Friday, July 18, 2008

"Shaman King" by Hiroyuki Takei

Shaman King is a manga about a boy named Yoh Asakura. While most people only scoff at the idea of ghosts, he befriends them. The story begins with a short kid running through town after cram school (Just a heads-up, he's not Yoh). He cuts through the cemetery when someone asks him what his hurry is. The short kid looks up to see a kid sitting on top of a gravestone looking up into the sky with a pair of headphones on. The short kid mistakes him for a ghost and runs, only to have the kid on the gravestone ask him what his hurry was again. He then says, "Stargaze with us. There's a sky full of beautiful stars. Want to look at 'em with us?" The short kid corrects him, telling him that he shouldn't use us when referring to himself. The headphone kid then gets off the gravestone, and replies, "But I mean with all of us...The Whole Cemetery!" As he says this, a huge group of ghosts surround the headphone kid. The short kid stares with wide eyes, and the headphone kid says to him, "Take it easy. These are my friends...even if they are a bunch of bums who couldn't get into heaven. The short kid then just freaks out. The next day at school, the short kid tries to tell a group of students about what he say. One of them just replies, "You're out of your [censored due to standards] mind, Manta." (Told you he wasn't Yoh.) The teacher then comes in, and announces that there's a new student. He looks just like the kid Manta saw in the cemetery. The teacher says that his name's Yoh Asakura and that he moved from Izumo all by himself for family reasons. Manta recognizes him, and tells everyone that he's the one he say in the cemetery with the ghosts. Yoh then tells him that there's no such thing as ghosts and that he's never seen him before. Manta then decides to follow him after school to get the proof he needs to expose him. He ends up spending 3 hours watching Yoh stare at a river. He then blows his cover, and ends up telling Yoh why he was following him. Yoh then asks Manta if he was following him because he denied knowing him at school. Yoh then tells him that if everyone knew his secret, they'll drive him crazy. He tells Manta that he moved here for advanced training, and that he's a Shaman. I'd have to give this series a five of five stars. Great fictional manga for you spirit seeking manga fans out there.

2 comments:

The Librarian said...

Into the manga this summer, Sukeroku?

Sukeroku said...

Sure am!