Shaman King

Shaman King is an anime that has not aged well, for multiple reasons, with some of them the series itself being to blame, and with some of them time itself is to blame.

To properly criticize Shaman King, I want you to understand that Shaman King came out from an era where shounens were the determined bread winner, and there were plenty of attempts of random shounen being released. At the same time, things like Naruto, Inuyasha, Hajime no Ippo and Hunter x Hunter were airing or finished airing and plenty of other commercial shounens were being released or about to start in that craze. I ... wouldn't call Shaman King succesful, as the way I have stumbled upon it I consider bizarre.

It started airing at 10 PM on a cartoon channel. What's bizarre about this is that it and Naruto, are the only two anime, that ever did that in my country. Naruto, understandably was a cashcow, it makes sense, but Shaman King was the experiment before it. No knowledge of it being an anime, aired quite late at night, signifying that it is intended to older audiences, and it did well. I stayed up every night to watch it and talked to friends about it and we enjoyed it. Outside of Dragon Ball and Yu-Gi-Oh, which aired on some random completely different channels, for most of the kids I knew, this was our first shounen experience, at an age where we could actually understand it. I expect that Shaman King was a cheap bargain for the audience my country tried to hit with it, and that it worked out quite well. Because Shaman King was really enjoyable and really enjoyed.

The reasons it was enjoyable for are that there finally was a cartoon that tried to define the characters as persons, and explain their state. It also kept all the familiar traits of other cartoons that we were seeing, which were in its humor, and had themes that weren't really explored here, but worked in other countries for their young audiences. No cartoon that I've watched at that point really attempted to create character development, or any overarching plot, and instead were mostly one offs. Shaman King did do that, maybe not that a level that I would consider commendable today, but it did do it. It was comedic, but it played off based on the personality of the characters, and also how they changed. Their actions did matter past the scope of the episode, and that really won me over. The fact that the world can get more complex, the characters can evolve, and the fact that story was going somewhere. There were pretty few examples of other shows that even managed to do an attempt at this at the time for me.

But its problem today is a simple one. Due to the competitive scene at the time, Shaman King falls short to almost every show, and pretty much any modern show, can easily outclass it. I mean, it had poor production values, with each fight having some still frames and barely enough contact was ever done between characters. Most of the budget was spent on making sure the designs and characters are consistently colorful and have enough details, but there really isn't any fighting choreography, which is a detriment of the series, and in action scenes the characters may sometimes look remarkably choppy. The story doesn't really have a pace or a clear structure, so that might mislead a lot of people into drawing conclusions about the series, which won't work in its favor, due to how laidback the attitude of its characters can be, or how many liberties it will take in its structure. It is filled with character archetypes and tropes that are across most shounen anime. And its overall theme is the power of friendship. Based on what I enjoy now, I can say for certain that if I came across Shaman King today, I would not care much for it and think it was bad. The factors that made it good at the time are that everything else didn't really have any sort of direction, when Shaman King did and I didn't really have a lot of the criterias of comparison I have to other shows now, that making Shaman King pure novelty to me.

This doesn't make Shaman King necesarily bad, it just means that it is hard for someone to determine whether they would like it or not, and that it is hard for it to get any sort of notoriety when there's far better looking options, and the fact that it is a shounen might turn off a lot of people because it is one. I personally don't consider it bad. While I think most of the fights were dull and uninteresting, with a few exceptions, what has driven the fights was the dialogue and the progression they went towards. The actual fight itself for me being dull was easy to overlook based on the fact that Shaman King knew how to properly state why what was on screen was happening, what was the goal, and where the character has to get to win. The quality of the fights in Shaman King will vary. Sometimes they can be really interesting, like a certain fight where someone led the main character into discovering a new power, and sometimes they can be really dull, which is when the characters simply win by showing their powers and doing some movements in order to meet the quota of "this is an action shounen".

