Creator of Shaman King Turns Down New Anime Plans

Hiroyuki Takei, creator of the highly popular shonen series Shaman King broke some fans hearts on Tuesday with a comment on Twitter.

The Shaman King series was originally serialized in Weekly Shonen Jump starting back in 1998, with an anime adaptation airing in 2001. Takei announced on Twitter that he had turned down plans for a new Shaman King anime.

“To be honest there were serious discussions on an anime remake, but… since we couldn’t use the voice actors and music from the original work, I declined. Still, it would be nice to have another chance.”

This news came as a heavy blow to shonen and Shaman King fans as they have been craving a new anime of the series since it has been over 15 years since the first one. The first anime adaptation of the series aired from 2001 to 2002 for 64 episodes, and received positive reception. Takei himself was part of the anime’s staff and was heavily involved in the production, however he ended up leaving the staff due to lack of time to write the manga. Shaman King has been ranked as one of the best-selling manga in Japan, and the anime was ranked 47th in a top 100 web poll from TV Asahi.

Shaman King follows Yoh Asakura, a shaman, or a medium between the living and dead. Yoh is on a mission to become the Shaman King, the one who has the ability to contact the Great Spirit and ability to change the world. In order to become the Shaman King he must win the giant Shaman Fight, which is a battle held once every 500 years for shamans to face each other. The story follows Yoh and his friends as he prepares for the tournament, makes new friends and enemies, and learns a lot on his path to become the greatest shaman.

Just because things did not work out this time, it doesn’t mean that we will not be getting a new Shaman King anime in the future, as it is clear that Takei is very interested in the idea. We just have to hope that next time there can be a comprise that works.

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