Ever since Shaman King Remake was announced, I was ecstatic to say the least! This anime was one of the most underrated shonen series and often overlooked by the masses! Now that’s it’s getting a remake, more people will get to experience that greatness! However,m I’d be lying if I said Chocolove McDonell didn’t immediately pop into my mind! He’s likely the elephant in everyone mind when the anime got announced!
Yeah come on, even you have to admit that they gotta redesign his look. There’s no way that will fly in 2020! Now, I know some key individual will likely say that they shouldn’t tamper with the Chocolove McDonell look as that is how he appeared in the manga, but I heavily disagree with that mindset! Many creators have redesigned they works in the past if they felt like they didn’t like how it turned out or if they’ve made a mistake in the past! I mean look at him compared what they taught was acceptable back in the day:
Manga Anime Example of Negative stereotypical image of Africans aka Blackface!
They “kinda” tried with the anime but you think that design is flying in 2020? Even as a kid, it always bothered that he was the only one who never looked as cool as the other characters. Back then I didn’t understand the racial stigma and stereotypes behind it, but now I do! I don’t mind his back story at all, it’s just how he looks just isn’t acceptable anymore! I actually talked about it in my 2015 blog of Japanese people needing to stop with the stereo imagery of Black people! Hopefully we will see a change!
Luckily redesigns in Japan isn’t something new, they did it for HunterxHunter actually so why wouldn’t they do it for Shaman King!
I wanted to bring it up now, so that the discussuin can begin and hopefully our voices are heard by Hiroyuki Takei. Let me be clear once more, his origin story cannot be changed, I understand that. As one of the main characters, his past is what made him change and become the character he is at the end. Heck even the name, as much as I hate it, I could tolerate, but that design HAS TO GO!
