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Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - The Once and Future Shaman King
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Gem-Bug
 Posts: 1332 |
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Much props to Jean-Karlo's extensive knowledge of the series! Shaman King is my favorite manga, and this new series is doing the source material....well, very good, though as stated, doing it very quickly.
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MesousaGaby
 Posts: 71 |
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It is rather unfortunate that Anna's literally just there to sleep with Yoh. She doesn't seem to have a semblance of a character arc or even have rivals. She's this feisty, focused and intense girl, but because this is a Shonen, she's liteally just there to be a love interest. That's it.
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Matros
Posts: 336 |
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The animation leaves a lot to be desired too. It's shockingly limited, it somehow moves even less than the original adaptation. |
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KitKat1721
 Posts: 976 |
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I could barely get through this first season to be honest. I have some fond memories of the original manga/tv series (although I wouldn't say those memories are that extensive past a certain point), but even I could tell how fast these episodes were going and I found it impossible to get attached to anyone in the show. Its really unfortunate too because when this reboot was announced I was honestly super excited about it! I also thought certain chapters got butchered (Eps 1-3 & 7 were especially egregious). If anything though, it just motivated me to finally finish the manga even more (outdated character design warts and all).
Also, I definitely switched to the sub after like... three episodes lol. Its pretty unfortunate one of the few times this column talks extensively about a dub, its one of the worst ones from a competent studio I've seen this year aside from maybe Amazon's Eva Rebuild re-dubs. I already went in with somewhat low expectations when I saw the ADR director is almost completely new to directing anime dubs in English (the majority of his work being live-action and/or Portuguese dubbing), but I didn't have any issues with his directing. Even the script, which is usually really hit or miss at VSI, wasn't that much of an issue. The best way I can describe this dub is that its really vocally dissonant due to being very reflective of casting trends of the early 00s vs now. Some voices just don't pair together or work off of each other in a cohesive way. And considering the ensemble as a whole and how voices sound together is so important in a dub, but doesn't get discussed nearly as often as say "oh this specific voice sounds perfect" or "this voice sounds off," etc... If you as a casting director are very set on cast reprisals, make sure you cast new roles accordingly and with those reprisals in mind. Or be selective with cast reprisals/make directorial adjustments so the whole show sounds like a unified vision. Manta's voice next to Yoh and Ren's female voices is the biggest example of "how wow these people sound weird as hell together in a scene," but I'd argue its the same with a couple of reprisals, like Anna and Horohoro. (RIP Sean Schemmel who probably would have sounded fine, but was replaced by Kaiji Tang at some point in between the first Netflix dub trailer leaking, where its clearly Schemmel's voice, and the show premiering). I think there are legacy dubs out there where I think they took certain considerations when casting new characters and whether or not they would work well off that veteran, early-2000s cast (or when bringing a legacy voice actor back to a mostly new cast). Shaman King was not one of them. I'm glad longtime fans are happy hearing those same voices but it did not do this show any favors in my opinion (and I also grew up watching the 4Kids dub). |
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Silver Kirin
Posts: 1254 |
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I watched the original Shaman King anime when it aired here in Latin America in Fox Kids (which was the uncensored version), so I was very excited when they announced the remake and so far I've been enjoying it, and I'm also rewatching the original and I have to admit that the reboot's pace is very fast and I miss the episodes that focused on Ryo and HoroHoro (I don't know if they were filler but they gave some development), perhaps this is due to reboot having less episodes than the original. One improvement in my opinion is the animation, the original was made when digital animation began replacing hand painted cels and it hasn't aged well visually now that I'm rewatching it.
I have to gave some kudos to the Neutral Spanish cast though, they managed to bring back almost everyone, the only major voices changes are for the characters of HoroHoro, Bason, and Hao (Hao's original actress voiced him in the first episode, she had to be replaced by a male voice actor due to health issues). Anna's original actress came back as well, after years of inactivity, they also brought back the original translator, Brenda Nava. The only thing it lacks is a translated cover of the OP and ED like they did for the original, though I understand that nowadays is difficult to get the rights to translate anime songs, at least the original singer made a cover for Soul Salvation and it sounds amazing. |
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Tenbyakugon
 Posts: 801 Location: Ohio, United States |
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Unpopular opinion: 4Kids’ dub is better than this one. I found myself switching to Japanese audio for the second episode.
