History Manga / ShamanKing

%%* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Horohoro/Trey.

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: The Shamans themselves are still regular people no matter how powerful their spiritual powers and guardians are, which means they are still vulnerable to firearms. This is shown when the main characters are stopped from fighting En Tao by just a gun pointed at them and when [[spoiler: Tamurazaki Midori, a normal human, ambushes and kills some of Hao's minions with just a submachine gun, albeit with Peyote's help.]]

* ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy: the X-Laws go to great lengths sacrificing many of their numbers to figure out what medium Hao is using to channel the Great Spirit of Fire so that they can destroy it. When Hao realises what they're after he says [[YouDidn'tAsk they could have just asked]] — he's using the oxygen in the air around him (since "a fire needs air to burn"). At which point the CrazyPrepared X-Laws trap him in a barrier and detonate a grenade to use up all the oxygen in the enclosed space, suffocating the Spirit of Fire. It doesn't work, as the Spirit of Fire changes into Water.

* CoolCar: In manga and 2021 anime the Archangels originate from and can transform into various cars that are important to their owners. Michael can transform '92 Ferrari Testarossa, Lucifer into Lamborghini Countach LP400, Zelel into Lotus Elise, and so on.

** Hao dishes these out whenever he's involved in battle. The sole exceptions are his past defeats (notably one by Yohken Asakura) and [[spoiler: when X-II shoots him with KillSat. He is untouched by it, but even he states it was a close call. In 2001 anime, the final battle ends with him being [[CleanCut sliced in half]].]]

** Yoh's grandparents actually own a huge temple and a large number of lands which they presumably own since ancient times as one of the well-known shaman families. [[ImpoverishedPatricianThat doesn't mean that they have a lot of money though.]]

* ArtEvolution: Two gradual, yet noticeable improvements in style. Compare the early chapters with middle chapters and then those with the chapters toward the end and the overall quality improves drastically.

* CallingYouAttacks: Done almost all the time. The 2021 anime even displays the name of attack to be used on screen, often stylized in line with the attack itself.

[[/foldercontrol]]

* RealPlaceBackground: One location that Yoh and his friends visit is called the Mesa Verdede, which is modeled on the real [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa_Verde_National_Park Mesa Verde National Park]].

* AerithAndBob: While there is a decent amount of this throughout the series, the X-Laws provide a great example. They consist of Marco, Dingbat, Larch, Venstar, Porf and finally... Minnie and Kevin.

* EvilCostumeSwitch: Well, sort of, when [[spoiler:Lyserg]] joins the X-Laws, though it's actually a uniform. (And they're [[WellIntentionedExtremist Well Intentioned Extremists]] anyway.)

* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: Within five chapters from the very end. Hao wakes up as Shaman King. Everyone dies. THEN the final battle starts, but is cut short by the power of love with a dash of Theatre/OedipusRex. Then everyone gets better and has kids. You walk away feeling it is Evangelion with a happy ending.]]

* HauntedHeadquarters: Yoh and Anna's home. Of course, being a (lazy) shaman and a iron-fisted [[{{Miko}} itako]], that tiny detail can't bother them.
* HairReboot: ''Violently'' subverted by Ryu, whose gigantic {{delinquent}} pompadour is [[CloseCallHaircut cut]] very early into the story. His hair spends about 3/4 of the story re-growing, getting damaged and being rearranged in increasingly bizarre shapes before finally regaining its original form in sort of reverse-ImportantHaircut moment.

** Somewhat played with. Since the beginning, Ryu has been in desperate search to find his "Best Place", somewhere where he belongs, though his idea of the best place has been more physical, such as a building or a home. He eventually realizes that his "Best Place" is with the rest of his friends.
** Also Lyserg at first, he claimed to be "searching for strong allies" to defeat Hao and joins Yoh's group after realizing how strong he was. He quickly defects to the X-laws due to not agreeing with Yoh's ideals and Marcos sweet-talking him to the group.

** Faust VIII never really gets so much as yelled at for 1) slaughtering his first opponent and 2) doing... what he did to poor Manta. On the other hand, in the 2001 anime he ''does'' show genuine care for human life during the Shaman Tournament, [[spoiler: and practically brings Len back from the dead during the final fight]], which means he'd redeemed himself. In the manga, he ends up [[spoiler:sacrificing himself so that the Five Warriors can continue trying to catch up to Hao, his death doesn't mean that much though as he just hangs around as a ghost.]]

