Line #12 Manga/ShamanKing


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16	'''This page deals with Creator/HiroyukiTakei's original manga and its direct anime adaptation. For the loose 2001 anime adaptation, please see ''Anime/ShamanKing2001''.'''
17
18	''Shaman King'' is a manga series created by Creator/HiroyukiTakei, also author of ''Manga/ButsuZone''. It was originally published from 1998 to 2004 in ''[[Magazine/ShonenJump Weekly Shonen Jump]]''.
19
20	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 they had in life, from legendary samurai to kung-fu masters.
21
22	Yoh Asakura is a BrilliantButLazy shaman who has bonded with [[OlderSidekick a samurai spirit named Amidamaru]]. Together with his best friend Manta Oyamada, an OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent with ''just'' enough power to see spirits, and his {{Tsundere}} "fiancée" Anna Kyouyama, Yoh dreams of becoming the Shaman King: TheChosenOne able to channel [[CrystalDragonJesus The Great Spirit]] and reshape the world however he or she sees fit. To do this, he must win the Shaman Fight, a once-in-a-lifetime competition that will decide just who is the most powerful and worthy shaman in the world.
23
24	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.
25
26	The manga ended after 300 chapters. There is a sequel called ''Manga/ShamanKingFlowers'', which was started [[http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2011-11-09/shaman-king-flowers-sequel-manga-to-launch-in-april April 2012]] but was discontinued until 2018 when it was revived as ''Shaman King: The Super Star'' and a spin-off series, ''Shaman King Gaiden: Red Crimson''. There's also the supplementary manga ''Shaman King Zero'' which tells short stories of the characters before the main one, and ''Shaman King Remix Track'' short stories in the reprinted edition of humorous nature.
27
28	Its first anime adaptation, which was animated by Creator/{{Xebec}} and spans 64 episodes aired from July 4, 2001 to September 25, 2002 on Creator/TVTokyo, was one of the many series dubbed into English by [[Creator/FourKidsEntertainment 4Kids]]. The Spanish and Latin Americans also got a translation, and had the Japanese original dubbed in Spanish with only a bit of CulturalTranslation and pretty decent casts. Both the [=4Kids=] dub and a local language dub were shown in the Philippines, leading to inevitable comparisons and some confusion. Both the English dub and Japanese versions have been released on Blu-ray by Creator/DiscotekMedia in 2021.
29
30	A second anime adaptation produced by Creator/{{Bridge}} premiered on April 1, 2021 on TV Tokyo, and it consists of 52 episodes. The series streamed in Japan same-day on Creator/{{Netflix}}, while Creator/{{Hulu}} and Website/NicoNicoDouga made it available the following week. Netflix also streamed the series worldwide beginning on August 9.
31
32	Not to be confused with the {{manhwa}} ''Manhwa/ShamanWarrior''.
33
34	----
35	!!''Shaman King'' provides examples of:
36	[[foldercontrol]]
37
38	[[folder:A - E]]
39	* 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 is [[CompressedAdaptation crammed]] up to the point the story deviated in the first anime before slowing down the pace.
40	* AdultsAreUseless: Semi-inverted. An interesting case where the parents know ''exactly'' what's going on with their kids. They have decided to leave the fate of the world to their children, seeing how they have their limits and their children can still grow. Subverted with Faust, an adult who is a valuable asset to the team.
41	* 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.
42	* AffablyEvil: Hao is the main villain yet most of the time, he's smiling and acting cheerful and friendly, even while doing extremely horrible things.
43	* AllThereInTheManual: Hao's past is explained in a side story. Though it sort of makes sense since [[spoiler:nobody around but him knew about it]].
44	* AlmightyMom: Hao's mom is the only one who can humble him.
45	* AntagonistTitle: [[spoiler:The BigBad Hao becomes the titular Shaman King.]]
46	* AntiVillain: It's an established rule of the series that truly evil people cannot see ghosts. Therefore, all 'evil' shamans are either [[WellIntentionedExtremist convinced they're doing the right thing]] or [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold not as bad as they seem]].
47	* AnyoneCanDie: [[spoiler: Pretty much everyone dies at one point or another. Then they get better. Most of them, that is.]]
48	* ArcWelding: ''Shaman King 0'' shows that Sati Saigan from Gandara Team is really Sachi from Manga/ButsuZone.
49	* ArcWords: The Golem arc has "You get what you give".
50	* ArtEvolution: Two gradual, yet noticeable improvements in style. Compare the early chapters with the middle chapters and then those with the chapters toward the end and the overall quality improves drastically.
51	* AssholeVictim: Some of Hao's victims, 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.
52	* AttackReflector: Curse Reversal (Juso-gaeshi), [[spoiler:Anna's]] technique that allows the user to send Furyoku-based attack back at the caster. [[spoiler:She's so skilled with it that she can send ''Hao's'' attacks back at him]].
53	* AuthorAppeal: Allegedly, Anna was written as the kind of woman the author likes. Since she was a CanonImmigrant from a former manga by the same author, this shouldn't surprise us.
54	* AwesomeButImpractical: Giant Oversouls, such as Yoh's [[{{BFS}} Spirit of Sword]] are extremely powerful. However, thanks to the size of the Oversoul, these kinds of techniques consume a lot of Furyoku and can only be used for a limited time.
55	* BabiesEverAfter:
56	** [[spoiler: Hana, the son of Yoh and Anna]] in the epilogue. This was hinted at when [[spoiler: Yoh and Anna "slept together" the night before the start of the Shaman tournament and later when Yoh's ancestor Asakura Yohken asked Yoh if he had any children, causing Yoh to blush.]]
57	** Also in the epilogue, [[spoiler: Ren has a son. He refuses to tell who the mother is, but Lyserg points out that the boy has silver hair and red eyes, implying that it's probably Iron Maiden Jeanne. WordOfGod and the various sequel series confirm this to be the case.]]
58	* BackForTheFinale: During their final battle against [[spoiler: Hao, the new Shaman King,]] Yoh and friends are saved by the souls of almost all major and minor characters from the series. The list includes, but it's not limited to: Manta, Anna, Ryu, the Asakura and Tao families, Faust and Eliza, the X-Laws, Hao's minions, the Gandhara, the Golem kids, the Icemen, Lilirara, Chocolove and Lyserg's parents, the Shaft, Orona, all their Guardian Ghosts and, finally, [[spoiler: Ohachiyo and Hao's mother]]. It actually proves to be essential to Hao's defeat, since [[spoiler: he loses his wish to destroy humanity, turning his [[TheBadGuyWins victory]] into a MeaninglessVillainVictory]]. The only one missing is [[spoiler: Matamune, since he was created by Hao's now lost hatred for humanity.]]
