Shaman King

Shaman King (シャーマンキング) was a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei. Shaman King follows the adventures of Yoh Asakura as he attempts to hone his shaman skills to become the Shaman King in the Shaman tournament.

Shaman King was serialized in the Japanese manga anthology Weekly Shōnen Jump between 1998 and 2004 and has been collected in thirty-two tankōbon volumes. Since its publication, Shaman King has spawned a substantial media franchise. The manga has been adapted into an animated television series produced by Xebec and co-produced by TV Tokyo. The series has also spawned numerous video games and a trading card game.

Viz Media licensed the manga for English-language publication in the United States and Canada and has released twenty-seven volumes as of March 2010. 4Kids Entertainment obtained the rights to the Shaman King anime where it premiered on 4Kids network Foxbox on August 30, 2003.

Plot
Manta Oyamada, a shrimpy, studious middle-school student from Tokyo, attempts a shortcut one night through the graveyard to get home after a late night of cram school. While travelling through it, he encounters Yoh Asakura and his "companions": a graveyard filled with ghosts. Yoh reveals himself to be a shaman, a medium between the world of the living and the world of the dead. Yoh also demonstrates Shamans' ability to unite with ghosts to achieve a shared goal. Quickly after meeting one another, Yoh and Manta become best friends while Yoh uses his shamanic abilities to help them out through various tasks.

The Shaman Fight is a battle held once every 500 years between competing shamans to choose a winner who will become the highly sought-after "Shaman King", one who is able to contact the Great Spirit (the spirit that every soul will eventually go back to). The winner gains the ability to reshape the world in any way they want. Anna Kyoyama, Yoh's fiancée, soon enters the picture and prescribes a brutal training regimen, in order to prepare Yoh for the tournament. Thus begins the plot that will lead Yoh on a journey that will lead him to befriend Ryu, Tao Ren, Horohoro, Faust VIII, Lyserg Diethel, and Joco.

During the Shaman Fight, Yoh encounters Hao Asakura, a strong shaman who wishes to eradicate humans and create a world for shamans. At the end of the shaman battles where the remaining teams consist of Yoh and his friends, the X-Laws, and Hao's team, the remaining teams decide to forfeit the tournament crowning Hao the title of Shaman King. As Hao is led away, they decide to attack Hao during the time he is merging with the great spirit which is in a coma. To do so, Yoh and his friends must defeat the The Patch Tribe members who are obliged to serve under the new Shaman King.

Once defeating the ten Patch members, Hao is awakened as the Shaman King. He defeats Yoh and all his friends and absorbs their souls. Inside the Great Spirit, Yoh, Ren, Horohoro, Lyserg, and Joco battle Hao with the five legendary spirits; The Spirit of Earth, the Spirit of Thunder, the Spirit of Rain, Spirit of Fire and the Spirit of Wind. When associates of Yoh and his friends begin appearing in the Great Spirit, it is revealed the Great Spirit granted Hao's wish so someone may bring back his mother's spirit. With Anna's help, Hao's mother is brought to the Great Spirit. Hao's mother tells him he must forgive the Humans for murdering her in order to be saved. Hao decides to postpone his plan to eradicate humans and to observe how Yoh and his friends will change the world.

Seven years later, Hana Asakura awaits at a station for the five legendary warriors and his parents, Yoh and Anna.

Manga
The chapters of Shaman King were written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei. They were published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1998 to 2004. The 285 chapters were collected into 32 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. The first volume was released on December 3, 1998, and volume 32 on January 5, 2005. Only 31 volumes were released once the publication ended, and the release of volume 32 (meant to be published on December 3, 2004) was delayed. Shueisha reported they would only publish volume 32 if they receive evidence of demand from approximately 50,000 people.

During the Jump Festa 2008, Shueisha announced a kanzenban reprint of the entire series. The series is called Shaman King Kanzen-Ban, or Perfect Edition. This release reprinted the entire series in 27 volumes complete with new clear image overlays on the covers while concluding with the never-before-published "true ending." They are a total of sixteen new chapters which expanded the chapters' numbers to 300. It also added two chapters showing the fight between Marco and Luchist Lasso which was skipped in the original publication. The first volume was released on March 3, 2008, and volume 27 was published on April 3, 2009.

Viz Media licensed the series for an English-language release in North America, with chapters initially being serialized in the Shonen Jump. It started in the issue 3 from 2003, but stopped as of the September 2007 issue. Viz is also publishing the volumes from the manga first at irregular date and now every two months. Volume 1 was released on September 3, 2003 and, 24 volumes have been published by Viz. In the US release, VIZ Media began editing the lips of Joco, an African-American character. The lips are reduced in size to avoid a Blackface stereotype. The language in reprints of early volumes was revised to remove profanity.

Side Stories
The side story Funbari no Uta, which lasts for five chapters, is set seven years after the end of the manga series and features Hana Asakura and his journey with his uncle Ryu to gather up the 5 elemental warriors: Horo Horo, Tao Ren, Lyserg Diethel, Chocolove McDaniel, and Yoh Asakura.

The side story Mappa-Douji shows Hao's childhood in his original life. It follows the story of Hao in feudal Japan through the death of his mother at the hands of humans, meeting his first spirit friend, and developing his mind reading powers and other advanced shamanic abilities. The side story Relax follows Hao gathering followers for the tournament years before it started.

The side story "Flowers" follows Hana Asakura. It can be assumed that he is a teenager at this point. Hana comes home one day only to learn that Tao Men, his servants (previous minions of Hao), and Horohoro will be staying there. Angry, Hana leaves and not too long after meets his uncle Hao, who introduces Hana to "his future wife", the daughter of Silva.

Anime


The episodes of the Shaman King anime series are directed by Seiji Mizushima and produced by Xebec. The episodes were aired between July 4, 2001 and September 25, 2002 on TV Tokyo in Japan and spanned sixty-four episodes. 4Kids Entertainment obtained the rights to the Shaman King anime where it premiered on 4Kids network Foxbox on August 30, 2003. The final episode aired on September 3, 2005. The episodes were collected into sixteen DVD compilations by King Records and released between October 30, 2001 and January 22, 2003. The DVDs were later collected and released in three box sets between August 27, 2008 and December 25, 2008. As of September 2009, two DVD compilations of the English adaption have been released by Funimation Entertainment released in an uncut form.

Soundtracks

 * Shaman King Image Album
 * Shaman King Vocal on Parade!!
 * Shaman King: Melody of the Spirits
 * Shaman King: Drama & Character Song Album Osorezan Revoir - Prologue to Shaman
 * Shaman King "Osore-zan Au revoir"
 * Shaman Fight of Voice series
 * Shaman King: The Complete
 * Shaman King Single Vocal Album