News Flash for April 2011

Sorry for the lack of updates, my schedule was very busy over the last few months, but I plan on putting alot more focus back on this website shortly. Until then, here’s the big stories that need to be covered (in very short form):

Shaman King Remix Editions have been released

Currently the first two volumes are released. Each volume contains a small side story, similar to the style and timeframe as “Snake’s Legs” from Mentalite. In volume 1, the extra is four pages long. In volume 2, the extra is three pages long. New Shaman King Remix volumes will be sold every two weeks, and contain the same reworked art from the Shaman King Kang Zeng Bang editions.

Jumbor was on the cover of Ultra Jump

Takei drew a brand new cover for Ultra Jump again. In addition  you can read the entire volume of Ultra Jump from last month (Issue 4, from 3/19/11) for free online. No region-locking, no download: http://info.nicovideo.jp/seiga/ultra/

Ultimo recieves a color page in JumpSQ

Even though Ultimo continues to be near the bottom of the ranking of chapters in Jump SQ, it now recieves yet another color page this month.

Ultimo will be absent from the June issue of Jump SQ

Takei will be taking a one month break from Ultimo in the June issue. No reason is stated. However, when Jumbor took a shorter number of pages for an issue, shortly afterwards the Shaman King Remix was announced. It’s most likely that Takei is working on another project…. which could be the following….

Ultimo will recieve a VOMIC in June 2011

A Vomic is the combination between “Video and Comic” but is more closely connected to a Drama CD with pictures. The Vomic will take a collection of chapters (often 3), and present them with a full voice-over for the entire chapter or a selection. They are free to view online with no region restrictions (however it’s completely in Japanese). The voice actors have been announced for the following:

Agari Yamato = Konishi Katsuyuki (was Amidamaru in Shaman King)
Ultimo = Nakajima Megumi (was Ranka Lee in Macross Frontier)
Kodaira Rune = Nabatame Hitomi

The casting of Nakajima Megumi is a very interesting sign for this vomic. It’s highly likely this is a testing ground for an Ultimo anime and will be using this to judge reception towards it. Shaman King also had a successful line of music CDs (Specifically the S.F.O.V. line), and with Nakajima Megumi as a lead character, it looks like a music CD may be in the future for Ultimo before the end of the year.

(Source: http://mangahelpers.com/forum/showpost.php?p=2403515&postcount=1034 )

Ultimo volume 5 Japanese release date announced

On August 4th, 2010 the fourth volume of the Ultimo manga series by Hiroyuki Takei and Stan Lee was released. This volume contained chapters 13-15.  There are no notable changes from the original chapters printed in JumpSQ.

In the next volume preview, Ultimo volume 5 is being listed as a November release date. This release date could be changed (as was with Ultimo volume 4) as we get closer to the actual release date.

In the September issue, the Ultimo chapter will be 46 pages long and contain a color page.

Ultimo confirmed for Feb 2009

Ultimo in SQ adRecently the JumpSQ website updated with it’s preview for it’s 3rd issue for the year which will be on February 4th, 2009. As seen on the website, and in the picture to the left, Ultimo will be entering JumpSQ for a complete monthly serialization. Our previous article was incorrect and we are sorry for the incorrect date. However, this is sooner than rumored, which is a good thing! We’ll keep you updated if more information about this issue is announced. It is very likely that Ultimo will be on the cover of this JumpSQ issue.

Rumor: Ultimo to enter JumpSQ soon?

With Jump Festa finishing up in Japan, some new rumors about Ultimo coming to JumpSQ are flying around. However, I can’t pin point the exact locaton or source of this information.  It appears that Ultimo will enter JumpSQ in April of 2009 in Japan with chapter 1 and begin its monthly serialization. No news on when Viz will release Ultimo chapter 1 in English or in what form.

When we are able to confirm this piece of information, we will let you know!

Ultimo in August JumpSQ?

This little tidbit just came down from the mysterious “insider sources” from Japan. The latest rumor is that Ultimo will enter JumpSQ starting in the August issue this year. This sounds like it will be very possible. As of right now, it’s still classified under as a “rumor” until an official statement is made, which will probably be confirmed at the end of the month with the release of the next JumpSQ issue in Japan.

There has been no updates on the USA release of Ultimo at this time.

Note from Admin:
Sorry for the lack of updates. In the upcoming weeks, I’ll be sure to get back up to speed with faster updates! Some personal stuff got in the way, but that should all be taken care of in the next week. Coming up soon:

- Takei’s interview with Stan Lee
- Volume 16 Review
- Kang Zeng Bang comparisons
- Any and all the latest news from Japan and around the world!

New Reprint Volume info [Updated]

(Updated once as of 02-06-08, with new scan)
(Updated again on 02-06-08, with English scan and corrected information)

Note: Some orginal, preliminary translations were incorrect. They have thus been corrected. Some errors may still exist, but little to no importance is lost.

Well, our original guess was March 4th, 2008 for reprint volumes 1 & 2 has been proven correct today. Below is a LQ scan of an ad for the reprint manga volumes of Shaman King in JumpSQ#3 which has just been released.

(Click below for the orginal scan and the English scanlation)

HQ version of Jump SQ adEnglish version of JumpSQ SK ad

¤ So, the first “new” thing, was the cover overlay, which was already reported.

¤ Again, reported earlier, there will be a proper ending for the series. So far, no hints on what’s in it, besides finishing up the Shaman Fight, and more fights to come.

¤ The next is new “Spirit-ball form,” which was already known, and mentioned above in this same ad, which will be on the cover of some volumes.

¤ This next one is the “Binding art.” On the binding of each volume there is a small piece of artwork. Often it’s just a snapshot of the cover. However, with reprint volumes they tend to make some continuation of artwork that spans across all the volumes. So this will be a small picture that will grow as new volumes are released.

¤ The “World Tour” is a scary concept. This is the term Takei used after Shaman King ended the first time, since he took a trip out to France. Then he took a trip again after Jumbor was finished. Of course this could have the meaning that Shaman King is becoming more international or something. Even with this better scan, it’s hard to tell exactly what this new section will be, but it will contain at least 1 color page, and it’s not the new chapters.

¤ The final one is cut off. But it starts with “Character (something).” Some possibilities are:
- New Character designs
- New Character introduction
- New Character pin-ups (such as posters and such)

Finally, the last 2 comments tell what will be on the covers of the first 2 volumes. Again, nothing we haven’t already predicted.

As of right now, it still doesn’t show that Shaman King will be in March’s JumpSQ issue. So it may be a few more months off before it jumps into JumpSQ. They may want to hold off and see how well the reprint volumes sell before adding it to JumpSQ. 

The ISBNs are:
Volume 1 : 978-4-08-874203-8
Volume 2: 978-4-08-874204-5

So keep watching Shaman King Nation for more news updates! We will also be posting locations to pre-order these volumes once this information is distributed to retailers.

Sources/Resources:
¤ http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/akaumeumeyuri/39833646.html (LQ RAW scan, no longer referenced)
¤ Dit (Finding the news)
¤ Dit’s friend (HQ Raw scan)
¤ BadS (translation)
¤ Un-named translator
¤ andysislands (ad scanlation)
¤ Comic-News via ANN (ISBN)