On March 17th, continuing with it’s monthly release cycle, 3 more volumes of the Shaman King manga came back into print in Japan. This month’s releases were the end of the original manga series with volumes 30, 31, and 32. The print editions are based on the digital Kodansha editions that were previously released but with a couple new additions to volumes that are only found in the print editions.
All of the Japanese print editions for the original Shaman King manga that have been coming out have a couple things in common. They all have 2 cover jacket designs; one featuring the newly redrawn artwork and one with the original Shueisha cover design. These double covers also have a selected quote from within the manga featured on the inner flap and a brand new author comment related to it. The content of the volumes closely match the Japanese digital releases with the exception of the color pages which are greyscaled for the print editions.
The first new addition that is exclusive to the print release can be found in volume 31. This new discovery was noted by Twitter user @tty32O:
Included as a new extra was the “lost” Funbari Poem called “The 9th New Year.” The Funbari Poem (Funbari no Uta) were short extras that were originally printed in a variety of magazines in the late 90s and early 2000s. After being published in magazines such as Akamaru Jump they would then be reprinted in the standard volume releases of the manga. However one of these were never published again and became a “lost” chapter. This 5 page extra was from the Winter 2002 issue of Akamaru Jump and featured a New Years greeting for 2002.
It is not clear if this will be added back to the Japanese digital releases or not, but it will likely stay exclusive to this print edition. International editions of the Shaman King manga may choose to add this new extra as well so fans outside of Japan may be able to enjoy it too.
Volume 32 also contains some brand new artwork as well. As noted earlier, the second cover was traditionally the original Shueisha design with a modified logo. However with the digital release, Hiroyuki Takei redrew a completely new cover design not based on the original drawing. This new design was of “Princess Hao.” In the print edition of the volume the original Shuiesha art was also removed and now features a new drawing of “Princess Hao” with a design that is more familiar to his style in the early 2000s.
Shaman King volumes 33 and 34 are scheduled for release in their print editions on April 17th. It’s currently unknown what design will be included on the 2nd cover for these volumes. The final Shaman King volume (#35) will be released in June 2021 in Japan and will contain at least one new page of content to help bridge the gap between the end of that volume and the sequel series.
