DESCRIPTION

CAST

CHAPTERS

ANIME ActionShaman King
MANGA ActionShaman King Kanzenban
MANGA ActionFunbari no Uta: Funbari Onsen-hen
ANIME ActionSHAMAN KING (2021)
MANGA ActionButsu Zone
MANGA ActionFunbari no Uta: Seishun-hen Mickey no Sekai
ONE SHOT ActionFunbari no Uta: FUNBARIGAOKA STORYS
ONE SHOT ActionFunbari no Uta 2000

REVIEWS

• 

  Toriko

  40/100
  When the source material ruins your childhood experience with the anime adaptation and you can't get over it.

  the premise?

  i will not be explaining what the story is about as I presume those who read this far have such knowledge and if not, then what the f are you even doing here chief?

  .

  Both manga and the anime portray one essential theme - friendship. Also the Shaman Fights and saving the world or the concept of good and evil, but the absolutely necessary and basic structure keeping the whole narrative in place is friendship. The story of Yoh Asakura is build upon the bonds he creates throughout his journey, the main message being one evil cannot stand a chance against a bunch of folks connected by the power of bromance. That is what makes Shaman King... well, Shaman King. And it's also what makes the anime so great and what Hiroyuki Takei, the mangaka, failed so miserably at.

  Basically, the anime follows the source material pretty honestly in the first half. Yoh meets a person, fights a little, has a bonding moment with them and ultimately they become pals. Quite literally every (and I mean every) single antagonist is destined to follow such path. And that's fine. We are talking about a kids show (and manga). The message here is actually pretty good - in everyone is a little bit of kindness, we shouldn't condemn our enemies straight away, don't be too quick to judge - that is the stuff we should teach children. When we spice the things up with a bit of a murder is always wrong no matter the circumstances you get the perfect family friendly product for your offspring.

  That is, if such messages correspond with the story's actual narrative and aren't just faeces of a pre-established concept that's being violated on every other occassion for no other reason than the shock value.

  I shall elaborate on that one.

  The anime is unproblematic in this aspect. The power of friendship is the God's Testament. The fundamental laws of the Shaman King universe all originate in the Friendship. That's great. If two characters are announced to be friends, then they actually are friends. Amazing. Hiroyuki Takei begs to differ though.
  In the manga, one of the worst fuck-ups in the history of fuck-ups is the absolute dissonance between the established friendships and the characters' behaviour. We are led to believe Yoh's mates are all ready to die for eachother. They argue, they fight but should the situation call for it, they are all besties who would lie down their lives for the Friendship. And then the story decides that if anyone dies, there's deus ex machina bringing them back from the dead every single time, thus completely disregarding death itself as it has no meaning anymore.
  So, apart from the very obvious problems that come from this decision, there's one matter that disgusted me beyond any reasonable measure. Yoh's so-called friends are now well aware that if they kill someone, that person can be resurrected right away. So, they finally decide... to kill Yoh.

  

  This attempt is interrupted, yet it is made absolutely clear that Yoh's crew members (there are exceceptions, mind you) were set to murder Yoh because deep down they hate him. It is abundantly transparent. Yoh is supposedly the strongest, from this famous shaman family, everyone loves him, he even has a pretty fiancé, always the centre of the attention - of course everyone envies him, living in his shadow, reduced to nothing but pathetic sidekicks only to admire the great Yoh Asakura. And now they get the chance to take their anger out on him without any consequences. And Yoh's friends take this chance without second thoughts.

  A shift in the mood is a common thing in anime and manga though, so why does it not work here as well? Because there is no follow-up to this event and no resolution. We are simply shown that they just argue a bit because Yoh thought that ripping of your friend's arms is not cool but Ren responded that they grow back anyway so it, in fact, is cool and no one questions this ever again.

  This embarassing example of favoritism breaks this whole manga. Hiroyuki Takei prioritizes cheap fabricated drama at the expense of literally the only functioning substance that holds this already crumbling story together. The soothing idealized world of True Friendship comes crashing down for the sake of a few action packed chapters.