59	* BadassAdorable:
60	** Could apply to Matamune. Cat with a pipe [[http://images.wikia.com/shamanking/en/images/1/14/Matamune_2.jpg here]] and changes into a katana [[http://images.wikia.com/shamanking/en/images/7/7b/Ss.jpg here]]. You decide.
61	** Most of our [[KidHero Kid Heroes]] are this, being cute and attractive teenagers with amazing shamanic powers. Special mention even goes to Anna for being a cute girl who defeated and tamed Hao's shikigamis and later gave a painful slap across the face to him himself.
62	* BadassFamily: All the Shaman families are incredibly formidable in battle. For example: The Asakura Family has generated some of the greatest Shamans ever and the Tao family is essentially a long line of the world's foremost Shaman assassins.
63	* BadassNative: Indigenous characters are often shown to have a greater bond with nature and thus, greater shamanistic power. The chief examples are the ''entire'' Patch Native-American tribe (who seem to be wholly composed of Shamans) and Horohoro, who is an Ainu from Hokkaido (Japan's indigenous population).
64	* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler: Downplayed. While they fail to stop Hao from obtaining the Great Spirit, they do persuade him to abandon his "kill all humans" plan; or at the very least postpone it.]]
65	* BagOfSpilling: Averted in the stories that take place after the original manga. Though they aren't actively used, [[spoiler: Yoh, Ren, Horohoro, Chocolove, and Lyserg each still have their respective Elemental Spirit that they gained to fight Hao.]]
66	* BarelyChangedDubName: The English version changed Ryu to "Rio" and Jun to "June".
67	* BerserkButton: The cruel and calm Faust freaks out and starts ranting at Yoh when he calls Eliza, his wife, a doll that he's playing with.
68	* BewareTheNiceOnes: Hao. And Jeanne. And Yoh, really. ...Basically, if a character is smiling, friendly, and happy, they probably have enough power to annihilate a small country and a [[BerserkButton temper you really don't want to press]].
69	* BigFancyHouse:
70	** 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. [[ImpoverishedPatrician That doesn't mean that they have a lot of money though.]]
71	** Manta is also shown a few times to live in a mansion since he comes from a rich family.
72	* BigScrewedUpFamily: The Tao family are a dynasty of Shaman assassins with a deeply ingrained belief of social Darwinism running through their entire clan. They're not very functional, [[CharacterDevelopment though they get better]].
73	* BishonenLine: The Oversoul mechanic of Shaman fighting provides a weird example. When we're first introduced to the concept, we have a clear distinction between Yoh's vague, billowing Amidamaru O.S. (which is basically a giant ghost-ball clamping Yoh's sword in its teeth) and Silva's five animals in O.S. which form clearly defined, almost ''crystalline'', objects. Yoh's second Amidamaru O.S. resembles the samurai more (and has a more powerful shield), but everyone else around him is already forming well-defined solids. Yoh doesn't form a fully solidified O.S. until he gets to his third, Giant O.S.. In the manga, he even goes so far as to develop an ''Armor'' O.S., which, in addition to being less bulky and unwieldy than his Giant O.S., is dense, durable, and can dish out some serious damage.
74	* 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 a slap from his mother and being 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.]]
75	* BlackAndWhiteInsanity: The X-Laws have a problem with seeing the world in "with the X-Laws or against the X-Laws", which is shown as insane.
76	* BlandNameProduct:
77	** In the English dub and the video games based on them, Yoh and crew pass through the town of Duringo and the Redstone national park.
78	** An example that's also a series in-joke: all the "Bone Shell" gas stations.
79	* BloodierAndGorier: The 2021 anime compare to the 2001 version, decensors all of the violence that was shown in the manga due to the more lax MoralGuardians that were really strict in the early 2000s. In fact, the show also counted as a midnight anime due to the re-airings on midnight for its gorier content.
80	* BoringButPractical: Radim's Over Soul, which is basically a LaserBlade. Looks tame compared to most other Oversouls, but it has all his power concentrated in one place, which lets him smash through most other Over Souls and he has CharlesAtlasSuperpower so he doesn't need the benefits of Armor Oversouls.
81	* {{Bowdlerize}}: The English translation of the manga censored Ponchi's gigantic weaponized testicles. In most scenes, it's edited to look like his stomach. It also removed Chocolove's large lips reminiscent of {{Blackface}} and changed his name to Joco.
82	* TheBoxingEpisode: An early chapter has Yoh use the ghost of a boxing coach to help out his pupil. At the end of the chapter after getting all kinds of bruises during the fight, Yoh decides that he doesn't want to partner with the ghost of a boxing champ anymore.
83	* BreakHisHeartToSaveHim: Non-romantic example - Yoh attempts this on Manta after his first fight against Faust [[spoiler:led to poor Manta being vivisected alive and Yoh losing the first round of the Shaman Fight]]. It doesn't work.
84	* BrilliantButLazy: Inverted, as much as it can be. Yoh is Brilliant but Lazy, sure. However he wants to be the Shaman King (who essentially gains the powers of God), explicitly so he can relax and do nothing for the rest of his life. He essentially is willing to work his ass off so that he will eventually never have to do anything again. [[spoiler:Except that's not his real reason.]]
85	* BruceLeeClone: Lee Bailong. Aside from the Lee name, he was also a martial artist and movie star who created his own style, screams in Kiai and wields nunchucks. Even his master is a parallel to Ip Man.
86	* CainAndAbel: Yoh and Hao are twin brothers on opposite moral ends, with Yoh being an AllLovingHero and Hao having genocidal ambitions.
87	* CallingYourAttacks: 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.
88	* CameBackStrong: Dying is just about the only way to increase one's spirit power so repeatedly by most fighters.
89	* CantCatchUp: Subverted, the main cast are shown to be at a similar skill level and each receives an upgrade either at the same time as Yoh or independently off screen before their next appearance.
90	* CarChase: A brief one occurs between Michael and Lucifer in their car forms.
91	* CastingGag: Creator/ShinichiroMiki voiced Chrysler in the 2001 anime and would later voice Yohken Asakura (Yoh's ancestor) in the 2021 anime.
92	* CatchPhrase:
93	** Hao: "So small" or its equivalent (translations vary.)
94	** Yoh:
95	*** "It'll all work out."
96	*** "People who can see spirits are never bad."
97	* CerebusSyndrome: Initially a SliceOfLife ghost story, the show changed with the arrival of Tao Ren to become a [[MonsterOfTheWeek Shaman of the Week]] story, then changed again into a TournamentArc which started the tone shifts towards DarkerAndEdgier with the possibility that AnyoneCanDie, with both antagonists and protagonists being given more backstory and exploration. The story also begins dealing with darker themes like the pointlessness of a CycleOfRevenge and whether humanity deserves to survive.
