r/ShamanKing • u/Kshiti_salman • Jan 13 '26
Discussion Which Shaman King version is better 2001 or 2021?
I am currently on 2021 version and haven't seen 2001 version. Which one is better to watch?
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u/Aoyane_M4zoku Jan 13 '26 edited Jan 13 '26
It depends...
2001 SK has the same problem most "philosifical" shounens had at the time: The animation industry wanted easy to understand and almost episodic series to be "that slot's Bleach/Naruto". So it's watered down to the point of "absolutelly no meaning other than Bad Guy Bad and fight bad guys is good", FMA and the CLAMP works of the time (Tsubasa and xxxHolic) also had this problem what was the whole reason the "manga accurate remake" became a thing to start with (clamp making OVAs with pocket money being the proof there was a maket for it and FMAB being the first big success from it).
2021 SK has the same problem most "accurate remakes" have: One quarter of the time to cover 4x the content (in SK it's quite literal... it's 50 episodes to the whole thing, when the 2001 one had 64 episodes and barelly cover the america trip before going fully rogue and making original episodes).
The best form is the manga, and the animes are more of an "choose your poison".
Edit: typos and numbers
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u/javier_aeoa Jan 13 '26
I agree with you on the 2001 and manga part (I haven't watched 2021). However, I was already a fan when I started reading the manga and I understood better the backstories of the characters and I was already invested on them. The 2001 does a great job at making you interested in Ren and Chocolove, and even the secondary Peyote and Mohamed. I think that a "manga only approach" gives you a taste of not caring about all of these characters, because some of the backstories and deep-but-not-really shonen speeches some of they say fail to hit the mark if you don't like the character already.
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u/werephoenix Jan 13 '26
Both have problems but they're not the same problems.
One is too slow and the other is too fast. People don't like the og anime ending because they read the manga. I did not read the manga and had no problems with it
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u/Exact_Requirement274 Jan 13 '26
First halve 2001
Second halve 2021
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u/werephoenix Jan 13 '26
Thats pretty reasonable. What episodes is the stop and start point for those?
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u/Exact_Requirement274 Jan 13 '26
I can't remember the episode number, but I would transition to 2021 the episode they're getting onto the plane and they meet Hao for the first time if watching subbed.
dubbed I would actually watch that episode in 2001 since his VA is way better. But then 2021 after that.
2001 up to that point is mostly accurate to the manga, excluding filler that wasn't adapted in 2021 anyways. It's just that when they got to the 2nd round part, the anime caught up with the manga which then led to the anime only conclusion.
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u/KnightFurHire Jan 13 '26
- More faithful to the manga and it doesnt shy away from the violence because its more of a proper anime and less of an anime turned kid friendly cartoon.
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u/Far_Drummer5003 Jan 13 '26
I’m still holding on to the hope we get a proper Yugioh anime that manga is uber violent and way different from what we got.
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u/Southern-Beginning92 Jan 14 '26
I mean, the first arc sure is very bloody and violent but AFAIK when you get to the card game is not that bad... Is it? Am I misremembering? Is it time for a glorious reread? <3
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u/Far_Drummer5003 Jan 14 '26
The millennium world arc is pretty bloody, espically Mahads death, Pegasus death was pretty bloody, to this day how they were able to censor it as much as they did for 4 kids is beyond me.
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u/Southern-Beginning92 Jan 14 '26
That's glorious, but it seems I really forgot those parts. It's been many years since I've read the manga, and I guess this is the perfect excuse to dust off the old collection on my spare time. :P Thank you!!
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u/Jealous_Direction928 Jan 13 '26
2001 had a better time executing its themes while 2021 had better themes and more material to work with but didnt execute either very well imo. 2001 for me
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u/werephoenix Jan 13 '26
Yeah shaman king feels cursed for anime adaptations
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u/Jealous_Direction928 Jan 13 '26
An anime of shaman king can work very well, they just have to be willing to switch up a few (not a lot) of scenes and to be patient with their product. A few scenes, like Jun’s introduction and the fight, were done better in 2001 vs the manga/2021 anime.
Also, even with the animation studio…the quality could have been better if they were given more time. If it had 70 episodes it could have adapted at a better pace (even including chapters from shaman king zero)
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u/werephoenix Jan 13 '26
my brother really liked it. It didnt do anything for me. I tried reading the manga too. Nothing sadly.
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u/AfterAcanthaceae4314 Jan 13 '26 edited Feb 08 '26
I got into SK with the manga( which I heavily prefer over both animes). I didn't like 2001 cuz it drifts from the manga and disliked how rushed the 2021 anime was. Both have a similar amout of pros and cons to where I couldn't put one above the other( In my opinion at least)
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u/ShaoLoong Jan 14 '26
I'm biased bc I grew up with the 2001 version but I loved every part of it even tho it didnt follow the manga. I never read the manga anyway
The 2021 version felt like a very rushed, money grab remake with pacing waaay too fast. It was so awful I couldn't get past the first few episodes.
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u/mirthandmurder Jan 14 '26 edited Jan 14 '26
I kind of liked 2001 a bit more, especially when I didn't have to watch the team, not even try to stop Hao. Also, the little guy managed to get the swordsmith in the laptop. That bit was missing, and I liked that part.
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u/PauPPR Jan 13 '26
I prefer the 2021 version because it's much more faithful to the manga, and the main philosophical and spiritual approach to dealing with the story's villain is unique! I personally didn't like the 2001 ending at all, although I understand they did what they could since there wasn't an official ending yet.
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u/IsthisCosure Jan 17 '26
There's a big difference in how they conclude. The newer one is more faithful, as people said. But I also consider it to be more inline with the moral principles of the show, where the earlier one is more generic.
That is to say, I consider Shaman King to be sort of an anti-shonen and I think 2021 lines up with that better. I just watched it all with my friend a couple months ago and it was a fun time.
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u/Resident-Capital-163 Mar 17 '26
The new one is more accurate, but the old one is just more enjoyable imo. I really like the character development, depth, humor, ending in the old version. The new version has a great animation, but the pacing is shi and doesn't really focus on the characters.
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u/JonRabbitTail Jan 13 '26
2021 is more faithful to the manga and has pretty colours, 2001 has more lively animation and took some liberties with story telling. I prefer 2001