* KillSat: In the manga, three of the X-Laws make a last-ditch attempt to kill [[spoiler:Hao]] by shooting him with a satellite. [[spoiler:It doesn't scratch him, but he admits it's a close call. This also alerts many government organization that there is something going on in Tokyo Island.]]

* LawyerFriendlyCameo: Team LCT/Team Insane Asylum, in the 2001 anime, seem to be the wrestlers Bubba Ray Dudley, Edge and Matt Hardy, but they're never directly named.

* OvertookTheManga: Due to falling sales and a slow publication rate, the 2001 anime ended up overtaking the manga. The fact the anime had its life shortened led to a GeckoEnding to avoid a NoEnding.
* PersonalHateBeforeCommonGoals: Both the protagonists and the X-Laws want the same thing: preventing BigBad Hao from winning the Shaman Fight and becoming the Shaman King (which is essentially God). The problem however is that the latter have this "My Way or the Highway" mentality and anyone who won't join them, be it because they're not interested, are fearful of Hao, know they're not powerful enough, or (rather justifiably) see the X-Laws as a bit too zealous in their actions, [[KnightTemplar are deemed as "evil" because they won't rise up against evil and must be killed.]] Which is why they deem Yoh's group enemies because they won't follow their lead when Yoh rather rightfully tells them their actions aren't any better than Hao's group. [[spoiler: And even more so when they find out Yoh is Hao's twin brother and apparently evil by relation despite Yoh clearly proving otherwise.]]

** Every time technology from the Patch appears, the Patch always refer to it as being genuine and handcrafted, even when it's pagers and portable [=TVs=]. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that all of these were designed by an alien over 4,000 years ago.]]

** Other examples include character's spirit partners and other characters' heads.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: A lot of characters who pass to the hereafter in the manga survive in the 2001 anime. The most notable are: [[spoiler: Faust, Marco, Silva, Kalim and Tao Jun.]]

** The second opening of 2021 anime, starting with 28th episode, shows everyone fighting Hao in Armor Oversoul that are not introduced yet, [[spoiler: Lyserg having an Archangel, The Elemental Five, and ''Hao controlling The King of Spirits'']].
* StoryBreakerPower: Aside from Hao in general, its implied that Yoh's Mu-Mu-Myou-Yaku-Mu is this. Being a purification technique, it is essentialy a OneHitKill against any kind of Oversoul, all while carrying the efficiency of Armor Oversouls. Aside from being a unique technique according to the cast, it is proven to be so powerful that Yoh manage to defeat [[spoiler:the power that has defeated Hao in the past, and win]], and stand against Ren's whole team alone, all of them with their own Armor Oversoul.

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[GratuitousEnglish Let there be light! Revive a soul!!]]" ]]

[[caption-width-right:350:"[[TitleThemeTune And I won't give up the fight... to be Shaman King!]]" ]]

* TakeThat: One to the 2001 anime adaptation. [[spoiler:In the anime, when Lyserg joins the X-Laws, he abandons his spirit Morphine for Zeruel, one of the X-Laws' Archangels, leading to a subplot where he eventually realizes he was wrong and mends ties with her. In the manga, after Lyserg shows off Zeruel to everyone else for the first time (after saving Horohoro with him), Yoh gets very serious for a moment and asks Lyserg what happened to Morphine. We get reaction shots of everyone else before Lyserg reveals... that she's still with him. She was his parents' final gift to him before they died after all, and they are still very close even if Lyserg is using a different spirit in combat. Later on he uses both Morphine and Zeruel in tandem.]]

* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Tamao. Even though she likes Yoh, the chances of her getting together with him are nonexistant, as Yoh is engaged to Anna (and [[spoiler:fell in love with her at first sight, despite the fact that Anna told him to die for blocking her path when they met]]).

** Monstrously difficult training that trigger PTSD flashbacks to think about, usually provided by Anna.

%% Administrivia/ZeroContextExample entries are not allowed on wiki pages. All such entries have been commented out. Add context to

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[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Shaman_King.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''[[TitleThemeTune And I won't give up the fight... to be Shaman King!]]'']]

* NoEnding: Originally, the manga was canceled near the lead up to the climax. However, the updated re-release features the ending in two entirely new volumes.

