Shaman King (Shāman Kingu) is both an anime series and a manga series by Hiroyuki Takei. The manga has ended in Japan with 32 volumes in total. The anime concluded its run with a total of 64 episodes and 3 specials. The Shaman King series started in Shueisha's Shonen Jump in Japan, eventually leading to the creation of an anime series, which was directed by Seiji Mizushima, co-produced by TV Tokyo, Nihon Ad Systems and Xebec and aired on TV Tokyo. This is a Shōnen anime. In North America, the manga was initially printed in Viz Media's Shonen Jump, but stopped as of the September 2007 issue, choosing instead to release one volume every two months.

A shaman is some one who connects this world and the spirit world. In Shaman King, shamans team up with ghosts and spirits to achieve their goals. The greatest dreams of a shaman is to become the Shaman King, who is able to contact the Great Spirit (the spirit that every soul will eventually go back to) in order to be the savior of the world. Various magical and religious terms are spread through out the story but they merge into something explainable by the time the main plot arrives.

The series spans 285 manga chapters and 32 volumes, and ended with a short "extra story", known as the Funbari no Uta. Many fans of the series abbreviate its name to "Mankin". The Shaman King trading card game is available in Japan and North America.

Plot

The manga starts with Manta Oyamada, a studious middle-school student in Tokyo , attempting a shortcut to get home after a late night of cram school. The shortcut comes in the form of a cemetery. It is here that Manta meets another boy named Yoh Asakura (who happens to be a shaman), but is frightened to discover that Yoh is surrounded by ghosts (it is at this moment that Manta learns that he can see ghosts). Ultimately, Yoh and Manta become best friends, and, over the next few months, Manta learns about the life of a shaman.

Yoh soon encounters Tao Ren, with whom he battles. Anna Kyoyama, Yoh's fiancée, soon enters the picture and prescribes a brutal training regimen, in order to prepare Yoh for the upcoming Shaman Tournament. The tournament is held once every 500 years and is a battle between competing shaman to choose a winner, who will be known as the Shaman King. This winner will gain the ability to reshape the world as he or she chooses, to make his or her dream come true. Thus begins the plot that will lead Yoh on a journey that will lead him to many friends and adventures.

Through a series of events and also through participation in the Shaman Tournament, Yoh meets and befriends numerous characters and changes their lives through friendship and authentic concern, which seems to be a pervasive theme throughout the series.


It is very interesting anime. Has anyone seen it?

I've Seen it, ihaven't read the manga but i was told it was better then the show. but i did like the show to.

Well I haven't read manga either... Can't find it.. But I watched the show and I like it a lot... It is never boring for me to watch it. ^_^