|
|
|
|
Shaman King
|
| |
|
| |
, 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 Shonen 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 Shonen 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.
lass="link1" onMouseover='showByLink("m1505085",this)' onMouseout='hide("m1505085")'href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Manta_Oyamada">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.
Discussion
Ask a question about 'Shaman King' Start a new discussion about 'Shaman King' Answer questions from other users |
Encyclopedia
, 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 Shonen 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 Shonen 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.
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 traveling 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 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.
Yoh soon encounters Tao Ren, a Chinese shaman, and his ghost Bason. Ren is on a quest to destroy humanity as well as prepare for the upcoming "Shaman Fight" being held in Tokyo. 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 many friends and adventures.
Through a series of events and also through participation in the Shaman Fight, Yoh meets and befriends numerous characters and changes their lives through friendship and authentic concern, which seems to be a pervasive theme throughout the series. Yoh must also face his ultimate destiny, connected to one of the most powerful participants in the Shaman Fight who desires to win the fight and annihilate all of humanity for destroying the world, leaving only a world of shamans such as himself.
Media
Manga
The series spans 285 manga chapters and 32 volumes and was published in the weekly Shonen Jump. The story of Shaman King originally ends in a controversial, incomplete manner: in the midst of a gauntlet fighting against the guardians of Shaman Fight winner Hao Asakura, Yoh and his squad are forced to stop what they were doing and instead "take a break", allowing them to sleep to prepare for the final battle with Hao. The original final page is viewed as Manta's dream, which features Hao as a princess with Yoh and his friends on their way to rescue "her". The reason for that is because Anna was speaking to Manta as if Hao was the person in need of rescue. The page contains the words "Owari" ("The End") and next to that, in front of Horohoro's sword, is a mandarin orange, also called "mikan" which can also mean "incomplete" in Japanese. This is followed up by another chapter which advances the plot slightly, but still does not complete the story.
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.
Side Stories
A side story known as Mappa-Douji was also released, which shows Hao's childhood in his original life. It shows his situation after his mother was burned to death by humans and his first spirit friend from his childhood and how he gets his mind reading ability and advanced shamanic abilities like Oversoul. Another side titled Relax was released, which showed Hao gathering followers for the tournament years before it started.
The side story Funbari no Uta, which lasts for five chapters, is set six years after the end of the manga series 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. While nearly all main characters are present, Manta Oyamada does not appear. At the very end, two figures can be seen: a woman in a cloak (who is Anna) and a man with long hair who can be either Yoh or Hao. Takei later revealed that the man walking with Anna was neither Yoh nor Hao, but a fusion of the two.
Kanzenban Version
A flier handed out at Jump Festa 2008 announced a Kanzenban reprint of the entire series. This came due to the slew of fans wanting a true ending to Shaman King. The Japanese publisher Shueisha has officially announced that Shaman King would return in March 2008 as Shaman King Kang-Zeng-Bang, or Perfect Edition. This release will reprint the entire series in 27 volumes complete with new clear image overlays on the covers while concluding with the never-before-published "true ending." Two volumes of the manga are being released each month with the final volume expected to be released in April of 2009. On February 27th, 2009, the official website for the Kanzenban Edition of Hiroyuki Takei's Shaman King manga began posting the manga's new finale for free. This chapter is the 287th installment in the series, titled "Good Morning, Mu Continent," and is the first 15-page chapter for the "true" ending of the series, created specifically for the complete edition. It is unknown whether the official US editions of the manga will get the extra content.
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 the final episode aired on September 3rd, 2005. 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.
Terminology
Furyoku
- "Furyoku" is a term used to determine the measure of sixth sense a person possesses. This can be increased by having a near-death experience such as when Yoh went into the dark cave to train. More Furyoku means more control over one's spirit and more powerful forms of oversoul. With this power, a shaman can produce an over soul. In the English manga, it is "Mana".
Manjien (??? Manjien) / Mantannian Dictionary (English manga only)
- The "Mantannian Dictionary" is a "Dictionary/Encyclopedia/Compendium of all human knowledge" that Manta frequently consults to find information on people, cultures, and other subjects. The book's Japanese name blends "Manta" with the "Kojien" Japanese dictionary. In the English anime, the book is either not given a name or it is called a "ghost story book" or "book about shamans" that Morty carries around.
Sacred Souls ('Seirei-class' in English Manga)
- The classification for spirits who have existed for 500 years or more and whose souls have shed their physical attachment to achieve their purest form. Sacred--or 'higher'--spirits are more appropriately ghosts who have ascended beyond their ego, enabling them to assume any form or shape freely. After this "ascending", the spirit does not have to become stronger since this is the highest form of power. Only the shaman has to train and grow stronger.
External links
Official links:
- - The official Shaman King web site in the United Kingdom.
- - YTV's website for Shaman King.
- - The official site for the Shaman King English manga.
-
-
Profiling:
|
| |
|
|
