Here is another old classic anime that has been given the remake treatment. Yup, after Fruits Basket decided that the original TV anime needed some new breath of life and more accurately, adapt the entire manga volumes, now it is the turn of Shaman King to do the same. Because otherwise how do you get new and younger viewers to go appreciate old retro animes of the past? Yeah, looks there are going to be hundreds or thousands of old classic retro series that needs to be remade. But that is a discussion for another time. Because now it is time to see how old shonen battle tournament genres of yesteryears face in today’s time. With all the modern technologies and decline in spiritual quotient, do we even believe in spirits that we form bonds to help us fight in tournaments to determine the best Shaman King? Grandma and grandpa should be turning in their graves right now…
Coming To Tokyo Arc
* The birth of evil – 13 years ago, a mother going to give birth to twins. However, grandparents don’t know which one is evil so how? Kill both of them! The first twin comes out and grandpa goes in for the kill but fails because this evil baby already reincarnated with his spirit guardian. They escape and the ritual killing stops because the other twin hasn’t been born yet? I guess that’s why the first twin became evil! You people trying to kill him right after birth!!!
* I see dead people – Manta trying to take a shortcut through the graveyard, gets the shock of his life when he sees Yoh talking to ghosts! Guess what? Yoh becomes a transfer student in his class the very next day!
* Shaman King ni, ore wa naru! – Manta learns that Yoh is a shaman and is here for training.
* Desecration – Manta trying to find out more about shamans, stumbles upon Ryu and his gang. They desecrate the grave of Amidamaru. Manta gets busted and beaten up. Yoh returns to avenge his friend by forming a pact with Amidamaru and sends them fleeing with their tails between their legs.
* Spirits are not tools! – Ren is here to take Amidamaru and of course fights Yoh. However Unlike Ren who uses his spirit, Bason like a tool, Yoh treats his like a friend. And because of that, you bet that is the winning formula of how Yoh defeats Ren despite the latter getting close to killing him at first.
* The queen arrives – We all know very well this Anna b*tch, right? This future wife of Yoh has tracked him all the way to Tokyo so she can train him to be the best shaman warrior and win the tournament to become Shaman King. Oh, you know there is going to be a tournament in Tokyo with the gathering of shamans, right? And yeah, Manta suddenly becomes her errand boy and he better get on her good side if he knows what’s good for him. I didn’t make that up, Anna herself said so!
* Spirits have feelings too! – With Ren’s defeat, now it is his sister’s turn, Jun to take Amidamaru from Yoh. Her spirit is Bai Long, a famous martial artist. As usual, she treats her spirit like a tool until Yoh is able to break him free from her control. Then he goes into rage realizing he was purposely murdered by the Tao family as present for Jun’s birthday. Anna summons Bai Long’s master to integrate with Yoh just to calm him down and return to the right path. Because he can still perfect his martial arts, he wants to continue to be with Jun but without all the brainwashing.
* Love at first sight – Ryu falling for Anna at first sight? Wait till he finds out whom she is betrothed too! Just be glad you’re not her fiancé!
* Even lizards need a second chance – Ryu gets possessed by Tokagero who has a grudge against Amidamaru. He takes Manta hostage and uses all sorts of dirty tricks just to see Amidamaru suffer. Time to use the power of friendship to wear him down. Even if Anna wants to send him straight to hell, Yoh wants to save his soul because you can’t just do that in hell, right? So Yoh lets Tokagero possess him to see the light. At first Tokagero thought he’d won but after realizing he can’t bring himself to murder Yoh because of all that inner peace and trust crap, it is his first step towards salvation. Yeah, and to think that Anna will blame Manta if Yoh actually dies!!!
Shaman Fights In Tokyo Arc
* Fighting fire with fire – With the comet flying through the sky indicating the start of the tournament, Yoh is being tested by Silva to see if he has what it takes to participate in this tournament. Basically, Yoh understanding the principal and forming his own Over Soul to defeat Silva. This earns him Oracle Bell, a convenient device to tell him info and the likes about the matches.
* There can be only one – Well, if you win the tournament and become Shaman King, you’ll be the only person who can see the Great Spirit who oversees everything in this universe. Basically, meet God, right?
* Exemption – Despite Ren killing one of the test officials, Chrom, he is still allowed to participate because Great Spirit said so. Uhm, so what’s this about the Great Spirit knows all but is not a prophet and hence can’t tell the outcome?! So God isn’t basically God?! I’m confused! An excuse so that nobody will know who will become Shaman King, huh?!
* Yoh vs Horohoro – A shaman participant must win 2 out of 3 matches to qualify for the next round. With this Ainu kid as Yoh’s first match, lots of awesomeness about their dreams, blah, blah, blah. But we all know Yoh will win this match, right? And great sportsmanship from Horohoro because now they’re like friends with each other. Yesterday’s enemy is today’s friend. If only his sister, Pirika isn’t so angry Yoh ‘killed’ their dreams. More training for Horohoro then…
* Yoh vs Faust – Is it Thriller Night already? Faust the necromancer wants to dissect and experiment on Manta. This riles up Yoh to go protect his friend. Better finish this match fast or Manta will die from blood loss from this quack surgery! Yoh’s turn to rile up Faust when he calls his Over Soul, Eliza (Faust’s dead wife) a doll. Some talk about the life and death and although Yoh manages to take down Eliza, he runs out of furyoku first. Yup, Yoh lost. But yeah, losing this match is way better than losing a friend, right? Unhappy Faust wants to kill everyone despite the match being over but is easily taken out by Ren. Guess who is next for Yoh? Did Ren upgrade himself to ride a horse?!
* Cruel to be kind – Manta’s family warning him to stop being friends with the shaman and they want him to go America to study. It gets worse when Yoh is blaming Manta for his loss. But of course this is just a façade to not put Manta in further danger. Knowing he can’t beat Ren at this rate, Yoh returns to his family estate in Izumo for more training.
* Ren & Stimpy – Did Ponchi and Konchi take after that Nickelodeon duo?!
* Just a fan – Just as Anna puts it. She relegates Tamao’s love for Yoh to be just that of a fan. Because Yoh can only have 1 wife, right? What’s wrong with having 2 wives then?! Okay, I’m sorry. Please don’t kill me, Anna!!!
* Evolution – Apparently the fruits of Yoh’s training of walking through a dark cave is his evolution of his Over Soul. Now Amidamaru can talk in this form, huh? What happened to that telepathic thing?
* Destroying the rot from its core – It’s nothing new. Ren revealing to us he will become Shaman King to destroy the Tao family because they’ve only cared about revenge. It’s their only basis for existing.
* Panned-da – Ren’s dad, Tao En is giving Jun one more chance to redeem herself. Sure, but WTF?! He killed his cute panda pet just as show of forces?! WHAT THE F*CK???!!!! HE JUST KILLED AN INNOCENT PANDA!!!!
* Yoh vs Ren – The rematch is here. Yoh is being himself and very casual while Ren is just fuming with angst. In the end, both of them lost their furyoku at the same time. A draw. How? Because the Great Spirit sees great potential in them, both qualify for the next round. FAVOURITISM! Yoh doesn’t even meet the simple majority of 2 wins (1 win, 1 loss and a draw) while Ren only fought 2 matches. SO HOW IS THIS EVEN FAIR???!!!
* Singing monks – Uhm, next round not yet started but is it even fair for a couple of singing monks to attack and take down Yoh? Thanks to Ryu’s help, the monks run away. It is hinted they are underlings of Hao. Oh, haven’t you noticed? Ryu is also now a shaman (after that measly training in Izumo?) and manages to qualify for the next round. Great Spirit must be really fickle, huh?
* The father of it all – After clashing with Yoh, Ren realizes his goal has changed. He doesn’t hate humanity that much and that is why he is returning to China to defeat his own father first.
* The bigger monster – Ren may have gotten all the small fries away but he still has to deal with Tao En who has already dismembered Bai Long and imprisoned Jun for siding with Yoh. Of course Ren is still too weak and gets defeated and thrown into the cell.
