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The following page is about the characters as they appear in the Shaman King manga and its direct 2021 anime adaptation. For the characters as they appear in the loose 2001 adaptation, see here. For Shaman King: Flowers characters, go here.

All spoilers for Douji Asanoha's entry will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned.

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Team Funbari

Yoh Asakura

Voiced by: Yōko Hikasa (Japanese), Abby Trott, Lucien Dodge [adult] (English)^{Foreign VAs}

^{Click here to see Yoh in Shaman King: Flowers}

A young shaman who wants to become Shaman King to fulfill his promise to his fiancée, Anna Kyoyama. Yoh is also the human side of Hao/Zeke Asakura, an immensely powerful shaman who reincarnated himself in order to be able to participate in the Shaman Fight. His spirit partner is Amidamaru.

Absurdly Youthful Father: Given Hana's age, Yoh and Anna must have conceived him during the series, at the age of 14-15.
All-Loving Hero: Yoh tells Manta in chapter 1 that no one who can see spirits could be a bad person. This belief never changes, even when he encounters the Big Bad. This what drives Yoh to save Hao after the Shaman Fight is over. Lampshaded by Anna:
"Normally the warriors want to defeat the evil king and save the captured princess, but Yoh and the others are trying to save this bad king. Because the princess is Hao. He was captured by an evil king called hatred and has become obsessed with it."
Babies Ever After: The epilogue presents Yoh and Anna's son, Hana.
Beware the Nice Ones: He's a laid-back guy, but hurt his friends at your own peril.
Break His Heart to Save Him: After losing against Faust, which caused Manta to be cut open to provoke Yoh, he tries to cut off his friendship with Manta, believing that this will keep him safe until the Shaman Fights are over, since his next opponent is Ren. Fortunately, Manta refuses to let go and manages to patch up their friendship shortly after.
Brilliant, but Lazy: Laziness is his primary trait that his motivation to be the Shaman King is to live an easy life. There's a reason why Anna is very tough on Yoh as this is the only way to ensure he can grow stronger.
Cain and Abel: With Hao, who is Yoh's biological twin in his current incarnation.
Calling Parents by Their Name: He calls his father by his given name. He cheerfully says that it is because he doesn't really have any feelings for his father since the latter left to Walk the Earth right after Yoh was born.
Character Catchphrase: "Everything will work out."
The Chosen One: As Hao's twin brother, he's expected to become Shaman King and defeat his evil brother. Subverted, since Yoh doesn't get to defeat him, but does convince him to not destroy the humans.
Curtains Match the Window: Brown hair, brown eyes.
Determinator: Yoh is a self-professed slacker and only wants to win the Shaman Fight so he can live an easy life. His signature line is "Everything will work out." He also never gives up. Ever. Not even when he gets sent to Hell and especially when the Big Bad becomes the titular Shaman King! His catchphrase takes on entirely new meaning by the end of the series.
Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?: It gets more hilarious and awkward when he has coffee, a bath and even sleeps with Cthulu. No, Cthulu is not Anna but Hao.
Dismotivation: His only purpose in life is to be Shaman King so he won't have to do anything else in life.
Elemental Eye Colors: He has brown eyes and becomes the master of the Spirit of Earth as one of the five elemental warriors.
Friendless Background: His Asakura lineage and shaman powers made him hated, his village called him "Demon child" and he was frequently isolated from his peers so the only company he has growing up are ghosts. He never had any human friends until Manta came along.
The Friend Nobody Likes: In his backstory, his fellow villagers and peers expressed their dismay about his status as a shaman.
Good Is Not Soft: The vast majority of the time, he's very nice. But occasionally he can be pretty harsh to get a point across, such as when he seriously made Redseb think he was going to kill him in revenge for Redseb killing Chocolove. It was all an act on Yoh's part, but he still scared the hell out of Redseb to get his message across on how revenge creates a cycle (Redseb killed Chocolove because years earlier Chocolove killed Redseb's dad.
Headphones Equal Isolation: Subverted, Yoh wears headphones all the time, but he was ostracized as a child for his family's unusual occupation, not by choice.
The Heart: He holds the group together through friendship and compassion.
Heroic Safe Mode: After being defeated by Faust, Yoh goes through mental training to avoid being overcome by his emotions. As a result, whenever there is a crisis he still acts casual and barely shows any disturbance. Almost lampshaded in the late part of the series when Chocolove states he is not a human for not reacting to Ryu and Faust receiving terrible wounds in the fight against Ren's team.
Hidden Depths: He is incredibly calm and friendly to everyone but hides the fact he despises humanity since they ignore him for being involved with Shamans, even thinking of killing them if he became Shaman King when he was young. Across the series other characters start understanding his way of thinking and can tell when he is lying or acting strong.
Humble Hero: Especially compared to Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy Ren and Boisterous Bruiser Ryu, Yoh is extremely subdued.
Kid Hero: He's 15-ish during the series.
Leitmotif: "Empathetic Heart."
Love at First Sight: When he and Anna first met, he gawked at how cute she was, even though she told him to get out of her way and go drop dead.
Mellow Fellow: He's very laid-back, to the point that it's rare for him to get sad or angry.
Mistaken for Cheating: At one point, Anna thinks Yoh got with another girl because she found a long hair in his clothes. It was actually Silva's hair.
Nice Guy: He's a friendly and good-hearted boy.
Non-Uniform Uniform: He wears his school uniform with the shirt unbuttoned, pants rolled up, his wooden sandals instead of the school shoes, and his headphones.
Opposites Attract: With Anna. He's friendly, laid-back and carefree, while she's harsh, cold and no-nonsense. Despite their polar opposite personalities, they're in love.
Perfectly Arranged Marriage: With Anna. As we see in the flashback chapters, it got off to a rocky start but became a full-on Rescue Romance.
Perpetual Smiler: As part of his laid-back attitude, Yoh is almost always smiling and laughing. When he isn't, something really serious is happening.
Refusal of the Call: Yoh originally had no interest in becoming the Shaman King, believing that if he won humanity wouldn't survive.
Rescue Romance: The ''Osorezan Revoir" arc shows that he saved Anna from a demon she created out of other people's negative emotions, and was able to free her from her loneliness.
School Uniforms are the New Black: While in Japan, he wears his uniform most of the time. He normally doesn't wear the jacket and tie and has his shirt open and untucked.
The Slacker: He can spend hours just standing and looking at the scenery. Also, his motivation to be Shaman King is to win so he won't have to do anything.
The Stoner: Maybe. We never see him actually smoke, but much of his clothing has marijuana leaves on them. Though perhaps they are more just to add to his hippy vibe than actually say that he uses.
Take a Third Option: Being defeated by Hao would cost him his soul. Defeating Hao would cost Hao's life. He instead chooses to open Hao's heart as he notes that he has been lonely for several years.
Thou Shalt Not Kill: He hates it when other Shamans kill people or other Shamans due to his philosophy that "All Shamans are good people" and even confront the offender even when he knows he's outmatched. Even with Hao's case, he admits that it is possible that he can get stronger and kill him if he wishes to, but decides to confront him in a different way as killing Hao would not stop him completely. The only exception is Silva, but he has no choice but to kill him in trying to stop Hao from becoming the Shaman King.
Tragic Keepsake: His headphones originally belonged to his father, Mikihisa and his claw necklace was once Matamune's spirit medium.
Training from Hell: Courtesy of Anna. It pays off handsomely, giving him the ability to fight to a draw with the prodigious Ren and keep up with an increasingly fast-paced Sorting Algorithm of Evil. Sati from Gandhara also sends him to a literal training from hell to be able to control the Spirit of Earth.
"Uh-Oh" Eyes: In rare occasions where he's deeply shocked or furious, his pupils shrink and change color from brown to white.
Useless Accessory: His headphones are such an integral part of his character that seemingly every villain calls him "headphones" at one point or another, but he stops using them after the first few chapters. Supposedly he has them in the first place to block out other people's thoughts. How headphones help avoid mind-reading is another big question. In reality, they belong to Mikihisa, his father and he stole them so he could feel closer to him.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Ren, though the vitriol is almost entirely on Ren's part.
Walking the Earth: He travels to other countries with Anna after the Shaman fights to try and fix how the world works before the time Hao gave them runs out and he continues his plan to Kill All Humans.
Warrior Therapist: Happens so much that Manta actually believes he is a genius when it comes to helping others during a fight. However, Anna claims that's just Yoh following his heart.
What the Hell, Hero?: Everything Yoh does always gives these types of reactions but what could probably be the worst is that he takes coffee with the Big Bad, Hao! Most of his friends react horribly to this.
Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: In the earlier chapters, he usually wields a wooden sword until Harusame is given back to him and has no problem cutting through metal with Amidamaru's skills.

