Trivia / Shaman King

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• Acting for Two: Most of the 2001 and 2021 anime's principal actors acted for two at various times. Yui Horie and Megumi Hayashibara had relatively fewer episodes in which they played multiple roles, but they did do it on occasion — for example in the episodes featuring both Jeanne and Lilly, or Opacho and Anna.
• Approval of God: Seiji Mizushima, the director of the 2001 anime, expressed high hopes for the 2021 reboot.
• Author's Saving Throw: When Chocolove (Joco in the localization) was introduced, many people complained about his design being racist, specifically his thick lips that compared to him a blackface stereotype. Though his designed remained unchanged in the first adaptation, the 2021 remake has introduced a less offensive design of Chocolove (alongside his gang), his lips matching those of the rest of the cast.
• Cash-Cow Franchise: After the original manga cancellation, the series suddenly had a rise in popularity. Spin Offs, Prequels and Sequels have been spawning left and right, which served to make the KanZenBan (Ultimate Edition) reprint possible and give a proper ending to the manga. Yet more works have been born lately, and the recent Shaman King Zero says it best:
  Tag-line: "From being unfinished, to being super completed!"
• Channel Hop:
  • In June 2018, Viz Media dropped the license to publish Shaman King in North America, leaving the final three volumes unfinished. Two years later, Kodansha USA Publishing released the completed manga as a comiXology original.
  • While TV Tokyo and King Records were still involved in the 2021 anime, it was produced by Bridge instead of Xebec, which closed down in May 2019. In addition to the Japan-exclusive streams on Netflix, Hulu and Nico Nico Douga, it streams as an original on Netflix's international services.
• Completely Different Title: The Shaman Prince in Greece.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Almost all the major teenage male characters (except Horohoro) are voiced by women. In some cases, it's pretty obvious.
• Dueling Works: With Hunter × Hunter. Both started publication the same year (with Hunter × Hunter predating it by three months), they both have a magic rule set that allows them to turn everyday objects into deadly weapons, and they both have the hero's friendly rival being a child raised by a family of assassins.
• Fake Brit: Ren and Jun both have British accents in the 4Kids dub. For some bizarre reason, Lyserg does not, even though unlike Ren and Jun (who are Chinese), he actually is British.
• Franchise Ownership Acquisition: Shaman King was originally published by Shueisha. Kodansha bought the series after Hiroyuki Takei left Shueisha in 2017 due to Creative Differences.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes:
  • In North America, only the first six episodes were released unedited on two DVD volumes. The volumes went out of print after Funimation and 4Kids's distribution deal expired, although they can be found cheap at Amazon. Three more uncut volumes were planned to be released in 2005, but they were cancelled. Discotek Media has announced they have plans to release this dub with the uncut Japanese version.
  • 4Kids's edited dub has never been rebroadcast in North America since it ended its run in 2005 and unlike the first two uncut volumes, it remained unavailable on home video. That was until June 7, 2021, when Discotek Media announced the rights to it.
• Milestone Celebration: The 2021 anime reboot coincides with the 20th anniversary of the first anime.
• Newbie Boom: Kodansha's re-release of the manga in 2018, as well as the 2021 anime reboot, helped bring in some new fans.
• The Other Darrin: Since the 2021 reboot was produced two decades after the 2001 anime, quite a few characters appearing in both had to be recast, both living and dead:
  • In the Japanese version:
    • Yōko Hikasa voices Yoh Asakura instead of Yuko Sato.
    • Kousuke Takaguchi replaces Shinpachi Tsuji, Koichi Sakaguchi and Nobutoshi Canna as Bason, Koji Yamada and Muscle Punch, respectively.
    • Despite Nana Mizuki coming back to voice Tamao Tamamura, she's been replaced as Kororo by Megumi Nakajima.
    • Tooru Sakurai replaces Nobutoshi Canna as Lee Bai Long.
    • Takumu Miyazono and Noriaki Kanze respectively voice Ponchi and Konchi instead of Kenyuu Horiuchi and Tsutomu Kashiwakura. However, Horiuchi reprised his role as Mikihisa Asakura.