* Friends in need – Bason made it in time to seek Yoh and company’s help to save Ren. So they make all the way to Guizhou, fight some modified jiang shi and then free the imprisoned siblings. Of course Ren isn’t going to go home yet until he defeats his father and the scars he has embedded into him. Ultimately, it is all to overcome this burning hatred inside of him. What’s Yoh got to do but help support his friend? Never try, never know.
* Will the real Tao En please stand up – It seems unbelievable Tao En is like an immortal that cannot be defeated. Until Ren reveals that this monstrous form is just his Over Soul form that he has been using to deceive everyone.
* Trust – Apparently this is the main issue that divides father and son. Because of the family’s bloody history of betrayals, Tao En cannot bring himself to trust anyone anymore and that’s why he can’t accept his son putting his trust in friends. But fight stopped because grandpa and mom saw Tao En waver and that was enough for the fight not to go on? And some ranting about the acceptance of the ever changing definitions of good and evil and Tao En lost his way when he became obsessed in protecting the family honour. So did Ren win because he was stronger? Oh heck, at least Tao En gives a family heirloom, a sword to him. So he is the family head now?
* Long way to America – Oh f*ck! You mean Ren is going to ride his horse all the way to America for the tournament?!
Travelling Through America Arc
* Pay your respects – Hao makes his first appearance before Yoh, Ren, Horohoro and Ryu just to tell them he is going to be the future king. Don’t pick a fight with this dude now unless you have a death wish.
* Tribal wars – The first mission for all shaman candidates is to find Patch Village. While the quartet are trying to find clues to get there, they are met with Lilirara from the Seminoa tribe who are arch nemesis of the Patch tribe. She tries to discourage them to further proceed by showing visions of the past. 500 years ago, this Silva look-a-like, Patch demolished the Seminoa tribe. The truth about this tournament is to find the best shaman and recreate the world again and rid of all the humans. Because you know, current humans are the root of all evil, right?
* Revenge of the fallen – Well, well. Looks like Hao cuts short Lilirara’s life after she has outlived her usefulness. It seems Hao was that Patch dude 500 years ago but that was just his temporary form to get one of the 5 grand elemental spirts: Fire Spirit which is now his Over Soul. Now he has returned to exact revenge on humans.
* Shaman Sherlock – Lyserg insists in having allies for his revenge against Hao for killing his detective parents who refused to be part of his groupie. He tries to show his strength as proof but ends up hurting Ren and Horohoro. Yoh is not amused and teaches him a lesson not to lose sight of what’s important. Since their goals align, Lyserg joins the group and everyone gets along fine like friends.
* Hao to become God – Grandpa reveals to Anna about Hao become a great onmyouji and mastered all the 5 elements of the pentagram. Not only can he control stuffs, he can even have foresight into the future! Now that he has reincarnated to participate in the tournament, you bet he is going to destroy humanity. The Asakura family tried to destroy him 1000 years ago but hao can you destroy God, eh?
* Cheat book – But don’t worry, there’s this book called Cho-Senjiryakketsu that contains all of Hao’s abilities and secrets that might be useful to take him down. Breaking the seal would unleash a couple of Hao’s shikigami but Anna proves herself by easily destroying them. Now she must send this book to Yoh. Yup, that guy doesn’t know this is the burden and destiny he has to carry for his family.
* DLC – So the cheat book isn’t enough and grandpa already sent some package to him, huh?
* Bear necessities – Horohoro got separated by the gang in some snow accident and ends up being nursed in the cabin of a park ranger, Bluebell Bloch. She warns him about a wandering bear named Apollo who hates humans because poachers killed its parents and scared its face. But Horohoro being the Ainu guy in touch with nature, goes to ‘talk’ and calm this bear down and just when you thought you have a happy ending, Apollo gets killed by those f*cking poachers! Since they do it for fun, Horohoro gets mad and teaches them a lesson but short of killing them because he is not a scumbag like them.
* Overlapping characters – Yoh and co stumble into some of Hao’s men. They claim they are here to kill his friends so as to make Yoh undergo a severe trial. Boris Tepes Dracula is going to do that job but Yoh and friends laugh at him because he doesn’t look like Dracula himself and the one who looks more is one of their comrades. Hence Boris kills him off just to avoid the confusion!
* Turning Dracula human – So we’ve heard Boris’ tragic story of persecution. So Boris turns Lyserg into a controlled puppet and has him hold Yoh hostage. If anyone dares make any move, he’ll make Lyserg stab his own throat. But you know? They’re not scared and fight back. That’s right, power of friendship! They even convinced Boris’ spirit to not listen to him too.
* Angels of death – X-Laws might have the same goal of taking down Hao, however they have no qualms in killing those who are associated with him. This doesn’t sit well with Yoh but obviously at this point he is too weak to fight them. And he got his sword broken.
* Hao are you – Well, looks like Anna and co have arrived in America. Look who is here to greet them? HAO! Hao the?! He wants her to send Cho-Senjiryakketsu to Yoh so that he can power up and assist him with his goals. Anna puts her faith with Yoh that her future husband will win. Though, a slap may not put Hao down but it certainly shows Anna’s determination.
* Jokes on you – With the gang awakening inside Patch Village after passing the first trial of watching the Great Spirit and all its memories of Earth, Lyserg is missing. Soon they stumble into Chocolove who wants to join their team because the upcoming tournament is team based and 3 to a team. Aside his dumb lame puns, he also relays info that many of the competitors have aligned themselves with one of the 3 factions: Hao, X-Laws or Gandhara as all of them has God class shamans. So if you want to have a chance of winning and making your dream come true, it is better to pledge your allegiance under them. So I’m guessing there’ll be a 4th underdog team?
* Doctor’s call – Yoh reunites with Manta… Sitting on Faust’s lap???!!! Actually he isn’t here to fight them but to request to join their team. However they claim their team is already full with missing Lyserg so they turn him away. But that is overturned by our queen Anna who thinks a doctor on their side will be great (of course she wants to get his loyalty for her hotspring plans). After all, she has seen Faust’s capabilities and knows nothing about Lyserg. And just like that, Faust is on Yoh’s team.
* Defect – With Marco comforting a lost Lyserg, it is safe to say that he will be joining X-Laws’ side.
Shaman Fights Second Round Arc
* Back to Tokyo – Uhm so the next round of the tournament will be on an uninhabited island in Japan? All the way back there again, huh?
Team Ren vs Team Tsuchigumi
* Looks like Ren doesn’t want to take on small fries so he lets Chocolove handle the small fries who are those singing monks. He easily defeats them but this is all part of Peyote’s plan to use them as medium to continue forcing them to fight. If Chocolove further beats them up, they’ll die.
* Time for Chocolove’s flashback of his crime ridden life until he was picked up by an old man from the Amazon who believed in saving the world via laughter and harmony. He taught Chocolove on the importance of that before passing his guardian spirit to him. Hence trying to be funny and making his opponents laugh without killing them is what Chocolove is trying to do. He manages to do that (although his jokes are pretty lame) but is too weak for the finisher. And that’s when Ren steps in to deal the finishing blow to win it.
Team X-I vs Team Niles
* Lyserg is part of this X-Laws’ top team and he is given the directive to proof himself by taking on this Egyptian themed team. He is willing to go as far as killing his opponents. He gives them a chance to surrender after defeating them but unfortunately they won’t. So as he is about to kill them, Morphine stops him.
* This makes Jeanne feel disappointed in him for hesitating. So she casts him aside and takes to the ring and kills off their leader, Anatel after he too once again refuses to give up despite being warned. She too gives his teammates a chance to leave or face the same consequences like him. Pride and anger won’t allow them so unfortunately they got the same fate. What a bloody showdown.
Team Funbari Onsen vs Team Icemen
* Time to see how much Yoh has powered with his Cho-Senjiryakketsu skills. Using the package that contains a small Futsu No Mitama sword, this allows Amidamaru to evolve into a higher spirit.
* But the cold regions themed opponents decide to take on Faust first, thinking he is the weakest. Likewise Faust will handle them all on his own and won’t let them touch his saviour.
* After seeing Mephisto E, a giant Over Soul of Eliza that is just freaking scary, Team Icemen turn to freezing Ryu. Too bad they can’t do it too because of Ryu’s strong bond and training to protect Yoh and make him the Shaman King, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, Tokagero has also evolved greatly into Yamata No Orochi Go. Basically Hydra on wheels.