Amidamaru

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi, Akeno Watanabe [young] (Japanese), Kaiji Tang, Erika Harlacher [young] (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Amidamaru is a samurai who died during the Muromachi period 600 years ago and is now Yoh's guardian ghost and best friend. He is very powerful and wise but quite taciturn and extremely devoted. He was greatly known for killing several hundred soldiers during a battle. For many years it was believed that he'd turned rogue, and tried to kill the emperor. It turns out that he'd only tried to protect his best friend Mosuke. He is the original handler of the legendary sword named "Harusame", meaning "Spring Rain", a sword forged by Mosuke, who also appeared as a spirit.

In the sequel Shaman King: Flowers, he is Hana's first spirit guardian inherited from his father Yoh serving as his bodyguard and a somewhat parental figure. Unlike his relationship with his previous master where both equally respect each other, Hana treats him quite badly most of the time and he is forced to deal with all the thugs he faces.

Antiquated Linguistics: He speaks an archaic form of Japanese to reflect him being a samurai from the Warring States period. The English translations and dub mirror this by giving him a very formal speech pattern.
Badass in Distress: He's turned to stone by Luca in chapter 9 of Flowers, then Yosuke steals him away to prevent Hana from joining the Flower of Maize.
Butt-Monkey: If he's not being a badass he's usually the butt of jokes, such as the time Yoh uselessly throws him at Silva then almost sent to heaven thanks to a Buddhist chant Yoh uses in desperation. Even more apparent in Flowers where Tamao and her charge Hana have no problems making him a punching bag whenever they're angry.
The Comically Serious: A lot of times, the situation is funny BECAUSE he is putting a serious and "cool" expression after being made fun of.
Dual Wielding: His signature Amida-Buddha style requires him to dual wield katanas. He's just as good with one sword as he is with two, though.
Forgotten First Meeting: Amidamaru first meets Tokageroh when he possessed Ryu, but in reality Tokageroh is pissed because Amidamaru was the one who killed him. Amidamaru still doesn't remember when Tokageroh brings this up. The 2021 anime implies in a flashback that it was Tokageroh who killed Amidamaru's parents, but both aren't aware of this.
Go Through Me: Tries this once or twice with Yoh but Yoh never goes along with it. This almost always leads to them having a Friendship Moment and defeating the enemy.
Historical Villain Upgrade: In-Universe. Amidamaru was known as the Fiend for betraying his lord and slaughtering hundreds. The details were of course left out of the history books.
I Will Wait for You: His spirit spent 600 years in the same place waiting for Mosuke to come back with his sword as they had promised, and he would have been there for another 600 too. Now that's a true friend!
Katanas Are Just Better: Harusame, the sword previously used by Amidamaru, is Yoh's spirit medium.
Master Swordsman: Was one when he was alive. He's famously known as the samurai who killed a thousand men, and the only reason he died was that Harusame wasn't in his possession when he was ambushed, but he still killed nearly everyone before dying which made him a local legend. Even as a spirit, he's skilled enough to dodge attacks that Yoh cannot dodge and can cut things with even a wooden sword. This is the reason why Ren desires him to make him his spirit.
No Place for a Warrior: In ''Flowers, he laments that he misses fighting alongside Yoh in Chapter 0 and that he understand Hana's frustrations in not being able to fight in the peaceful times they live in.
Put on a Bus: He never appears in Flowers again after chapter 9 ever since he was kidnapped aside from a few cameos and a flashback.
Signature Move: Both Gokoujin and Shinkuu Buddha Giri are a move that is associated with him. According to Amidamaru himself, the latter is his Ougi.
Samurai: During the Warring States Period. In life, he was an unbeatable swordsman but served a corrupt warlord who betrayed him and led to his death.
Samurai Ponytail: He wears his hair up in a ponytail as the traditional samurai that he is.
Sword Beam: His Shinkuu Buddha Giri is a blast of compressed air that can strike at a range. It's strong enough to break a sword clean in half by itself. Yoh learns to use it himself.
Took a Level in Badass: He ascends into a Seirei-class or a Sacred Soul halfway in the story as he already existed as a ghost for more than 500 years. Unlike the other souls that transformed into other beings, he was able to retain his body due to his persistent personality as Anna explains.
Verbal Tic: Usually ends his sentences with "-de gozaru", a feudal version of "Desu" used by samurai.
Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Mosuke get in each other's faces from time to time ever since they were kids, yet are very loyal to each other. Before they finally meet again after 600 years, Amidamaru gets embarrassed when the latter is about to be summoned. When they finally meet, they act in a Tsundere way with each other by punching each other in the face.
Undying Loyalty: To Yoh, who he swears his life to per Samurai conduct and as a way to repay him after Yoh went out of his way to help repair and bring him Harusame. This is also one reason why he's ascended to a higher spirit, as his loyalty and persistence turned him into a true spirit of the sword.

Manta Oyamada

Voiced by: Inuko Inuyama (Japanese), Oliver Wyman (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Manta is an intelligent child who can see spirits, but cannot use their powers like his best friend Yoh Asakura can. He is very expressive and a bit panicky. He physically resembles a Koropokkur (known as "minutians" in the English anime) and has been mistaken for one on several occasions.