    • Kenichiro Matsuda replaces Katsuyuki Konishi as Luchist Lasso, despite Konishi coming back to voice Amidamaru.
    • Eiji Hanawa voices Kalim instead of Kazuhiro Nakata.
    • Ryōtarō Okiayu voices Boris instead of Koji Ishii.
    • Yohmei Asakura is voiced by Hiroshi Naka instead of Takeshi Aono, who died of post-operative multiple cerebral infarctions in 2012 (he would have been 84 at the time of the 2021 anime's premiere).
    • Rina Hidaka and Mariko Nagai replaced the late Tomoko Kawakami as the respective voices of Pirica Usui and Meene Montgomery, after Kawakami died of ovarian cancer in 2011.
    • Space Shot is voiced by Kohsuke Tanabe instead of Masaaki Okura.
    • Despite Yuji Ueda coming back to voice Horohoro, he's been replaced as Ball Boy by Yusuke Shirooka and as Hang Zang-Ching by Tsuguo Mogami.
    • Tao Yúan and Tao Ran are respectively voiced by Hideaki Tezuka and Sayaka Kinoshita instead of Masashi Ebara and Ai Sato.
    • Takahiro Fujiwara voices Bill Burton instead of Yoshinori Sonobe.
    • Though Masahiko Tanaka still voices Ryunosuke Umemiya, he's been replaced as Mohamed Tabarsi by Anri Katsu.
    • Saki Endo, Kei Shindo and Wakana Minami voice Kanna Bismarch, Marion Phauna and Matilda Matisse instead of Yoko Soumi, Michiko Neya and Tomoe Hanba.
    • Yuichi Nakamura replaces Akimitsu Takase as Marco.
    • Masakazu Morita voices Mosuke instead of Hisao Egawa.
    • Due to Toshitaka Shimizu's tragic suicide in 2003, Apache is voiced by Yoshihito Sasaki.
    • Kishow Taniyama and Tatsuhisa Suzuki respectively voice Zen Yoneda and Ryo Sugimoto instead of Nobuyuki Hiyama and Masaya Onosaka.
  • In the English dub:
    • Due to Sebastian Arcelus retiring from voice acting, Yoh and Hao Asakura are voiced by Abby Trott and Erica Mendez, respectively.
    • Kaiji Tang and D.C. Douglas voice Amidamaru and Ryunosuke Umemiya instead of Sean Schemmel due to Creative Differences.
    • Laura Stahl plays Tao Ren instead of Andrew Rannells.
    • Erika Harlacher voices Matilda Matiss instead of Erica Schroeder.
  • For the Latin American Spanish dub:
    • Horohoro is voiced by Abraham Vega instead of Luis Daniel Ramírez, due to the latter being banned from the dubbing studio following several accusations of sexual harassment.
    • Salvador Delgado, who voiced Bason in the 2001 anime, was replaced by René García for the 2021 reboot.
    • José Luis Orozco plays Yohmei Asakura instead of Carlos del Campo.
  • For the Italian dub:
    • Tommaso Zalone replaces Simone D'Andrea as Yoh.
    • Mosè Singh replaces Patrizio Prata as Tao Ren.
    • Dario Sansalone replaces the late Daniele Demma as Faust.
• The Other Marty: In the 2021 version, Sean Schemmel initially reprised his roles as Amidamaru and Ryunosuke, and even recorded dialogue, before leaving the project.
• Overtook the Manga: Due to falling sales and a slow publication rate, the 2001 anime ended up overtaking the manga. The fact the anime had its life shortened led to a Gecko Ending to avoid a No Ending.
• Playing Against Type:
  • Erica Mendez, who is often cast as either heroic or energetic characters, is the English dub voice for Hao in the 2021 anime, making this one of her few villainous roles.
  • Brianna Knickerbocker, who normally voices The Quiet One, Shrinking Violet, or Nice Girl character types, voices the male Hana Asakura.
• Release Date Change: Kodansha USA Publishing was originally scheduled to release the manga on July 28, 2020, but it was eventually delayed to October 6.