I wouldn't honestly call Shaman King an action shounen as much as I would call it Final Fantasy XV. A group of guys, travelling around, getting powers, and enjoying off the road they are on is what I mean. It is often comedic and playing off the personalities of the characters, but it can also be serious whenever there's a "protecting my friends, family, morals, ideals etc" type of shounen shtick to be presented. It can be mature and well executed when the situation calls for it, but it can take its time with comedic moments insignificant for the overarching plot or simply go in a serious direction out of nowhere. Due to Shaman King bouncing too much between where it is going and where it wants to go, it can sometimes seem slice of lifey, and this made its overall pace to suffer, as the stakes were constantly being toyed with, and as a result of this, where Shaman King was moving towards wasn't 100% certain at all times. I know this is an odd thing to say when the series is titled Shaman King, in a series about people fighting each other to become Shaman King, but the story takes a lot of random detours or restructuring of how it goes about things, while mostly keeping the reward of being the Shaman King as ambiguous and potentially anything, this leading to an odd type of progression in the story, where you didn't know what the stakes were, until Hao happens.

Unfortunately, the execution of the villain, Hao, is not particularly good, as he is defeated through the power of friendship and he is portrayed as a generic edgy cartoon villain. So the series doesn't really benefit too much from having him as a villain as much outside of him being just a reason for the characters to become more serious. This villain is pretty much where Shaman King becomes a chore to suggest anyone to go through with it, since he becomes an important part of the anime, his manga counterpart is a lot more human and developed, and this counterpart doesn't really have any traits that make him that. He is a threat for the sake of being a threat. He doesn't completely weaken the series' high points, but since he's the focus, Shaman King becomes less entertaining as he becomes more and more prominent. Which doesn't really make me sell Shaman King in terms of the story, despite of having various elements well executed, and well implemented humor that plays off various character traits very well.

But still, my view of them today, with my view of them back then, isn't exactly in sync. For instance, the introduction of a major character in the series astonished me due to the fact that this was the first time I ever saw a guy being introduced by chopping a car in fucking half for absolutely no fucking reason out of nowhere. Today, the same scenes of him made me laugh my ass off, because of the fact that he gave me the impression of an edgy little troglodite upset at the fact that his parents never bought him Hot Wheels ™. The fact that he afterwards rants about he is a superior being while looking at some cars in traffic strengthened that remark. I might be more fond of the characters due to the fact that I've experienced them while being young, but I still think their personalities were executed quite well and that their motivations are quite understandable. In addition to that, the personalities they have play off each other well. While I don't think they singlehandedly are unique characters or have any particularly unique character arcs compared to other shounens, I do think they are executed well due to the fact they are simple. Partially is due to the adaptation not really adapting some of the parts that gave more depth to some characters, as the anime focuses more on making it a truer shounen.

I can't really recommend Shaman King on any other basis than curiosity. It is a story about some kids going through a tournament to become God and fighting each other with not particularly well done animation. The themes it has are common and you've probably seen something else similar to it at this point you would draw comparisons too. The only real praise I can give Shaman King is that in smaller circles, in places where its main competitors were gone, it could stand out. It managed to be a shounen and if you seek that, as long as you don't expect much in terms of fight scenes, it can do the work quite well. But note, it doesn't have any lasting impact or build anything unique of its own. It just executes the aspects of a shounen to a decent level.

Don't get me wrong, Shaman King was really the first anime/manga combo I fell in love with. I just wish it wasn't so painful to watch. Just to be clear, I watched the first half of the series in English, the second half in Japanese.

Story: 8/10
Wow is really the only thing to say about Shaman King's story. Throughout the entire series, I was constantly engaged with the twisting plot. What really struck me about the story was the way they never sacrificed the plot for side-quests of character development; they implemented it right into the plot. The only bad news for the story is that ... it never really seemed to flow like the manga did. However, the anime did something the manga never did: it ended.

Art: 6/10
Not really a fair category, as the animation was surely great for its time, but is quite lackluster by today's standards. The massive combat scenes, while enjoyable, skipped at some points and seemed kind of sketchy.

Sound: 7/10
I always got the sense that every sound was used where it was supposed to. Eventually though, the same sounds of the spirit's changing forms got to be as annoying as the Wilhelm scream. In addition, the character's voices in the English dub were awful.

