Earlier this week, Kodansha Comics officially announced that it has licensed the original Shaman King manga as a Comixology Original for it’s digital debut. During it’s Comic-Con@Home panel today, they followed up with the following announcements highlights:
- The original Shaman King manga series will have it’s digital debut for all 35 volumes of the manga on July 28th on the Comixology service
- The original Shaman King manga will be published in a 3-in-1 print editions starting this Spring
- The following mangas have licensed and receive digital debuts in August: Shaman King Zero, Shaman King Flowers, Shaman King The Super Star, Shaman King Red Crimson
You can watch the entire panel announcement stream here:
So let’s dig into these announcements a bit further:
The original Shaman King manga
After the panel, Kodansha Comics posted a full chapter preview of the first Shaman King chapter. You can read it here: https://kodanshacomics.com/series/shaman-king/
Comparing the translation to the original English Viz edition, this translation appears to be a near copy from what was previously released in the first chapter. However, there are a couple of differences. First, the use of honorifics has been added into the translation. So instead of “Yoh” it may say “Yoh-kun,” as Manta calls him or “Yoh-dono” as Amidamaru calls him. Once the digital versions of all 35 volumes release on July 28th, we will dig into more comparisons for the improvements for this new release.
The print edition is scheduled to come out starting with the first 2 English omnibus editions coming out in February 2021. Each will contain 3 of the original volumes and retail for $19.99 each. The total set will be 11 volumes in length, however that would mean that there is only 33 volumes being covered. It’s unclear if there will be some larger volumes, or if some chapters will move across volumes, or if some of the extras will be cut. More information will be announced next year once that is finalized.
Below is a gallery of all 35 volumes being released next week:
Shaman King Zero
The first of their rapid fire licensing announcements was the side-story collection of Shaman King Zero. The 2 volume series will have it’s digital releases on August 4th and September 1st, 2020. These volumes are NOT Comixology exclusives and will be able to be purchased through other online retailers for the digital releases. The MSRP is listed as $10.99, but it may change. The entire first chapter of Shaman King Zero is currently available for reading via Kodansha Comics’ website.
The following are the volume covers for the series:
Shaman King Zero volume 1 
Shaman King Zero volume 2
Shaman King Flowers
The first true sequel to the original Shaman King series, Shaman King Flowers will also have it’s digital debut in August. Currently there is no preview for this series. You can read the volume summaries on the Kodansha Comics website. Volume 1 will release on August 11th and volume 2 will be released on September 8th. No release dates for volumes 3, through 6 have been announced yet. These volumes are NOT Comixology exclusives and will be able to be purchased through other online retailers for the digital releases.
The following are the volume covers for the series released thus far:
Shaman King The Super Star
The current ongoing sequel in the Shaman King series, Shaman King The Super Star will also be getting a digital release in August. Now this might get a bit confusing for some people, since this story takes place after the events of Shaman King Flowers, which is 6 volumes. The series does try to simplify down the plot for new readers so it can still be an entry point into the larger Shaman King series. This is still an ongoing series in Japan but the first volume is scheduled for release on August 18th and second is scheduled for September 15th. Volume summaries are available on Kodansha Comics website. These volumes are NOT Comixology exclusives and will be able to be purchased through other online retailers for the digital releases.
The following are the volume covers for the series released thus far:
Shaman King Red Crimson
And the final series announced was Shaman King Red Crimson, which had recently finished up it’s release in Japan with 4 volumes. This story runs in parallel to Shaman King The Super Star and some elements of the plot are based on knowledge gained in Shaman King Flowers. The story is still a standalone, but will also lead into the events of Shaman King Marcos. The volume summaries have been posted to the Kodansha Comics website, but interestingly the name “Li Pairon” is used instead of “Lee Pailong” which was used during the panel. These volumes are NOT Comixology exclusives and will be able to be purchased through other online retailers for the digital releases. Volume 1 will be released on August 25th and volume 2 will be released on September 22nd.
The following are the volume covers for the series released thus far:
So what hasn’t been licensed yet?
With so many titles announced today, you might wonder if there is much left! The following mangas currently do not have a current, active, English license:
- Butsu Zone
- Ultimo (previously released by Viz Media)
- Hyper! Dash Yonkuro
- Shaman King Marcos
Additionally the Kodansha published Faust 8 – Eternal Eliza light novel and the Full Color Shaman King Character Book have not been announced as licensed for an English release yet either. Shaman King Marcos will have it’s first volume released in Japan on August 17th.
What happened with the stream?
If you were trying to watch the panel when it was suppose to launch you may have had some trouble doing so. There was a combination of issues that have appeared to occur. The following is a summary of what appears to have happened:
- The original video file for the Shaman King panel was not uploaded correctly. Instead, Kodansha Comic’s Saturday panel was uploaded, about Weird Manga. These videos were uploaded previously and set to Private, but the error wasn’t noticed until it was marked for Public.
- The “Weird Manga” panel was then removed from YouTube once the error was noticed (about 20 minutes after the scheduled start time)
- The correct video was found and then uploaded to YouTube.
- Very shortly after it was uploaded, an automated content strike was applied to the video from King Records. The original panel video contained the promotional video for the new Shaman King anime, which had licensed music. For some regions, the entire video became blocked, in particular the USA and Japan could not watch the video. Other locations, such as in the EU, could watch this version.
- Once it was identified this version couldn’t be used, the video was removed from YouTube as well.
- Finally a new video was uploaded (which was linked at the top of the article) which removed the promotional video from the panel.
So it was a series of couple unlucky breaks on what happened for the video, but the Kodansha Comics Twitter account did post some updates throughout while they were fixing the issue.
Table of Releases!
With all of these announcements, you might have gotten lost on what is releasing when. So here’s the run-down of all the new stuff and when it’s coming!
| Release Date | Volume | Format |
|---|---|---|
| July 28th | Shaman King volumes 1 -35 | Digital |
| August 8th | Shaman King Zero volume 1 | Digital |
| August 11th | Shaman King Flowers volume 1 | Digital |
| August 18th | Shaman King The Super Star volume 1 | Digital |
| August 25th | Shaman King Red Crimson volume 1 | Digital |
| September 1st | Shaman King Zero volume 2 | Digital |
| September 8th | Shaman King Flowers volume 2 | Digital |
| September 15th | Shaman King The Super Star volume 2 | Digital |
| September 22nd | Shaman King Red Crimson volume 2 | Digital |
| February 2021 | Shaman King 3-in-1 volume 1 | |
| February 2021 | Shaman King 3-in-1 volume 2 | |