** In the stands at one of the tournament battles, one can see a rather shocked looking Michael Jackson.

* OffModel: The 2001 anime occasionally had this too, but not much worse than the manga. Plus, this was animation during the 2000s, so it's kind of expected:

* OneTwinMustDie: Hao Asakura was one of the founder of Asakura clan and one of the most powerful members of the clan; however, his desire to avenge his mother's death and his growing hatred of humans made him evil and was stopped in two lives. His second reincarnation was along his twin brother Yoh, knowing Hao was in this world again, the grandfather of the twins attempt to kill both children, but then Hao escaped with the Spirit of Fire to be raised by one of his minions and various years later, joining to a new Shaman King competition after failed in his past two lives.

* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Played totally straight by Boris Tepes Dracula. Sort of. [[spoiler:He turns out to not be a vampire in the end there.]]
* OvertookTheManga: Due falling sales and a slow publication rate, the 2001 anime ended up overtaking the manga. The fact the anime had its life shortened led to a GeckoEnding to avoid a NoEnding.

** Faust's backstory. Faust studies all his life to become a doctor, barely having any time for a social life until he meets the one girl who befriends him and falls in love at first sight. The problem is, she has an incurable disease. Faust works his ass off for 20 years and then... SHE'S CURED! But on the first night in their new home she's killed by a burglar.

* ThoseTwoGuys: Zen and Ryo, the two Buddhist singers who appear from time to time challenging Yoh and his group. In the end, they have a HeelFaceTurn and [[spoiler: join Gandhara after fighting team The Ren.]]

* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:Faust VIII reunites with Eliza after his death in the manga, but they stick with Yoh's group to assist them until the end before likely moving on to the afterlife as they're never seen again in the sequels.]]

* TokyoIsTheCenterOfTheUniverse: Subverted. Although Tokyo is the meeting point for all the Shamans in the preliminary round, the actual tournament will take place at the Patch tribe in America. Also the location of the Preliminaries changes every tournament.
%%* TookALevelInBadass: Manta [[spoiler: after becoming a Shaman.]]

* WoodenKatanasAreEvenBetter: Wooden Sword Ryu wields, well, a wooden sword and fights against people who wield metal swords, halberd, and the like. But when he awakens to his shamanic powers, that wooden sword becomes as awesome as any other shamanic focus.

* AdaptationDistillation: The 2021 remake, while faithful to the manga, either completely cut out or condensed some manga scenes, mostly the comedy gags, to fit the whole story within 52 episodes. This is noticeable in the first 13 episodes, where the story covered by the 2001 anime up is [[CompressedAdaptation crammed]] to the point the story deviated in the first anime, before slowing down the pace.

* AerithAndBob: While there is a decent amount of this throughout the series, the X-Laws provide a great example. They consist of: Marco, Dingbat, Larch, Venstar, Porf and finally... Minnie and Kevin.

* AllThereInTheManual: Hao's past is explained in a side story. Though it sort makes sense since, [[spoiler:nobody around but him knew about it]].

* BestHerToBedHer: [[spoiler:Anna the Third, who came all the way to Tokyo to challenge Hana to battle and make him her fiance if he wins.]]

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler: The heroes CantCatchUp to Hao in terms of power, and as a result Hao becomes the Shaman King. Before he can go through his genocidal plan, ThePowerOfLove kicks in and every single character in the series, good and bad, travel to the spirit world to confront Hao and argue that humanity is fundamentally good. After receiving an ArmorPiercingSlap from his mother and given a stern talking to by everyone, Hao resolves to not kill humanity... ''right away'', stating that he will resume his plans if humans fail to change their corrupt ways. The series epilogue ends on a WhereAreTheyNow section, showing how Team Yoh has grown and changed over the years. Unfortunately, Yoh and his friends are just six guys in a world of millions and can't hope to change a thing, though the series implies that Yoh's son, Hana, symbolizes the hope that the next generation will be better and can fix the world. The series closes out with Hao looking over the human world and smiling faintly, implying that he too has hope that humanity will change for the better.]]

** The Patch aren't any real Native American tribe, and they live on Mesa Verdede, not to be confused with [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesa_Verde_National_Park Mesa Verde]]. {{Lampshade|Hanging}}d in that ''none'' of the {{Muggles}} have even heard of this "Patch" tribe.

* BloodierAndGorier: The 2021 anime compare to the 2001 version, will uncensor all of the violence that were showed in the manga due to the more lax MoralGuardians that were really strict in early 2000s. In fact, the show also counted as midnight anime as well due to the reairings on midnight for it's gorier content.