Audience Surrogate: In the earlier chapters, Manta narrated his adventures with Yoh.
Big Book Of Everything: His Manjien (or "Mantannian Dictionary" in the English anime) that he always carries around has detailed knowledge of just about anything. And it's a surprisingly effective weapon too.
Break the Cutie: Just because he’s sweet, doesn’t mean that nothing bad happens to him: already in the first chapter he is humiliated by his classmates and beaten by delinquents. He also suffers from the pressure of his family, is forced to be Anna's personal slave, along with Ryu, becomes a victim of a disgusting prank by Konchi and Ponchi, because of which Tamao almost killed him, but the worst thing: is that he sees his friends suffer and die in battles and is unable to even interfere with it.
Bully Magnet: Due to his diminutive size, Manta's a frequent target for the local bullies.
Butt-Monkey: Especially in the earlier chapters, Manta gets picked on a lot.
Cowardly Lion: He frequently has panic attacks and worries constantly over the safety of himself and others, but he'll also loyally follow Yoh and the others into near-certain death if there's the slimmest chance he can provide some assistance to them. Sadly this trait never really gets to shine after the Tao Jun incident; see Demoted to Extra.
Cram School: He met Yoh while rushing to catch the train home from this.
The Cutie: His childlike looks and touching caring nature make him so. Even the villains recognize that he's cute.
Cute Clumsy Girl: A male example. Sometimes he stumbles and gets into awkward situations because of his height, but it's still adorable.
Demoted to Extra: As the series progressed and became more cynical about ordinary humans, Manta was given less appearances in comparison with Team Ren and other Shaman characters.
Determinator: When his friends need his help, do not get in his way. He took out a street gang with a dictionary.
Ditzy Genius: Downplayed. He is undeniably academically intelligent, almost to the level of a genius, and although he is usually sane, he can behave comically and strangely due to unpredictable events.
First Friend: He is Yoh's first human friend and the only one willing to talk to him about ghosts when other people would dismiss Yoh for being a shaman. This is why Yoh values their friendship so much.
Gentleman and a Scholar: He is as kind as he is smart.
The Heart: Perhaps this is the main reason why his shamans friends need him and for this whole story in particular: he proves that not all people are corrupt and for the sake of such people like he it is worth fighting in the tournament and saving humanity from Hao.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: A nice guy with light yellow hair, which is quite weird for an ordinary schoolboy, since the only other Japanese blonde is a shaman; Anna.
Like Father, Unlike Son: Despite clearly taking after his father in the height department, Manta is gentle, loyal, and is fascinated by the shaman world once he discovers it, while Mansumi is callous, cold, and after learning about shamans, he gets determined to destroy them to protect Manta.
Lonely Rich Kid: Heavily implied. His family is extremely cold and distant, he lives totally alone in his own house with only a paid assistant for occasional company, and his "friends" previous to Yoh frequently ostracized him.
Muggle Best Friend: The only non-Shaman hero and Yoh's first real friend outside of the Asakura's close circle. However, unlike most regular humans, Manta is able to see ghosts.
Nice Guy: Although he can be a little anxious and rash, he is still wholesome to everyone, even those he barely knows, and always apologizes and tries to make amends if he has a misunderstanding with anyone. He also doesn't hate bad guys, he's just scared of there.
Ordinary High-School Student: Middle-school student, technically. But yes, completely ordinary.
Overshadowed by Awesome: Manta's actually not a bad character in concept. He's unquestionably loyal and courageous despite his clear anxiety issues, with arguably a much more interesting character conflict than many of the shamans who took his place in the core cast. He struggles to find some way to help his friends despite everyone, even them, telling him his role as the Muggle Best Friend inherently makes him useless. Unfortunately, being Demoted to Extra in the manga cut any resolution for him out of the story.
Replacement Goldfish: Invoked. Anna notes that Manta reminded Yoh of Matamune, and she teasingly nicknamed Manta "Mantamune" for it.
Shorter Means Smarter: He's by far the shortest member of the cast, and is probably the smartest. Too bad the plot focuses mostly on battle prowess and brawn.
The Smart Guy: He has an encyclopedic (literally) knowledge of matters that most of the shamans in the series are completely ignorant of. It's a sure sign that he studies as hard as his family wants him to.
Throw the Book at Them: He can do a surprising amount of damage with a dictionary.
Tiny Schoolboy: He's also a middle school student like Yoh, but is only like 2 or 3 heads tall. By the end of the series, he is proud to say that he grew one centimeter and pretty much remains the same in seven years.
Token Mini-Moe: Suitable as a male example, because he is the shortest and cutest of the boys.
Why Didit Haveto Be Snakes?: Has necrophobia (fear of skeletons and corpses). It is not surprising that he had a hard time during the battle between Yoh and Faust.
Undying Loyalty: To his friends, to the point where he'll run headfirst into danger if there's the slightest chance he can help, regardless of how scared he is.
Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Anna bringing him to the Shaman Tournament is the reason why normal humans were able to know that something is going on in Tokyo Island. Because he brought his butler Tamurazaki Midori along when going to America, Midori witnessed everything and reported it to his boss Mansumi who launched an attack on the island to kill all the Shamans there.
The Watson: With shades of Captain Obvious. Being a normal human with no previous experience dealing with Shamans, he frequently asks the questions the audience is thinking and makes comments on odd things he sees for clarification.

Anna Kyoyama

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Tara Sands (English)^{Foreign VAs}

^{Click here to see Anna in Shaman King: Flowers}

Anna is Yoh Asakura's fiancee and the best disciple of his grandmother. She is a spirit medium. Her special ability is channeling spirits even from the "other side". She "tortures" Yoh in his training in order for him to win the Shaman Tournament and for her to become Shaman Queen, as he promised to her when they were children. She is also very powerful despite of her looks.

Aggressive and decisive, Anna is a pragmatic person who, to most, appears cold and harsh. However, she has shown that she genuinely cares for those important to her, especially Yoh.