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FinalVentCard
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 656 |
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Thank you! I was massively excited for this reboot when it was first announced. I always regretted that Shaman King was never allowed to finish its run in Shonen Jump Magazine (it was dropped a few chapters into the final rounds of the Shaman Fight). I was quite worried I was carrying on too much.
The bar is on the floor, but as far as leading ladies in a Shonen Manga go Anna is better than many others. But between this reboot being so fast and the earlier parts of the series giving the cast so little room to breathe it was even easier for Anna to get lost in the shuffle than even Horohoro. Suffice to say, they cast Megumi Hayashibara as Anna for a good reason and later arcs see her taking charge in a big way that few Shonen heroines are allowed to. Also, she was even playable in Jump Ultra Stars, which deeply amused me back in the day when I imported it.
I had heard that Sean had recorded all 13 episodes but was replaced at the eleventh hour over creative differences. A real pity. Ryu's new voice is good, but I always needed a minute whenever he opened his mouth and wasn't speaking with his Spanish accent. It's like hearing King DeDeDe and he isn't talking like Foghorn Leghorn. |
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tintor2
 Posts: 2177 |
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She has an actual scene where she claims that women should stay at home while their husbands work, Still, Mizushima's old series couldn't adapt her actual backstory with Yoh when the two were younger and actually developed a relationship. I hope the studio tries avoiding this type of flashbacks again. For a plus side, Anna at least was made more sympathetic than in the entire manga thanks for emotions displayed like in the opening as an example. Sadly, similar to Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, this series really suffers from really rushed pacing and in contrast to Bones, this studio can barely work on fight scenes which didn't age that well. The animations use speed lines and freeze frames. I hope it gets better but sadly, having read the manga, I know how it's going to be, and rather than proper fights, Takei develops an interest into skipping every fight's finale and jump to the next chapter for some reason. Even the ending is kinda controversial for how they treat the antagonist. While, it's nice they revised Chocolove's lips, the writers had no idea what was going on as Ryu remember a darkskinned friend with actual racial lips when meeting Chocolove.... |
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merr
Posts: 489 |
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THIS. The dissonance between Yoh’s “boy voice” and Manta’s is just too much. It’s jarring. The audio engineering is also very sloppy. You can hear the time dilation on certain characters’ voices as they stretch the audio to match flaps. Other characters were clearly recorded remotely and sound echoey (I’m more understanding about that). The worst offender is Faust, whose voice is stretched or compressed almost any time his mouth appears on screen. It reminds me of the ancient Ocean dubs that used WordFit to make every sentence end with the character talking a mile a minute. |
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Break Xerxes
 Posts: 223 |
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As someone who has never seen or read Shaman King before, I really love it. Faust VIII is definitely my favorite character and I love his voice both in English and Japanese. Definitely plan on watching the old anime and reading the manga.
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KitKat1721
Posts: 976 |
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Yeah, its definitely a weird case that we likely won't get answers for (especially considering he played two characters, so who knows if he was originally only brought back for one or both). Actors working on a dub have very little, if any, creative control over anything, so I assumed it was something more personal (some conflict with the ADR studio or director, NDA break, etc...) than anything to do with the dub's direction. Like if higher-ups decided last minute against Ryo's accent or something (doubtful it would have gotten that far), they could have easily just re-recorded with him again unless there was a scheduling issue, or at least keep him in his other role. I do think he would have done a good job with Amidamaru at least after hearing him in Mars Red very recently, but I think Kaiji Tang was a solid replacement from what I saw (he's killing it as the lead in Megalobox: Nomad currently).