* 2 crazy dudes, so Team Iceman target Yoh. Wow. Yoh does nothing and their ice all melts away! Not sure about the explanation about his soft supple furyoku warded off their cold brutal furyoku. Realizing they cannot win, at least they go out without regrets so Yoh defeats them and frees them from whatever blinds their past.
* Recruitment – Hao finds Ren and tempts him about learning everything from Cho-Senjiryakketsu that he wrote. This means Hao wants Ren to join him. Because at this rate he cannot surpass Yoh. Thankfully Ren’s friendship with Yoh is stronger so he rejects Hao’s offer although he is overcome with fear after feeling Hao’s limitless furyoku.
* Recruitment part 2 – Yoh goes to see Lyserg and being the guy he is, won’t admonish this guy who is feeling guilty and lost for defecting to X-Laws. Hey, it’s his decision. But WTF, Marco abuses Lyserg for talking to the enemy? It could’ve been worse had Jeanne not stopped this angry dude. Jeanne wants Yoh to join them because of his immense power but of course he declines because he doesn’t like the way they do things.
Team Hanagumi vs Team T-Production
* WTF?! Not even worth to see how these otaku clowns get owned by the Halloween babes.
Team Hoshigumi vs Team X-III
* Hao wants to take all of Team X-III at once. Safe to say, he is too fast to even see and kills them all off! X-Laws not shedding a tear except for Lyserg who is slowly losing his mind after witnessing the killings. This is all part of the plan as X-Laws already planned to sacrifice themselves to reveal Hao’s secret to defeat him. But to add more insult, Hao himself tells them the secret of his Fire Spirit.
* In order to take Hao down with him, Venstar sacrifices himself by detonating a powerful bomb. As the arena is protected with a powerful barrier, those outside will not be effected. But as we can guess it is all in vain because Hao is unscathed.
* And if you think that’s the end of it, Hao captures their souls and will use them to forever serve as his nutrition.
* Separated at birth – So with Yoh’s pals learning about his connection to Hao, they’re pretty bummed out but continue to maintain by his side. Though, this is a battle that Yoh can only end it by his own hands. So we have a full flashback on the day Hao and Yoh were born. Other than their failed attempt to kill baby Hao, Hao noticed his other self was split into another half that we all know as Yoh. When the time is ripe, he will claim his other half back. While it might look gloomy, the Asakura family realized that if Yoh can rival Hao’s power, then he will be their only hope to defeat him.
* It’s over 9000!!! – Well, Yoh tells his pals the big thing that is bugging him: Hao’s furyoku is quantified and measured to be 1,250,000!!! To put that into perspective, Silva as the strongest among the Patch officials is measured at only 10,000. Plus, the devastating news is that Yoh predicts that Hao will actually win the tournament.
* Sleeping with the enemy – Looks like a couple of Patch officials, Nichrom and Magna are siding with Hao. So much for impartialness.
* Fight of fathers – Yoh’s parents, Mikihisa and Keiko see the Tao family in order to get their permission and corporation to teach Ren their Cho-Senjiryakketsu. Because Tao En doesn’t acknowledge and wants proof that this book is stronger than his own doctrine, the fathers fight. Chinese father lost.
* May the most stubborn man win – Mikihisa begins ‘training’ Ren and obviously the latter is much weaker and is more prideful but both sides won’t give up. Eventually Ren lost. But I’m not sure when he learnt it because it’s just in time for him to show his stuff when the enemy is about to attack.
* Off the cards – Are these the next official matches? Because we see Hanagumi targeting Mikihisa’s team, Team Kabbalahers (consists of the Munzer siblings, Redseb and Seyrarm). Luckily for them, Anna, Tamao and Jun are here to play with them too. Meanwhile Peyote, Tabarsi and Zang Ching target Ren’s side. Ren does pretty well until he learns that the Patch official overseeing this match is Nichrom who is the younger brother of Chrom whom Ren killed during the qualifying round. This hesitancy cause Peyote to kill him off. Horohoro and Chocolove fight back to save their friend. Their furyoku is too low to even protect Ren or defend against their attacks. So how? Funbari Onsen to the rescue! Because of Yoh’s fearsome aura similar to Hao, the follower’s back down although Nichrom isn’t very happy about it.
* God’s miracle – Oh, if even Dr Faust can’t save Ren whom he claims his body is technically dead, how will they resurrect him?! That’s right, call in X-Laws! They’re going to use God’s powers to save him?! Aside the fact that putting oneself in a near state of death helps one tremendously increase their furyoku (Hao’s multiple reincarnation and Jeanne’s Iron Maiden torture), the condition for saving Ren is that Yoh must quit the tournament. And Yoh’s decision… Friend > tournament. Sorry Anna, looks like you’ll have to change your title or find another husband.
* Unbelievable – WTF?! Marco is shocked at Yoh’s decision?! I thought he wanted him out?! And now he has voluntarily quit, WTF Marco being dramatic over this?! So what do you want?!
* B*tch showdown – Kanna and Anna having showdown of words. This gonna get ugly…
* Terminator zombie – Anna wants Jun to fight her to see how much Bai Long has improved. Basically he has been modified and is part zombie and part machine!
* Emeth – Anna leads Redseb and Seyrarm kids away as she learns Seyrarm has no emotions after seeing their father murdered. Redseb participates in this tournament in hopes the Great Spirit can do something about her. It seems they only recently became shamans after their father died. They were thought about the supernatural stuffs via a golem named Emeth that their father found during his travels. Looks like a powerful secret weapon…
* B*tch fight – Hanagumi girls take on Tamao and Jun. Ghost, doll and sylph magic outdo a bunch of joker spirits and a rotting corpse. Wow. You mean Tamao and Jun are ready to die for this?
* Big daddy – Look who is here to teach both sides of these girls some life lessons. Yes, big daddy Mikihisa gives them a few slaps too. It is a good thing he stopped this fight because it could’ve been real devastating had Emeth been used here. Magna calls for Hanagumi to retreat since they have done their part in revealing the golem with powers they are even unaware of.
Osorezan Le Voile Arc
* Time to get a wife – We go back in time when Yoh was 10 years old. Grandpa thinks it is time for Yoh to meet his wife. So he summons a split tailed cat, Matamune, a familiar who has been serving the Asakura household for centuries to accompany Yoh to Aomori.
* Out of my way – The first time Yoh and Anna meet face to face in the streets, she tells him to GTFO for blocking her path!
* Leave me alone – Anna’s rude behaviour leaves much to be desired as she often confines herself in her room most of the time. This has Yoh wondering if a demon attack on him earlier in the day had anything to do with her. One day out in the streets, Anna came to surprisingly tell Yoh to find another wife. Yoh wants answers but he sees for himself Anna’s aura forming another demon trying to kill him. That is when she reveals this is what happens when she is outside and that’s why she confines herself in her room. Yoh tries to fight it but Anna gets worried and that’s when the demon just disappeared.
* Former master – Matamune narrates Hao was his former master and he defeated him in a Shaman King tournament 500 years ago when the latter reincarnated as a Patch tribe. More flashback reveals Matamune was a stray cat living in poverty but picked up by Hao who was the great onmyouji then. He helped contribute greatly to society but his kindness and powerful furyoku was consumed by demons and slowly he started to lose himself. It corroded his soul until he became a demon himself. In such times, he also saw the worst in humanity and that’s why he vowed to become Shaman King. But as noted, that was his weakness that drove this ambition for his.
* Save my heart – Now Matamune must overcome his past and save Anna as she holds the same power as Hao: The power to see people’s hearts. This has what made Anna to hate and avoid others. This is causing her to materialize demons. Hence Yoh’s help is needed to open her heart.
* Heart of darkness – Yoh invites Anna to the shrine for New Year. But along the way, she starts to materialize demons because you know, there are hundreds of people streaming into the shrine and they’re all harbouring earthly desires. Matamune helps stave off the demons but ultimately a demon eats the rest and grows into a big one. Matamune thinks of sacrificing himself and use up all his furyoku to slay this demon but this evil reincarnation is intelligent. He kidnaps mommy Anna and leaps towards Mt Osorezan. If Anna runs out of Furyoku at that freezing mountain, she’ll die.