Character: 7/10
I really connected with each and every character. Shaman King is a long anime, with a huge cast of characters, but the 64 episodes really gives a lot of room for each character to have his spotlight. The only thing stopping me from giving this a 10/10 is inconsistencies: Ren, the Chinese Shaman suddenly became "Lenny" from Britain. This, and other character changes between versions made it really difficult for switch from the English dub to the Japanese version when I got sick of the dub's voice acting.

Enjoyment: 1/10
Honestly, I almost dropped Shaman King quite a few times. Why? Simply because for times, it lagged, the plot branching off into a direction that made no sense, the voice work on the English Dub, character changes in between versions, all really built up to really ruin this anime for me.

Overall: 5/10
There really should never be so many inconsistencies in between dubs, and that was a huge problem for me, but I wasn't about to rewatch 30 episodes in Japanese that I had just seen in English just to "get back in the loop." Shaman King was a really good anime, but in my opinion, skip the anime and just read the manga.

Shaman King is a decent anime, that is also very enjoyable, although it is a decent anime, it has a couple of flaws, but the flaws are not noticeable if you pay that much attention, and If you really enjoy it then you will ignore then.

Pros:
-Is enjoyable
-Characters are enjoyable
[although somewhat bland and underdeveloped]
-A good villain
-Has a decent storyline

Cons:
... -Characters such as Trey, Jako are underdeveloped
-Some characters are bland
[ Should be called Filler King , as it has so much filler maybe 40%
-I feel like the story doesn't capitalize
on itself that much
-Animation is outdated
-Outdated

Anyway Shaman King is enjoyable, it's not the best anime out there and it's doesn't hold up that well, overall my personal rating of it is a 6/10, despite it being simple anime and having obvious flaws, my rating mostlyis based off my personal enjoyment of this anime.

I think this anime has completely ruined the concept of anime and the enjoyment of anime tbh. After watching this, I'll never watch an anime based off a manga again, bar a select few. If you are interested in this series, then do yourself a solid and read the manga. The anime will give you a false idea of the events that go on in the show when the gang begin their journey to Murica.

Anyway though,

Story:

The story is pretty decent. I didn't dislike it, although I'd say my main problem with the anime is that there is too much story and it sometimes overlaps how ... much action we get, and its really annoying.

Art:

The art is decent, though the manga has that flair to it that makes it better than the anime tbh. Though art isn't even really that much of a huge factor for me in determining the worth of anime though tbf. Several other factors come into play as well.

Sound:

Same as art. Its a minor factor for me unless its really shitty like Tokyo Underground. If V.As count though, omg, perfect. Hao's VA is so sexy tbh *drools*.

Character:

Characters are awesome here. You can tell Hiroyuki knows a thing or two about astrology. Hao's first opponents (like formally in the arena and all) was an X-Shit unit, and they were all air signs.

Then there's the first main characters introduced to the show who were all earth signs.

Yoh: Taurus
Manta: Virgo
Ren: Capricorn (props to Takei for making him a Cap, lol).

The other mains, Chocolove and HoroHoro, however, are both a fire and air sign respectively. Chocolove being a Libra and HoroHoro being a Saggitarius. I'm convinced Ryu is a Sag/Cap cusp (it would explain why he's such a flirt but at the same time gets so depressed at times.

Anna is likely a Scorpio and Lyserg is probs a Cancer. Oh, and the X-Laws main commanding officers are all water signs as well.

Marco: Scorpio
Lyserg: Cancer
Jeanne: Pisces.

Idk why, but I sense a pattern going on, but eh.

Anyway, that aside, characters are good.

Overall Enjoyment:

Unfortunately, despite the good characterization and story, it doesn't excuse the anime going on even though Terebi Tokyo never planned on finishing this show from start to finish. So yeah, I'm giving it a 5.

Again, READ THE MANGA if you are interested.

This absolutely brings back the memories as this series is one of the earliest animes that I’ve seen when I was younger in the television dubbed with our language. I was still naïve then with the anime world and would just enjoy animes with the television and be contented with it without even knowing if they will continue airing it until the end.