Action Girl: She doesn't do much fighting - she's a Medium, not a Shaman - but when properly motivated, she can kick all kinds of ass.
Almighty Janitor: She never participates in the Shaman King due to being an itako and not a Shaman in the traditional sense not to mention being pregnant at the time to fully go all out. In actuality, her Furyoku is abnormally high— 370,000 initially, and by 600,000 by the end, which is stronger than any of the Five Elemental Warriors individually even after they gained their Elemental Spirits. To put into context, she's directly behind Iron Maiden Jeannne, Sati, and Hao- the powerhouses of the tournament. If she were a Shaman, she'd be a force to be reckoned with.
Almighty Mom: She's this in the sequel series, after giving birth to her son Hana.
Babies Ever After: She has a son with Yoh, named Hana who appears in the epilogue.
Bitch Slap: Whenever someone annoys her even if just mildly, Anna responds with a slap to the face. Her "Right Hand Slap" and "Legendary Left" are somewhat infamous among Anna's group of friends, especially Manta and Tamao. She even slaps Hao, the Big Bad, making him impressed.
Broken Bird: As revealed in her backstory, a lot of Anna's harsh and cold attitude comes from having been exposed to the negative thoughts and emotions of others from a young age due to being unable to control her mind-reading abilities. This made Anna hate everyone around her and she lived in isolation until she met Yoh, who freed her from the darkness that haunted her everyday.
Cute Bruiser: Her left-handed slap is infamous.
Dark Is Not Evil: Anna wears a Little Black Dress and she's one of the good guys.
Defrosting Ice Queen: In the flashback chapters when we witness Yoh and Anna's first meeting, young Anna is very cold to Yoh, saying he's lame and that she cannot believe he's her future husband. When Yoh promises to become the Shaman King for her, Anna begins to warm up to him.
Expy: Anna is based on a character of the same name and similar appearance from creator Hiroyuki Takei's previous series Butsu Zone, who also had her own manga, Itako no Anna.
First Girl Wins: Played With. Yoh knew Tamao before he met Anna, but Anna is the first girl introduced in the series and there's never a real love rivalry because Anna is already engaged to Yoh.
Foil: Anna is one surprisingly enough to Hao. Like Hao, she had the ability to read the minds of everyone around her with little ability to control what she hears. She began to fall into misanthropy just like Hao, but Yoh was able to connect to her and renew her faith in humanity, saving her from the same fate that befell Hao. Since then, she has been firmly on the side of good.
Hikikomori: Before she met Yoh. Her reishi (mind-reading ability) was so out of control that she was constantly bombarded by the negative thoughts and emotions of people around her, so she confined herself to her room as much as possible.
Humanizing Tears: She's a very hard-ass Tsundere. However, the few times she cries are touching scenes.
I Am Not Left-Handed: In her first encounter with Hao, Anna tries to slap him, but Hao easily blocks her hand by grabbing her wrist. He didn't expect Anna to counter attack by immediately slapping him with her left hand, which turns out to be her strongest hand, which Manta and Tamao refer to "The Legendary Left", leaving him shocked (and impressed). This turns out to be another simmilarity Anna had with Hao's mother.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She seems like a no-nonsense hardass at first taking advantage of Yoh and giving him merciless work. Deep down, we eventually see she's got a good, heroic and caring nature, even though she does sometimes try to deny it.
Little Black Dress: Her iconic outfit is a black mini dress.
Loners Are Freaks: Being abandoned by her parents, she became very lonely and led her to developing her uncontrollable mind-reading powers, which only made things worse for her by trying to distance herself from other people to avoid reading their thoughts and become overwhelmed by them. It was not until Yoh and Matamune came to her that she stopped being a loner, which consequently led to her eventual loss of her mind-reading powers as a sign that she had truly opened her heart.
The Masochism Tango: With Yoh. She gives him extremely harsh training and seems downright abusive from an outsider's perspective, but the two are deeply in love with each other.
Miko: An Itako to be more specific, a traditional Japanese spirit medium. She's a particularly anime-fied version of this, as she's much younger than an Itako would be expected to be, is not blind as most Itako are, and does not live the medium's ascetic lifestyle.
A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: She originally had no control over her psychic abilities, and was driven to isolation by the negative thoughts and emotions of others.
More Deadly Than the Male: Yoh is a very powerful warrior in his own right, being one of the Elemental Five Warriors with a Furyoku in the 100,000s. Anna on the other hand, was 370,000 at the beginning of the story and 600,000 by the end. To put it into context, in the finale she's slightly behind Iron Maiden Jeanne's 680,000, a bit below Sati's 750,000, and half of Hao's 1,200,000. If she practiced being a Shaman, she'd be even more deadly.
Mundangerous: Her slap is so powerful that she's the first and one of the very few people in the series to actually hurt Hao.
Not So Above It All: She manages to get momentarily flustered when Redseb said that he expects if his mom was still around, she would be like Anna.
Opposites Attract: With Yoh. She's harsh, cold and no-nonsense, while he's friendly, laid-back and carefree. Despite their polar opposite personalities, they're in love.
Parental Abandonment: Her parents abandoned her when she was a very little girl because of her ability to read minds - a power she was born with and couldn't control.
Perfectly Arranged Marriage: With Yoh. She grows to love him after he saves her from her oni.
The Power of Love: Falling in love with Yoh gave her the willpower to not let herself be broken by sensing people's negative feelings.
Pregnant Badass: It's implied that she and Yoh slept together in Chapter 77, and given Hana's age by the time of the Sequel Series Shaman King: Flowers, this means he had to have been conceived during the tournament. This means that Anna is pregnant for two-thirds of the manga series, though it's unknown if she was aware of it herself.
Pretty Freeloader: She takes advantage of her engagement to Yoh to do nothing that hasn't been paid for by someone else, usually Yoh or Manta.
Psychic Powers: She's a Spirit Medium, so she's got all kinds of powers, including being able to read minds.
Rescue Romance: She fell in love with Yoh because he saved her from an evil spirit she accidentally created.
Signature Headgear: Besides her Little Black Dress, Anna frequently wears a red bandana on her head.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She's determined to become the wife to Yoh, the first person who accepted her unconditionally and became her friend.
The Stoic: Her basic expression is a jaded, low-energy look on her face that almost never changes unless she’s provoked.
Sugar-and-Ice Personality: She's aloof, cold, and very hard-ass, but undoubtedly a good and caring girl deep down.
Teen Pregnancy: She got pregnant with Yoh's child at 14-15.
Touch the Intangible: Her prayer beads can be used to bind ghosts, and she sometimes uses them to tie up the ghost samurai Amidamaru.
Tsundere: She's very harsh on her fiance Yoh and is often torturing him with her training, but that's because she loves him very much and wants him to keep his promise to win the Shaman Tournament and make her Shaman Queen.
Unhappy Medium: When she was younger, Anna had intense mind-reading abilities that she couldn't control. She was able to hear the negative thoughts of other people, leading her to hate them. The combination of her shamanic powers and hatred unintentionally created demons that would attack people. Poor Anna lived in fear of her own abilities until she met Yoh, who helped her overcome the demons.
Well, Excuse Me, Princess!: She won't stand for Yoh slacking off and is constantly pushing him to work harder to become Shaman King.

Ryunosuke Umemiya

Ryunosuke Umemiya / Bokutou no Ryu / "Wooden Sword" Ryu

Voiced by: Masahiko Tanaka (Japanese), D.C. Douglas (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ryunosuke_umemiya.png

At the start of the story Ryu is a gang leader who is always on the lookout for the Best Place (The Sacred Hang in the English anime; His gang is known as the Dead Enders).

He is seen to first have a grudge against Yoh for slicing his hair off (this is a running gag throughout the first part of the series) and then discovers that Yoh is a Shaman, and can work with spirits. He goes off to his gang's new 'hangout' which is the run-down Bowling Ally, where he breaks down and believes he's useless. He gets possessed by Tokagero who is out for revenge on Amidamaru. The possessed Ryu breaks into the museum, and steals Harusame, at the same time kidnapping Manta.

He confronts Yoh and Amidamaru, and orders Amidamaru to integrate with his master so they can fight. He tricks Amidamaru into attacking Harusame and fights back with a technique called Tokage Kenpo (Lizard Style). Tokagero mocks Amidamaru saying that the same blade that was supposed to save his life will take his life instead. After remembering how much Harusame meant to his friend Mosuke, Amidamaru breaks Harusame and Tokagero is surprised. Yoh says that Tokagero had already lost, because of Amidamaru's commitment to Mosuke. He tells him that he should just move on. Tokagero refuses. Ryu's gang then attack him, and tell Ryu to fight back.

Soon after, Tokagero pulls out a knife and tries to kill Ryu, but the painful stress of two souls fighting each other makes him unable to control Ryu's body. Having no other option, Yoh offers Tokagero to possess him, which he does. After saying it was foolish, Tokagero tries to kill Yoh, but realizes that he can't bring himself to do it, and after receiving trust from Yoh he doesn't need to take revenge. This ends the struggle, and later Ryu becomes a shaman due to the experience.

