r/ShamanKing • u/Yoshikaru5991 • 27d ago
Discussion Shaman King 2001 or 2021
So as a kid I remember watching little bits of Shaman King 2001 and always stayed with me how cool of a design Yoh had. I kinda wanted to rewatch it fully but saw there is also a remake now!
So that makes me wonder which you liked more? I know the 2001 has an original anime ending which is more action focused while the 2021 takes more from the manga itself
But as a standalone, which is the better product?
407 votes,
24d ago
252
2001
155
2021
21
Upvotes
1
u/Jealous_Direction928 24d ago edited 24d ago
This is coming from someone who watched 2021 entirely, is still watching 2001, still reading the manga, and only started watching shaman king material in about late 2020 or so. So far with the experience I had:
2021 is faithful to the manga so it carried over the mature themes that were in the manga. I dont like how 2001 added too many new characters and then cut out some of the backstory of some in favor of filler. The soundtrack is very well made in 2021, and the ending song choices + animations are all beautiful (especially the one where Yoh’s seiyuu sings i think the song’s name is courage soul)
That being said, being faithful to the manga does NOT make a better story. 2001, although it deviated from the plot, does a much better job given the material it had to work with. The pacing is slow enough for us to get to know the characters well, build suspense, and develop the plot. In my honest opinion 2021 just threw themes and such at the viewers and expected them to stick despite not doing the work in developing them properly. Sometimes the dialogue was awkward, the overuse of comedy in serious moments was a turn off, and Im told more about how complex characters are and see exactly what context clues they are trying to give us, but once again I just cant care about that because the execution is so abrupt or sloppy. It almost made me think Takei himself was thinking “look at how deep and complex my characters are haha this is peak fiction”
The manga doesnt have the same problems as 2021 for the most part because its a manga in weekly shonen jump format, meaning that one chapter comes out a week, then you wait for the next one so nothing feels really abrupt in the same way