After a new Shaman King TV anime adaptation was first announced back in June, we now have our first glimpse of footage from the highly anticipated series. Unlike the previous anime adaptation back in 2001, the new series will cover all 35 volumes of Hiroyuki Takei's best-selling shonen manga series.
Studio Bridge (Fairy Tail) is producing the series with Joji Furuta (The Seven Deadly Sins: Revival of The Commandments) set to direct. Shoji Yonemura (Wave, Listen to Me!) adapted the script while Satohiko Sano (Welcome to Demon School, Iruma-kun) converted Takei's original character designs in the manga for anime.
First begun in 1998, Takei's shonen manga series initially ran for 32 volumes before the series was abruptly canceled by Weekly Shonen Jump in 2004 as the series' popularity began to wane. In 2008, Takei returned to revise the series and give it a true, proper ending in a new "Perfect Edition." Many years later, Kodansha acquired the rights to the series from Shuiesha and a new, "Complete Editon" combining the original series and the "Perfect Edition" was released, adding an additional 3 volumes to bring its total number of volumes to 35.
The 2001 anime series from Studio Xebec totaled 64 episodes but started to stray from the source material around episode 26. At that juncture, the series had covered a little over 9 volumes before it began starting an original story.
The new series is currently scheduled to premiere during the Spring 2021 anime season next April. A new key visual has also been released focusing on Yoh Asakura.
In the world of Shaman King, shamans possess mysterious powers that allow them to commune with gods, spirits, and even the dead…and Manta Oyamada's about to learn all about them, because his class just welcomed a new transfer student: Yoh Asakura, a boy from way off in Izumo…and a shaman in training!