98	* {{Chuunibyou}}: Wooden Sword Ryu and his gang are the JapaneseDelinquents [[ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything Who Don't Do Anything]], who act scary but never break any rules and can be so considerate at times that it verges on comical.
99	* CoolCar: 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.
100	* CrossoverCosmology: The spirits shamans use go from Japanese nature spirits to English fairies to Mesopotamian gods and even Angels.
101	* CulturalCrossReference: Yes, Pochi and Kotchi are supposed to look like [[WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow Ren and Stimpy]].
102	* CurbStompBattle:
103	** Hao dishes these out whenever he's involved in battle. The sole exceptions are his past defeats (notably one by Yohken Asakura), [[spoiler: when X-II shoots him with KillSat (he is untouched by it, but even he states it was a close call), and when fighting Anna shortly thereafter, as she gives him a run for his Furyoku.]]
104	** The fight of X-I against team Niles is essentially this, in X-I's favor.
105	** Icemen [[spoiler:are also defeated in one hit from Yoh after all of their [[CombinationAttack Combination Attacks]] fail to connect]].
106	* CycleOfRevenge:
107	** The entire Golem arc is grounded in the line "If you hurt someone, they'll hurt you back." Yoh explains this to Redseb when [[spoiler: he killed Chocolove for murdering their father.]]
108	** Later, Ren explains it to [[spoiler: Nichrom, who's brother Ren murdered, during their fight in the 7th Plant]].
109	** Also occurs when X-I [[spoiler:is attacked by Anahol Pokki, whose brother was killed by Jeanne during first X-I's match]].
110	* DarkAndTroubledPast: Pretty much ''everyone'' except maybe Manta. Even cheery people such as Yoh and Horohoro suffered their share of trauma in the past. This is what also prompted Hao's StartOfDarkness and most of his allies (especially Hana-Gumi) joined him because of terrible events in their past, frequently instigated by humans.
111	* DeaderThanDead: Hao claims multiple times throughout the series that his Spirit of Fire can incinerate one's soul, causing them to be truly dead forever. [[spoiler:However we find out that isn't the case at all when we see all of those souls he allegedly killed, plus many more, at the very end of the series.]]
112	* DeathIsCheap: By the end of the manga at least four characters (Jeanne, Sati, Faust and Jun) can revive the dead, which comes in pretty handy. At one point, someone points out that [[spoiler: Ren has died 3 times]]. Also see Anyone Can Die.
113	* DefeatMeansFriendship:
114	** Almost every single main character is defeated before becoming friends with Yoh.
115	** Inverted with Faust VIII. He defeated Yoh, then Yoh and Anna earned ''his'' friendship by resurrecting Eliza.
116	* DesignatedGirlFight: The Hana-gumi (Team Flower) is pretty guilty of this, as they fight Anna, Tamao, and Tao Jun at the same time (though, all spirits involved are male), and later on they fight Magical Princess, though in a bit of a subversion the other team consists of ''much'' older witches.
117	* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: It gets more hilarious and awkward when Yoh has a bath and even sleeps with Cthulu. No, Cthulu is not Anna but [[spoiler:Hao]]
118	* DiscardAndDraw: Towards the end of the manga, [[spoiler: Lyserg gains Hao's Spirit of Fire once Hao is finished with it. Yoh, Ren, Horohoro, and Chocolove gain the Spirits of Earth, Lightning, Rain, and Wind respectively, but [[EleventhHourSuperPower only just in time for the final battle with Hao]], who has gained the power of the Great Spirit itself.]]
119	* {{Dismotivation}}: Yoh wants to win the shaman fight and [[GodhoodSeeker become God]] so that he can have an easy life.
120	* DistantPrologue: The 2021 anime's prologue takes place in 1985, while the bulk of the series takes place in 1998.
121	* DoingInTheWizard: [[spoiler:"All-natural" Patch handicrafts are in fact modeled on the alien technology given to them by one of The Greys. The Ancient Astronauts trope is also confirmed for all the standard conspiracy theories like dogu statues and pyramids]].
122	* DoItYourselfThemeTune: Creator/MegumiHayashibara (Anna's VA) sings the opening and ending themes for first series. The 2021 series would continue the trend with Creator/MegumiHayashibara reprising her role and singing the first opening and ending. Creator/NanaMizuki (Tamao's VA) would sing the second opening. Creator/YuHorie (Jeanne's VA) would sing the second ending.And Creator/YokoHikasa (Yoh's VA) would sing the fourth ending.
123	* DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale: If Yoh treated Anna the way she treated him and his friends it wouldn't be "training", it would be treated as physical and emotional abuse.
124	* EarlyBirdCameo:
125	** Tons of characters appear in the background of the early group shots of all the shamans together, even if they aren't properly introduced until later.
126	** Chocolove and (a much more excited and upbeat looking) Hao appear on the colour spread for ch. 27. Hao doesn't properly first appear til chapter 61 and Chocolove doesn't appear until chapter 106, about a third of the way into the story.
127	** A special mention goes to Team Hana-Gumi, who despite only gaining a major role around volume 17 showed up regularly in the early colour spreads ever since ''chapter one''.
128	** The Buddhist faction gets mentioned near the start of the tournament proper as one of the 3 major factions, the other two being Hao's faction and the X-Laws. They don't actually do anything on screen until nearly 2/3rds through the story.
129	* EgocentricTeamNaming: Ren's team is Team 'The Ren', Horohoro and Chocolove complains about the name but can't do anything about it.
130	* EmbarrassingOldPhoto: In ''Shaman King Remix'', Anna reveals that she has about 1080 embarrassing old photos of Yoh that she uses for "psychological training". Side commentaries wonder if this's the reason for Yoh's DissonantSerenity.
131	* EmotionlessGirl: Seyram Munzer, [[spoiler: At the end of the series, where she has an angry charge at Hao, and afterward gained her emotions back (although in her last appearance, she isn't showing much emotion).]]
132	* EnemyMine: [[spoiler: Team Gandhara and Yoh's group agree to an alliance to have a better chance to fight against Hao, with Gandhara giving them the TrainingFromHell needed to control the Five Grand Enemy Spirits. The reformed X-Laws later joins them after the truth about Jeanne and the organization is revealed.]]
133	* EnemyWithout[=/=]EvilTwin: In this case, [[spoiler:the evil Hao split his soul in two as he reincarnated, causing him to be reborn as a good twin and an evil twin. By design, the evil half had the lion's share of power.]]
134	%%* EnlightenmentSuperpowers: Every shaman.
135	* EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas: Hao to his mother. [[spoiler: Anna is noted to look like her (and slaps like her), explaining why Hao is so drawn to Anna.]]
