Shaman King

Overview

Shaman King is a franchise created by the manga artist Hiroyuki Takei. It's a shonen series that incorporates adventure, comedy, action, and the supernatural elements. The series begin its serialization in 1998 in Shuiesha's Weekly Shonen Jump magazine as a manga. Its second adaptation is the anime which starts its run in July 2001. The anime is produced by Xebec and runs on the network TV Tokyo.

Plot

Manta Oyamada is a short and meek student. On his walk home from school, Manta encounters a boy in the local graveyard. The boy is Yoh Asakura, a shaman with the ability to see ghosts. Yoh also possesses the ability to integrate with spirits, gaining their own powers and enhancing his own strength. Though shocked by Yoh's power as a shaman, Manta befriends Yoh.

Yoh also becomes friends with the samurai spirit Amidamaru, and the two become partners in battle. Yoh soon encounters a rival shaman, Ren Tao, a vicious boy who plans to take Amidamaru for himself. But, every 500 years, a battle begins to determine the fate of the entire world. The battle is the Shaman Fight, where shaman all over the world battle to see who will communicate with the Great Spirit, God, and Ren is after the prize. Later on, Yoh's fiancee Anna Kyouyama appears, with her goal being to help Yoh become Shaman King so she, as well as Yoh, can live comfortable lives.

Yoh gathers a select group of shaman from all over the world to assist him, all the while discovering a new enemy, Hao Asakura. An extremely powerful shaman, Hao's goal is to destroy humanity, leaving only powerful shaman to live in the new world he plans to create. Yoh, with his friends, must stop Hao from achieving his ultimate goal.

Characters

Manga

Shaman King (1998-2004)

The original manga series created by Hiroyuki Takei.

Shaman King Funbari no Uta ()

Written by Hiroyuki Takei. This is a collection of short stories that take place seven years after the events in Shaman King. The setting is 2007 for the story.

Shaman King Kanzen-Ban ()

It is a reprint of certain volumes with vast character notes from the author.

Anime

Shaman King (2001-)

Produced by Xebec and directed by Seiji Mizushima. The anime started on the networks, TV Tokyo and Amaimax, in July 2001 and ended in September 2002. 4kids Entertainment bought rights to aired it on the network, Fox Box, in May 15, 2003 and ended September 2005.

Shaman King Specials (2000?)

Produced by Nippon Animation.

Merchandise

Hiroyuki Takei

He is a manga artist who started the Shaman King franchise, and he is the creator of Butsu Zone and Death Zero. His first shot manga, Itako Anna, features the original concept for the character, Anna Kyoyama. It may have started the idea of Shaman King.

Themes

Multicultural and Diversity

Shamans come from all over the world to participate in the shaman tournament. Here is a list of countries that the fictional characters have come from. Also, shamans can represent a shamanic niche from that culture. (ie: Anna = Itako, Pino = Druid)

Similarities to Franchises

Zatch Bell

Zatch Bell's goal and partnership is very similar to Shaman King because instead of spirits, in Zatch Bell they use mamodos. In Zatch Bell, they hold a tournament that 50 mamodos fight to become King or Queen. It's very similar to Shaman King because the shamans fight each other for the same dream.

The difference is how they lose, how they fight, and what powers they have.

The Law of Ueki

It's about a tournament of junior high school students who fight and the winner becomes God.

Like Shaman King, there is a tournament and a winner who is the champion and ruler of all competitors.

Altercations

Major Differences between Manga and Anime

Most of the differences deal with how the characters meet each other. For the anime, Yoh meets Horohoro before the shaman king fight in contrast to the manga, Yoh meets Horohoro in his first preliminary match. Also, the character Ryu has his training and goals to become shaman change from the manga to the anime. (See episode) The character Mikihisa Asakura makes an earlier appearance in the anime and has more screen time and influence on the characters. With the altercations of the characters and storyline between the manga and the anime, there are also anime and manga exclusive characters in Shaman King.

Differences between the Sub and the Dub

*Important side note: The English Uncut DVDs do not differ from the Sub's terminology.

The Dub uses different vocabulary for various objects, people, and commands in the anime. See table on the anime page.

Censorships in the dub

The dub has avoid showing guns to American audiences, has avoid religious references by altering image or dialogue, and has avoid homosexuality by altering dialogue.

Brief examples from episode 14:

Sub: After Pirika introduces herself as Horohoro's brother, Anna tells Pirika she's cute.

Dub: It is Yoh who compliments Pirika by calling her cute.

For episode 16:

Manta is tied to a bony cross in the sub while in the dub, the cross is wider so it does not look like a crucifix.

(See episodes 14 and 16 for complete details)