Last month, with the Jump Kai issue, a special Shaman King artbook was finally released! After all these years, and official artbook was never released. This artbook only contains a small portion of all the art Hiroyuki Takei has done, so there is something to look forward to if they make a nicer book. But until, then, I’d like to point out some little details that you might skim over if you take a look at this small book.
Jun’s hair was much more flat/round. Good thing he add in those spikes, since it just looks weird without! Pai-Long also is wearing clothes much more closely connected with Jun’s. Maybe he was going to be her husband instead?Just to the left of Tamao… there is a very rough sketch. This looks like the prototype for the leaf spirits!The “zombie skeleton” shown here is actually more Viking related! Takei must have scrapped the Viking connection until he got up to the ICEMEN.These leaves remind me of some sort of leaf spirit… but we don’t see any characters in this image… There is a light drawing in the darkness, but it’s hard to say what it was going to be.Yoh’s signature wear also went through some minor changes. Notice there is a cable that’s plugged into the headphones. In addition to a bracelet, his necklace is also slightly different (not the claws).So clearly this is an alternate drawing style for Amidamaru. But one thing to really notice is that “X” in the center of his chest. When Takei drew this image, he was still working under Nobuhiro Watsuki (Rurouni Kenshin) and then assistant Eiichiro Oda (One Piece). Luffy would then later receive a similar scar in the One Piece manga. Takei also used similar ideas that were adapted in One Piece as well (characters not being able to swim, multiple stretching arms, .etc).
This appears to be an early concept for Marco of the X-Laws. Notice how he has a larger gun just behind Yoh’s head as well…Takei wrote in the year of his birth date onto his tombstone. Good thing he doesn’t have an end date yet!