136	* EverybodyLives: Almost every character, excluding [[spoiler: Mickey Asakura, Faust and those who were [[DeathByOriginStory already dead]] before the start of the series]], is alive and well at the end. This, however, is only because [[spoiler:EVERYONE DIED during the final battle and a "reformed" Hao revived all of them in the final chapter]], as seen in the example below.
137	* EveryoneDiesEnding: Zig-Zagged. Immediately after awakening as the new Shaman King, [[spoiler:Hao proceeds to kill every single character. However, when they all show up inside the Great Spirit along side his mother, they convince him not to kill every human and Hao revives almost all of the characters.]]
138	* EvilCostumeSwitch: Well, sort of, when [[spoiler:Lyserg]] joins the X-Laws, though it's actually a uniform. (And they're WellIntentionedExtremist anyway.)
139	* EvolutionaryLevels: The spirits themselves are said to be subject to a form of this. Human spirits that last long enough with decaying into monstrous forms become Nature spirits (assuming they don't start at this level), which may go on to become oni or gods.
140	* ExactWords: The tournament is said to be the Shaman King Tournament in Tokyo. [[spoiler:But only the preliminaries actually take place in Tokyo Japan. The second phase takes place in the US, and the tournament proper takes place on an uninhabited island that happens to also be called Tokyo.]]
141	* 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 [[YouDidntAsk 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.
142	* {{Expy}}: As mentioned previously, Anna is a character in both ''Manga/ButsuZone'' and ''Shaman King'', though people are more liable to remember her for her appearance in Shaman King.
143	* TheExtremistWasRight:
144	** At the end of the manga, after [[WellIntentionedExtremist Hao]] becomes Shaman King and resurrects the heroes, who live a few years in the world they were fighting to preserve, most of the heroes agree that he was right and there is nothing they can do about it. The worst part of it is that he sent them back just to show them they were wrong. Played with at the end, because while the heroes admit that the world is much harder to change than they suspected at the beginning, they are still alive and determined to find solutions and fix it for the better.
145	** This is averted in the 2001 adaption, which points out in-universe how wrong Hao's views are, and how it definitely would not work out for humanity (i.e all {{muggles}} die) or shamans in general, since [[TheSocialDarwinist only "strong" people can exist in his shaman-only kingdom]]. And even though he still gains the Great Spirit, Yoh [[AdaptationalKarma cuts him down anyway]].
146	[[/folder]]
147	[[folder:F - P]]
148	* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler: Both Silva and Kalim did this while fighting against the heroes.]]
149	%%* FaceHeelTurn: Lyserg. He gets better.
150	* FantasyCounterpartCulture:
151	** The Patch Tribe's closest counterpart in the real world is the Apache Tribe which is a real North American tribe located in a few states in America. {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d in that ''none'' of the {{Muggles}} have even heard of this "Patch" tribe.
152	** The Seminoa warriors sound a lot like Seminole, a Native American tribe situated in Florida.
153	* FriendlyEnemy: Hao's allies treat Yoh with respect and even reverence whenever he and his group encounter them. due to being Hao's twin brother. They will go out of their way to prevent harming Yoh as they usually separate him from his friends so he wouldn't be part of the fight.
154	** Mikihisa and Brocken Meyer seem to become this around the end of the series. They're seen preparing a barbecue together while [[spoiler:Hao's other minions are being revived by Jun and Anna]], and despite reinstating their status as enemies they are otherwise seen pleasantly chatting and laughing with no animosity towards each other, bonding over the fact they're both technically Hao's "father" (the former being his biological father, the latter his ParentalSubstitute).
155	* FunnyBackgroundEvent: During the two-volume flashback to Yoh's past, we repeatedly see a number of kids playing with tops very... [[SeriousBusiness enthusiastically]]. The between-chapters character profiles explain who these kids are: they sound ''very'' much like they'd belong in a MerchandiseDriven SeriousBusiness anime [[Franchise/{{Beyblade}} about tops]].
156	** During the Plant invasion, after beating Kalim, Kororo can be seen lovingly hugging Horo Horo's head for the entire duration of the following fight, with little hearts floating around them. This was immediately after Horo Horo found out [[spoiler: Kororo was actually the spirit of the girl he had a crush on as a kid reborn as a Korupokkuru, which sent him into a slight HeroicBsod from which he snaps out a few chapters later.]]
157	*** Still during the Plant invasion, after seeing Talim's Mame Cafè in the Beach Plant, Opacho can be seen jumping and dancing around in the background while excitedly yelling out "Mame!" over and over again.
158	* 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.]]
159	* {{Gashadokuro}}: Faust has the ability to conglomerate the many skeletons he can reanimate with his family's craft into a gigantic skeleton reminiscent of the Gashadokuro.
160	* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan:
161	** Yoh punches Horohoro to get him to stop freaking out when they're falling from a plane as well as Lyserg the first time they meet.
162	** At one point, Mikihisa Asakura slaps the three witches of Team Hana-Gumi in the process of trying to get them to calm down. Matilda, of course, cries out "Even my own parents never hit me!"
163	* GodIsEvil: [[spoiler:As if Hao just being Shaman King wasn't enough to invoke this trope, after he decides not to wipe out the human race he decides to pass the time by messing with Hana. First order of business? Get him an Anna-clone for a fiancee.]]
164	* {{Golem}}: Emeth. Originally a traditional golem built out of clay, he was modified and given many mechanical components and the ability to transform into various shapes.
165	* GratuitousEnglish: Being the American of the group, it's a given that Chocolove would do this. It's actually pretty good, and [[Creator/MotokoKumai Motoko Kumai's]] delivery makes it sound oddly adorable.
166	* GratuitousSpanish: Peyote, who keeps saying "¡Eres Correcto!". This literally translates to "You are correct!", but in Spanish the expression would imply an overly attachment to correctness, or following rules. The correct expression would be "¡Estás en lo correcto!" (You're on the right assumption) or "¡Es correcto!" (That's correct).
167	* GroinAttack:
168	** Played straight, inverted, and played straight again with Ponchi, a tanuki spirit with huge balls who, in one chapter, kicks Wooden Sword Ryu in the groin, attacks Manta ''with'' his groin, and then has his groin crushed by Anna.
169	** Later, Ponchi tries to use 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''.]]
170	** Anna later kicks Hao right in the crotch before he reveals [[spoiler: his armor O.S. Kurobina.]]
171	* HandicappedBadass:
172	** Faust VIII [[spoiler: is crippled after his fight with Yoh due to giving his legs to his dead wife's skeleton. When he needs to get out of his wheelchair, he uses his dog's skeleton to make Over Soul legs.]]
173	** Chocolove [[spoiler: blinds himself after his first time in Hell to atone for his sings, yet he has the highest Furyoku and is repeatedly acknowledged as the strongest member of the five warriors.]]
174	* HauntedHeadquarters: Yoh and Anna's home. Of course, being a (lazy) shaman and an iron-fisted [[{{Miko}} itako]], that tiny detail can't bother them.
