Shaman King Part 01

Manga Mecha Movie
Shaman King Part 01 of 04
-- Shaman King 1-9 --

by Hiroyuki Takei
Published by Shueisha
Translated and Distributed by VIZ Media

This is a show from my childhood, a series that I've sadly never seen the end of, though I have read the complete manga. So I want to relate my joy and passion for the series. I was a big fan, since Toonami got me into a lot of anime in my youth, so FoxKids was trying to do that to their audience, though that was after the success of WBKids and their hit show Yu-Gi-Oh. So those that watched FoxKids (later the FoxBox) got Fighting Foodons (In Japan it was called Kakutō Ryōri Densetsu Bisutoro Reshipi created by Naoto Tsushima) and Shaman King, there were other shows, but these are the one's that really brought me into the genre, well on Saturday mornings. Shaman King was that series that broke out from being one of those shows that was heavy and fun, it felt right for kids to enjoy, though it was a strong enough plot for someone that's older to get behind the dramatics. Here's the thing that really pulled me in, the tournament. I love anime with tournaments, two characters that should rightfully be the main character and here they are battling the worst of the worst and the best of the best, some of these fighters will become friends and others will suffer horrible punishments that we'll never see. That's what excited me, DragonBall was doing it, Yu Yu Hakusho was doing it, DragonBall Z, Yu-Gi-Oh was an endless tournament, it was prefect, since there was a lot of character building moments that built up the scenes of the characters, so when they lost it was a big deal, they died it was a big deal, they were killed it was a big deal, and the actors (both American and Japanese) brought that to the table and showed just how emotional this tournament was, how big the stakes were for there to be a Shaman King. Anyhow, let's focus on the first 9 volumes of the series and talk about the growth of our core cast.