  Outrageous as it is, not only does this turn of events shed light onto the true nature of the comradeship between the main heroes which ruthlessly decapitates your childhood shaman-loving self, it doesn't even follow through with this plot twist and instead leaves you staring onto the screen in disbelief. This gigantic fuck up has no meaning. The whole experience is ruined for no reason. Fucking Nani

  ---

  why cannot the manga recover from this wound?

  Upon introducing the death-doesn't-exist point, the suspense necessarily has to cease to exist, too. While the shounen genre itself is embodiment of artifically manufactured tension, Shaman King takes this to another level. Not only you don't have to worry about the protagonists since they never die in these types of manga and anime, now you can rest easy since nobody is in danger anymore.

  This literal spit in in the reader's face could be considered the worst decision the author could possibly ever make. But don't worry, it gets worse.

  

  So, now everybody knows that death isn't any deal at all (being revived even makes the shaman stronger, so why not) and thanks to that the audience no longer fears for the characters. And yet... and yet the manga acts as if dying still meant something definitive. There are new and new situations in which someone goes "if you die now, you are done for good" REPEATEDLY and REPEATEDLY we are assured none of that bullshit is actually relevant because there's always a way to bring back the dead.

  

  These repetitive punches in the throat turned this enjoyable manga into the most frustrating and bewildering bags of nonsense I have ever laid my eyes upon.

  That of course doesn't mean the plot was perfect prior to this pathetic twist. Shaman King has been flawed since the very first chapter. Nevermind the obvious plot holes in the world building itself, there have been numerous cases of characters disappearing mid-scene from the story suddenly only to reappear whenever the mangaka remembers their existence, overused tropes and plot devices or just plain idiocy, yet every single one of those imperfections could have been overlooked. None of mentioned above is crucial for manga of this sort. When visiting Shaman King, the reader craves comedy, thrilling action sequences and fun characters and the friendship that evolves between them. Sadly enough, Hiroyuki Takei masterfully fails at every important aspect that makes shounen manga great.

  ---

  characters?

  It is undeniable fact that the characters and the way they interact is one of the best things this manga has to offer. Not only are they actually quite developed, we also get to see a number of antagonists and the neutrals, all in all the palette is especially colourful yet gets mudded along the way just as well.

  Another one big hit to my poor childish heart was the chilling reveal that Manta or Amidamaru are side characters. As the story progresses, it decides to abandon in cold blood those we've known the longest, people who should in fact play a decisive role in Yoh's life and pushes them into the shadow to wait for when the plot needs them again. In their stead, dozens of new characters are being introduced for no apparent reason. The story itself doesn't actually need them nor is there enough screentime to eventually develop their personalities, their storylines add nothing to the main plot.

  What the manga does actually better than the anime adaptation (to a certain extent) is the portrayal of the main villain, Hao. In the anime, Zeke (alias Hao) is just some really powerful guy who wants shaman-only exclusive world and is extremely casual about it. Manga manages to humanize him. We get to see him vulnerable, emotional, fun, conflicted.

  

  Hiroyuki goes, as per usual, too far in his attempts to make Hao likable and yet again contradicts everything that's been established only for the sake of a few laughs, leaving you quite dissatisfied with the fact that the antagonist, the guy who goes around murdering people, just stops on his walk to get in the hot springs with the heroes. And while they seem rather shocked, in the end they agree to chill with him anyway - despite all the previous efforts to set up just how much everyone involved hates Hao (there's even a dude whose parents were murdered by Hao and who dedicated his whole life to revenge them; yes, even he stayed in the bath, because funny?).

  Again, there are no consequences to this bath scene, since everyone continues the next day about how they must eradicate Hao and his minions. Nothing makes sense and nothing matters in the long run. People don't die when they get killed. I hate myself.

  ---

  why do I care?

  Shaman King is a bad written manga with so many bright ideas. The story proposes fun and interesting concepts. What it fails at is the execution.
  Honourable mention is for example the very ending of the story. Hao is so powerful that the heroes just straight up abort fighting against him, allowing Hao to become the Shaman King, ultimately attempting to kill him during his sleep at the crowning ceremony. Such a turn feels rather refreshing, especially considering that in the very end, it is actually the main villain who wins; it's the evil we've been struggling to defeat that becomes the King (and the next generation in the sequel Flowers actually gets to fight for Hao as his team in an even bigger god-tier tournament, like, that's fucking metal as shit). And yes, while even this twist is very problematic, at least it brings a fresh breeze into the genre.