* Fighting your inner demons – When Yoh and Matamune arrive at Osorezan, the demon seems pretty chirpy because Anna’s furyoku replenished him. But is now Anna who is broken as she is filled with hate and anger. She cannot forgive all the abuse and humiliation and wants everything dead. This is the same as Hao back then when Matamune failed to save him and it has become his regret for a thousand years. She orders the demon to kill them but that is when Yoh is forced to resort to using Matamune to fuse with his soul and become a giant sword (AKA Over Soul but he doesn’t know the term then). The sad part is that once Matamune takes this form, he cannot return to his cat form and will die once the furyoku runs out. So Yoh promised to become Shaman King and create a new body vessel for him again. With Anna’s feelings wavering, this weakens the demon so he tries to attack them both but alas, Yoh slices him down. In the aftermath, grandma collected all the beads of the demon that became Anna’s tool while those claw necklace thingy that Yoh always wears is Matamune’s medium. As Yoh returns to Izumo, Anna accompanies him for 1 train stop. He was also given letters written by Matamune but he couldn’t read most of the writings.
Five Warriors Arc
* Shaman slap – Well, how is Yoh going to make up to Anna now that he won’t become Shaman King anymore? Even if he is out of the running, this doesn’t mean his mission to defeat Hao is over. A few slaps to remind him of this. Damn, does Yoh have mumps now?
* Kiss of life – So what is the miracle that will bring back to life? A kiss! Sorry folks. If you think it is cutie Jeanne who is going to sully her lips for that, you’re wrong. She uses Shamash for that job. And just like that, Ren is back and kicking. He might not like being indebted to Yoh again but I guess it’s better than being dead.
* Soul collector – Bill and Brocken trying to prevent Icemen from leaving and collect their soul for Hao. Horohoro jumps in to save them despite being the weakest. Until his father comes to show him the meaning of survival of the fittest, it’s the game changer for Horohoro.
* Crumbling blocks – My, you certainly don’t want to play with this dangerous Lego. Thankfully, Horohoro doesn’t play with Lego so he owns this blocky kid.
* O’ Great Buddha– It is hinted that Bill got killed by an X-Laws’ angel believed to be of Lyserg. So to get revenge, Peyton and Tabarsi go to ambush Yoh’s hideout since Lyserg is with them. Ryu stalls them to let the rest escape. However he is not match for them and thought he died in their attacks. Turns out it is the Gandhara group who decided to intervene and save his life.
* Revenge is a dish best served cold – Chocolove wanted to see his old gang buddies but finds them all dead. They are killed by Redseb and Seyrarm riding Emeth who accuse Chocolove as the one who killed their father.
* Sorry not going to cut it – Chocolove may have repented killing others but the kids aren’t so they kill him off.
* Vengeance sparks vengeance – Because Yoh interrupted, Redseb thinks their revenge is incomplete and fights him. But after getting a pep talk about always losing something if your cause is due to revenge, Redseb sees the light. But…
* Revenge spree continues – Showing its side of power that Redseb doesn’t know, it looks like Seyrarm has completely taken over Emeth to continue her revenge (Seyrarm in fact possessed by their dead father, Camel). Hao’s team shows up and wants to take Emeth because its true power is integrated furyoku. Basically it is like a battery to store additional power and Emeth’s furyoku stands at 550,000. Before Fire Spirit can consume Emeth, Lyserg and Yoh’s pals come into the picture.
* What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger – So, Hao not going to join this fight because he intends of using Emeth to make Yoh stronger? I guess it’s another excuse to postpone the boss fight.
* Straw that broke the Camel’s back – Camel isn’t even aware he is dead and although Emeth took out Yoh, it used up all its furyoku. So mad Camel that he is going to kill his friends to replenish its furyoku. Redseb’s voice didn’t get to him so are they dead meat? Unless you count Chocolove coming into the picture to atone for his sins. He admits he killed him and is here to make amends. Yeah, Chocolove so zen and all that you bet he is going to win this fight. NOT! Oh sh*t! He lost?! So much for all that cool sounding talk.
* Henpecked husband – Camel thought he has had his revenge and want to destroy Emeth. Too bad Anna won’t let him do it because she will be taking it to help fight against Hao. And also some pep talk for him to abandon his kids and being selfish. Well, nobody can go up against Anna so…
* A different point of view – It is revealed that Chocolove was resurrected by Gandhara but in exchange he seems to have lost his visual sight so that he could enhance other senses to increase his furyoku. Though, his lame jokes still suck! But hey, did it make Seyrarm smile a teensy bit?!
* Back in the game – Well, Opacho is here to observe and send a message from Hao to Yoh. He wants Yoh to rejoin the tournament or else he will kill the golem and the kids. So what is Yoh going to do? He already made his promise with X-Laws. Can he break them? Of course with Anna giving him a pep talk, I guess it is pretty clear that Anna > Marco in terms of scariness. And with that, Yoh decides to return to the tournament but will have to face off with Marco just to prove his point that he is done grovelling before others.
* Gay bois – While we see Yoh having the upper hand against X-Laws (WTF Marco filled with angst just because Yoh mislabelled him as the leader instead of Jeanne?), Luchist decides to help aid Yoh to defeat X-Laws. You see, Luchist and Marco have a long history going back to Sicily. Apparently Luchist was a father and he took in and cared for Marco. He was also the founder of X-Laws before he betrayed and left the organization. Now father and ‘son’ are going to have a showdown to put behind their past and move on. Only… WHY THEIR BATTLE OUTFIT MAKE THEM LOOK SO GAY???!!! While Marco is still no match for Luchist, only thanks to Yoh and Lyserg’s deception in using a decoy Jeanne and also the real Jeanne to deceive Luchist and take him down.
* Ordinary girl – As revealed, Jeanne is no God sent. Just an ordinary girl being raised by Marco to play her role in taking down Hao.
* Drive my car – Uhm, so Marco and Luchist also once opened a car sales dealer? Until of course Hao showed up and Marco lost everything.
* Passion of the maiden – Marco wants to kill himself for his failures but of course Jeanne won’t let him do it. She still needs him and as X-Laws’ leader, she orders him to stick around.
* Strike when you’re sleeping – Yoh reiterates to friends and foes alike that Hao will win the tournament. With that insane furyoku power, nobody can take on him. However this is the next plan: After Hao wins, he will undergo some cleansing ritual and temporary death as he becomes one with the Great Spirit. It is then they will strike to take him out. Of course it will not be easy as they will have to fight and defeat the Patch officials who are guarding him. That is their true purpose. It is also the reason why Hao has recruited many allies.
Team Ren vs Team Wisdom Kings
* Ren vs Yainage – WTF?! Dhalsim with big ears? In short, overbearing desire to become the strongest beats neutrality.
* Horohoro vs Jackson and Kado – WTF?! Discount Renji Abarai and dancing Charles Bronson?! After the duo did sneaky moves to take out a tired Ren and insta-kill Chocolove, Horohoro shows his true badass side because realism beats neutrality, right? Yeah, and you thought Horohoro was the weakest of the lot but apparently he is the greatest pretender.
Team Hanagumi vs Team Magical Princess
* WTF???!!! MAGICAL PRINCESS ARE TINY OLD WITCHES???!!! MY EYES AND BRAINS ARE MELTING????!!!! Oh, so insignificant this fight that the moment they debut, they lost. I was rooting for the hotter Halloween chicks anyway…
* Taking the law into your own hands – It seems Team X-II lost faith in Marco and decide to go eliminate Hao themselves. Being former military elites, you think that’s enough to stop him? You guessed right. They all died even if they unleash their final trump card, their angel shooting a satellite beam from space! Oh well, you get what you give…
* The pharaoh’s curse – Oh, Anatel has a brother? Anahol? What Asshole again?! He is gunning for revenge as he kills Marco and now tries to take Jeanne’s life. Oh, Jeanne in shock to even do anything?
* See you in hell –It seems Sati Saigan who is the leader of Gandhara wants to fight Yoh and that he must die and go to hell for the sake of the 5 warriors.