Anime Hair: It starts off as a massive pompadour, and only gets more and more ridiculous each time it's damaged.
Badass Biker: Yet another part of his delinquent persona.
The Big Guy: Physically, he's the largest of the group. He's not quite on par with them in terms of power, but he's close.
Butt-Monkey: He's the butt of several running gags in the series, and he's almost guaranteed to be physically harmed for the sake of comedy in one scene or another.
Close-Call Haircut: Getting his pompadour lopped off and otherwise mutilated becomes a Running Gag for the first third of the series.
Defeat Means Friendship: He practically bows down to Yoh and Anna's every whim after this.
Delinquent Hair: Wears a massive pompadour, and leads a gang.
Dreadful Musician: He's bad at singing that Manta regrets coming with him after enduring hours of him singing off-key while traveling to Izumo.
Elvis Impersonator: In the English dub, owing to his pompadour and sideburns and white outfit, he has a very Elvis-like cadence and accent.
Empowered Badass Normal: He was originally just an ordinary guy, but he trained to become a Shaman after getting his butt kicked by Yoh.
Expressive Hair: His hair slightly changes shape to reflect his mood, and droops when he's sad.
Foil: Much later, it turns out that he is this to Chocolove. Both are goofy members of the gang, but while Ryu used to be a Japanese Delinquent who never engaged in criminal activity, Chocolove did a lot of crimes during his time as a thug, including murder, before changing paths once he discovered his shamanic abilities.
Heel–Face Turn: He joins Yoh's side after the Tokagero incident.
Improbable Hairstyle: Come on. That pompadour is FUCKING EPIC!
Instant Expert: While not the best shaman in the group, it's still pretty impressive that he managed to train under Yohmei Asakura and qualify for the tournament just months after awakening his shaman abilities.
I Owe You My Life: Feels that he's indebted to Yoh, Anna, and Amidamaru after they save him from Tokageroh's possession that he decides to be their chef at the soon-to-be inn. After becoming a shaman thanks to Mikihisa and Yohmei, he follows and supports Yoh in his quest to be the Shaman King.
Japanese Delinquents: Subverted. He starts like this with his gang, although they are very clean as delinquents go (he prohibits them alcohol or smoking, since they're all underage). After the events of the series, he and Tamao become this, dominating all the other gangs in the Funbari area.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's first introduced defacing a cemetery for the hell of it and then picking on a couple of teenagers with his gang. Then in his next appearance, we learn that he's actually a super nice guy who acts like a delinquent to earn respect and protect his gang. He's still a little abrasive from then on, but his nicer side is more consistently shown.
Overshadowed by Awesome: He becomes pretty badass in his own right, but he does not receive an elemental spirit like Yoh, Ren, Horohoro, Chocolove, and Lyserg do. Thus he is unable to be part of the final battle, even though he doesn't die prior to it like Faust does (at least not before Hao becomes Shaman King and kills everyone).
Parental Substitute: He's somewhat of a father figure to Hana, Yoh's son, in Flowers.
Power Makes Your Hair Grow: In bizarre ways in Ryu's case. Over the opening chapters, Ryu's pompadour gets repeatedly chopped up and flattened in increasingly bizarre-looking ways. However, once his power as a shaman manifests, it begins to grow back (in an equally bizarre way) only to get cut up again to grow outward in a more bizarre way. However, at one point when Ryu's new oversoul manifests, it snaps back into a proper pompadour and remains that way for the rest of the series.
Rule-Abiding Rebel: Though he looks and acts like a thug, he doesn't want to do anything illegal. When possessed by Tokageroh for the first time and demands that his posse go steal a real sword, they remind him that he carries a wooden sword because real swords are illegal, and that he shouldn't steal since he always said that stealing makes your parents sad.
Starter Villain: He's pretty intimidating to an ordinary middle school student like Manta, but a shaman wipes the floor with him in seconds. By the time he gets tougher, he's stopped being a villain.
Supreme Chef: He makes incredible sushi. After the Time Skip, he becomes the head chef of Funbari Onsen.
Took a Level in Badass: Who would've expected when he went up against Dracula that he'd kick so much ass?
Traumatic Haircut: Frequently Played for Laughs. He often takes damage to his hair as if he'd been physically struck.
True Companions: He firmly believes that his friends are what make his "Ideal Place".
Undying Loyalty: Towards Yoh and Anna for saving him from his demonic possession that he addresses them as his bosses. He is also loyal to the Asakura Family for accepting and training him to be a shaman.
Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: His weapon is a bokken. Thanks to his shamanistic powers, it is far more effective than a normal sword.
Younger Than They Look: He's explicitly stated to be a minor. He looks like a goddamn 40-year-old.

Tokagero

Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (Japanese), Wayne Grayson (English; credited as Vinnie Penna)^{Foreign VAs}

He is the Guardian Ghost of Wooden Sword Ryu. Though Tokagero always talks about being a nasty villain, he is actually a big softie.

When he was sill alive, Tokagero was a thief that was born into poverty. He was later killed by Amidamaru unceremoniously. In the modern age, Tokagero attacked Yoh and his friends in order to get revenge on Amidamaru, who does not recall him at all. Through Anna's research, they learn that he is an obscure historical figure who was killed by Amidamaru. Tokagero possesses Yoh's friend Ryu and uses him to steal the Harusame (Sword of Light) from the museum and attack Yoh and Amidamaru. The fight that ensues forces Yoh and Amidamaru to break the Harusame in order to save Ryu's life.

Yoh appeals to Tokagero and allows him to possess him instead of Ryu, who is just an innocent bystander, because Yoh believes that Tokagero is not as evil as he claims. Tokagero does so, with the supposed intention of killing Yoh in the process, but finds he does not have the heart to and leaves Yoh's body peacefully. He becomes a good guy, , bonding with Ryu properly at a later date. He eventually takes on a Yamata no Orochi theme in his Giant Oversoul form.

Animal Motifs: Lizards. He associates the lizard as a resilent animal that will survive despite losing limbs. He even has a lizard in his headband.
Anti-Villain: Type II. He's not a bad guy at all, he was just forced to desperate measures when he was alive and consumed by resentment as a spirit. All it takes is a good talking-to by Yoh to trigger his Heel–Face Turn.
Because You Were Nice to Me: After Yoh offers him his own body, Tokagero plans to take control of Yoh's body to kill him. However, he realized that he is incapable of doing it because he is touched by the blind trust Yoh gives him. He would later cross paths with Ryu and becomes his spirit companion.
But for Me, It Was Tuesday: He bears a significant grudge against Amidamaru for killing him. For Amidamaru, it was just yet another encounter with a petty thief. Unknowingly, a flashback of the 2021 anime shows that he was responsible of killing Amidamaru's parents, but Amidamaru doesn't recognize him.
Defeat Means Friendship: He becomes Ryu's spirit partner and Amidamaru's ally after he's beaten.
Dem Bones: He appears as a skeleton of himself before integrating with someone.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: The reason he hates Amidamaru so much for killing him is because his mother literally gave up her life for him to survive. By killing him in such an undignified fashion, Amidamaru essentially rendered his mother's act of love a Senseless Sacrifice.
Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: His whole plan hinged on Amidamaru being unable to choose between breaking his sword, seriously injuring Ryu, or sacrificing his friend's life. He chooses the former without hesitation, which confuses and frustrates Tokagero.
Forgotten First Meeting: Amidamaru first meets Tokageroh when he possessed Ryu, but in reality Tokageroh is pissed because Amidamaru was the one who killed him. The 2021 anime implies in a flashback that it was Tokageroh who killed Amidamaru's parents, but both aren't aware of this.
Heel–Face Turn: Originally a vengeful ghost who wanted to kill Amidamaru and his current host, now a fellow Butt-Monkey with Ryu.
I Just Want to Have Friends: Yoh guessed correctly that Tokageroh not only wanted to survive, he also wanted to have people he could feel safe with, but his survival instinct prevented him from trusting people around him.
Jerkass: In life, he was a particularly brutal bandit. As a spirit, he pulls every dirty trick in the book to get back at Amidamaru.
Meaningful Name: "Tokage" is Japanese for "Lizard". His mother gave him the name to impart a lizard's survival instinct into the boy so that he would live, no matter what. Eventually he evolves into a giant eight-headed Oversoul and then a large sword.
No Party Like a Donner Party: He states that his mother had given him "her own flesh" so he would survive. A little bit later in the story, we find out he really meant it.
Paper Tiger: Yoh beats him by gambling on the fact that he's nowhere near as ruthless as he makes himself out to be. He's completely right: Tokagero's a big ol' softie and a mama's boy to boot.
Signature Laugh: "Keh Keh Keh!"
Took a Level in Kindness: After losing to Yoh, he becomes nicer and becomes Ryu's Guardian Ghost.

Johann Faust VIII

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Matt Caplan (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A German shaman who, as his name indicates, is the only living descendant of the famous Dr. Faust. Johann Faust VIII is usually a very detailed and patient person who thinks scientifically unless the matter concerns his beloved Eliza. He does not tolerate any kind of insult towards her.