** Lyserg wants to kill Hao for murdering his parents.

In the world of ''Shaman King'', special humans possessing spiritual power act as mediums between the worlds of the living and the dead. With enough talent and training, these humans can even channel a bonded soul to gain the powers and abilities it had in life, from legendary samurai to kung-fu masters.

It's now gotten a re-release in Japan under the title of ''Shaman King Kang Zeng Bang''[[note]]a pun on ''kanzenban'', "complete edition"[[/note]] in which the actual ending was released over two more volumes. An English digital release of this edition was made available in 2020.

* AssholeVictim: Some of victims of Hao, mostly when also saving his future allies, which makes it easier to understand why they are so devoted to him. Examples include the lawyers that cheated out Kanna Bismarch of her inheritance after her parents died and were not bothered by her future or the mobsters that tried to kill then-child Marion Phauna.

* CainAndAbel: Yoh and Hao are twin brothers on opposite moral ends, with Yoh being a AllLovingHero and Hao having genocidal ambitions. The 2001 anime plays it more straight, while the manga plays with it more [[spoiler: by way of Hao's eventual HazyFeelTurn.]]
* CameBackStrong: Dying is just about the only way to increase ones spirit power so repeatedly by most fighters.
* CantCatchUp: Subverted, the main cast are shown to be at a similar skill level and each receive an upgrade either at the same time as Yoh or independently off screen before their next appearance.

* CulturalCrossReference: Yes, Virginia, those two spirits ''are'' supposed to look like [[WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow Ren and Stimpy]].

** Inverted with Faust VIII. He defeated Yoh, then Yoh and Anna earned ''his'' friendship.

** In the 2001 anime, Lyserg abandons Morphin in favor of a mecha angel spirit like the rest of the X-Laws, though eventually she comes back to him

* {{Dismotivation}}: Yoh wants wants to win the shaman fight and [[GodhoodSeeker become God]] so that he can have an easy life.

* EgocentricTeamNaming: Ren's team is Team 'The Ren'.
* EmbarrassingOldPhoto: In ''Shaman King Remix'', Anna reveals that she has about 1080 embarrasing old photos of Yoh that she uses for "psychological training". Side commentaries wonder if this's the reason for Yoh's DissonantSerenity.

* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: Every shaman.

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: both Silva and Kalim did this while fighting against the heroes.]]
* FaceHeelTurn: Lyserg. He gets better.

** Later, Ponchi tries uses his gigantic weaponized testicles [[spoiler: against Team Hana-Gumi, and the three witches GroinAttack him right back. One gets ''blown to pieces with a revolver'', and the other is ''sliced into chunks with knives''.]]

** Also Lyserg at first, he claimed to be "searching for allies".

* HiddenDepths: Can be applied to many but Yoh could be the best example regardless of how talkative he is. When Hao blackmails him, Amidamaru tells Yoh that he has been trying to stay strong.

* IWasJustPassingThrough: Inverted and overlapping with EmbarrassingRescue. In the 2001 anime, our heroes save their " enemy" in this fashion. Hao is pissed with the X-Laws for meddling with Yoh and decides to have his minions teach them a lesson. However, Yoh and the others can't stand to watch the slaughtering and decide to step in.
--->'''Horohoro:''' Whoa, don't get the wrong idea here.\\
'''Joco:''' It's not like we came to save you guys.\\
'''Ren:''' It's just how things turned out.\\
'''Marco:''' If I'm at the mercy of my enemies, then I'd rather choose a noble death!\\
'''Ren:''' Do whatever you like. But if you want to die, do it somewhere we can't see you.
** In true {{Determinator}} and UngratefulBastard form, the [[spoiler: remaining]] X-Laws respond to their rescue by continuing with their plans [[spoiler: resulting in their saviours being sucked into the Gate of Babylon]].
* IllGirl: Eliza.

* KidDetective: Lyserg.
* KidHero: Most of the main cast are this. Yoh. Ren. Horohoro. Chocolove. Lyserg...

* KillSat: In the manga, three of the X-Laws make a last-ditch attempt to kill [[spoiler:Hao]] by shooting him with a satellite. [[spoiler:It doesn't scratch him,]] of course.

* KnightTemplar: The X-Laws, to the core.