There’s a long review coming…………

About the STORY
I just love series that has most of the important elements in it. There’s comedy, drama, supernatural, fantasy, adventure, a little bit romance, and of course, tons of actions. Even for an old series, the action can ... still be considered sophisticated. This is a proof that even before, action series can still be tasteful. Though the storyline can be cliché or something that we’ve already seen, the plot is definitely original. It can be genuinely interesting and exciting. That’s why every revelation is very interesting and anticipating.

About the CHARACTERS
For a tournament kind of story, of course it is given that there is a huge range of character in this series. Some are mysterious, some are likeable and some are interesting but for some reason almost all of them can be really irritating. They really can work up a nerve because most of them have their own share of hypocrisies and that’s even with the protagonists themselves. The villains, particularly Hao is very irritating but the most irritating of all is the very hypocrite X-laws, particularly Lyzerg. But among the characters, one of my favorite is Chocolove. He may not be funny most of the times but when he hit it right, it’s genuinely hilarious. With so many episodes, there is obviously enough time for massive character developments whether for main or recurring characters. And most of it is because of Yoh or because of their interaction with one another. That kind of set-up might be kind of cliché but it is very effective that’s why it is always a sure hit. However, their skills development can be really incredibly far-fetched. One moment they’re so weak then the next minute they’re unbelievably strong. Perhaps, that’s to make them look cooler but it doesn’t work for me. Some characters can be extremely irritating when they force their beliefs with others, much like some hypocrites would do particularly the X-Laws. Characters that are obsess with their own righteousness. I really hate that. But boy it just feels so good when they are proven wrong by the protagonists.

About ASAKURA YOH
Yoh is one of the reasons why I just love very laid-back protagonists alongside Luffy of One Piece. They are very simple-minded, easy going, and not complicated characters. And the most amazing thing about them is that they are usually very strong and because they are easy going characters, their powers are not obviously shown or they don’t look so cocky about it. For some reason, they look a lot cooler when they are like that. Imagine very powerful characters yet they are very simple and stupid looking characters. I just love it when protagonists don’t boast about their skills. Also, they are always positive and carefree despite being in a dire situation. That way they are a lot more interesting, amazing and definitely likeable. And as always, this type of character is always able to make his enemies into his allies. If you would think about it, this kind of ability can be considered as the most terrifying of all. Being extremely charming and influential has always been a terrifying ability of human being. Hitler is a very good example of it. It is just so weird that his goal is to be lazy and have an easy life. It is funny yet admiring in a weird way. I also think that Yoh is the most laid-back and easy going character I’ve ever seen in my many years of watching animes and reading mangas. He’s too much laid-back that it is becoming irritating at times and he has the tendencies to become so hypocrite.

About the ANIMATION
Considering it is an old series, it is to be expected that the animation was not as amazing as of today’s animations. I also love how the spirits are made particularly when they are being used by the Shamans. Every spirit is very interesting.

Just like the others, this series also has its fair share of flaws even more now that I’ve seen so many kinds of series already. Though this series has almost all the important elements, the story has the tendencies to be far-fetched. Sometimes the storyline can be very predictable, boring, and runs in a very slow pace as well. The drama also oftentimes can be overly done and becomes so cheesy. Some characters can be over the top and become very hypocrite. And I am not saying all this just because I was younger then. Just like this series I’ve also watched and planning to watch all the series that I’ve encountered when I was younger. What I am trying to say is that there are still few series that I still find so amazing or I am even more amazed now that I’ve seen the original version. There are few series that from before and until now are still so amazing.

I think this kind of series works before and it was really amazing back then but unfortunately now, seeing it after so many years it really does feel very off. And I am not saying that series from before are all far-fetched because there are some series before that are absolutely amazing even if you watch it again now or watch for the first time like Hajime no Ippo, Detective Conan, Naruto, Cardcaptor Sakura, and of course One Piece which is much more older than this series. However, I strongly believe that with right improvement and with it’s no doubt very unique and interesting plot it can even compete to the few series that are still amazing even after so many years had passed. And it is still exciting for most of its important parts. Nonetheless, I am still genuinely glad that I am able to watch its original version.