  There are couple more exceptionally good points, such as controversial justice holy league X-Laws, Hao's best friend Matamune, soul consuming terrifying spirit ally, Yoh and Hao teaming up against an even bigger threat (it made no sense but I like the idea), elaboration on Yoh's and Anna's relationship, etc.

  The story of Shaman King is great. In the anime. It pulls off everything the manga couldn't and while I suppose the ending is more unique in the source material, the adaptation still manages to execute its own rather tradiotional concept in a much more elegant and satisfying way - the main hero with his spirit ally manage to defeat the evil but only with the help of everyone they met along the way. Also, the last battle in the Shaman King anime is objectively one of the best in the medium, in my opinion.

  ---

  list of what I particularly despised in the manga in comparison to the anime

  The fact that Sharona and the girls never existed. Yeah. They are anime-only. And so is Ren's younger sister. Mindblowing, right? Also, Bailong has a wife and a kid.

  

  Manta, Amidamaru and Faust are just side characters. Side fucking characters with nearly no screentime.
  The final Gigantic Amidamaru form never happens. Yoh and company don't use their spirit allies in the final battle at all.
  Silva gets completely brainwashed by the Patch and no one even talks about it.
  The Patch are all defending Hao in the end.
  Yoh's supposed friends hate him. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

  ---

  in conlusion

  Would I recommend reading this manga? Absolutely. The first 180 chapters to be accurate. If you enjoy dumb shounens and fights and random power-ups, that is. Shaman King has it all - action, romance, bromance, actually nice and lovable protagonist and even a villain worth rooting for. And Shaman King fucks it all up, too.

  This manga is extremely bad, yet enjoyable nontheless, for that reason i rate it:

  Continue on AniList
• 

  SamuraiBunny

  88/100
  I had low expectations but I ended up enjoying it more than I expected

  Shaman King (Japanese: シャーマンキング, Hepburn: Shāman Kingu) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei.
  It follows the adventures of Yoh Asakura as he attempts to hone his shaman skills to become the Shaman King by winning the Shaman Fight.
  Never before did I even thought it would become one of my favorites but it did.

  Story 8/10

  The plot of Shaman King revolves around Yoh Asakura, a shaman, a medium between the worlds of the living and the dead. Yoh seeks to become the Shaman King, the one who is able to contact the Great Spirit, and will gain the ability to reshape the world in any way they wish, and for this purpose, he must win the Shaman Fight, a battle held once every 500 years between competing shamans.

  The plot (For the most part) is pretty straight foward as the Shaman King tournament takes places every 500 years, unlike something like Dragon Ball who's World Martial Arts Tournament take place every 4 years.

  While our protagonist Yoh does have a goal, the plot speaks for it self as we get to know why Yoh needs to become the Shaman King and we get to know the story of other characters and why it's important for Yoh to become the Shaman King. Which in reality if you read the manga you know he didn't became the Shaman King

  ---

  Characters 8/10

  Shaman King has possibly some of my favorite characters in anime and manga it wouldn't exactly tie Bleach or My Hero Academia if you look on my favorite characters list, but it does have some.
  Yoh is a really good protagonist he isn't a Goku clone like Luffy or Naruto (No Disrespect BTW), a nice guy like Gon, Kirito, or Deku, a dense character that gets girls like almost every harem protagonist, or and a sympathetic character either Yoh is basically a unorthodox anime character similar to Ichigo from Bleach (Who can also be considered that as well) he appears as this "lazy demeanor" who is accompanied by a six-hundred-year-old samurai ghost while is character development isn't big as some more notable anime characters he at least has some character development.

  Other characters are likeable too Anna, Ren, Horohoro, etc. I won't be going in depth on them I will be in going in a bit depth in Hao I believe he's one of the best villains in anime he's basically Shaman King's version of Aizen, and his reasons for hating humanity is really good. While he isn't a I want to take over the world because I'm evil or a had a shitty past, it make him a well written villain I believe he's one of the best villains in anime.