Faust is the embodiment of dedication; he has given up everything for his wife and is willing to do anything, no matter the costs to protect and take care of her. It is this single-mindedness and selflessness that gives him his great strength in the Shaman Fight. Beyond all emotional suffering and somewhat gothic moods, his greatest strength comes from his pure heart; pure because he knows that he only lives to love and protect his dear Eliza.

Faust is a slightly insane but incredibly brilliant medical doctor who delights in saving lives. Naturally, his work reveals facts of his personality. He cures one of his opponents after their shaman fight, an illness that many doctors have given up on previously. Because Faust had devoted much of his time to seeking cures for illnesses, he is utterly devastated when he is unable to save Eliza and goes as far as attempting to resurrect her.

Ancestral Name: He's the eighth in his bloodline to bear the name Johann Faust. The first was the Faust of legend.
Anti-Hero: Though slightly creepy, he's a strong ally to Yoh.
Anti-Villain: He's motivated by the death of his wife, and seeks to eliminate death altogether.
An Arm and a Leg: He cuts off his own legs to replace Eliza's legs when they are broken by Yoh in their first fight. He is bound to a wheelchair unless he needs to walk during combat, using the skeleton of his dog Frankensteiny as temporary legs.
Artificial Limbs: A temporary variation. He can turn his dead dog's skeleton into replacement legs, which he gave to Eliza's skeleton after Yoh broke them. Most of the time, however, he stays in a wheelchair.
Badass Bookworm: He's a doctor, so yeah.
Badass Labcoat: A doctor's labcoat.
Bad with the Bone: Most of his work as a necromancer requires bones of the deceased, including his oversouls.
Battle Couple: His Spirit Ally is his wife Eliza and he fights together with her to protect her.
Berserk Button: Faust is a master of Dissonant Serenity and takes all kinds of insults thrown at him in stride. But the moment he's reminded that his beloved wife Eliza is just a reanimated corpse, Faust completely flips his shit and goes Ax-Crazy.
Characterization Marches On: Was mentioned in passing that he was a serial killer, and he did casually start dissecting a fully conscious 13 year old boy without anesthetic in his first appearance. But he later joins Yoh's team and is portrayed as a good, if creepy, man who simply loves his dead wife.
Childhood Friend Romance: When he was five years old, he fell in love with the eight-year-old Eliza at first sight and dedicated most of his life to healing her illness. After he managed to find a cure for her, they got married, but their happiness was short-lived because Eliza was killed by a robber.
Creepy Good: He joins up with Yoh, the protagonist, despite him introducing himself by trying to vivisect Manta. He looks and acts depraved but is generally good natured otherwise.
Crusading Widower: After his beloved wife was murdered, Faust caught the criminal who took her life and tortured him to death. Since necromancy can't bring Eliza's soul back, Faust's goal is becoming the Shaman King and fully resurrecting Eliza. However, after Anna summons Eliza's soul, Faust doesn't need to become Shaman King anymore.
Dark Is Not Evil: Though creepy and weird, he's definitely a good guy (at least post-Heel–Face Turn)
Defeat Means Friendship: Subverted. He became an ally through some off-screen negotiations with Anna. Fighting Yoh had nothing to do with it, and he would've killed him in their fight if both hadn't ran out of Furyoku due to how angry they got.
Despair Event Horizon: His life lost all meaning after Eliza's death since his only purpose in life was living together with her. After Anna lets him reunite with Eliza's spirit, Faust finds a new purpose and joins Team Funbari to pay back his debt.
Determinator: His first motivation was to find a cure for Eliza's illness, succeeding in healing her after many years. After Eliza is murdered, Faust dedicates his life to find a way to revive her, to the point he ends up discovering the shaman arts from his ancestor.
Devoted to You: He has single-mindedly dedicated his whole life to Eliza and keeping her alive, even after her death. His devotion goes so far that he cuts off his own legs to replace the broken ones of Eliza's skeleton.
Evil Laugh: Matt Caplan gives him an amazing unhinged one in the 2021 anime dub.
Famous Ancestor: He's descended from Faust.
Good Thing You Can Heal: Faust inkoves this. When the shamans are falling to the ground, Yoh and the others ask him mid air what he's going to do. He just says that he injected himself with enough morphine to endure the fall and take his time to heal all the bones he might break. By the time Manta and Anna arrive to the Patch Ville, they find him stitching together his injuries from the drop.
Grade Skipper: In order to find a cure for Eliza as fast as possible, Faust skipped several grades and got accepted into medical university at eleven years old.
Happily Married: He lived happily with his wife until she was killed in a robbery.
Heartbroken Badass: What drives him to participate in the Shaman Fight is the death of his beloved wife, until Anna allows him to reunite with Eliza's spirit.
Heel–Face Turn: After Anna uses her shaman powers to bring Eliza's soul back from heaven to reunite with him, Faust dedicated himself to her and Yoh's cause.
Identical Grandson: He looks very similar to his ancestor, the original Faust.
Irony: He fell in love with a girl who had a terminal disease and became a doctor to find a cure for her. He succeeded and they got married, but she was killed by a burglar.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Before he and Eliza started dating, Faust was willing to accept it if Eliza fell in love with someone else because all he wanted was for the woman he loves to be alive and happy.
Killed Off for Real: At the end of the series, Faust chooses to remain dead to be with Eliza in the afterlife.
Love at First Sight: He fell in love with Eliza at first sight, when he saw her smiling at him from her window. He says she looked like an angel to him.
Love Makes You Crazy: He went mad from grief after his wife was murdered by a burglar.
Mad Doctor: He was a brilliant surgeon before his wife's death drove him insane. Now he's an Ax-Crazy necromancer who vivisects people for fun.
Made of Iron: When all the shamans are dropped midair over United States, Yoh and the others see Faust falling as well, and he reveals his plan to survive the fall: He is injecting himself with a lot of morphine, so he would endure the fall and heal himself. Surprisingly, he manages to survive.
The Mourning After: His wife Eliza is the only woman he has ever loved and fully bringing her back to life is his motivation for becoming Shaman King. After Anna calls Eliza's spirit and makes her his Guardian Spirit, Faust can be with Eliza again.
Nay-Theist: He could see spirits from a young age, but refuses to believe in the existence of God because only a devil would doom the angelic Eliza to die young.
Necromancer: He learned necromancy by reading his ancestor's notes, but he can only animate corpses, not resurrect the dead.
Necromantic: His entire motivation for the Shaman Fight is to resurrect his beloved wife Eliza.
Overclocking Attack: During the Plant Invasion, Radim makes him consume all his spiritual energy in healing himself until both of them die.
Parental Abandonment: When he was young, his parents left the house and never came back. Faust believes they abandoned him because they were afraid of his ability to see ghosts.
Phenotype Stereotype: He's German, tall, blond, and blue-eyed.
Reformed, but Rejected: After his horrifying treatment of Manta during his first appearance, the poor boy is terrified of the Heel Face Turned Faust.
Scars Are Forever: He has a huge patch of discolored skin on his torso. Word of God states that it was caused during a Self-Surgery, where he accidentally sew the patch of skin in the wrong way, with the internal side on the outside.
Science Wizard: Before he became a necromancer, Faust was an excellent medical doctor.
Single-Target Sexuality: Eliza is one and only love of his life. Ever since he was a kid, he has devoted his life to loving her.
The Smart Guy: He's the only one of Yoh's team who is a certified doctor, giving him knowledge in science and medicine.
Sociopathic Hero: A mild version of this at the beginning of his Heel–Face Turn, but eventually grows out of it.
Star-Crossed Lovers: With Eliza. She was doomed to die young because of her illness, but Faust spent years researching for a treatment that could save her. He did cure her illness, only for Eliza to be killed by a burglar shortly after their wedding.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: At the tail end of volume 3, alongside many other characters who would only show up in person several volumes later, a creepy necromancer from Greece controlling Spartan skeletons makes an appearance as one of the Shamans participating in the Shaman Fight. Comes volume 5 and we instead get Faust, a creepy necromancer from Germany controlling skeletons in general. The Remix Tracks and Word of God would later establish the Greek necromancer as Theodoros Alogospoulos, the Shaman Faust beat and killed during the qualification rounds.
Taking the Bullet: He uses his own body as a shield to protect Eliza from their opponents' attacks.
A True Story in My Universe: A line of dialogue reveals that his ancestor was the Faust from the play by Goethe.
Undying Loyalty: Loyalty is his greatest virtue, specifically his loyalty to his wife Eliza. Later on, he swears loyalty to Yoh's team because Anna summoned the soul of Eliza, so he will protect Yoh and his companions out of gratitude.
Wake-Up Call Boss: He hands Yoh his first major defeat and nearly kills him. Thanks to that, Yoh realizes how badly he wants to be Shaman King and that his laid-back approach isn't going to cut it.
Weak, but Skilled: His shamanistic potential is not that great, but thanks to his skill in necromancy, a little bit of his power goes a long way. Silva notes that all of Yoh's previous opponents were much stronger, but Faust was able to Zerg Rush Yoh into a defeat.

