Shaman King - Manga Review

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Shaman King #1
The manga starts off with a small boy, Manta, who had missed the train home. He decides to cut through a graveyard as it seems to be a shortcut to his neighbrohood. While in the cemertary he meets, Yoh, a mysterious young boy who has the ability to communicate with ghost. You then later finds out he's a Shama, a link between this world and the next. The manga itself is pretty interesting. They do some good character development and start introducing abilities and lesser characters. It ends with a fight between Yoh and another Shaman, Ren. Ren is a Shaman from China, and his partner is a Chinese Warlord. Not too bad for a first issue. Hiroyuki Takei did an excellent job with the ending. Adding a rival right at the end makes the reader want to go pick up the next volume ASAP.

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Shaman King #2
Hiroyuji Takei gets straight to the point in this volume. Starting off with a flash back of Yoh's life, Hiroyuji Takei sets up the main point of the entire manga; For Yoh to become Shaman King (Which is why it's called that). Then from there, they start introducing other characters, different types of Shamans, and of course explaining more about Yoh's personal spirit, Amidamaru, a legendary samurai. I truly like this volume. Lots of action and explanations. The last half of the volume is one long battle with a martial art expert, Lee Bailong. I'm pretty sure he's based off of Bruce Lee. The fight is pretty intense. You can see Yoh's summer training has made him stronger; However, they have yet to actually show what he does for training. Hopefully, this changes. I do love seeing the characters train to become strong, instead of randomly just getting stronger. Makes it more believable to me, or something.

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Shaman King #3

"I like to go out with my family. No matter how busy I am, I always go out once a week with my fmaily. That's because at those times, the smiles on everyone's faces are genuine. When you see that, who cares about deadlines?"

-Hiroyuji Takei; Shaman King 3 - 1999

I have mixed feelings about this volume. Not only did it not have any real fights in it, but it also took it's time setting up for the main arc. However, the background story on Amidamaru's sword and the introduction of a new shaman ally, made it worth reading. It did tell the story well. I don't know. I just feel that it didn't need an entire volume to do it. Let's hope that the next few volumes are good, now that they have the backstories finished and the main characters set up.

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Shaman King #4

"Wisdom, like genius, is a flash of insight. The ability to bring forth something from nothing. The ability to understand the ineffable. It is the light that reveals new possibilities in this world."

-Silve; Shaman King 4

This volume has some interesting parts in it, but once again I felt that it took longer to get the point across. It showed who was qualified for the Shaman fight. It introduce the Over Soul ability. Did a great job introducing the concept of Mana. However, other then leading up to the first Preliminary fight, he didn't complish anything else. I have a feeling that volume 4 and 5 could be one volume. It seems the author is slowing down with the pace of his story. Either to extend how long it is going to be, or he's just having trouble excuiting it.

On another note. Kororo, Horohoro's Spirit Ally, is pretty cute. So far it looks like she's the/a spirit of Winter. They also talked about animal spirits. There's so much room for different types of abilities with the set up so far. I'm looking forward to reading more.

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Shaman King #5
Things are starting to get interesting. Looks like Yoh could actually loose a match. Possible ally was made along with an obvious villain. I like seeing the main characters loose from time to time. Just seems more realistic to me. And you need that, when you're dealing with inhumanly possible powers. Volume ends in a cliff hanging, making the reader want to read more. Always good thing though. Wanting to read me means that you're enjoying the story. This shows the author did a great job. I'm becoming quite a big fan of Shaman King. Also, this volume is perfect to read around Halloween time.