  Enjoyment 9/10

  Never would I thought I would enjoy this series the way I did, while the series started out gagish at the beginning it later became more serious at the end heck I even enjoy the ending Despite Yoh not becoming the Shaman King and Hao did

  ---

  Overall
  I really like this series It's one of my most favorite manga possibly every while it does have it's flaws (Such as making Manta one of the main characters and the narrator a background character in the middle of the series) it's pretty good that why I rate it a 88/100.

  Continue on AniList
• 

  peteg13

  79/100
  A new trip down memory lane!!

  Before I get into the actual review I want to explain my own relationship with Shaman King. Shaman King was my first ever anime and I have rewatched it twice, all at different periods in my life. I have loved it throughout all those periods. While flawed I have always loved it a great deal and still do to this day. Many people my age grew up on Naruto, Bleach, or One Piece and while I have either watched or read some of those series at some point in my life I have always preferred Shaman King (up until reading the One Piece manga recently). In anticipation for the 2021 remake of Shaman King I found myself finally willing to do something I had been putting off for ages. I wanted to read the entire Shaman King manga before the new adaptation began releasing. I did end up coming short of this goal by a little under a week but I came away from reading the Shaman King manga with a very new perspective on the series as a whole. Fair warning in advance, I normally keep my posts and reviews spoiler free but I will not be doing so in this review. I am doing this because some of my main issues related to the Shaman King manga contain topics later in the story. I will be marking these spoilers accordingly but I HIGHLY encourage you to not press on them if you have not yet read the manga and wish to go into the new adaptation or the manga spoiler free! All of that aside, this is my nostalgia free review of the Shaman King manga.

  Story/Plot:

  Shaman King follows a cast of characters who are shamans (spirit mediums who can interact with ghosts and utilize their individual talents). The story focuses around the main characters' pursuit of becoming the Shaman King. The Shaman King is the most powerful shaman of all and becomes allies with the Great Spirit (roughly this story's equivalent to god). In order to determine the Shaman King a tournament is held once every 500 years in which shamans fight one another to determine who is the more powerful shaman. Essentially this is a tournament arc manga! While the plot later deviates from the true spirit of a tournament it does so in a very understandable way so that the reader is not too upset with this change. I personally would have preferred that the manga stay true to the tournament style of determining the Shaman King but I can understand why the mangaka decided to deviate in the direction he did. Overall, the plot of Shaman King is very well done and does a great job getting the reader hooked in from chapter to chapter.

  Unfortunately, the ending to Shaman King is extremely underwhelming and honestly doesn't even feel like an ending at all. The mangaka leaves the reader with so many unanswered questions. For me, an ending isn't everything but it is important to feel the gratification of completing a series you've invested a lot in! Shaman King does not leave you with this feeling but instead leaves you on a cliffhanger. From my understanding there were later an additional three volumes added onto Shaman King which is now considered by the community to be its true ending. That being said, I only read the 32 volumes this series is listed under and I will be reviewing the series accordingly.

  

  Characters:

  The cast of Shaman King is great! Plain and simple they are great. Each character is great in their own way and the reader can find something they love about each character. Each major character has their own specific reason for why they want to become Shaman King and as a result you can find yourself torn between which characters you ultimately want to cheer for throughout the manga. I will say I found myself extremely underwhelmed with the spirit allies throughout the series. Very few spirit allies had much personality outside of being either goofy or very serious. That being said I believe that decision is mostly to make sure the reader focuses on the extremely well written main characters.

  I'm also going to discuss some of the main characters and bring up what makes them unique in comparison to other shonen series.

  Yoh is a carefree, lovable goofball who has a very interesting and complex moral compass. He doesn't see actions people make as inherently good or evil but instead judges those actions based on how they affect his ultimate goal of creating a world where all people can live a carefree life.

  Anna is an extremely strong willed and powerful woman. The mangaka does an outstanding job not just writing that Anna is a strong character but instead displaying to the reader just how powerful she is.

  Ren is a very stubborn and hard working character who is driven a lot by his and his family's past actions. He battles with a lot of trauma throughout the manga and it really does make him a very lovable character. I found his story of redemption to be especially well done and as a result I found myself enjoying him specifically more and more as the story went along.

