Shaman King

Shaman King is an action-adventure anime series from 2001, an original manga story written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei. Shaman King anime series is produced by Xebec and here’s some titles behind its studio like To LOVE-Ru, MM!, Busou Renkin and Haiyore! Nyaruko-san. Shaman King consists of 64 episodes, runs about 23 minutes per episode and aired from July 2004 till September 2002. Opening song “Over soul” and “Northern Lights” both performed by Megumi Hayashibara (Anna Kyouyama). Ending song “Trust You” and “Omokage” both performed by Megumi Hayashibara (Anna Kyouyama), and “Tamashii Kasanete” is performed by Yuuko Satou (You Asakura). Shaman King anime series is directed by Seiji Mizushima. 

Shaman Fight is about to begin in Tokyo, a tournament that is held for every 500 years where shaman (who can command spirits) will fight each other shaman. The one who survives and wins this Shaman Fight will become Shaman King and the only shaman can contract and control The Great Spirit in return. The Shaman King will have a power to reshape or completely change the whole world through the immense power given by The Great Spirit.

One-night Manta Oyamada runs into his carefree classmate You Asakura who invites him to come and stargaze, Manta’s horror as it turns out the place is a local cemetery. Manta possesses a rare six sense that allows to see spirits as You become more interested in his new friend Manta. One day You found out that Manta is beaten up by a local gang, he decides to avenge him with the help of Amidamaru, a samurai ghost whose tomb is broken by the gang leader. After the avenge Manta uncovers more about the world of spirits and including the Shaman Fight which his new friend You aims to join and win.

The Shaman King story focuses on Shaman Fight, a long-held tournament for every 500 years where shaman will confront the other shaman in a spirit fight contest. The victory in the fight will become a Shaman King, the only being who can contact and control The Great Spirit that can change the world through its immense power. On one-night Manta Oyamada runs into his carefree classmate You Asakura, a shaman who will join the Shaman Fight with the help of Amidamaru a samurai ghost spirit to win the contest and become a Shaman King.

Shaman King anime series is produced by Xebec and did an amazing job for its adaptation from manga. The story follows the ongoing manga series around that time, as the anime series finally catches up to the manga story, they create an ending for its series. Character design is lively looking and can talk not just about the clothes but also the aura characteristic of one to another, some look funny from the start but as what you see it's identical from its manga story. The battle or Shaman Fight is one to see as they came alive and much more interesting to watch from one to another fight. For the music choice you can tell it easily that this is full of action anime series, the opening song is like a glimpse of You Asakura ability as a shaman, and the ending song is like a reason or dreams why they fight to become a shaman king. One amazing thing is that most songs is performed by Anna Kyouyama seiyuu (Megumi Hayashibara) and can feel the emotion of her character throughout the songs from opening to the ending songs, last but the least is Yuuko Satou performance for the final song of its series.

Shaman King anime series deserves a good anime recommendation in terms of action battle story about spirit and the class view of its early 2001 anime series is mostly about its quality of the whole series to watch everything. Anime or manga? Anime series of Shaman King is the introduction to most people around that time, one thing that amazes me most is how the story goes in the anime series while the manga series is still ongoing at that time. I start to follow the adventure of You Asakura through anime series and which is great not just the battle scenes but also the story runs and character development around You’s circle. Manga series answers the questions after the anime series is done or it makes me read everything not just to know the whole story of Shaman King but also learn about the other characters around You Asakura. Anime series is good but the manga is much better, but you can start from manga to anime is your own choice and the story is worth reading or watching. Is Shaman King an overrated anime series? Nope, not at all in terms of rating this is one of the things I can tell is great for most people who watch the whole series, the story flow is one thing and easy to follow for one to another, well explained from one aspect to another it’s one of the strong points of the series. The Shaman King anime series is like I return to my childhood days by just watching and enjoying the whole story and following it a week to another week as it paid off my waiting the great battle scenes that hard to forget is the real highlight and story wise easy to follow till the end. Shaman King is one of the amazing anime series from 2001 and mostly the people who watched it already and heard the news for a new series and one of the reasons is the manga series is done and the feedback for its new series announcement receive a lot of positive feeds.

Information:

Title:

• Shaman King

• シャーマンキング

Type: Series (64 episode)

Aired: July 4, 2001 to September 25, 2002
Studio: Xebec

Source Story: Manga

Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Super Power, Supernatural, Shounen

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Song:

Opening:

• "Over soul" by Megumi Hayashibara (eps 1-34)

• "Northern Lights" by Megumi Hayashibara (eps 35-64)

Ending:
• "Trust You" by Megumi Hayashibara (eps 1-34)

• "Omokage (おもかげ)" by Megumi Hayashibara (eps 35-63)

• "Tamashii Kasanete (魂魄重ねて)" by Yuuko Satou (ep 64)

Director: Seiji Mizushima

Character and Voice Actor:

• Asakura, You (Satou, Yuuko)

• Tao, Ren (Park, Romi)

• Asakura, Hao (Takayama, Minami)

• Kyouyama, Anna (Hayashibara, Megumi)

• Amidamaru (Konishi, Katsuyuki)