* Hellish training – Well, Yoh and Amidamaru’s soul are sent to hell for training. They will have to fight infinite times if they want to get out of here. First up is Yoh’s ancestor, Yohken. As expected, Yoh defeats-cum-save his ancestor and they have a long talk about stuffs and what they need to do to defeat Hao. Since Yoh won’t completely extinguish his other half’s soul, he opts for the other tougher option: Changing his heart. Oooh… It’s more fun that way, no? Yoh then has to fight with other demons after Yohken gets smashed flat!
* The great spirit robbery – Sati reveals the true purpose of sending Yoh’s to hell in order to obtain the 5 warriors AKA elemental spirits. More accurately, 1 spirit for person. Although Hao is the master of the Fire Spirit now, when he merges with the Great Spirit, he will be asleep and the Fire Spirit and other 4 elemental spirits will be masterless too. They will seize this chance to take them. This is Gandhara’s mission in this tournament.
* Hell’s companions – Yoh isn’t the only one in hell for that training. Looks like Team Ren are there too and are sent there courtesy of Team Wisdom Kings.
* X-tinct – Team X-II is dead. Same can be said for Team X-I and now Sati gets killed by Hao’s followers. Killing her means preventing all those sent to hell from returning to their bodies. Oh, except Marco who was saved by Jeanne’s Shamash at the very last moment. Because otherwise who will be there to kick Anatol’s ass when he tries to bully Tamao?
* International crisis – It seems when Team X-II fired the laser from space, it caused the entire world to notice this small little rock in Japan. So WTF, everybody going to send their military to investigate?! WHYYYYYY???!!! And because of that the tournament cannot proceed if it is seen by the eyes of the public???!!!
* Anna and the king – Time for another showdown between Anna and Hao. She has the rest take the fallen comrades away. This is primarily to hide some truly destructive power and form that she doesn’t want the rest to see.
* Back from hell – Thanks to Faust mastering Cho-Senjiryakketsu, he manages to revive Yoh. Team Funbari Onsen is back in business! Since Faust can do this resurrection business 1 more time, Yoh wants him to resurrect Sati so she can help bring the rest back. But that won’t be necessary. Because Team Hanagumi is supposed to take out Team Ren but they resurrect in time courtesy of Jun. Oh, so Sati thought her how to resurrect? Damn, this resurrect business is really easy to learn, no?!
* Fighting your inner demons – The only one left in hell and running scared is Lyserg. Then he realizes this scary demon hounding him is his worse inner fear and hate. Time to overcome it, right?
* Failing the failed – Hao’s followers are instructed to take out the international military who are closing in on the island. But Peyote starts talking about their failures and if they are actually fighting for a noble cause to make a better world. Then he starts to kill them off before taking his own life!
* Trampled flowers – Team Hanagumi is although dead, they’re trying to get to Hao in their soul form. But they stumble into him in the midst of his fight with Anna. Just in time because he is running low on furyoku. Time to feast on the souls. Luckily for them, Anna sacrifices one of her familiars to feed Hao and now he can take the form of his armoured Fire Spirit.
* Over a cuppa – Well what do you know? Yoh and Hao now having a nice chat over coffee?! Of course it’s to relay their feelings but how does it work for Hao seeing he can read minds? He wants Yoh to become stronger and when he stops being that, that is when he’ll consume his soul. If you think Hao has no feelings, well, he says he does. A bit. Especially Peyote’s betrayal.
Team Funbari Onsen vs Team Ren
* Before the start fights, both sides have a few words to say. As usual, Ren won’t hold anything back and become Shaman King. Yoh? He is asserting how he will never fight with hate in his heard because it makes no sense if he is going to become Shaman King and make this world a better place for everyone. The kicker is when he reveals he drank with his brother is because Hao has no friends!
* Yoh using his techniques from hell he learnt to neutralize furyoku. Cool, but how is it going to work on stuffs that aren’t spiritual? Because Ren and Horohoro can do lightning and ice respectively.
* Ren thought he killed Yoh but apparently Yoh points out that somewhere in his heart, he doesn’t want to kill him. Otherwise, how do you explain he is still standing?
* Lyserg has returned from hell after being revived from Sati. Yeah, new scary Over Soul power up. So, his intervention to stop this pointless match is because Team Ren and Team Funbari Onsen both progressed to the final round?! Turns out that the qualified teams of Sky (Gandhara) and Team Kabbalahers decide to withdraw. Hence leaving 2 spaces open. Who the other team to fill in that spot? Team X-I of course. Yeah, with the Patch officials agreeing to this, all the main players are assembled for the big finale.
* Together in the bath – Well, Hao once again joins Yoh and co in the hotspring. Is it me or does this look so gay with all the men sitting around!!! Anyway, Hao talks about the Mu continent in which the finals will take place. Yup, that lost continent that sunk into the ocean. That is where the records and memories from time immemorial of the Great Spirits reside and it is where Hao is confident he will become Shaman King and obtain all that knowledge.
* Shaman crisis – However before heading to Mu continent, Hao warns of a threat they have to deal with. Remember those international military coming here? Yes. This fleet is commanded by Manta’s dad, Mansumi and you bet his greedy human ass he wants the power of the Great Spirits. Hence, Hao blames Yoh for bringing a normal human into this and it’s his responsibility to clean it up because the Patch officials do not care and will not deal anything that has to do with humans. Trying to guilt trip him, huh?
* Brotherly alliance – For this just once, Hao and Yoh team up for once to take down the army without killing them.
* One man army – Hell yeah, Hao going all out and destroying Mansumi’s forces with ease. Don’t even need anybody’s help. Yeah, just leave it to Yoh and co to clean up the mess, huh? Yoh looking sad because he feels Hao’s sad source power and has suffered more in his 100 years living here than his 900 years of training in hell!
Invading The Plants Arc
* Walkover – After reaching Mu and before the next phase of the tournament could start, Yoh makes an announcement that Team Funbari Onsen, Team Ren and Team X-I will be withdrawing from the tournament. They know there is no chance in hell they can defeat Hao. Hao is declared the winner and will proceed to the ritual for the Great Spirit. Yoh and co will use this chance to take down Hao but will of course have to face off with the Patch officials.
* Till death do us part – Because Luchist will prevent them from interrupting Hao’s ritual, Marco fights him. Strange, Yoh telling the rest especially Lyserg not to interfere because if somebody wants to die just to let them pass, so be it! WHAT?! REALLY?! And so both of them take each other out including reconciling with each other. Justice or love? Well, they’re dead now. And Yoh still not happy?! I guess nobody’s going to listen to him anyway so he just let them as they wish. Hey, it’s their choice. Gotta respect that, no?
* Hi ol’ Silva – First Patch official they’ll face is Silva. Yoh needs to test some new moves on him.
* Plant plan – Well, this fight is just introductory. Now our heroes have to past through 10 plants, each guarded by a Patch official. As this is the path the Shaman King takes in this ritual, stray and they’ll get lost. And looks like they have about 15 hours if they want to prevent the end of the world.
* Desert plant – First plant up is guarded by Namari. Ryu takes on him and although he loses, he was able to reveal Namari’s trick, allowing Ren and Horohoro to send this guy to their defeat and earn their first plant victory.
* Valley plant – This one is guarded by Bron who was Lyserg’s officiant. Hence Lyserg is the only one who knows his tricks and didn’t get caught in his web like the rest. I think it’s cringe fest when Bron starts singing Patch’s hypnotic song because it is as lame as hell!!! I’m surprised you are brainwashed instead of committing suicide! Bron thought he killed Lyserg and this forces Jeanne to move to protect the rest. Thanks to Marco’s bulletproof glasses, Lyserg survives and incinerates Bron.
* Volcano plant – Magna tries to attack Jeanne first but this Iron Maiden is just an empty shell and the real one stayed behind at the valley plant to replenish her power. So it boils down to Ren vs Magna. It might seem that Ren is being cornered as he is only defending himself. But Ren has learnt his moves and takes him down.