Yeah, taking the cast as a whole into account is something I've seen a few directors talk about and how its a vital aspect, but its not talked about often. On one hand, Fruits Basket (2019) is a good example, especially because the original 2001 show premiered only a few days apart from Shaman King. I think they definitely took certain considerations when casting new characters and whether or not they would work well off that veteran, early-2000s cast. Considerations like why you probably wouldn't cast someone with a super young-sounding voice as spoiler[Machi (even though she is only 15 and her JPN counterpart does have a very young/higher-register voice) -] Because you don't want her to sound distractingly out of place next to Eric Vale's older-sounding Yuki. On the other hand, Pokemon Journeys is another example that I think works but for the opposite reason. The directorial style of that show has never really changed in the grand scheme of things, even when the actors, directors, and writers have. Its always had that early Saturday morning cartoon vibe, even when its on Netflix. So when there is a cast reprisal in 2020 from the early days (like Wayne Grayson), it almost always works and fits pretty seamlessly.
Netflix dubs are all SAG-AFTRA union contracts as of the last couple years, so I'm actually less understanding about that tbh. Especially when its way more noticeable than most current Funimation dubs (who have way more people working on more shows for way less). Last edited by KitKat1721 on Thu Aug 19, 2021 2:50 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Minos_Kurumada
Posts: 1193 |
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Regarding Anna's pregnancy and the fade to black scene:
I remember calculating the ages and time lapses years ago and got to the conclusion that she got pregnant at least spoiler[2 years] after the series began, I have no idea of what happened in that fade to black scene, but she didn't get pregnant there. But yeah, Yoh had more action at 15 than most Shonen heroes older than him. Oh, and regarding the Gon Freecss comment, I super-duper doubt he has gone all the way but there is a joke during the Ant's Arc about how one of Gon's responsibilities on his island was to take care of women tourists who arrived by boat and that he is actually some kind of male hostess and can be a lady killer is he wants. |
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1dbad
 Posts: 726 Location: Texas |
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I've only ever seen the original show subbed, but I find the new dub fascinating. Edited dub VAs reprising their roles in an uncut dub is rare, and having some of those directed differently (like Lisa's Jun lacking a British accent this time around) is even rarer. I'm not surprised reaction is mixed. The performances you're partial to are dependent on which version of the original anime you prefer. (Like I actually like most of the new VAs, for better matching what the Japanese VAs were doing)
That said, I think KitKat1721 makes a GREAT point about dissonance. I think there are two things they could've done to help prevent that. 1) Have the entire dub recorded in New York. I'm not against mixed region dubs in a general sense, but I think sticking to 4Kids pool of voice actors would've helped ensure the dub had a consistent sound, like the old dub did. 2.) Recast the way 4Kids would've. I actually think the new Ryu is a great example. Sure his voice is deeper than Sean's Rio was, but the Elvis-esque delivery is 100% the kind of thing a 4Kids dub would've done. But things like Yoh and Ren work less well, because they made an effort to match the Japanese rather than replace them with another guy the way 4Kids would've done. You have two different schools of thought going on in one dub, and it tends to clash. As for the series itself, I'm in agreement with pacing being its biggest issue. The fast-pace works for some episodes, but some are so terribly rushed I find myself greatly preferring the old anime's version. (like Lilirara's whole bit in episode 13) It's sad because I am enjoying how much closer this incarnation is to the manga's version of events otherwise. Hopefully it's something that'll improve once we get to the content the old anime didn't adapt. (like how Brotherhood rushed through a lot of the stuff we had seen in the '03 anime) |
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Kirki
Posts: 296 |
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Me: "I wonder if I should watch the Shaman King reboot."
Column: "13-15 year old kids are having s*x and getting pregnant" Me: "You know what. No. I'm completely fine never, ever, like EVER touching this." |
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tintor2
Posts: 2177 |
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Within the amount of perverted stuff, probably turning Ryu is a comic relief was probably Takei's best decision. He hits on everybody and karma hits him bad whenever he is getting too close to creepy. Probably his feelings for Lyserg were better written back in 2001 due to how innocent they were played while in Takei's take the kid gets awkward sensation. He might be underage but it sure feels unreal. Probably his best part was was when he starts suffering depression over Lyserg joining the X Laws and Yoh comforts him to the point changing his hair in the process
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