• Role Reprise: In the 2021 anime reboot:
  • Returning from the 2001 anime are Megumi Hayashibara as Anna Kyoyama and Opacho, Katsuyuki Konishi as Amidamaru, Inuko Inuyama as Manta Oyamada, Romi Park as Tao Ren, Masahiko Tanaka as Ryunosuke Umemiya, Wataru Takagi as Tokagero, Yuji Ueda as Usui "Horohoro" Horokeu, Michiko Neya as Tao Jun, Nana Mizuki as Tamao Tamamura, Hikaru Midorikawa as Silva, Takehito Koyasu as Faust VIII, Motoko Kumai as Chocolove "Joco" McDonell, Mitsuaki Madono as Peyote Diaz, Yui Horie as Jeanne, Kenyuu Horiuchi as Mikihisa Asakura, Mika Doi as Keiko Asakura, Hisako Kyoda as Kino Asakura and Minami Takayama as Hao Asakura.
  • The English dub has Tara Sands, Oliver Wyman, Lisa Ortiz, Matt Caplan, Veronica Taylor and Michael Sinterniklaas reprising their roles as Anna Kyoyama, Manta Oyamada, Jun, Faust, Tamao Tamamura and Horohoro, respectively. Dan Green and Wayne Grayson also return as Lee Pyron and Silva for the former, and Tokagero for the latter, now credited under their real names Jay Snyder and Vinnie Penna respectively. Eric Stuart also returns as Marco Lasso. Jonathan Todd Ross comes back as Kalim.
  • In the Latin American Spanish dub, Gabriel Gama (Yoh Asakura), Rubén Moya (Amidamaru), Laura Torres (Manta Oyamada), Ana Lucía Ramos (Anna Kyoyama), Rolando de la Fuente (Tao Ren), José Arenas (Faust) and Gisela Casillas (Tao Jun) reprise their roles again.
  • In the Italian dub, Emanuela Pacotto (Anna), Luca Bottale (Horo Horo), Claudio Moneta (Amidamaru), Patrizia Scianca (Manta), Alessandra Karpoff (Tao Jun), Massimo Di Benedetto (Hao), Gianluca Iacono (Ryu), Stefano Albertini (Tokageroh), Claudio Ridolfo (Apache), Serena Clerici (Tamao), Riccardo Peroni (Ponchi), Paolo Sesana (Silva), Marco Balzarotti (Kalim), Riccardo Rovatti (Yohmei), Caterina Rochira (Kino) and Cinzia Massironi (Lilirara) reprise their roles again.
• Screwed by the Network: In North America, 4Kids TV aired Kirby: Right Back at Ya! and the first Shaman King anime at the same time that Kids WB ran their biggest cash cows, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh!.
  • In Latin America, the show aired in the afternoon schedule alongside Kirby: Right Back at Ya! on Fox Kids and it became one of the most popular shows on the channel. However, when the channel became Jetix, it was moved to the very late hours of the night (where no kid could be awake to watch it) and ratings plummeted until it was removed from the channel. Unlike Kirby however (a series that suffered the same fate), the Shaman King dub was able to survive through airings across the region on local TV channels and it was added to Amazon Prime in 2020, making it easier for fans on the region to re-watch it.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In North America, five volumes of the 2001 anime were planned to be released as part of 4Kids' efforts to release their anime uncut, but only the first two volumes were released.
  • At Otakon 2015, Masao Maruyama of MAPPA once expressed interested in producing a new reboot of Shaman King.
  • In 2017, Hiroyuki Takei revealed that he turned down an offer to produce the anime reboot since the studio at the time wanted to change the voice actors and music. Fortunately, while Yuki Hayashi wrote the music for the 2021 reboot, most of the 2001 anime's voice actors stayed.
• Why Fandom Can't Have Nice Things: The 4Kids dub is considered one of the better dubs that they produced, since the series wasn't Bowdlerised as much as other works that 4Kids had under their umbrella. However, since Shaman King revolves around death and features heavy violence, it also attracted ire from Moral Guardians at the time. Coupled with having a bad timeslot and the company's negative reputation, the show flopped in the United States, and is ultimately what led 4Kids to continue their usual censorship and localization practices for future dubs.
• Word of God: According to Seiji Mizushima, who directed the 2001 anime adaptation, the original material featured in the second half was done at Shuiesha's request.

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