* Lake plant – Radim tries to be reasonable to Yoh’s groupie that this isn’t worth it because they’re expending so much furyoku and by the time they reach Hao, they will be depleted. Well, never say never. In that case, Radim strikes Faust first and kills him and since the latter has used up most of his furyoku, he can’t resurrect anyone. Don’t worry, he won’t really die yet as he now exists in ghost form. This way at least he can be with his love and still hang around the gang. Yoh finishes off Radim.
* Mother’s soul – Redseb and Seyrarm decide to take matters into their own hands and attack Hao at Mu. However he destroys the golem and kills them both, revealing that it is their mother’s soul that is animating Emeth. Hao lets Redseb’s soul go so he can tell Yoh all this. So confident that he doesn’t even need his Fire Spirit and gives it to him.
* Plateau plant – Kalim vs Horohoro. Well, what a fast fight. Horohoro lost. Then they all have a good rest. Uhm, I know they need to regain their energy but time is of essence here! How many hours they have left?! Next morning, Horohoro resumes his fight with Kalim.
* Frozen love – Kalim invokes Horohoro’s wrath when he calls his real name: Usui Horokeu. It was a name he threw away a long time ago. There was a girl in his class named Damuko who just transferred in. She was an outcast and her father was the boss of a company that was constructing a dam that would flood the Ainu village downstream. Despite she tried to be friends with him, he was a dick to her. Until one day she didn’t show up and the next time they met was in the next spring: At her funeral. Apparently she died in the snow while looking for him (he stormed off in one of his moods). Feeling responsible for her death, he casted that name and put all his effort in his training so one day he could be a good shaman and apologize to her. Horohoro gets a surprise when Kororo turned out to be actually Damuko. After she died, the spirits told her to join them to watch over the land as it is the only way if she wants to see Horohoro again instead of passing on. Until the day she hears his true feelings, she kept herself in this form. With this over, Horohoro has Kalim to thank for. So this is all planned? Well, that means Kalim is defeated, right?
* Forest plant – Renim is cloaking himself so the others can’t sense him. But he gets worried when Lyserg uses his detective smarts to pinpoint him. Though, all that was just a bluff since this allowed Opacho to locate him due to his ‘noisy’ thoughts and just like that he is defeated! IS THIS A JOKE???!! FASTEST PLANT CONQUER EVER!!! They must be running out of time, huh?
* Cave plant – Ren gets to settle the score with Nichrom and even helps him overcome whatever is bugging the latter to help unleash his full potential (because Nichrom being a weakling and getting his ass handed to him at first by Ren). Of course, still not enough to defeat Ren. Wow, we zooming past the plants at lightning speed.
* Beach plant – Thalim has different kinds of plants to counter whatever tricks and powers the rest throw at him. But it is Chocolove who uses the wind power to dry out the land and killing all plant life. Yeah, we’re really fast forwarding the final stretch here.
* Glacier plant – It’s time for Yoh to fight Silva. And another fast fight this is because it’s like Silva wants to lose and lets Yoh stab through him.
* Outer space plant – The final plant. They’re fighting an alien named Rutherfor?! And she controls gravity?! She tells them the history of how an alien spaceship crashed on Earth near the Patch village. The alien exchanged some technologies, blah, blah, blah. From what I understand, the thirst for knowledge cannot be quenched no matter how advanced one’s technology is. Hence the original reason for shaman fights is to find a solution to those woes. Yoh manages to overcome all that gravity and cuts down the alien, which actually turns out to be a Patch girl in an alien suit.
* The awakening of the king – And soon Yoh has awakened as the Shaman King. You guys a little too late? With Hao commanding a fearful presence, Opacho gets scared because this is not the Hao she knows. Hao easily kills everyone by just breathing. Yoh is the last one last standing as he tries to fight Hao, disappointed that he is using his body as a puppet because his soul is supposed to be all over the world. Hence it is just an empty shell to test him. Eventually Yoh gets killed.
* The great reset – Now the brothers are inside the Great Spirit as they talk about Hao going to eliminate all humans. Surprisingly, Yoh agrees because he too was originally not really good with humans. But Yoh still finds Earth a pretty nice place to be despite all the setbacks. Simply because it’s no fun when you’re dead, right? Because of their different thinking, Hao can’t reunite with Yoh so they’ll do this another time.
* The great comeback – But Hao can’t seem to purge Yoh from this place. He still remains. Not only him but Ren, Horohoro, Chocolove and Lyserg manage to enter here. That’s because they are in possession of the elemental spirits. They pull off some heavy elemental combos on Hao but they know it isn’t enough to kill him. Now it’s all about the battle of the wills. Hao can only be defeated once his will breaks. Hao doesn’t see the point for them in using their elemental spirits with him because it definitely doesn’t have any effect on his spirit ally which is the Great Spirit. Of course their intention here is to turn him into a decent king. After all, they can’t defeat him so the next best thing is to change his mind! Might take a little longer since Hao is going to destroy their souls forever and send them into absolute despair.
* Against the universe – Can Yoh and his friends using Earth’s elements fight against Yoh’s planetary star power?
* The Polar Express – If that didn’t work, here comes Manta riding a train to help Yoh and co.
* Roll call – Holy f*ck! Almost every character from this series boarding this train so they could give their piece of mind to Hao! From heroes to villains and even their dead parents and loved ones! Everybody is here! We are one big family!
* Back to where you once belong – When Hao demands an explanation for all this, Anna points out the irony of this. Could he not read minds? He can’t now because he had no reason to work out what anyone else feels. Because he is surrounded by warmth, he has now reverted to his original state because his will has been broken. HUH?!
* Mother’s love – The ultimate clincher when they bring Hao’s mom to him. Not sure why her soul still exists but looking at Hao’s shocked face, I guess she did. Anyway, everything Hao has done was revenge for mom who were killed by worthless humans. Hao gets humiliated by mom in a public execution and lectured about stuffs. Apparently she is not as weak as he thinks and if he wants to be king to rule others, he must first be human. With that, Hao is going to watch over the humans for a while although he claims his intentions to do a Thanos still has not changed. Yeah, I wonder if mom will allow that if he decides on that.
* The great reunion – Fast forward 7 years later and we see everyone grown up. Oh yeah. Everyone looking like hot bishonen! Except for Chocolove. He looks so different that he is juts unrecognizable! Ren is married and has a son and is hinted his wife is Jeanne!!! Of course Yoh and Anna are also married and have a (violent) son named Hana. Oh damn, Yoh looking like a hippie?!
Battle Spirits Burning Over Soul
WAIT A MINUTE!!! HOLD ON A SECOND RIGHT THERE!!! What do you mean we’re going to have a sequel after this???!!! I thought the manga already ended and thus the whole Shaman King story ended too?! Oh… Oh! I see… Looks like even after the main manga ended, there has been a sequel and various spinoffs after that. So I suppose the sequel is going to be like Naruto, huh? Yup, Boruto his son took over and become the protagonist. So now that we have little Hana in tow, most probably the sequel will cover that. My guess is that it will be Hana’s turn to fight uncle Hao when he decides to change his mind on eliminating humans again. I guess we’ll have to wait and see by then.
Story/Plot
So yeah, as we all already know from the start, this remake adapts faithfully all the chapters of the original manga. Unlike the first adaptation, it created its own path and ending about halfway through. I have watched clips here and there of the original series just to compare and of course there were some differences. Mainly the pacing of the story. When this remake started off, it felt like it was zooming ahead way too fast. Uh huh. It’s like they started to cram in several chapters and went on fast forward mode unlike the first adaptation that spread out all that throughout a few chapters. Especially the road trip in America in the first adaptation, they really stretched that out. Thus with the remake, the pacing for the initial chapters are hasten before they start to focus on the second round fights, the part where the first adaptation truly deviated.
Being an old school shonen-esque style of story, it is pretty typical and nothing special if you’re watching it from today’s point of view. It may give old veterans like yours truly some sort of nostalgia but ultimately if you’re looking for some interesting story, you’d be better off watching story driven animes like Code Geass, Fullmetal Alchemist among many others. Hence you’re not going to get much out of the story which is basically some sort of weird pseudo tournament trying to determine who becomes the next big boss of the world and universe. Good guys have their goals. Bad guys have their goals. The one left standing in the end is the winner whose ideals is superior, right? Though, this ending doesn’t follow that but basically as long as the antagonist didn’t get his way of destroying the world and all humans get to continue living their lives, that’s a good enough win for our heroes, no?