  Horohoro is a knucklehead with a strong connection to nature. Both him and Ren share this and common. What the mangaka does so well is utilizing these two characters specifically to emphasize the important message of how we as humans impact the earth and the damage we have done and will continue to do to nature. Horohoro also has a bit of an inferiority complex that makes him relatable to readers who struggle with self confidence as well.

  Lyserg is a very complex character in that he is so driven by his central goal to overcome a specific character that he allows his moral compass to go a bit by the wayside during portions of the manga.

  Ryu is a goofy, loyal, and passionate guy. He grew up as a thug but throughout the story is truly only looking for a place where he is safe to be himself. (He also didn't develop shaman powers until a bit later in the manga which makes hima bit of an underdog to root for!)

  Faust is a former doctor turned necromancer whose whole drive in life is to be reunited with the woman he loves. While initially I did not care for him too much he grew on me quite a bit as the story progresses.

  The final character that I want to address and emphasize is Hao. Hao is easily one of the best antagonists I've seen in all of shonen. Without going into the territory of spoilers Hao performs some actions that are so irredeemable that you can't help but hate him. Along with that, his central reason for wanting to become Shaman King is one that would see a massive amount of people suffer. Despite all of this, one important piece of information that the mangaka introduces very late in the manga suddenly makes you care for even Hao quite a bit.

  Overall, the main characters in Shaman King are extremely well done but the spirit allies and side characters kind of take a back seat in the process.

  

  Artwork:

  Honestly, I don't have too much to say regarding the artwork in Shaman King. It never really blew me away outside of a handful of specific scenes but it also wasn't terrible. I also am far from an artist so I'm not the best judge of this. I would say Shaman King's artwork is very average for a shonen manga.

  

  Power System/Power Scaling:

  Shaman King runs a fairly straightforward power system initially. In the first handful of volumes shamans form "unity" with their spirit allies by allowing their spirit allies to either coexist in their bodies or take over their bodies to increase their fighting prowess. At the very beginning of the actual shaman fight the reader is introduced to the "over soul" ability. This is basically a bond that a shaman forms with both their spirit allies and their weapon of choice. The ability a shaman has to maintain these "over souls" is quantified under the term "mana". This is how Shaman King demonstrates its way of power scaling. While initially this is a very interesting and new way to power scale it basically is thrown out of the window later in the manga. The reason that I feel that mana scaling becomes an issue later in the manga is due to the overwhelming mana advantage Hao holds over all other shamans. Initially the level of Hao's mana serves as a reminder to the reader of just how powerful he is but as the story goes along it becomes a harsh reality that Hao can not be defeated without some loopholes being involved. As a result the mangaka is forced to overcome this issue by utilizing two common shonen tropes, the power of friendship and belief. Once these begin to play a role in the manga, Shaman King's mana scaling became obsolete. The mangaka seemingly attempts to undo this later in the manga by allowing mana to increase dramatically when characters experience near death experiences or overcome death. The main issue I had with this is that it was done WAY too frequently throughout the final fourth of the manga. Character would die and be resurrected on a very regular basis. As a result deaths became completely irrelevant because a character could just be resurrected and become more powerful as a result. Ultimately, the mangaka introduces double oversouls as another power up. I did enjoy these final oversouls but by that point it was already too late to do damage control and the entire premise of death being final was no longer true in the manga.

  

  Final Verdict:

  Shaman King was one of my all time favorite anime growing up as a kid. It will always hold a very special place in my heart. Shaman King does introduce a very unique world and even more interesting cast of characters. I still do love the series a great deal and enjoyed reading the manga a lot. Hao still remains one of my all time favorite antagonists in manga/anime and really does carry the later half of Shaman King. That being said, when looking at the series with a critical eye it is difficult to overcome its lack of a real ending and the power system becoming a bit obsolete in the late game. These two elements really did take a bit away from overall enjoyment of the manga and it pains me to say that. Do I feel Shaman King manga is worth the read? Do I think the new adaptation will be worth a watch? Yes, 100%. Should you expect a masterpiece? No, not really. Overall, it is a damn fun ride and I'm happy I revisited this portion of my childhood through a new medium!

  
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