175	* 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 a sort of reverse-ImportantHaircut moment.
176	* HealItWithBooze: Horohoro uses sake as a disinfectant after tangling with a bear in Colorado.
177	* TheHeartless: Oni are little spirit monsters born of the negative emotions of those with furyoku. While alone they're small and weak, if you summon enough they may undergo a FusionDance into an EldritchAbomination (in the style of TheWormThatWalks, and often it results in an AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever). [[spoiler: In Anna's past, she ended up summoning an Oh-Oni (King Oni) that Yoh helped her put down. While this is the most powerful kind of Oni in the main Shaman King storyline, there's to be an even more powerful Dark Oni, which Hana summoned in Shaman King Flowers. The Dark Oni appears to have a prototype in the Daitaro-Boshi, a giant oni -- which was ''not'' InvisibleToNormals -- born from an Onmyouji using a HumanSacrifice to fuse hundreds of oni; this happened in Hao's long, long ago past]].
178	* HeroLookingForGroup:
179	** Somewhat played with. Since the beginning, Ryu has been in a 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.
180	** Also Lyserg at first, claiming 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.
181	* HeelFaceTurn: A lot of characters throughout the series. Noteworthy examples are Ren, Jun, Faust VIII, most of the X-Laws, and Lyserg, after his FaceHeelTurn.
182	* HeroicSacrifice:
183	** The X-Laws, [[spoiler: aside from Jeanne, Marco, and Lyserg, all die in attempts to stop Hao, and they're all very clear and aware of the fact that they are going to die.]]
184	** Faust, [[spoiler: out of energy and unable to continue in his role as TheHealer, decides to fight Radim to his last breath, and he goes out while creating the official Funbari Hot Springs theme song, which helped replenish the stamina of his teammates.]]
185	* HiddenDepths: This 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.
186	* HitodamaLight: Shamans travel with at least one spirit, who is usually in the form of a wandering ball of fire. They can also force their ghost-pals into weapons, empowering them with their spirit ally, and wreathing the weapons in the flame. In this case, the hitodama have faces, mouths, and usually part of the original spirit's clothes/hair. The stronger the connection, the more of the original spirit can be seen.
187	* HypocriticalHumor: When Yoh and company have to fight against Dracula, they complain that Dracula's a fictional character, apparently ignoring that Yoh had already gone up against a descendent of Myth/{{Faust}} (another fictional character).
188	* IHaveYouNowMyPretty: Hao tries this on Anna when they meet. She slaps him away promptly. He likes it.
189	* ImpoverishedPatrician: The Asakura clan used to be a powerful clan of Shamans with hundreds of students learning under them but lost that status due to changing times. While it's not stated that the Asakura's are poor, it's shown a few times that money is tight for Yoh and he rented a haunted hotel with Ana due to how cheap it is.
190	* ImprobableWeaponUser: Just on the good guy's team, we have Horohoro, who wields a snowboard, "Wooden Sword" Ryu, who wields a wooden sword, and Lyserg, who uses a divining pendulum and wire. However, the mechanics of the Over Soul means that any item can be a sufficiently deadly weapon, so long as it has some connection to the spirit.
191	* {{Ineffectual Loner}}s: The entirety of the X-Laws [[spoiler: were not only {{Determinator}}s, but killed indiscriminately to try and stop Hao. In the end, their efforts amount to getting annihilated by Hao and making him powerful enough to become a god.]]
192	* InvisibleToNormals: One of the rules of the series is, if you can see spirits, there's got to be at least ''some'' good in you. This little moral litmus test is quickly turned on its head, as Hao intends to wipe all the normals out of existence.
193	* KarmaHoudini:
194	** Faust VIII never really gets so much yelled at for 1) slaughtering his first opponent and 2) doing... what he did to poor Manta.
195	** Then there's Hao himself. [[spoiler: He wins the tournament without even trying, despite the heroes' best efforts. He then becomes Shaman King and is even allowed to keep the title despite all the evil deeds he's done, which includes killing likely thousands of people. He only gets off with a slap from his mother and a bit of embarrassment due to this.]]
196	* KatanasAreJustBetter: Averted for the most part. Despite wielding a legendary katana, and being possessed by the spirit of that katana's owner, Yoh doesn't do much that's too crazy with Harusame until he starts using it for an Over Soul.
197	%%* KidDetective: Lyserg.
198	%%* KidHero: Most of the main cast are this. Yoh. Ren. Horohoro. Chocolove. Lyserg...
199	* KickTheDog: Pretty much everyone on Hao's side slaughtered or tried to slaughter innocent bystanders and children, or otherwise enjoyed brutally inflicting pain, especially in the manga. Tao Ren also had a few of those moments before his HeelFaceTurn. Ren's father deserves a mention for accidentally crushing the head of his pet (zombie) panda in his hand for no good reason. Iron Maiden Jeanne hastily executed any opposition using torture devices, though at least she [[IDidWhatIHadToDo didn't exactly look happy about that]]. Tokagero was a real meanie before being defeated too.
200	* 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 organizations that there is something going on in Tokyo Island.]]
201	* KnightOfCerebus: Tao Ren, whose arrival changed the tone of the story from SliceOfLife to a MonsterOfTheWeek TournamentArc.
202	* KnightTemplar:
203	** The goals of the X-Laws are fundamentally good: stop [[BigBad Hao]] from taking control of the world. However, when they start beating up and killing people just because they were allied to, or were about to side with, Hao, they kind of stop looking heroic. Their leader, Jeanne, may seem like a NiceGirl, but is just as much of a Knight Templar as her followers; she is willing to [[ColdBloodedTorture torture to death anyone]] who [[IDidWhatIHadToDo opposes her, believing that it's what she has to do]].
204	** Ironically, their target, Hao, could be considered this too. He wants to kill all normal humans in the world so that only Shamans remain since supposedly only good people can see ghosts. He's also completely willing to kill other Shamans who get in his way.
205	* KungFuJesus: Both Jesus and Buddha were former Shaman Kings. Which is ''great''.
206	* LaserBlade: Radim's Over Soul, "Platinum Sword."
207	* LicensedGame: There are two for UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance, called ''Shaman King Master Of Spirits'' and ''Shaman King Master Of Spirits 2''.
208	* LostInTranslation: Chocolove's comedy is primarily puns. But nearly none of the puns translate to English at all, so most of his jokes are completely nonsensical. Which interestingly increases what a bad comedian he is.
209	* LoveAtFirstPunch: The first thing Anna said to Yoh when they first met, was that he was blocking her way and should go die.
210	* LoveMakesYouEvil:
211	** Faust. [[spoiler: He became nuts after his wife Eliza was shot to death ''[[DiabolusExMachina a few months after he found the cure to her illness]]''.]]
