The official Shaman King 2021 anime Twitter and Website were updated at 10:00am local time in Japan to announce the character designs and voice cast for Tao Jun and Lee Pyron for the new Shaman King anime.
Tao Jun will be voiced by Michiko Neya who previously voiced the character in the original 2001 anime. Lee Pyron will be voiced by Toru Sakurai. In the 2001 anime, Lee Pyron was voiced by Nobutoshi Canna.
The English spelling of Lee Pyron’s name continues to be inconsistent with this announcement on the official Japanese website. The character page has the URL list it as “Lee Pyron” and this spelling in the Shaman King Full Color Character Book. However the footer image has it listed as “Lee Pailong,” as shown below. Within Kodansha Comics USA digital manga release of Shaman King: Red Crimson, he is referred to as “Li Pairon.”
The character designs can be found on the website and in the tweet for the announcement:
Similar to the previous voice cast announcements, including the one last week for Horohoro and Kororo, they asked these 2 voice actors the same questions for their comments. We’ve included a rough English translation below.
Michiko Neya for the voice of Tao Jun
Can you tell us about the appeal of this series?
It’s a carefree attitude, but gets what it needs done! It’s all about “creating a world where you can live comfortably.” It’s too good to be true. If only the real world was like that. I think this series can give us hope to find that world.
Can you tell us about how you feel to play Tao Jun again?
I can’t believe it’s been 20 years and I get to see Tao Jun again! I can’t help but look forward to it. I’m also looking forward to watching my cute little brother grow up with this renewed spirit.
Toru Sakurai for the voice of Lee Pyron
Can you tell us about the appeal of this series?
I think the relationship between a shaman and his spirit is wonderful. Each spirit has its own story, its own memories from the past, its own regrets, a family left behind, and many other circumstances.
Some shamans treat the spirits only as tools, while others treat them like friends. I think the charm of this story is the deepening of their bonds between shaman and spirit and can settle the problems from their pasts.
Can you tell us about how you feel to play Lee Pyron?
My name is Toru Sakurai and I’ll be playing the role of Lee Pyron. I’ve been watching Shaman King since my youth, and I can’t believe I’m going to be in it! It is a great honor and I’m very excited. I’ll do my best to live up to the expectations of all the fans.
While these two voice cast announcements haven’t commented on Twitter yet, Toru Sakurai does have his own personal YouTube channel which does contain various videogame playthrough recordings.
The new Shaman King anime will broadcast in Japan in April 2021 on TV Tokyo but an exact date and timeslot have not been announced.