Eliza Faust

Voiced by: Kanako Takeuchi (Japanese), Lisa Ortiz (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Eliza is Faust's wife, an ill girl that he helped recover. She worked as a nurse with him until she was murdered by robbers who broke into the Faust's home. Eliza's death led her (now extremely depressed) husband to dig up her skeleton from her grave and enter the Shaman Tournament to bring her back to life. But when Faust joined Yoh's group, Anna brought back the spirit of Eliza to be reunited with her husband as his Guardian Ghost. Her "Giant Oversoul" form is a giant bat-winged version of herself. After Faust and Eliza reunited, both of them became heavily devoted to Yoh.

Battle Couple: She fights alongside her husband as his Spirit Ally.
Blood-Splattered Wedding Dress: A variation. On her and Faust's wedding reception, Eliza accidentally spilled tomato juice all over her wedding dress, making it look like she was covered in blood. Shortly after the wedding, a burglar broke into the couple's new house and killed Eliza.
Boom, Headshot!: Despite being cured from a terminal illness thanks to Faust's treatment, what ends with Eliza's life is a robbery gone wrong, when the mugger shot her in the head, and her skeleton still has the bullet hole.
Came Back Strong: With Anna's assistance, she becomes her husband's Guardian Ghost.
Cheated Death, Died Anyway: Eliza had a terminal illness since she was young, which motivated Faust to become a doctor and find a cure for her. He did manage to heal her and extend her lifespan... Only for Eliza to be killed by a buglar.
Childhood Friend Romance: Faust met and fell in love with Eliza when he was five years old and she was eight years old. When they grew up, they got married.
Cross Attack: Her weapon is a huge cross-shaped staff affixed with a giant razor blade.
Cute Clumsy Girl: In life, she was somewhat clumsy, like spilling her drinks and tripping.
Death by Origin Story: Faust's refusal to accept his wife's death lead him to pursue the necromancer's arts of his famous ancestor.
Disposable Woman: Her death by a mugger is what caused Faust to go Ax-Crazy and join the Shaman Tournament in the first place.
Emotionless Girl: She always has a blank expression that lacks any emotion. It's justified because she's nothing more than an animated corpse. But it's best not to mention it to Faust. Even after Anna brings back her soul, Eliza doesn't show much emotion. Faust's prequel shows she was more expressive when she was alive.
Girl with Psycho Weapon: She appears as an attractive nurse wielding a staff with a giant razor blade.
Hair Intakes: Her hairstyle has a pair of intakes that resemble cat ears.
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: She has long blonde hair and in life, she was a sweet and lovable woman.
Hidden Depths: Whenever she goes into battle with Faust, she's one badass Lady of War.
Hospital Hottie: After getting cured from her illness, she married Faust and became the nurse at their small clinic, and she is quite attractive. As an oversoul, her outfit remains the pink nurse dress.
Insecure Love Interest: When Faust confessed to her, Eliza admitted she had loved him for a long time, but was afraid to confess first because she thought Faust didn't love her back and she feared her illness would make her a burden to him.
The Lost Lenore: She's the love of Faust's life and her death drove him to madness and despair as he became obsessed with resurrecting her. Thanks to Anna summoning Eliza's soul, Faust can be together with Eliza again.
Satellite Love Interest: She's Faust's wife and reason for joining the Shaman Fight, with Eliza having next to no character of her own. Her backstory is merely being a girl with a terminal disease, which gave Faust the motivation to study medicine and save her.
Single Woman Seeks Good Man: She fell in love with Faust, the genius gentleman who devoted his life to keeping her alive.
Soap Opera Disease: When she lived, she suffered from an unspecified blood cancer from childhood. It was believed to be terminal, but Faust could find a treatment to heal it.
Soulless Shell: The "Eliza" seen at first is merely her skeleton, which Faust has dressed up and is putting through the motions of wifely affection (such as elaborate walking hand-in-hand moments). Bringing this up in front of him is a good way to push his Berserk Button. Anna later summons Eliza's actual soul from the afterlife, reuniting the two, which is what causes Faust to pledge himself to Yoh's faction.
Star-Crossed Lovers: With Faust. Despite his efforts to keep her alive, she was murdered by a burglar shortly after she married Faust.
Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Faust describes Eliza as an angelic woman and his world was shattered when she was murdered by a burglar after she was cured of her terminal illness.
The Voiceless: She never speaks, except once before fighting Team Iceman.

Tamao Tamamura

Voiced by: Nana Mizuki (Japanese), Veronica Taylor (English)^{Foreign VAs}

^{Click here to see Tamao in Shaman King: Flowers}

Tamao is a shy girl who is in love with Yoh Asakura, even though she knows that Yoh is engaged to Anna Kyōyama. Initially, she is so shy that she uses her sketchbook and points to pictures in order to tell people what she wants to say. Orphaned at a young age, she was brought to the Asakura family by Yoh's father, Mikihisa Asakura and trained as an ascetic monk. In recent KanZenBan, it was revealed that Tamao attended Shinra High right after Yoh and the others went to America.

Tamao's specialty is her ability to perform divinations. She is also an ascetic, like Mikihisa; her spirits are Konchi, a kitsune, and Ponchi, a tanuki. Tamao is named for Tamao Nakamura. When the manga ends the Asakura family owns a resort were Tamao works and lives. Tamao also acts as the mother of Yoh's only son Hana/Han while Yoh and Anna travel the world. She also became an Enka Singer.

In the sequel Shaman King: Flowers, she is the guardian of Hana, the son of Yoh and Anna.