Surprisingly, the most interesting story that I find was the Mt Osorezan arc that fleshes out the past and first meeting between Yoh and Anna. To me, this was way better than the rest of the half-baked fights that this series is supposed to be driven on. Even way better than that obligatory training arc AKA Gandhara’s arc AKA Five Warriors arc. Imagine, rushing through a training arc and suddenly having the characters coming back from hell and stronger just like that. Not sure if this was the pacing in the manga but I’ll try to look at it at the positive note that at least by fast forwarding this pace, I won’t get to feel bored. Yeah. Let’s move on to the next part, shall we?
Action
Being a typical retro shonen style series, obviously the fights are supposed to be the main draw, right? Well, personally I don’t really find them exciting and just passable. There are lots of flashy, power packing and over the top grandeur as you see the characters pose in style as they introduce their new moves and the likes. Each has their own special moves but personally they aren’t memorable to me. Yeah, you’d probably guess I’m not a fan so I’m saying all that. Yeah, some look the same to me and I think many of them are used once or twice just to overcome and counter the opponent’s unique brand of attack. Even if they spam the common ones, it’ll be quick and in a jiffy. I mean, don’t want to waste time to see them spout all that lines to materialize that move, huh? Hence it is that dilemma because with the fast paced action, sometimes the fight can be over in a few seconds but I suppose that is better than dragging a fight for a few episodes.
If there is one thing that I was dissatisfied with, it was probably how this whole series didn’t turn out to be a real tournament. Of course I only have myself to blame for expecting that. You see, I have this impression that this is what the big chunk of the series will be. Then it came as a surprise and perhaps the twist of the series that everybody else forfeited their right to fight in the final Shaman King fight and just gave the crown to Hao on a silver platter. Like, that was the biggest bummer and WTF for me. Sure, the battle went on to take place on a different level. I came to assume that the series’ title is some sort of tournament and I forgot it was just the title given to the winner and it did not mention if it was going to be some official tournament or backdoor brawl. Yeah, there goes my bet in trying to guess who is going to face who in which matchup and emerging victorious. I suppose Hao is too big of a villain to just have Yoh vs Hao epic finale and that’s why you need everybody else for the final fight to defeat him. Before everybody ganged up on Thanos in Avengers: Infinity War, Shaman King already did it almost 2 decades prior! Well, just that they did it without throwing any punches and mere words and a certain mother played a role in taking down the series’ villain. Instead of a typical tournament, they replaced that with some mini boss fights AKA plants invasion that feels so rushed and some unimportant Patch officials felt like they were there as comic relief or punching bag. And I thought the one with Silva was going to last but oh look at the episodes left, gotta rush that through too. Sighs.
Sometimes the matches don’t make sense especially the rules of qualifying rounds feel vague because as we can see how it was done between Ren and Yoh’s fight. By right Yoh should have been disqualified for not meeting the very clear cut instructions of achieving 2 wins but they allow it because I guess those Patch officials got the memo that he is the main character. Yeah, preferential treatment. How else to get your epic shonen fight between 2 strong characters? Hence that result is the only way to satisfy both the Ren camp and Yoh camp without any sort of fan fury backlash. Even the tournament itself feels like a sham as many of the other matches weren’t shown or just whizzed through. Yeah, I still wished I could see Team Magical Princess’ fight. What a waste. And to think that these unknowns somehow managed to qualify for this round. Are there no other worthy opponents around the world?
Characters
Oh boy. Where to start. There’s quite a number here and it is only reasonable because of the nature and direction of where this series was going. Once again, this is an old school shonen anime so the kind of character development you see here are of that era. Looking at it from this point in time, it is pretty cliché and standard for a shonen genre for that time. That means nothing really spectacular or extraordinary as such characters and their development would have evolved throughout the many anime series that have come and go between the 2 decades the industry has had its hands in. Thus they’re pretty much sufficient and satisfactory and at least meets the minimum standards of what a main character should have and undergo throughout his journey before achieving his goal. You know, the basic ingredients of the main hero needing to save the day from a nefarious villain who in this case is his brother so yeah, making it a worldwide brotherly feud, realizes not strong enough and undergoes some sort of training, flashback to flesh out his character further, received power up, final boss fight, wins the day. Generally that’s how it is.
Therefore I have mixed feelings about Yoh as the main character. You know, not the best there is but also definitely not the worse. He is your usual laidback character who appreciates his brand of freedom and justice and sometimes I find it that he is quite imposing on this even though he sounds very lax. You know, I am cool with whatever you do as long as it is within the boundaries of what I accept it to be. That is how it feels. Also, sometimes Yoh is like a hypocrite because he gets to break promises and gets away with it. You know, it is not okay for others to do it but it is okay when he does it. For instance when he decided to save Ren’s life by quitting the tournament, hence breaking his promise to Anna. Thank goodness that was somewhat resolved so technically Yoh didn’t break any promise at all. Because it’s like Yoh is the favourite pet boy of those Patch officials. Uh huh. Imagine the special privileges he got by being reinstated in the tournament TWICE! Not once, but twice! Remember, the first time he drew with Ren in the qualifiers and technically he didn’t meet the requirements to advance? Yeah. That one. LOL. They should just f*cking hand him the Shaman King title. In the final stretch, it’s like he doesn’t give a damn about what the rest of his pals does since you can see his not-too-happy face as they do as they wish in their fights in the name of friendship. Hey, wasn’t he the one who said you get what you give? Strange, huh?
And Hao himself is also a strange person being the primary antagonist. Not sure if he is just trolling us because since he can read thoughts and minds, sometimes it feels dumb he doesn’t use it to its full potential. Like as though he is so confident of the outcome but look what happened? Sure, he makes regular visits to his little brother so as to check on him and see if he is closer to his desired status so that they can merge into one being in the end. Uhm, isn’t Hao supposed to be all-knowing too? Did he not see this ending coming? Or what we see here is incomplete and the inevitable is still yet to come? Am I missing something? Hao has got to be the most confident slackster just like his brother because he too is so lax and bloody confident in buttering up Yoh that even in the final stretch he sent Opacho to accompany the guys. Like, what this little African kid can do that Hao himself can’t?! That or perhaps Hao is just greatly misunderstood because what he really needed was somebody to stop him dead in his tracks and who else better to do that than his own mom. Yeah. Weird. But okay. Whatever.
Many of the other supporting characters feel lacking especially in the final stretch. It feels like they’re there just because they are part of Yoh’s groupie. Like Ryu who is just so forgettable during the plants’ invasion and they just throw him into some random fights just to remind us he is still there. After all, his past and back story has been fleshed out earlier on so there’s nothing much left on him. Same for most of the other groupie members albeit at different stages like Chocolove in the middle and they leave it really late for Horohoro so as for some surprise twist factor on his spirit’s true identity so he can have some sort of closure on his past. Faust? They need a dead doctor to become a ghost to perform some miracle resurrection on the rest. I don’t know, that’s how I feel about him in the later stages. Lyserg? He feels less a confused kid out for revenge compared to the first adaptation. Forgettable nevertheless.
The ‘second in command’ Ren is also one strange fellow. Because of this guy’s pride, he is being a ‘tsundere’ with his friendship with Yoh and the rest. Sometimes making us wonder whether there is going to be some sort of bromance between him and Yoh. In a way, Ren remains the arrogant and prideful brat he is and even if he sounds haughty with his friendship methods, nevertheless he still values friendship, which is many steps up than the initial Ren we were introduced. Yeah, because we see him regret killing the Patch official but has come to terms with it and moved on. So basically these pals are there so as to complete the elemental power up they’ll get to fight Hao which eventually feels redundant. Captain Planet would’ve been so proud to recruit them as part of the Planeteers. Since Ryu and Faust did not get chosen to be part of this elemental Power Rangers, the reason why I felt their characters lacking so much in the final stretch.
