For the last six years (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, & 2021) we’ve started the year by making some predictions on what will happen within the upcoming year. Most years we were a bit off the mark, but let’s first take a look back at how close we got for our predictions for the year 2021!
Mostly Correct – 20th Anniversary Anime Music Album Released!
While a standalone 20th Anniversary album featuring the 2001 Shaman King anime music wasn’t released… all of the old albums were added to streaming services such as Spotify and Apple Music. Over Soul and Northern Lights were also included on Megumi Hayashibara’s VINTAGE DENIM album that also highlighted some of her most popular songs. So if you hadn’t purchase the songs from Japanese marketplaces before… now it is much easier to stream all of those songs internationally. That’s a big win.
Incorrect – The Trading Card Game Makes Its Return!
Instead of reviving the old trading card game developed by TOMY, the Shaman King Project committee opted for licensing the series to Bushiroad as part of the CardFight Vanguard OverDress card game. So while the old card game appears to continue to remain buried, there was at least a card game featuring the Shaman King characters available in 2021! Plus the Shaman King expansion has been officially announced for an English release in 2022 as well.
Incorrect – New Shaman King Anime Licensed by Funimation!
As much as fans would prefer that Funimation or Crunchyroll would have licensed the anime… Netflix came in with huge wads of cash to pay for the 2021 anime. Netflix has been releasing the show fairly quickly, with both English subtitles and English audio dubs. The original 2001 anime was licensed and released by Discotek for the English audio dub in 2021 too!
Incorrect – New Shaman King Anime Airs on Toonami!
With the series going to Netflix, along with it killed any hopes for TV broadcast rights outside of Japan.
Incorrect – Funko Pops Appear!
With a delayed streaming due to the batch episodes dropping on Netflix, we haven’t gotten our Funko Pops yet. Great Eastern Entertainment has been working on some merch which should hopefully land in North American stores soon. And with a Netflix-managed series… Funko Pops are still possible for 2022!
So at best there was only 1 correct prediction for 2021. However 2021 had a ton of other news that kept us very busy all year long! To keep the tradition alive, let’s put out some more predictions on what could happen in 2022!
The following are predictions for headlines for 2022. These are guesses and are NOT real news stories until reported on later.
Shaman King: The Super Star Returns from Hiatus
If you’ve been following along with our Monthly Shaman King Chapters Guide, you may have noticed that Shaman King: The Super Star has been on break/hiatus for a long time. It’s actually longer break now than his previous one due to the medical procedure. We’ll get into more about what that break was about in the next prediction.
However this prediction will be… Shaman King: The Super Star makes its return in the March 2022 issue of Shonen Magazine Edge coming out on February 17th, 2022. Why this very specific date? Since that lines up with the first planned day for the Shaman King Exhibition in Kyoto. Currently in the Shaman King: The Super Star manga series, the focus is on the characters located in Kyoto. With this return it only make sense to use this to promote the new Exhibition (that was previously cancelled). Also Kyoto being Hao’s old home in a previous life, so having Hao on the cover of the magazine to celebrate the return and the Exhibition would work out very well!
Shaman King Movie Announced
After the final episode of the Shaman King anime airs… we will get an announcement of a new Shaman King movie in development! When this movie will come out is still a bit tricky to predict, but an announcement is our bet for 2022.
With the anime adapting the entire 35 volumes of the manga, the content of this new movie would need to come from somewhere. Our guess is that Hiroyuki Takei has been hard at work writing out the script and new characters for this movie in 2021. He’s reported to be “busy” but the time he had his involvement in other projects was much earlier in the year and his extended break/hiatus was a bit sudden. This can also be tied to the success of the Shaman King anime in its first season. Netflix likely saw positive numbers and was looking to get first in line for additional content to fill out their anime line-up in 2022 and 2023. They had previous successes with the anime series The Seven Deadly Sins getting a movie, so a new movie to act as a sequel would be good for everyone.
With other shonen mangas that get anime movie adaptations… having the original creator have a hand in its creation is a huge boost to the quality of the movie as well as the marketing materials. Hiroyuki Takei’s long-time friend, Eiichiro Oda, has previously worked on One Piece movies, and Takei likely has taken a good portion of 2021 to get the groundwork setup for this new Shaman King movie.
