The next arc for the anime reboot of Shaman King has been revealed with a new trailer and new promotional art.
The new trailer was uploaded to series producer King Amusement's official YouTube channel and offers a first look at the rebooted series' new arc, while the official Shaman King website provided further details and a new piece of art from the series. The next batch of episodes will present the Osorezan Revoir arc, a prequel story that covers the first meeting of protagonist Yoh Asakura and his potential fiance Anna Kyoyama. The art and trailer also show off Yoh's original guardian spirit, a two-tailed cat named Matamune.
While the prequel arc never appeared in any form during the original Shaman King anime adaptation from 2001, the story is highly regarded among fans of Hiroyuki Takei's original manga series. The absence of the arc from the original anime series meant some important story details were never fully explained, such as the origin of Yoh's bear claw necklace. The story also covers the previously unseen beginning of Yoh and Anna's engagement, which reveals that Anna did not always regard the young shaman as highly as she does now.
Shaman King began as a manga by Hiroyuki Takei, which was published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1998 and 2004. The manga received a short sequel series entitled Shaman King: Flowers, which was cancelled after the magazine that was hosting its serialization was discontinued. The series has continued however, with the currently an ongoing sequel manga Shaman King: The Super Star.
Takei's manga was originally adapted into an anime series in 2001, which ran for 64 episodes and came to an end in September 2002. While early episodes of this series faithfully adapted the source material, the anime eventually diverged from the manga, resulting in a significantly different second half that failed to adapt many of the manga's later arcs. The Osorezan Revoir arc was eventually adapted into a drama CD, but the 2021 reboot anime, which seeks to be a far more faithful recreation of the Takei's source material, will feature its first animated adaptation.
The first episode of the Osorezan Revoir arc will begin with Episode 30 on Nov. 4. The arc is scheduled to conclude with Episode 33 on Nov.25. The series is available for streaming outside of Japan on Netflix.
Source: YouTube and Shaman King Project
