Patch Cafe

So the sales numbers for Shaman King Flowers volume 3 are out. These sales numbers are only for the first 2 days of sales (and includes any sales prior to the release date of the 10th).

Sales: 52,669

Rank: 19th

This puts it on par with the average sales for the first week. There was probably 60,000-70,000 copies printed. So it will probably will sell out. It’s a bit lower rank this time, since Attack on Titan for all volumes has been topping the charts.

In other interesting news… Shaman King Zero volume 1 has gone into another reprint! I believe this will be the 4th reprint. What makes this even more notable, is that there is a new cover design:

The Yoh cover appears to be printed directly onto the volume, with Hao as the slipcover. Plus there is a new ad printed on the inside cover (which typically doesn’t happen in volume releases). So this is a very unique release! The last alternate cover that was released for one of Takei’s manga was for the first volume of Ultimo, which has a similar design (and did not have a very large print run).

For those not living in Japan… good luck trying to import this copy! Since it has the same name as the original printing… if you need to order it online, it’s will be luck if you get this new version or the original.

In a surprise announcement, the original Shaman King anime will be streamed on NicoNico in Japan. The following is the scheduled dates:

Episodes 1-21 – May 11th 16:00

Episodes 22-43 – May 12th 16:00

Episodes 44-64 – May 13th 18:00

They claim that they are doing this special “3-day showing” for Shaman King Flowers’ Third volume release. If you want to watch it (you may need a proxy service) you can go here for the links: http://blog.nicovideo.jp/niconews/ni039470.html

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Now here’s where things could get interesting… Takei didn’t release a Shaman King Flowers chapter last month. This month we get a shorter chapter. Could he be working on something? Could a new Shaman King anime be announced at the end of the stream in 3 days from now? Are they testing the waters to see how many views these streams will get to see if there is enough interest for an anime?

This should be interesting…

So back on April 1st (that’s April Fools Day) I posted up a joke news story about a brand new Shaman King videogame. Sadly, they are not making it. It’s not real. Every year I try to come up with something that’s believable, but it hasn’t happened yet. Strangely I do have a pretty good record.
Many, many years ago I also predicted that the Shaman King anime got licensed. Oops, sorry about that. Well, 4Kids doesn’t have the license anymore (they lost it on December 31st 2009). Last year I did a rumor about a Shaman King/Jumbor/Ultimo crossover manga. Well, that hasn’t happened yet, but there was alot of cross promotion this year.

So for this year, I actually had this idea a couple months ago. Of course I sat on the idea until mid-March… so I only just had the ad made, not any mock-screenshots. So speaking of which, here’s a “clean verison” of the fake ad I created (click to enlarge to full size).

I started with the logo at the top, since we needed some English in there to show that it’s a crossover. Next I needed to make a logo for the game, since that makes it cooler. The “Shaman King” is from the Remix Track volumes. I just wiped out the color from the logo and added my own gradient. Next adding in the “of Fighters” logo and a poor translation of “Shaman King of Fighters” in Japanese below it. I took the “flare” form the logo and added it back to the “F” in the subtitle.

Next I started to build the layout. The border was taken from Mankin Fanbook 2. Next it was grabbing the stock images from the Shaman Files. Except the current Hana, that’s from somewhere, it’s been used alot of places.

I picked the Vita… since that’s easier to write in English. The Japanese was written in English and then tossed into Google Translate. Jezzy helped clean it back up to make it a bit more “Japanese.” But anyone who knows Japanese could tell that it’s not how you would write anything. The finishing touch was adding the manga panels in the background. Great way to fill the white space.

So to make it look crummier… added some grain to the image. Then print it out, and slide it into an old copy of Jump Kai. Then take some crummy photos. Then upload the photos to a Japanese website… and bam! Make a news post and you got it done.

Every year I try to make it better and better! So watch out for next year, since who knows what I’ll do next! And if this does become a videogame… then… that would be awesome! Sorry for disappointing anyone who was looking for this game (but I really want it to happen! Maybe it will inspire someone to make a fangame? Let me know if it does!)

Oops! Looks like it’s an April Fool’s Joke! I guess if you translate the Japanese it doesn’t make alot of sense…! Now is that rumor about a Vomic also an April Fool’s joke…. hmmmm…

For the full details about this joke story… read the news post here.

So remember how Shaman King Flowers took a break last month? Well, hot off the presses from what looks to be next issue of Jump Kai… is the announcement of a new Shaman King videogame for the Vita! AWESOME!!! So here’s the pics:

So here’s what I can gather…. I’m sure Dit will chime in with a better/more accurate translation soon!

- Called “Shaman King of Fighters” (I’m guessing Takei made a pun with the title there!?)

- It looks to be using the “King of Fighters” game engine…. or is a cross-over?

- Coming to Playstation Vita in 2013!

- 36 playable characters?

- It looks like you can fight with the characters at multiple ages? Kid, teenager, and adult!?

- More information next month (May 10th)

I’m so excited for this!!! The last Japanese Shaman King videogame was so good. I’m sure if this sells well, then we will get a new Shaman King anime. I bet this is just testing the waters to see how it goes. Shaman King is back in full force now!

Sources: http://m2.upup.be/CzrPP7cpnJ ,  http://n2.upup.be/5gpsXdrPoM

Go here and vote for Shaman King! Do it now, the poll is open only for one week!

So Viz has been putting up the original Shaman King manga volumes digitally on their website. And you know what, they have been selling well! Almost all of the volumes have been in the “top 10″ digital manga volume sales every week a new volumes is released, since volume 19.

It’s probably alot of people who read the Shaman King manga back in print Shonen Jump days who are trying to catch up on the story for a cheap price.

So if you haven’t purchased the digital copies of Shaman King lately… do that! They have web browser, kindle, iPod, iPad, and Android options! The more people buy (and vote!) the better chance they will also license the Kang Zeng Bang and Flowers! Go here and vote for Shaman King!

So really, the most important thing is that…HAO IS NOW COLORFUL!

Yaaaaayyyyyy! Gorgeous, isn’t he? And look! The cape is made out of real fabric! I can’t wait for preorders to start on this guy. I’m passing on Anna (who I so far have not seen photos of. She may be MIA), but I most definitely getting Hao. No Ren so far :’(

There are a couple other things to report, too. First, even though I don’t like this character, even I can admit this is pretty cool!

One more thing that came out of left-field:

Terriermon! I mean…that thing from Mappa-Douji! I *don’t* think this comes with Hao and is just a random thing since the site I found it on (ComiTama ftw) listed it at the bottom, and not the top with Hao. I could be wrong. I wasn’t there. Maybe someday we will be!

If anything else interesting comes up, we’ll be sure to pass it along!

So, it seems that Winter Wonder Festival will be held next weekend! Time goes by so fast…

News on the mankin figures? Not much yet, but I found something pretty interesting. As you may know, the WonFes is famous for its fan-made figures. Last time people could buy these two garage kits:

Cool huh? Well, there’s also a fan-made mankin figure on sale this time.

I personally didn’t see it coming… but I’m actually pretty happy!

Also they may have the painted versions of Hao/Anna on display, so expect pictures! (?)
And a new (official) character figure might be announced as well. Who knows.

Guess we’ll have to wait.

Also someone else will be selling these cute Jumbor Horn hairpins!!!