Anna started off as amusing and terrifying at the same time. Because it is like she is the true God of the series as nobody, including her future husband AKA Yoh and not even the great self-proclaimed God himself AKA Hao can best her. She has a sharp acid tongue and does not give you an inch. Makes Ren’s pride look like a baby. Considering the kind of tragic past she had, I guess this seemingly b*tch character is fair seeing that this way, nobody gets to step over her head. Not so that she can control and dominate others (partly it is) so that she won’t be her weak and feeble past self again. It is just sad that in the final arc, she has been relegated to a side character along with the rest.
Speaking of them, oh man, they feel so side-lined in the final stretch when Yoh and co went on a journey to face Hao. They feel so redundant that it makes me wonder if they’re even relevant at this point. Even when I think about it as a whole, most of them feel a lot redundant. Like Pirika. Don’t remember the most significant thing Horohoro’s sister did except to be there for emotional support. Tamao? Sorry, don’t hope for some sort of love triangle when Anna is around. Because Anna won’t allow it! Manta, Yoh needs a human friend, right? And yes, petite kid must come from a rich family so that we can cover the final arc of gathering everybody in his sponsored transportation for a great reunion. I thought Manta was going to be like a technician-cum-advisor for Yoh and co like in many tournament genres but he did nuts here. Considering the spirits are supposed to be the main characters, they feel close to inexistent during the final stretch. Amidamaru, Bason, Tokagero… Uhm, you guys still around, right?
Then you look at Yoh’s family, Ren’s family, Mikihisa and those golem-riding kids, X-Laws (yeah, there’s a couple of minor X-Laws members that ended up as a couple during their fight against Hao that feels so out of place – And Jeanne didn’t even really matter in the end except to become Ren’s wife… WTF?! How they even get together???!!!), WTF they’re all here for in the end? Giving emotional support is the best they can do? Seems so. What else can they do? Heck, they even try to throw in Hao’s multi-racial comrades for sympathy points. To show how they’ve not forsaken their leader but also changed in some ways. Then you wonder why the heck Gandhara is even needed and even for that very miniscule plot of getting those elemental spirits for our heroes and the convenient tool of resurrecting because that is what Faust gets since he didn’t get an elemental spirit. Gandhara feels so lacking and I was under the impression that they’ll be the other third force to be reckon with but their role fizzled out in the end although they sounded grand in playing a role to help Yoh’s side to defeat Hao. I guess with Christianity and tribal Native American spirits, somebody needs to bring the big Buddhist theme into the equation. I think.
Art & Animation
Just like Fruits Basket’s remake, the visuals are clearly updated in the sense that the visuals are sharper looking and brightly coloured in contrast. Of course, the basics of the art style like the characters remain primarily the same so every Tom, Dick and Harry from 20 years ago can still identify the very same Yoh and Hao 20 years later. They still have that cartoony look (especially Manta who looks like a Teruterubouzu come to life) and of course with today’s technology in animation, the visuals look better and not so dated compared to the first adaptation. If Manta isn’t the weirdest looking character, take a look at Brocken. Damn, I think this guy was really modelled after Lego. It’s creepy to think that this guy’s real skin is like Lego. And do I need to remind you whom Ponchi and Konchi take after again? There’s some CGI used (albeit not many) but this is mainly for special effects during fight scenes when the characters pull off their special moves. Not very jarring and unnoticeable, if I should say. Blends in well with the 2D animation. The first adaptation was done by Xebec (To Love-Ru, Love Hina, Haiyore! Nyaruko-san). The remake was handled by Bridge (Munou Na Nana, Devil Survivor 2 The Animation, Mitsudomoe)
Voice Acting
Unlike the remake of Fruits Basket, this series actually uses back the entire cast from the first adaptation! Well, almost. From Yui Horie as Jeanne to Romi Paku as Ren to Nana Mizuki as Tamao to Takethito Koyasu as Faust to Megumi Hayashibara as Anna to Katsuyuki Konishi as Amidamaru and even Minami Yakayama as Hao and Inuko Inuyama as Manta, almost the entire main and supporting characters from the first adaptation got retained for this remake. With the exception of Yoh. Previously helmed by Yuuko Satou (Lust in Fullmetal Alchemist), the remake casts Youko Hikasa as the main protagonist. I read that she has retired from voice acting and has left the industry to raise her family (read somewhere from the internet as the official source didn’t mention about it so it could be highly speculative).
I found it strange at first, Youko Hikasa as Yoh as I didn’t think it was here (I was thinking she would sound something like Tio from that Arifureta series). Eventually I did and got used to it. Anyway, the voice acting I believe is pretty fine and dandy and I’m saying that only because this is the first time I am watching this series in its original voice acting form. Yup, the first adaptation I watched back then was dubbed as one of those early morning weekend cartoons and that time I wasn’t an anime nerd yet. Looking back in retrospect, of course the original voice acting sounds way much better than the dub ones (yeah, somehow locally dubbed cartoons have this one kind in their voice). So I’m pretty sure they’re much at home especially for all the veterans coming back to do the remake to voice again their characters.
Of course Yoh is not the only character who has been recasted as the rest are mostly minor characters like Pirika who was voiced by the late Tomoko Kawakami is replaced by Rina Hidaka while Marco who was previously helmed by Akimitsu Takase is now done by Yuuichi Nakamura. There are also new casts especially for characters that didn’t appear in the first adaptation like Koji Yusa as Anahol and Anatel but I’m not going to list all of them here. TLDR: Too lazy! Do you know how many f*cking characters are there in this series, even counting those that only make a short cameo appearance!!!
Music
Sad to say, the first opening theme, Soul Salvation by Megumi Hayashibara cannot even hold a candle to the first adaptation’s Over Soul and Northern Lights. Soul Salvation tries to maintain that trademark that made the latter two catchy and memorable but it just fails. Somehow I just cannot bring myself to like this theme as it sounds bland and worse, a copycat of those great retro pieces. Heck, even the ending themes of the first adaptation, Trust You and Omokage (both by Megumi Hayashibara) even sound way better than this.
The first adaptation had all its opening and ending themes dominated by Megumi Hayashibara. So for the remake, they didn’t let that happen. For instance, the second opening theme, Get up! Shout by Nana Mizuki. My conspiracy theory is that this is the only part where Nana Mizuki gets to be of prominence since her Tamao character feels so negligible. Uh huh. Time for us to listen to her great vocal chops. Even so, the song pales in comparison to those I love aforementioned. This means the rest of the other ending themes, Adieu by Yui Horie, Hazuki by Saji and Courage Soul by Youko Hikasa are all pretty meh. Forgettable and not really memorable. Heck, even the insert songs, Ringo Urama Uta by Ringo Awaya and Bob Love by Bob sound totally weird. Especially the former. I don’t know how to describe it. Especially the way she sings it. Is she actually singing? Just listen to it. You’ll see. Or hear.
However all is not lost as there is only 1 song that I like: Osorezan Revoir by Megumi Hayashibara, the ending theme for the finale of the Mt Osorezan arc. This one has quite a catchy tune as it mixes both traditional style and modern pop and the lyrics itself are quite meaningful. This is the only piece that can stand comparable to its predecessors and I won’t mind hearing it over and over again. Until I get bored, that is.
Overall
Well, feels like a long and nostalgic ride for me. It’s all pretty passable to me. Not the best and certainly not the worst. Yeah. Once again, middle of the fence answer but that is how I feel too. Since I’m not really a big fan of the series and I’m mostly here for the nostalgia and perhaps that’s why it propped up the points. Otherwise, the typical shonen-esque story, characters and battle style are pretty much very cliché in today’s standards and there were some eyebrow raising moments that made me go, “HUH?! WTF?!”. Yeah, that excludes Chocolove’s lame jokes. This remake may have divided some but I guess it brings a closure to the series at least in adapted animated sense. We can all rest easily now that a great classic has been given its dues. Just like how Fruits Basket and to a certain extent, the Fate/Zero series did justice by remaking the entire thing by being faithful to its source, this series can now RIP. Unless in the next 20 years some dumbass decided to remake this remake for whatever reasons. Oh, I don’t know, because… Shaman King, live action version! By Netflix! PLEASE, NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!! Let the spirits rest in peace or do you really need Hao and his Great Spirit to come reset the whole damn world?!
Chua Tek Ming~*Anime Power*~ !LiVe FoR AnImE, aNiMe FoR LiFe! 