niles, a team of Egyptian shamans, are explaining their origins...Ryu: I-Is he serious?
Anatel: I explained all the details at the press conference for this episode.
[Cue Facefaults]
- Ren has some very Expressive Hair and in one scene this is pointed out by Bason when Ren is angered.
- Lawful Stupid: The X-LAWS are all this in the anime. A group that vows to wipe out Hao and his allies. Okay, the only problem is that if you are not on their side you're automatically considered an enemy. They refuse to work with others outside their group and tend to look down on anyone not in their team (mostly Marco carries this attitude). They says they do this to rid evil from the world and stop the killing. Yoh even calls them out on this:"If you kill people just for standing in your way, then you're no better than Hao."
- Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: Team LCT/Team Insane Asylum seems to be the wrestlers Bubba Ray Dudley, Edge, and Matt Hardy, but they're never directly named.
- Lighter and Softer: The 2001 anime censors some family-unfriendly parts of the manga. Some choice examples:
- Ryu's spirit, Tokagero, has a really disturbing background. His mother died of starvation, and he had to cannibalize her in order to survive.
- Anna and Yoh's night together. Anna gives Yoh a little parting gift before he heads to America. Seeing as how they were both 15, it's no wonder it got cut; but since there was a very good chance Yoh would die, Anna wanted to make sure a child lived on.
- Ren murdering Chrome was briefly shown in the 2001 anime, but shown completely in the manga (both the result when it happened and again showing the whole scene later on).
- Chocolove's past from the manga is both incredibly offensive, and utterly tragic. His parents were killed on Christmas Day, turning him into a vicious killer, and leader of the gang, Shaft. He murders people in cold blood, but has his life turned around by a man named Orona. Those who watched the 2001 anime know Orona died, but in the manga he didn't die of old age — he was murdered by Chocolove's gang.
- A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: This was part of Hao/Zeke's Start of Darkness in the 2001 anime. After saving some people from a rogue spirit, he read her minds, and saw that they considered him a freak that they only tolerated for his abilities, with one believing he would turn on them sooner or later, and another even plotting to find a way to steal his power. As you can imagine, this soured his attitude towards regular humans.
- Never Say "Die": Played with in the 4Kids dub, terms for death are still used but they’re downplayed. Many instances of the word "die" are replaced with "Destroy" which, in the context of a series with ghosts can actually be worse. The fates of Li Pyron and Eliza are left completely intact in the dub.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: In one filler episode, Horohoro fights a shaman who is based on RonnieJamesDio except that he's a priest, even dropping attack names like "Rainbow in the dark" and "Holy Diver".
- She's a Man in Japan:
- Happened to Opacho in the English dub. It's not easy to tell, since the VA is still female and his/her gender isn't mentioned often.
- In Brazil, Hao became a woman until it was shown that he was male. They changed the gender back to male and acted like the initial gender change never happened.
- The same dub also made Kororo a boy, and Goldva was changed into a guy as well... Even though she was still a woman in her first appearance.
- In the Latin American dub, Goldva goes through a reverse of what happens in Brazil; she's played off as an elderly man in her first appearance and turned back into a woman after.
- Spared by the Adaptation: A lot of characters who pass to the hereafter in the manga survive in the 2001 anime. The most notable are: Faust, Marco, Silva, Kalim, and Tao Jun.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Any time Brave Heart plays, you will receive plot exposition/explanation of sudden understanding, and complete and utter defeat of all opponents. It's subverted a few times but generally played straight.
- Villainous Breakdown: Hao becomes a lot less cheery and a lot crazier when Yoh breaks free. He is pushed even further over the edge when Opacho, his last and closest companion, runs away from him in fear.