212	** [[spoiler: Hao. In a side story, it is revealed his mother was a shaman and was killed by a fake medium in order to cover up his scams after framing her as a demon. Once Hao finds out he isn't a half-demon, but a normal human with a gift for shamanism he decides that it's time for vengeance.]]
213	* MagicalComputer: Manta's laptop becomes a literal example after Mosuke decides to move in.
214	* TheMasochismTango: Yoh and Anna's relationship at first glance. As their relationship is expanded upon, we see that this isn't really the case as they become decidedly more openly relaxed with each other during the American half of the tournament, regularly spending time together, saving each other, and even hints of affection when no one but Amidamaru was around (who of course respectfully looked away, blushing). Yoh seems less frightened of Anna, implying that she was particularly strict to prepare him for the tournament, which is probably a huge reason for his survival. [[spoiler:The reveal that Yoh fell in love first and earned Anna's love by accepting her as she was, and the implication that they slept together before Yoh left Japan first probably helps.]]
215	* MoreTeethThanTheOsmondFamily: Oni, especially the Oh-Oni.
216	* MoreThanMindControl: When [[spoiler: Lyserg switches sides to the X-Laws]], and also Hao's ability to persuade just about anyone to join his side.
217	* MechanicalMonster: Many of the shaman spirits in Oversoul look vaguely mechanical or downright machine-like. [[spoiler: The X-LAW's angels are later revealed to be this, as they are supercars that gained a spirit due to their owner's passion for the cars.]]
218	%%* MeteorMove: The first time we see Li Bailong fight, we get a very nicely executed Type A.
219	* MultinationalTeam:
220	** 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.
221	** The X-Laws are even more so. Captain Marco is Italian, Iron Maiden Jeanne is French, Lyserg and Denbat are British, Meene is Canadian, Cebin and Reiheit are Austrian, and Venstar, Porf and Larch are American.
222	** Hao's followers have people from every part of the world, recruited by Hao himself since he was a baby. The group consists of a Danish (Brocken Meyer), a Chinese (Hang Zang-Ching), an Arabian (Turbine), three Japanese (The [=BoZ=] guys and Kouji Yamada), an American (Bill), a German (Kana), a British (Matti), two Italians (Marion and Luchist), a Mexican (Peyote), a Romanian (Boris), and an African (Opacho).
223	* MyMasterRightOrWrong: [[spoiler:When Hao wins the tournament to become Shaman King (after the heroes choose to forfeit so that they can attempt to kill Hao while he is meditating to become one with the Great Spirit), the Patch Tribe all stand in the heroes' way, as they must be neutral adjudicators of the tournament, forcing Yoh and the others to kill them one by one, even Kalim and Silva.]]
224	* NinjaPirateZombieRobot: Faust VIII. He's a Mad German Doctor Necromancer. And he does this beautifully.
225	* 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 few chapters]].
226	* 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.
227	* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed:
228	** Matt Hardy, Edge, and Bubba Ray Dudley are shamans in the tournament; of course their mediums are tables, ladders, and chairs, oh my.
229	** Chapter 79 also features a shaman who looks suspiciously like Hitler.
230	** In the stands at one of the tournament battles, one can see a rather shocked-looking Michael Jackson.
231	* NoSuchThingAsWizardJesus: Averted. The manga lists Jesus, Muhammad, and Gautama Buddha as previous holders of the title "Shaman King". However, given that the Shaman King is actually a spirit-medium who communes directly with God, he's far from being "just" a wizard.
232	* [[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".
233	* OffhandBackhand: During the fight with Boris Tepes {{Dracula}}, Boris zips behind "Wooden Sword" Ryu, boasting that he has no time to dodge or use his sword; so Ryu simply pops him one with his fist, without turning around.
234	* OffscreenMomentOfAwesome:
235	** 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.
236	** Some fights in the tournament rounds that are not important to the plot only have the results shown.
237	* OneMythToExplainThemAll: All prophets/chosen people in different cultures as being Shaman Kings from previous tournaments, although they only imply that with the most known ones, Jesus and Buddha. Some spirits used by shamans seem to be portrayed as Gods, too, like Shamash, and the Sphynx.
238	* OneTwinMustDie: Hao Asakura was one of the founders 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.
239	* OpenSecret: The location for the Shaman fights is a supposed secret that competitors must find to continue to the semi-finals, which Yoh's group took months to discover. It turns out the Patches invited every teams' relative, shamans or not, to watch the tournament to bring tourism to their place, rendering the secret moot. [[spoiler:The location was even exposed when an X-Laws member illegally fired a giant cannon to the island, alerting nearly every government agency that there's something amiss happening. This lead to Manta's father assaulting the island and even revealing he ''hired Shamans'' in his ranks.]]
240	* OppositesAttract: Just look at the calm, easy-going Yoh and the short-tempered, intimidating Anna.
241	* OurVampiresAreDifferent: Boris Tepes Dracula claims to be the descendant of Vlad Tepes Dracula. He has the standard vampiric abilities and even has a Dracula-like look yet can stand in the sun, unlike the traditional vampire legends. [[spoiler:He turns out to not be a vampire since he is a shaman using blood as his medium for his Over Soul and his Guardian Ghost possessing and making it look like he can transform people to other vampires.]]
242	* OutOfContinues:[[spoiler: This dilemma is faced by Yoh's group when fighting against the Patch Tribe. As the Furyoku needed to resurrect someone is proportional to one's power, the healers can resurrect someone a few times before running out of juice. Jeanne runs out of Furyoku after reviving the team several times early on and has to be left behind, Lady Sati can't help them out since her team is busy defeating the demons guarding the Nature Spirits, and Faust also runs out of Furyoku and dies, leaving the main group with no more ways to resurrect themselves from that point on.]]
243	* 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.]] This 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.]]
244	* PhenotypeStereotype:
245	** Faust, a German, has blonde hair and blue eyes, as well as significantly paler skin than the rest of the cast.
246	** Though somewhat subverted by the important American shamans of the cast, who are all either Native American or African-American.
247	* PillarOfLight: The Great Spirit is portrayed as a towering mass of light.
248	* PluckyComicRelief: Chocolove, who is different from most examples in that he's actually funny ''and'' useful in battle.
249	* PowerFist: In the manga at least, Lee Bailong gets a mechanized installment that can propel his fist forward with the explosion of a gunpowder canister. Helps that he is a physical zombie as opposed to the spirits used by the rest of the Shamans.
250	* ThePowerOfFriendship: Yoh and his teammates draw a lot of their strength from sticking together and valuing their kinship. It's a recurring theme.
251	* ThePowerOfLove: The power of kindness against evil hearts is a strong theme. [[spoiler: It is, in fact, a mother's love that stops Hao rather than any kind of martial strength.]]
