On June 17th, 2020 the first print editions of the original Shaman King manga from Kodansha reached bookshelves in Japan. The original manga series has had several editions in the past, with all of them being out of print for many years. In Japan, here’s the major editions of Shaman King volume 1 that have been released in both print and digital formats:

  1. Original Edition [Print]
  2. Original Edition [Digital]
  3. Kang Zeng Bang Edition [Print]
  4. Kang Zeng Bang Edition [Digital]
  5. Remix Edition [Print]
  6. Remix Edition 2nd Edition [Print]
  7. Kodansha Complete Edition [Digital]
  8. Kodansha Edition [Print]

(The links above will bring you to the product pages listed in our Product Catalog. We will be updating it in the coming months with more products that have been released recently)

While we aren’t going to compare all of the editions, here’s the quick one-liner on what this new edition is; It takes the chapter structure from the original and add in the updated art from the Kang Zeng Bang editions without the color pages.

However there are a couple other differences between the Kodansha Digital and Print editions of the manga volumes.

DigitalPrint
New cover DesignNew cover and original cover design
Has new author quote
Has color pages
Has an ad for Shaman King The Super Star at the endHas an ad for both Shaman King The Super Star and Shaman King Marcos at the end
Cost: 550 yenCost: 600 yen

Below is a series of comparison photos.

Side-by-side comparison with the 3 most common Japanese editions.
Comparing the new Japanese (left) and the English edition (middle) and the Kang Zeng Bang (right)
When you remove the first cover, you can see the original cover design under it. You can notice that it’s a slightly brighter and less red than the other editions.
The size/scale is a bit off, but here’s a comparison between the bindings.
When you remove both of the covers, this is the cover that is under it. Placed on top of Shonen Magazine Edge for a size comparison.

Next, we have some comparisons between the different versions on the same page.

You’ll notice that the Kang Zeng Bang edition is much larger than the other editions. Paper quality-wise, outside of the Kang Zeng Bang, they are roughly the same. You can see some of the modifications between the versions if you look at Yoh in the upper left panel.

Additionally, the new Kodansha Print editions are slightly shorter than the Shueisha edition, and slightly wider. At a glance, you wouldn’t be able to notice the difference.

As a added bonus, the author comment has been updated with the new release.

The original quote was translated by Viz into English as the following:

“It’s difficult to go through love and a manga series a second time because I think about it too much. Mainly because I am afraid of being hurt again. But this needs to be overcome, or you can never get involved with manga or marriage. Anyways, I’ll try my best!”

The new print edition from Kodansha as the following quote, roughly translated into English:

“”As long as you don’t despair, even if you die, it’s okay. You don’t know what I’m talking about? Read to the end and you’ll understand.””

So if you are looking to support the Shaman King manga series and hadn’t purchased the original manga these new Kodansha editions are coming out monthly in Japan. Print editions of volumes 1 through 5 are out now.

The original manga series can also be purchased digitally. Currently until June 25th, the first volume of the manga is free to purchase from retailers such as Bookwalker. For a complete list of all 35 volumes from Bookwalker, check out this link.

If you are trying to fill in the gaps between your Japanese volumes and want to know which chapters are in each of the major editions, we also have this guide you can reference.

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