Shaman King

A 64-episode anime television series adaptation, produced by NAS and Xebec, aired on TV Tokyo from July 2001 to September 2002.

In North America, Viz Media obtained the English-language license for Shaman King and published its chapters in Shonen Jump magazine from March 2003 to August 2007.

Due to Hao's level of power despite being supported by the Gandhara group in selecting Yoh, Ren, Horohoro, Lyserg, and Joco as the five legendary warriors, the teams forfeit the tournament in a gambit to stop Hao while he undergoes a process to merge with the Great Spirit while Gandhara acquires the Patch Tribe's five elemental spirits.

Though Yoh and his friends defeat ten Patch tribesmen who are obligated to protect the new Shaman King, they are powerless against awaken Hao as he brings their souls and everyone they know within the Great Spirit before he commences with his goal of destroying all human life.

Taking place seven years after the end of the manga series, it features Hana Asakura, son of Yoh and Anna, and his journey with Ryu to find the Five Elemental Warriors for a reunion before the opening of the Funbari Hot Springs Inn.

In the author's opinion, Shaman King was being "normalized" by the desire of his readers with the introduction of typical shōnen aspects and losing its originality.

[20][21] Five years after the end of the series, when the Shaman King Kanzen-Ban was finished, Takei said, "After making the readers waiting [sic] so much for this, the last thing I wanted to do was to disappoint them".

[34][35] In December 2017, Kodansha announced the company acquired the "Shaman King" trademark from Shueisha in Japan and Viz Media in North America.

[49] A series of one-shot chapters, called "zero stories", later collected as Shaman King: Zero, detailing Yoh and other characters backstories, were serialized in Shueisha's Jump X from November 10, 2011,[50] to October 10, 2014.

[55] A spin-off manga titled Shaman King: Red Crimson, by Jet Kusamura, was launched in Shonen Magazine Edge on June 15, 2018,[56][57] and finished on January 17, 2020.

[58] Another spin-off by Kusamura, titled Shaman King: Marcos, was serialized in Shōnen Magazine Edge from April 17, 2020, to June 17, 2022.

[59][60] Another spin-off, conceptualized by Kusamura and illustrated by Kyo Nuesawa, titled Shaman King & a Garden, was serialized in Kodansha's shōjo manga magazine Nakayoshi from December 1, 2020,[61][62] to May 2, 2022.

[63] A spin-off manga, illustrated by Aya Tanaka and based on Kakeru Kobashiri's novel Shaman King Faust8: Eien no Eliza, started on Magazine Pocket on July 10, 2021;[64][65] its last chapter was made available online on June 25, 2022.

[68] The episodes of the Shaman King anime series are directed by Seiji Mizushima and co-produced by TV Tokyo, NAS, and Xebec.

[74][75] 4Kids Entertainment obtained the rights to broadcast the Shaman King anime in the United States,[76] where it premiered on FoxBox on September 6, 2003.

[87][88] The anime is produced by Bridge and directed by Joji Furuta, with series composition by Shōji Yonemura, character designs by Satohiko Sano and music composed by Yuki Hayashi.

[69] Two CD soundtracks were released; the first one was on March 27, 2002, titled Shaman King: Vocal Collection, and contains 14 tracks, including the first opening and ending themes in their original television lengths;[94] the second one, Shaman King: Original Soundtrack, was released on June 26 of that same year, with an additional 20 tracks and the second opening theme "Northern Lights".

[98][99][100] A collectible card game based on the Shaman King series was produced by Tomy in Japan and released in the United States by Upper Deck in 2005.

[131] Volumes of the series have been ranked in listings of best-selling manga in the United States such as The New York Times, Nielsen BookScan and Diamond Comic Distributors.

[136] The anime adaptation has also been featured several times in the Japanese TV ranking,[137][138] with the last episode having a 9.5 percent television viewership rating.

[140] In 2005, Japanese television network TV Asahi conducted a "Top 100" online web poll and the Shaman King anime adaptation placed 47th.

[103][142] Justin Freeman from Anime News Network (ANN) criticized the first volume for relying too heavily on the spirits as a deus ex machina, stating that is what "places the series on the wrong path.

"[143] On other hand, Alexander Hoffman of Comics Village declared "in this first novel, letting the relationships between Yoh, Amidamaru, and Manta flesh out is more important that developing every spiritual entity that shows up.

"[144] Holly Ellingwood of Active Anime said she was fascinated by how Takei was capable of taking several myths and cultural beliefs and "blending them into the character backgrounds".

"[146] A reviewer for The Star declared, praised the characters' development and Takei's capacity to create "new interesting ones each volume," commending "their backgrounds and unique personalities.

McNeil deemed Takei did "a wonderful job of bringing shaman into the modern day but keeping it a story of fantasy".

"[149] Mania's Eduardo Chavez said that, Shaman King can "hit all the right buttons one volume" but "it could be a complete bore" in the next.

[150] School Library Journal's Cathleen Baxter commented that Shaman King has "nonstop action" with "typical shōnen characters and battle styles".

"[151] Margaret Veira of Active Anime, however, argued that the storyline gets more complex as the series progresses,[152] while comics critic Jason Thompson commented that from volume 20 it "seemed to veer off tracks".

[154] Thompson was also disappointed by the 2004 conclusion but he wrote that the kanzenban version has "a great ending", whose "transcendental climax is not too different from Katsuhiro Otomo's Akira, or for many American comics about beings with ultimate power.