For the last seven years (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022) 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 2022!
Mostly Correct – Shaman King: The Super Star Returns from Hiatus
While our prediction of returning in March 2023 wasn’t on the mark… it did return for a new 5 chapter run in 2022 from June through September. Of course it’s now back on hiatus again without any specified date on it’s return.
Incorrect – Shaman King Movie Announced
A surprise announcement at the end of the 2021 anime series run was the announcement of a new TV series. Our original prediction was that an anime based on Flowers wouldn’t happen for a while and instead continue to focus on the original cast in a new movie. No date, or even a name for the new Shaman King anime has been announced, but it’s definitely not a movie!
Incorrect – A New Shaman King Spin-off/Sequel Released
In 2022 all of the currently running spin-off and side-story manga series ended. & a Garden in May, Faust8 and Marcos both ended in June. Going from 4 on-going series down to 1 (TSS), and then that 1 going on hiatus is sure a change in releases. We knew those series were lining up to finish their runs, but it seems like nothing was put in as a replacement.
Incorrect – Ultimo Manga is Reprinted in Full Color Editions!
With Hiroyuki Takei taking a lot of time off from manga, it would seem like he was working on another project. Guiding a full color version of the Ultimo manga doesn’t appear to be one of them!
Incorrect – Hyper Dash! Yonkuro Volume 5 is released
With a full year of MINI4KING running, it seems like splitting his time with Hyper Dash! Yonkuro wasn’t in the cards for 2022 for Hiroyuki Takei. The MINI4KING series has not taken off in terms of popularity as they would have hoped, so a continued focus in 2022 to get that series back on track makes a lot of sense.
So at best there was only 1 correct prediction for 2022. Which keeps us on par for most of our yearly predictions. The later half of 2022, after the anime ended, left us with very little news. Going into 2023 we got to think they have some big plans lined up!
The following are predictions for headlines for 2023. These are guesses and are NOT real news stories.
Shaman King: Flowers Spin-Off Launches
Before a new spin-off series is released… Hiroyuki Takei seems to leave little hints about it via drawings wherever he goes. Over the summer at the Japanese Bucchigire Exhibition in Kyoto, some surprise new drawings by Hiroyuki Takei were on display. Some of these drawings were used for covers of digital CD singles, Shonen Magazine Edge, and manga volumes. But others haven’t been seen since.
Our prediction is that we’ll see some new stories based around Tamao’s wild teenage years and potentially some more origins of Black Maiden. This is one of the story gaps that Takei has hinted at, but haven’t expanded into further detail yet. Like the other spin-off manga series, this one wouldn’t be drawn by Hiroyuki Takei, but likely just have some supervision by him.
Shaman King Sequel Anime Releases in Fall 2023
Details on the new Shaman King sequel anime, outside of it being in development, never came in 2022. We don’t even know the name of the series yet, let alone a release date!
But 2023 is when all of that will be revealed. We’ll get a name, that probably isn’t Shaman King: Flowers. Instead it might be called something like Shaman King: All Stars, or might not even have a new name! They might just continue on with “episode 53” and have the series continue.
In addition to adapting the Shaman King: Flowers manga plotlines, we are expecting to see some new and different material added in. Concepts from the Flowers spin-off manga (previous prediction), and other concepts from Hiroyuki Takei will be added into the series to make it a longer, and more full experience. It also has the possibility that it could be split up into more seasons for at least 12 episodes.
Netflix will continue to fund the series and will be the international distributor outside of Japan. It should have episodes that are more closely tied to the Japanese release, which is why it will start in Fall 2023.
New York City Premiere & Related Events
One of the big events at the end 2022 for the anime industry was the New York City’s Times Square ad campaign promotion for the One Piece Film RED movie. This was timed with New York Comic Con 2022 in early October. While incredibly expensive, it was visually impactful and gathered a lot of hype and promotion online. It helped show the extent of One Piece fans in North America and the international success of the One Piece series.
Netflix would have likely taken note of all of this and will try it’s own scaled back promotion in fall 2023 to tie-in with the release of the Shaman King anime sequel. The 2021 anime series was one of their best preforming anime series to date. For English-speaking audiences, and from around the world, it was beating out most other anime series for hours watched, including the ones that Netflix co-produced. The return on investment is strong enough to already fund the sequel anime series, and the willingness to try some more flashy promotion.
For either New York Comic Con (NYCC) or Anime NYC, Netflix is going to try and have a North American premiere for the new Shaman King anime. They are going to want to get the images of huge crowds lining up to see the series that’s only available on Netflix. While generating buzz online for it will be good, it’s also being used as a signal to investors and advertisers on the strength of fan engagement in their exclusive anime series outside of Crunchyroll and Disney+.
However Netflix also likes to have unique pop-up events for their non-traditional marketing campaigns as well. Outside of the convention center, they will also try to hold an additional event. Depending on who they partner with, they could have a small “Shaman King Exhibition” pop-up in a storefront in New York City for a few weeks. They idea is less about selling merch, but having a destination for engagement with fans and promotion of the Netflix branding.
25th Anniversary Events
While the 20th Anniversary of Shaman King was only 5 years ago… the related events for that extended long past the year it was for. The goal of that campaign was to help bring back fans into the Shaman King franchise. However with the recent anime series, and the last 3 years of events…. A new wave of events for the 25th anniversary seems unlikely. The focus will be on the new anime series and not how old the series is.
However we are guessing there will be at least a little bit of a celebration for the older fans. Similar to the events that we are predicting that will occur in NYC, Japan will have some smaller events that will follow in Fall 2023 as well. A return of the “Shaman King: Exhibition” is likely, but a smaller and different style. This time it will be sponsored by Netflix and/or TV Tokyo and will have a stronger focus on the 2021 and sequel anime series. More drawings and items related to both anime series, and less about the original manga. In terms of goods, it will be much more limited from exclusive Exhibition merch and be more generalized. However they may have a new book on sale that shows off some of the designs and works that were on display at the Exhibition.
Shaman King is added to Bandai’s Union Arena Card Game
In 2022, Bandai is trying it’s hand at joining into the licensed card game market with their new game called Union Arena. This Japanese collectable card game is based around various licensed franchises which can battle against each other. Bandai’s release plans for 2023 are extremely aggressive with up to 2 franchises being released every month, starting in March 2023.
While it does focus heavily on Shueisha’s Shonen Jump series, it does have other series from other publishers, such as Kodansha’s That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. Bandai is still releasing figures from the the Shaman King franchise, so a partnership has been well established. Adding Shaman King into the Union Arena card game for a Fall 2023 release seems possible. It also opens up this rare opportunity for the Shaman King series to be played against various Shueisha properties which hasn’t been possible since Takei left the publisher.
While the later half of 2022 had a lot less in terms of Shaman King news, the previous years just had an overflowing amount. However it looks like 2023 could be a year to ramp back up on exciting news and events for the franchise. Continuing in the background has of course been the Shaman King: Funbari Chronicle videogame. Every month it helps provide new content for fans of the series which is always fun to look forward to.
Thank you to everyone who has come by Patch Café in the last year, or have followed us on social media. We are currently working on developing some big and exciting projects for 2023. So even if the year is a bit more quite on the news… we have some exciting stuff for unearthing more lost history from the Shaman King franchise.