252	* PowersViaPossession: Characters gaining power through being possessed by spirits consist the entire premise, after all.
253	* PrettyFreeloader: Anna, for some. Though considering how she's the one who comes up with the TrainingFromHell menus ''and'' Yoh does become stronger from them, she seems to consider said menus as payment.
254	[[/folder]]
255
256	[[folder:R - Z]]
257	* RealPlaceBackground: One location that Yoh's group 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]].
258	* RememberTheNewGuy: In chapter 277 (episode 48 of the 2021 anime), Yoh gets a vision of a never-seen-before rabbit-looking demon with a supposed letter Z in it’s cloth. Later in chapter 290 (episode 50), we get a flashback of Hao explaining to Yoh about said character named Ohachiyo, Hao’s first ever friend. Ohachiyo was a character who appeared in the prequel manga “Mappa Douji”, detailing Hao’s childhood and how he met the demon, but in the main series we get very few details about the events, so his presence [[spoiler: and return in the finale]] would be confusing to anyone who hasn't read Mappa Douji.
259	* RousseauWasRight: Yoh believes that anyone who can see spirits is ultimately a good person who is, at worst, misguided.
260	* RunningGag:
261	** Every time technology from the Patch appears, the Patch always refers 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.]]
262	** Ryu's pompadour gets progressively more and more damaged and warped until it ceases to be a pompadour anymore. That is until he [[TookALevelInBadass takes a (second) level in badass]], at which point he combs his pompadour back in shape and it remains pristine for the rest of the manga, only getting longer and longer over time.
263	* SceneryCensor:
264	** Takei chooses a weird way to evoke this -- he uses a ''star'' to cover Hao's private parts when he's in a hot spring.
265	** Other examples include the character's spirit partners and other characters' heads.
266	** Whenever he is shown taking a bath or naked, there is usually a plant covering Ren's private parts.
267	* ScientificAndTechnologicalThemeNaming:
268	** The members of the Pache tribe in are all named after elements of the periodic table: Silva (silver), Goldva (gold), Kalim (''kalium'', AKA potassium), Rutherfor (rutherfordium), and so on.
269	** Among other examples of ThemeNaming, we get an example of ''Drug'' Theme Naming. Specifically, a British shaman named Lyserg Deithel (from lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD) and his Spirit Morphine (whose name is even ''more'' blatant). In the English manga, Morphine's name is changed to 'Morphea' (but that's probably just to make it sound more like a name), and [[CleanDubName in the English anime dub, it's changed to 'Chloe']], removing the reference entirely.
270	* SelfInflictedHell: [[spoiler:Souls merge with the Great Spirit when they die, moving into various "communities" within it. What community you end up in depends on your personality. Chocolove ends up in a realm of suffering due to his unresolved guilt over his previous murders. One of the Asakura ancestors is revealed to be trapped in "Asura" hell due to his guilt of killing Hao in the previous Shaman Fight.]]
271	* SenselessSacrifice: When X-III fight Hao in the tournament, their goal is just to discover the medium he uses to channel the Spirit of Fire, accepting that they're going to die in the process. [[spoiler:After killing two of them, Hao flat-out tells the last one that his medium is oxygen, shocking everybody and rendering the sacrifice of his teammates utterly pointless. He then tries to kill Hao and sacrifice himself with a grenade that will burn all the oxygen in the arena, but even THAT is pointless when Hao uses his own powers to change the element of the Spirit of Fire to Water.]]
272	* ShaggyDogStory:
273	** 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.
274	** [[spoiler: None of the heroes win the tourney nor stop Hao from obtaining the Shaman King title. The most victory they get is, at the least, convincing him to not to destroy humanity. For now. To elaborate, at the end of the final battle in the manga, Hao basically tells them all that since they're ''so'' convinced of the good in people, he'll revive them so they can try and "fix" everything. Cue the last chapter, 5 years into the future where our heroes admit that they learned pretty quickly that they couldn't change the world, and Hao probably knew this when he sent them back. In the manga's last pages we see Hao visiting the world once again and he smiles upon seeing a cat, hinting that he might have had a change of heart.]]
275	* ShesAManInJapan: In the English manga, Goldva and Opacho are turned from an old woman and little girl into an old man and little boy.
276	* SoLastSeason: Spirit Integrate is instantly phased out in favor of Over Souls, a more powerful technique where Shamans combine their spirits with a suitable medium instead of a human host to create weapons, in the first part of the Shaman Tournament as it is required for the participants to use their Over Souls for fighting.
277	* SpaceAlien: The last Plant guardian looks like this, [[AvertedTrope but not]]. [[spoiler:And like Ryu said, [[SamusIsAGirl she]]'s a [[{{Moe}} cutie]].]]
278	* SpoilerOpening:
279	** The first opening to the 2021 remake anime, Soul Salvation, basically shows off everyone fighting Hao in the Shaman King tournament, rather than focus on the early arcs the opening will actually cover.
280	** The second opening of 2021 anime, starting with the 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'']].
281	* StoryBreakerPower: Aside from Hao in general, it's implied that Yoh's Mu-Mu-Myou-Yaku-Mu is this. Being a purification technique, it is essentially 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 manages 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.
282	* 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.]]
283	* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: [[spoiler: Much of the series has been about one desperate measure after another to catch up with Hao so that he cannot attain the power of God and eradicate humanity. Unfortunately, unlike in most manga, Hao has been training so long and so hard that he is completely unbeatable even with all the strongest shamans beneath him working together, and somehow managing to kill him wouldn't stop him from coming back in 500 years even stronger. Yoh's solution to this is to realize defeating Hao with force isn't an option and proposes an alternative plan: confronting Hao in the Shaman King's realm and convincing him he's wrong. Appealing to Hao's humanity (particularly when Opacho and Hao's mother, two of the few things he truly cares about, join in the appeal) eventually convinces Hao to relent and bring everyone back to life, letting Yoh and the others live their lives without his interference. It's implied this is the only tactic that wasn't simply delaying the inevitable as far as Hao was concerned. The minor exception might be Lady Sati who would have had enough power to defeat Hao just by working with the rest of her team, Team Nyorai, not to mention her Gandhara followers, all of whom were more or less evenly matched with the likes of Jeanne, she just didn't have any intention whatsoever to win the Shaman Fight and instead wanted to teach Hao how to become a proper Shaman King.]]
284	* ThemeNaming: The Gandhara are all named after supermarket chains in Japan; the X-Laws and Team Kabbalahers are partially named after tobacco brands. Team Iceman members are partially named ice cream brands while Team Niles has members named after Pocky, Pretz, and Picola and famous Egyptian historical figures.
