Can you even truly call yourself an anime franchise these days unless you have some kind of mobile game?
We’ve reported on other anime mobile games here on the J-List blog before. Some of them launch and last for quite a while and some of them fizzle out quickly. It’s always a crapshoot on which one it’ll be, which is kind of hilarious yet appropriately ironic.
The latest title to join the ranks of anime with their own gacha game is Shaman King. If you live in Japan, you’re probably already watching the remake on Netflix, unlike the rest of us poor slobs who have to wait for it to premiere at some point later this year. According to the announcement which appeared first on 4Gamer, the anime will get a mobile gacha game before the end of the year on both iOS and Android devices. No word on if the game will ever be available in English, but if my magic 8 ball is correct, the signs point to “no”.
Titled “Shaman King Fubari Chronicle”, the game is being produced by Studio Z and will feature a special Mangatic mode which will allow players to relive the story from the manga with brand new illustrations (which is a really fancy way of saying that they didn’t want to write any original content for the game). The game will feature 3D battle animation and will allow players to form their own unique teams throughout the game in order to do battle and advance the story. Pre-registration for the game will open in July 2021.
Created by Hiroyuki Takei, Shaman King was originally a manga series that ran from 1998 to 2004 in Weekly Shonen Jump and was compiled into 32 volumes. It received one 64-episode television anime adaptation during that time but, since the manga was still ongoing at the time, it didn’t get a very satisfactory ending. That brings us to this year when a brand new reboot anime produced by studio Bridge premiered in April which will run for 52 episodes and adapt the entire manga series. The manga was out of print for many years until Kodansha rescued the rights to the series and began re-releasing it in English.
In the series, the main character is a young shaman named Yoh who dreams of becoming the Shaman King by winning the Shaman Fight, a special battle royale that occurs once every 500 years. The winner of this fight will be able to connect with the Great Spirit and reshape the world in their image.
Shaman King was a really important title to me in my early otaku days. It aired on the Fox network on Saturday mornings, and I remember getting up early every Saturday so that I could watch the latest adventures of Yoh Asakura and his friends. I never got to finish that initial anime, but I’m hoping that once this remake premieres on Netflix in my country I’ll finally be able to check it out! So anytime you want to announce a premiere date, Netflix, I’ll be waiting.
