 |
| Image via zerochan. |
Meet Yoh Asakura: a shaman—one who can see and communicate with ghosts—who trains together with his spirit partner Amidamaru to be able to enter and win the Shaman Fight, live an easy life, and eventually be known as the Shaman King.
Written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei (the then assistant to Rurouni Kenshin's Nobuhiro Watsuki), Shaman King is a popular and well loved manga that was originally serialized by the Weekly Shonen Jump between 1998-2004. It covered 300 illustrated chapters which was then collected in 32 tankobon volumes and was released by Shueisha. Its anime adaptation, on the other hand, ran for 64 episodes via TV Tokyo, and was shown in the Philippines through GMA and Hero TV.
 |
| Image via Shaman King Wiki. |
It's quite hard to compare the anime over the manga and vice versa as I've only seen the anime, but as a kid, I remember Shaman King being well received during its first run at GMA. It was completely different than the usual kiddie anime shown within the network at that time, with a unique plot that handles spiritualism in connection with life lessons such as friendship and the overall after effects of being good. I remember going gaga over the show back then (I was either in second or third year of high school)—I printed pictures of the show and had them laminated, I bought magazines, posters and other stuff related to the franchise, and even made an attempt to watch the show via an egg store when I couldn't get home in time to watch as I live quite far from where I study. Looking back at those days, it was actually funny but also a bit of a shame. Watching over an egg store? I can't imagine I was able to do something like that! And the egg store owner didn't even bother as he eventually got used to my presence day by day! =)
Yet though I've been a solid fan of the ManKin franchise back then (and for like 10+ years now), I cannot deny that the show's ending was one of the biggest gripes I've ever had in the anime world. I'm not even sure if you can actually call that a real ending as after everything the whole gang went through, the Shaman Fight is put to a halt and no real Shaman King was chosen by the great spirits. Bummer.
That aside, Shaman King will always be a fond memory that'll still rank among my most favorite anime of all time (though I'm probably not going to rewatch... I already hated the ending, I don't need other points that'll spoil me of my love for Yoh and the gang. Ha.), with the Yoh x Anna tandem getting the top spot for my most loved anime/manga pairing even to this date. Because... yeah. Who can resist this ice princess?
 |
| Image via Anime and Manga World. |
Can you?
0 comments:
Post a Comment