As for what this movie is about… the following is a guess on the plotline. Since it contains spoilers to the end of the Shaman King anime and plot points for the sequels and spinoff series (Flowers/Red Crimson/The Super Star) the text will in this box below. So if you don’t want those spoilers… skip over this box.
Following the temporary pause from the destruction of the world, Yoh and friends are returned Earth to find ways redeem it. Each of them struggle to find their path forward and begin to split apart to travel the world and approach it with their own path and methods. Meanwhile, with Anna on the verge of giving birth to the next generation of shamans… a new threat to Yoh and Anna’s child approaches called the Red Crimson. Will Tamao be able to protect Anna? Will the former Shaman Fight rivals be able to team up again push back on this new threat?
This movie can cover some new ground that was not previously covered in the main story of the manga. By taking place shortly after the characters return from the Great Spirit and before the timeskip, the fans can still get the classic character designs and a new story. It can help lay the groundwork for the story that will happen in Shaman King: Flowers and Shaman King: Red Crimson by introducing some of the Red Crimson characters as the villains.
Assuming that the above is the direction they go with the movie, it also does line-up with the “Day After Maize” epilogue that Hiroyuki Takei has drawn for volume 35 of the manga. He has been working on bridging the gap between the series, and this new movie could be one of those steps.
Getting the Shaman King: Flowers anime could be a while away, so having a movie as a tentpole release can give fans something to look forward to during that wait.
A New Shaman King Spin-off/Sequel Released!
Having another Spin-off or Sequel manga series being announced is a pretty sure bet. In 2020 we had Marcos. In 2021 we had & a Garden and Faust8. So adding another one to the list wouldn’t be that crazy at all!
Assuming that The Super Star returns back on a consistent release cycle, and & a Garden and Marcos approaching their possible conclusions… Jet Kusamura is going to have some more time on his hands. So getting a new spin-off or sequel started in the next path forward.
One story that has only been hinted at but not outright told is what happened with Tamao between the end of the Shaman King manga and the start of Shaman King: Flowers. Now would be the time to focus in on that story! Who will draw and work on this story is a bit up in the air, and will likely be a collaborative work between the artists who are already drawing the manga series. If Hiroyuki Takei was writing up a plot for a movie that would happen roughly around the same time period… he could have already penned the major plot points for this new manga as well. It can also work as a good run-up to when the movie does come out as a cross-promotion without spoiling the actual movie.
Ultimo Manga is Reprinted in Full Color Editions!
With the Shaman King manga series fully out in new print editions, and some of the spin-offs finishing up their runs… there isn’t that much new manga coming out in print in Japan.
To hold fans over, and to milk the overlapping character designs with Shaman King: Red Crimson… Hiroyuki Takei will have a new Full Color editions of the Ultimo manga released under Kodansha.
A new colorist will likely come in a do the actual page-to-page coloring, but Hiroyuki Takei will review to ensure that the colors match his original intentions with the characters. The new color volumes will be available in both print and digital releases and would likely be spread out over a couple of months. The original, non-color editions will also be available digitally only.
Hyper Dash! Yonkuro Volume 5 is released
The final chapter for the final volume of Hyper Dash Yonkuro has yet to be released. Chapter 18 of the manga was printed in the now discontinued Corocoro Aniki magazine on March 15, 2021. However the final chapter which would go in the fifth and final volume of the manga has not been released in any form. Hiroyuki Takei’s break from Shaman King: The Super Star started in May 2021, so this could be one of the things he has also been busy finishing up. He has worked on getting the MINI4KING 4WD manga series started, so he’s still on good terms with Shogakukan.
Our prediction is that the volume won’t come out until around summer… but the series will finish up!
2021 was the most exciting time to be a Shaman King fan, so 2022 has a lot to live up to. It probably impossible to top 2021 but if it can follow in its shadow we would still be having another great year ahead.
So thank you to everyone who has come by on Patch Café in 2021, if you are a new or longtime fan. We will continue to bring you the latest news about Shaman King in 2022 as well as cover some older pieces of information about the series’ past. Thank you and have a Happy New Year!