* LawfulStupid: The X-LAWS are all this in the anime. A group that vows to wipe out Hao and his allies. Okay, the only problem is that if you are not on their side you're automatically considered an enemy. [[HolierThanThou They refuse to work with others outside their group and tend to look down on anyone not in their team (mostly Marco carries this attitude).]] [[{{Hypocrite}} X-LAWS says they do this to rid evil from the world and stop the killing.]] [[SarcasmMode Way to go of ruining your chances helping other people stop the Big Bad.]] Yoh even calls them out on this
-->"If you kill people just for standing in your way, then you're no better than Hao."\\

* LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters: Not as many as some other manga. But enough to make you go "Oh yeah... That guy who hasn't done anything for like 30 chapters". Manta is probably the biggest offender. There are big chunks of the series where nobody reading knows where he is or why they should care. And than all of sudden, there he is. It's like the story kinda left him behind. The series also had a reeeally bad tendency to introduce tons of characters out of nowhere and make them disapear just as fast.

* TheMasochismTango: Yoh and Anna's relationship.

* MechanicalMonster: Many of the shaman spirits in Oversoul look vaguely mechanical or downright machine-like, particularly in the 2001 anime.
* MeteorMove: The first time we see Li Bailong fight, we get a very nicely executed Type A.
* MultinationalTeam: When Yoh and friends have to split into two teams, Yoh's team comprises of two Japanese guys and a German while Ren's team comprises of the Chinese Ren, the Japanese Horohoro, and the American Chocolove. They also occasionally work with the Englishman Lyserg.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_rmvcmVmqg Matt Hardy, Edge, and Bubba Ray Dudley]] are shamans in the tournament; of course their mediums are tables, ladders, and chairs, oh my.

* NobleSavage: Subverted with the Native American Patch tribe, who have "traditional native hand-crafted" versions of high-tech consumer electronics and are shamelessly merchandising the Shaman Fight for money.
** The "hand-crafted" part [[spoiler:is probably true, as implied in the last chapter]].
* [[OddlyNamedSequel Oddly Named Updated Re-release]]: ''Shaman King Kang Zeng Bang''.
** [[BilingualBonus Not all that odd if you know Japanese:]] "Kang Zeng Bang" comes out as "kanzenban", or "Perfect Edition".

* OffModel:

** The 2001 anime occasionally had this too, but not much worse than the manga. Plus, this was animation during the 2000s, so it's kind of expected.
* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome: The collection of all the Primal Elemental spirits, but the biggest example would be Sati's fight with the King of Hell for the Earth spirit.

** Every time technology from the Patch appears, the Patch always refer to it as being genuine and handcrafted, even when it's pagers and portable TVs. [[spoiler: It's later revealed that all of these were designed by an alien over 4,000 years ago.]]

** In the 2001 anime, any time [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miRjTbibrWk Brave Heart]] plays, you will receive plot exposition/explanation of sudden understanding, and complete and utter defeat of all opponents. It's subverted a few times, but generally played straight.

* ThoseTwoGuys:
** More like [=Those Nine Guys=], or rather, the guys that make up Ryu's gang. Though one of them, Muscle Punch, does get a few lines.
** In the 2001 anime, Zen and Ryo.

* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Manta's parents, Oyamada Mansumi and Keiko.
* TogetherInDeath: [[spoiler:Faust VIII and Eliza, in the manga.]]

* TookALevelInBadass: Manta [[spoiler: after becoming a Shaman.]]

** Though she isn't a villain, [[spoiler: Goldva started laughing insanely and raving about the new Shaman King Hao]].

* WoodenKatanasAreEvenBetter: Wooden Sword Ryu wields, well, a wooden sword. Against people who metal swords, halberd and the like. But when he awakens to his shamanic powers, that wooden sword becomes as awesome as any other shamanic focus.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Horohoro/Trey

** Redseb wanted to kill Chocolove because he murdered his father. [[spoiler: And he succeeded. Not to worry, [[BackFromTheDead he got better.]]]]

** The second opening of 2021 anime, starting with 28th episode, shows everyone fighting Hao in Armor Oversoul that are not introduced yet, [[spoiler: The Elemental Five, and ''Hao controlling The King of Spirits'']].

** Let us not forget that classic "Mikihisa in a ''really'' small towel" scene. Not to mention Ren in the brief period after he [[spoiler:gets killed by Peyote's Over Soul, Grande Fantasma]]. Damn, all the main male characters take a freaking ''bath'' together! And the main male cast usually take a ''lot'' of baths, with different sets of main characters, depending on how far along the story you are.