Hi everybody! It’s been a busy last two weeks for me, but I’ve got some time today, so why not make a blog post? And here it is! From time to time, I’ll provide some additional insight into various chapters. Maybe new ones, maybe old ones. Today we are starting with Remix Track 13… since… I said I had a couple things to say about it.
Starting off on page 1, I find the “publisher comment” (or whatever you want to call them) an interesting way to start off. “Yet another battle you could not see.” Doesn’t this seem like there is a list of “unseen” battles? Now going forward with the Shaman King series, this can be seen as a good thing, since it could be flashbacks to those “lost battles.” Or Takei could just renumber the entire series again and add in a couple more fights. We need “Super Shaman King: Kang Zeng Bang: Remix Edition.” Or SSKKBR for short.
Anyways, jumping to page 3… that first panel for some reason really clicks with me. I do honestly think Takei forgot to draw in a “clashing of swords” with Yoh and Hao. A common theme in Takei’s works have been not fighting to solve problems. In the end, you got to break out in some fight… or else the manga won’t sell. But Takei also found the way to end the manga series without that, which is just another layer on how Takei was able to draw what he wanted to draw. Which leads into the rest of this chapter…
I think when Takei originally thought of this extra… he did want to have a good fight. But working it into the manga right now would be hard. For most of the manga… Yoh and Hao were not in the same area. They basically had one night together, and then… the end of the manga. Takei could have done something with the post-God End… but it’s like they are different characters now. The fight just wouldn’t be the same.
The next development in the chapter that interests me is the concept of Takei’s “request face.” It truly must be something interesting to see. I think that’s why in part this chapter doesn’t show real faces. That and since it contains one of Takei’s editors, who might not want to be drawn in. But Takei really has done things that other mangaka wish they could do. He’s push the button on how he controls his own “fate” with manga. Those stories are for another time, but that face… I wonder what it could be. So I dug through my archives of Takei photos (yes, I have a bunch, but not all in the same place, so it did require some digging). And below is the best I could come up with (stealing the idea from Jezzy).
Now, the last big thing about this chapter is dealing with releasing it “in a different form.” The word “animated” doesn’t leave much to the imagination. It means either a new anime or a new videogame. As much as “yay! Anime!” sounds good… I do also think it’s a likely next move. However, I think it’s only going to start with a single OVA episode. This would fall under the new trend in manga right now… and releasing a single OVA episode bundled with the release of a new manga volume. This works well with Shaman King.. since it has had high and consistent volume sales. Also, people are willing to pay a premium for basically “reprints” with a few extras. Now what could be on that OVA? Well.. who knows. But this isn’t a quick drop at a brand new full TV series run for Shaman King.
Takei does love to stir things up sometimes. But he also likes to get his way. If it’s important, he works hard at it. So if he truely wants a new anime series, he’ll make it happen. But he might need to start with an OVA first, and I’m perfectly fine with that too!
