Shaman King
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Shaman King (シャーマンキング Shāman Kingu), also known as "Mankin", is a manga and anime series by Hiroyuki Takei. The manga ended prematurely in Japan with 32 volumes in total. The anime concluded its run with a total of 64 episodes.
The Shaman King series started in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in Japan, eventually leading to the creation of an anime series, which was directed by Seiji Mizushima, co-produced by TV Tokyo, Nihon Ad Systems and Xebec and aired on TV Tokyo. This is a Shōnen anime. In North America, the manga was initially printed in Viz Media's Shonen Jump, but stopped as of the September 2007 issue, choosing instead to release one volume every two months.
The Shaman King trading card game is available in Japan and North America.
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[edit] 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 worlds of the living and the worlds of the dead. Yoh also demonstrates Shamans' ability to unite with ghosts to achieve a shared goal. Over the first few chapters, Yoh and Manta become best friends while Yoh uses his shamanic abilities to help them out through various normal 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 deep slumber. 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.[1] The souls that Hao absorbed however, work together and manage to defeat Hao. Upon his defeat, their souls are released and return back to the real world where they are reunited with their bodies.
[edit] Media
[edit] 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.[2] 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.[3][4] 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.[2]
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.[5] The first volume was released on March 3, 2008, and volume 27 was published on April 3, 2009.[6][7]
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.[8][9] 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 as of May 5, 2009[update], 23 volumes have been published by Viz.[10][11] In the US release, VIZ Media began editing the lips of Chocolove, 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.[citation needed]
[edit] Side Stories
The side story Funbari no Uta, which lasts for five chapters, is set six 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.
[edit] Anime
The Shaman King anime was licensed in 2001 by 4Kids Entertainment for American television broadcasting and aired in its entirety, beginning in September 2003 on the Fox Box, and concluded in September 2005. The English dub also aired on YTV in Canada. Oddly, while the English dub of Shaman King is being aired in many countries across the globe, it has not been aired in The United States since it's conclusion. It is currently unknown if or when 4Kids will air or distribute Shaman King in the U.S. again. 4Kids' English adaption of Shaman King kept the story's setting in Japan, unlike other adaptions of 4Kids. Japanese and Chinese characters were removed or replaced with meaningless symbols but some of the culture was retained such as food.
The anime of Shaman King starts off with the same sequence of events as the manga for roughly half of the series and then gradually deviates into its own plot, toning down events of the story and keeping characters that died in the manga alive. The anime shows these characters recovering from their injuries and eventually agreeing with Yoh and his friends ideologically. The anime does show Yoh and Hao's final battle and implies that all of the friends that Yoh has made on his journey donated their spiritual energy to help him win.
During Japan's broadcast of Shaman King, many shorts were made on special days of the year related to spirits and the like. The omake were short stories that were made for humorous effect. Apparently, all of the omake fit into the story before the Shaman Fight 2nd round. Documents of the Shaman Fight was shown with a New Year's omake as well. The TV Specials were aired after specific points of the story as well as on holidays. They are titled Documents of the Shaman Fight, The Form That Friendship Takes, The Form That Love Takes, and The Form That Sadness Takes.
[edit] Video Games
[edit] Soundtracks
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- 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
[edit] Reception
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Please help improve this article by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (March 2009) |
[edit] References
- ^ Takei, Hiroyuki, "Shaman King" Kasenban, Volume 27, Shueisha, ISBN 978-4-08-874229-8
- ^ a b "Shaman King Under Strain". Anime News Network. 2004-11-15. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2004-11-15/shaman-king-under-strain. Retrieved on 2009-05-16.
- ^ "シャーマンキング 1" (in Japanese). Shueisha. http://books.shueisha.co.jp/CGI/search/syousai_put.cgi?isbn_cd=4-08-872644-8. Retrieved on 2009-02-28.
- ^ "シャーマンキング 32" (in Japanese). Shueisha. http://books.shueisha.co.jp/CGI/search/syousai_put.cgi?isbn_cd=4-08-873694-X. Retrieved on 2009-02-28.
- ^ "Shaman King Manga's New Ending Anticipated in 2009". Anime News Network. 2008-02-06. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2008-02-06/shaman-king-mangas-new-ending-anticipated-in-2009. Retrieved on 2008-02-06.
- ^ "シャーマンキング 完全版 1" (in Japanese). Shueisha. http://books.shueisha.co.jp/CGI/search/syousai_put.cgi?isbn_cd=978-4-08-874203-8. Retrieved on 2009-05-16.
- ^ "シャーマンキング 完全版 27" (in Japanese). Shueisha. http://books.shueisha.co.jp/CGI/search/syousai_put.cgi?isbn_cd=978-4-08-874229-8. Retrieved on 2009-05-16.
- ^ "Shaman King Debut". Anime News Network. 2003-01-27. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2003-01-27/shaman-king-debut. Retrieved on 2009-05-16.
- ^ "Viz's Shonen Jump, Shojo Beat Shake Up Manga Lineup". Anime News Network. 2003-01-27. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-06-01/viz's-shonen-jump-shojo-beat-shake-up-manga-lineup. Retrieved on 2007-06-01.
- ^ "Shaman King, Vol 1: A Shaman in Tokyo: Hiroyuki Takei: Books". Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/dp/1569319022. Retrieved on 2008-07-02.
- ^ "Shaman King, Vol. 21". Viz Media. http://viz.com/products/products.php?product_id=7352. Retrieved on 2009-05-16.
[edit] External links
Official links:
- JETIX's Shaman King website - The official Shaman King web site in the United Kingdom.
- Shaman King on YTV - YTV's website for Shaman King.
- Shonen Jump's Shaman King - The official site for the Shaman King English manga.
- Upper Deck Shaman King TCG website
- Official Shaman King website (Japanese)
Profiling:
- Shaman King (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
- Shaman King (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
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