285	* TheyreCalledPersonalIssuesForAReason: Nearly the entire cast have some form of horrendous past and most will expound on theirs at some point. Notable exceptions, however, would be Hao, Anna, and Yoh himself. Their backstories only come to light in personal flashbacks and explanations by other characters.
286	* ThoseTwoGuys: Zen and Ryo, the two Buddhist singers who appear from time to time and challenge Yoh and his group. In the end, they have a HeelFaceTurn and [[spoiler: join Gandhara after fighting team The Ren.]]
287	* TinyGuyHugeGirl: Manta's parents Oyamada Mansumi, who is barely taller than Manta, and Keiko, who is drawn in normal proportions.
288	* 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.]]
289	* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Anna and Tamao are an interesting reversal. Anna is the more feminine-looking of the two and is much more aggressive, while Tamao is shyer and more feminine in personality, but could easily be mistaken for a boy at first glance.
290	* 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. Then, it's revealed that the Main fights will [[ExactWords really happen in Tokyo]], albeit on an [[MetaphoricallyTrue uninhabited island a few nautical miles away from Tokyo.]]
291	* TookALevelInBadass: Wooden Sword Ryu went from a normal delinquent into a very powerful shaman capable of keeping up with the rest of the main characters, even without experiencing the literal training from hell they went through.
292	* TournamentArc:
293	** The semi-finals rounds are determined in groups of threes, with only four teams advancing to the finals. The tournament fights themselves aren't that important since the more plot-important events and fights are focused outside the shaman tournaments.
294	** [[spoiler:The finals are supposed to be a free-for-all deathmatch in the Mu continent, but before that, everyone agreed to withdraw and crown Hao as the Shaman Fight winner. Since his power pretty much guarantees he can slaughter everyone in the finals, Yoh proposes they have a better chance of stopping him while he's merging with the Spirit King instead.]]
295	* TragicKeepsake: Turns out the necklace Yoh always wears [[spoiler:was the medium in which Matamune materialized himself in the world. After using up all his Furyoku to help Yoh save Anna when they were younger, he turned back into a soul and was for all intents and purposes dead.]]
296	* TrainingFromHell:
297	** Monstrously difficult training that triggers PTSD flashbacks to think about, usually provided by Anna.
298	** In the manga, it's taken to a ''literal'' extreme, though not at Anna's hands.
299	** In Hao's case, Yoh eventually reveals that Hao has endured 900 YEARS of Hell training, as opposed to their one day.
300	* TransformingMecha: The X-Laws' Archangels are able to transform into cars. [[spoiler:Before they were spirits, all of them used to be cars. For example, their founder [[FallenHero Luchist]]'s Archangel, [[FallenAngel Lucifer]] used to be a Lamborghini Diablo.]]
301	* UhOhEyes: A subtle example. Whenever either Yoh or Hao are experiencing intense negative emotions, their pupils become circular and lose all color. It's never explained and seems to largely be an artistic quirk. It's quite unsettling [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness in Yoh's case]], as it means he's lost control of his emotions and is really, truly pissed off.
302	* UnderstandingBoyfriend: Yoh's father Mikihisa was the first and only guy who didn't dump his mother Keiko upon learning that she could see spirits. In fact, they met when she was crying over the last JerkAss and he comforted her.
303	* UnluckyChildhoodFriend: Tamao. Even though she likes Yoh, the chances of her getting together with him are nonexistent, 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]]).
304	* UnstoppableRage:
305	** ''Subverted'', shockingly. See, when [[spoiler:Yoh and Faust VIII fight, Yoh gets really uncharacteristically enraged at Faust for trying to torture Manta. Said not only doesn't make him stronger, it makes him exhaust his spiritual energy much faster.]] Yoh learns from this, and puts it to use during his qualifying fight with Ren, who is stronger than him but much easier to provoke. Before long, Ren can't even tell when his hits are landing anymore.
306	** This trope is {{Deconstructed}} especially in later fights. If you lose your cool, 9 times out of 10 you WILL LOSE your fight.
307	* VillainousBreakdown: Though she isn't a villain [[spoiler:since they are forced to protect Hao per their duties, Goldva started laughing insanely and raving about the new Shaman King Hao before trying to kill everyone.]]
308	** 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]].
309	* VillainsOutShopping: Everyone is shocked when they learn that [[spoiler:Hao invited Yoh for coffee and the latter accepted the offer.]]
310	* WarriorUndead: Some of the spirits qualify. Notable examples are Amidamaru, the ghost of a samurai who died during the Muromachi period 600 years ago; Bason, an ancient Chinese warrior ghost; and Lee Pyron, a reanimated martial artist and actor who was murdered by the Tao family to serve as Jun's guardian.
311	* WaterTowerDown: Yoh rushes into a burning building to save the children trapped inside, and manages to crack open the water tower on the roof with nothing more than a length of stairway banister thanks to [[PowersViaPossession Amidamaru's swordsman skills]].
312	* WellIntentionedExtremist: Hao's ultimate goal is [[spoiler: to create a shaman-only utopia in order to 'save' the world from humans who are either, in his mind, contributing to its annihilation through ignorance or though simply not doing anything to stop it or change.]]
313	* WhamEpisode: Chapter 161: [[spoiler:Ren is dead, and Yoh has gotten Manta to bring the X-LAWS to revive him. Marco tells Yoh that they will revive him, on one condition. Yoh has to resign from the Shaman Fight. So Yoh does what any Shounen protagonist would do and abandons his Oracle Pager, signifying his resignation from the tournament]]. Even [[spoiler:''Marco'']] is astonished and appalled by this.
314	* WhatTheHellHero: Everything Yoh does always gives these types of reactions, from [[spoiler:revealing to his friends Hao is actually [[EvilTwin his twin brother]]]] to [[spoiler:abandoning the Shaman Fight as part of a deal to revive Ren]]. What most of his friends react the worst to, however, is when [[spoiler:''[[MurderArsonAndJaywalking he took a coffee with Hao]]'' immediately before his fight with Ren's team.]]
315	* WoodenKatanasAreEvenBetter:
316	** 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.
317	** Yoh used a wooden sword a few times in the earlier chapters and is capable of cutting through steel and even other swords thanks to Amidamaru's skills.
318	* XMustNotWin: The main conflict of the story after Hao's introduction and the main motivation is revealed, as the story gradually focuses on stopping Hao from winning than who actually wins the shaman fight. Ghandara even says that as long as Hao isn't the one crowned the Shaman King, they are fine with whoever else wins the title since their main concern is humanity's survival.
319	* YouKilledMyFather:
320	** Lyserg wants to kill Hao for murdering his parents when he was six years old.
321	** Redseb wanted to kill Chocolove because he murdered his father [[spoiler: and he succeeded. Not to worry, [[BackFromTheDead he got better.]]]]
322	[[/folder]]

Context Manga / ShamanKing