Abusive Mom: She uses an Oversoul to beat her adoptive son Hana into a pulp when he disobeys her.
Adopt-a-Servant: She was an orphaned at a very young age and eventually, Tamao was found and brought to the Asakura family by Yoh's father. At the Asakura household, Tamao was taught how to take care of the housework and helped out by working as a maid.
Adoptive Peer Parent: In the sequel, her adoptive son Hana is only eleven years younger than her.
Alliterative Name: Tamao Tamamura.
Characterization Marches On: In the original epilogue to Shaman King, a full-grown Tamao is shown to still be a little easily-flustered and unable to handle Yoh's son. However, her Flowers characterization shows her as hotheaded and violent like Anna.
Childhood Friend Romance: One-sided on her part. She has loved Yoh since they were both very young, but the feeling isn't mutual because he's engaged to Anna.
The Dreaded: In the sequel, just a smile filled with rage from Tamao can scare the crap out of her whole house. With a Death Glare, she can make Team YVS shiver.
Feminine Women Can Cook: One of the many signs that she's fare girlier than Anna is that she'll actually cook dinner.
Former Teen Rebel: In her teenage years, Tamao and Ryu join all the thugs in the city together in a whole gang with them as bosses. Also, she breaks the law for wielding a real katana. As an adult, she's more stable again.
Girl with Psycho Weapon: In the first chapter of Flowers and in Funbari no Uta, Tamao is seeing wielding a butchering knife.
Hopeless Suitor: Unfortunately for her, Yoh is in a Perfectly Arranged Marriage with Anna so he won't ever consider Tamao a love interest. Adding insult to injury, Anna doesn't even see her as a serious love rival.
I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Although she has a crush on Yoh, she is still content with him marrying Anna, as she knows they do love each other.
Kimono Is Traditional: As an adult, Tamao wears a kimono since she's the manager of an inn and a traditional Japanese ballad's singer aspirant.
Magical Girl: Her alter-ego, Kokkuri Angel Cupid Tamao, in bonus strips.
Non-Uniform Uniform: In the character books, she wears the exact uniform from Yoh and Anna's school but in pink.
Parental Substitute: In the sequel, Tamao has been taking care of Hana in place of his absent parents, Yoh and Anna.
Pining After Protagonist's Parent: In the sequel, Tamao is the guardian of Yoh's son Hana, and she still has lingering feelings towards Yoh even though he's married to Anna.
Pink Means Feminine: Like her hair, both her school uniform and her priestess uniform are pink. As a grown up, her kimonos are also pink. The color suits her shy and demure personality.
Red Baron: The sequel mentions her delinquent name was "Metal-Sword Tamao".
Shrinking Violet: She starts the series as a very quiet and shy girl. As the series progresses and she shows her skills, she abandons this and becomes more like Anna.
Statuesque Stunner: As an adult, she's quite tall and beautiful.
Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Ironically, in the sequel, Tamao acts as a substitute for Anna because she has assumed the role of Hana's mother figure and her overall character has changed into essentially an older Anna.
Talking with Signs: One of her initial quirks is that she can only speak to others by writing on a sketch block, since she's too shy to use her voice in front of other people. She eventually drops this.
Unrequited Love Lasts Forever: Tamao never gives up her unrequited love for Yoh, not even after he has been married to Anna for years. In the sequel, she's still single and is raising Yoh's son while he and Anna are away.

Ponchi & Conchi

Ponchi voiced by: Takumu Miyazono (Japanese), Sean Rohani (English)^{Foreign VAs}
Conchi voiced by: Noriaki Kanze (Japanese), Keith Silverstein (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Ponchi

Conchi

A racoon/tanuki and a fox/kitsune who are the familiars of Tamao Tamamura.

Bumbling Sidekick: They are definitely not perfect and are great at being insensitive quite often but, they do mean well.
Butt-Monkey: Both Ponchi and Conchi have a habit of getting themselves beat-up ether by Anna or Tamao herself.
Captain Ersatz: They're basically Ren and Stimpy as a tanuki and a kitsune.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Their oversoul forms are quite different from their "chibi" forms.
Dirty Coward: Both do and act horribly, but are easily intimidated.
Gag Penis: Ponchi's main weapons are his testicles, which he uses to immobilize Manta. Anna later stomps on them to make Conchi confess what they were doing to Manta and Ryu.
Groin Attack: Ponchi is at both ends of the attack at different points.
- At one point Ponchi attacks Ryu by kicking him in the crotch.
- Anna grabs Ponchi by the balls to make him release Manta.
Jerkasses: Act condescending towards Tamao and everyone else, when they're not pissing their pants.
Tanuki/Kitsune Contrast: Conchi is a Kitsune and Ponchi is a Tanuki, complete with the big testicles.
Troll: Both of them tell Tamao that "a small guy and a tall person" (as in Manta and Ryu) would bring trouble to Yoh, encouraging Tamao to fight them. No reason at all. Anna eventually finds out and punishes them accordingly.

Team the Ren

Tao Ren

Voiced by: Romi Park (Japanese), Laura Stahl, Sean Rohani [adult] (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A shaman from China. His spirit partner is Bason, the ghost of a Chinese warlord.

He is serious, logical, and emotionally aloof. He has become like this because of how he was raised. Because of his father (uncle in the English anime) Tao En, Ren had adapted a deep hatred towards humanity and a strong yearning to eliminate them all. He also believed that his spirit companion, Bason, was only meant to be used as a tool and to treat him as a friend would only result in the spirit taking advantage over him. Ren's anger and hatred came from his father. Forced to train and study at a very young age, Ren had his childhood stolen from him. He hated Tao En for all of his suffering.

Ren tries hard to maintain a tough and confident exterior and is aloof, but deep down would risk his life for his allies. Ren is a particularly impatient person with a very short temper, and isn't afraid to hurt the source of the anger.

Abusive Parent: Yuan did some serious psychological damage to his kids. Aside from turning Ren into a killing machine who only responds to anger, he was raised around corpses, and thought spirits are to be used as tools rather than assisted as partners.
Anime Hair: His hair is shaped like a weapon's blade. During one of the anime's comedic scenes he tries to poke Ryu's eyes out with it (after Ryu annoyed him by telling him how annoying that pointy hair is).
Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: There's some shades of this. Physically tough due to brutal training from his childhood (and equally brutal training for himself) and is able to learn Mikihisa's combat movements from watching him. Also arrogant and a bit of a dick.
The Atoner: Post Heel–Face Turn. Once he's faced with the consequences of his previous villainy, he becomes committed to making up for them. When the brother of the Shaman Fight official that he killed comes after him for revenge, he even briefly considers letting the boy kill him.
Awesome, but Impractical: Ren has the custom of arriving riding a horse. Looks cool, especially when it comes to fighting. However it draws a lot of attention in the middle of the city, to the point of causing traffic jams.
Babies Ever After: In the epilogue, he has a son named Tao Men. The mother is Iron Maiden Jeanne.
Big Damn Heroes: He saves Yoh's life in the nick of time by protecting him from Faust's killing blow.
Calling Parents by Their Name: He calls his father by his name or merely refers to him as "that man".
Calling the Old Man Out: And he deserved every bit of it.
Can't Catch Up: Worries about this in his rivalry with Yoh. He gets even more bummed after finding out that he has the lowest furyoku from the Five Elemental Warriors.
The Comically Serious: Most of his humor comes from his short temper against his more relaxed teammates.
Cool Horse: He uses one for hyoui gattai (channeling Bason's own horse) in tandem with Bason during his final bout against Yoh in the Shaman Fight preliminaries. After that it's Put on a Bus. Even as an adult, he prefers going in carriage.
Cool Sword: The Hou Rai Ken (Jewel Thunder)/Sword of Lightning (given to him by his father En) is Ren's second medium. It still takes the form of a giant guan dao or a giant Bason (sometimes wielding a giant guan dao), though.
Dark and Troubled Past: He comes from the Tao Dinasty, a family of assasins who stablished their kingdom by killing thousands.
Defeat Means Friendship: An unusual example. After his first defeat at Yoh's hand, he begins to question his beliefs. Their next fight is a draw, but Yoh gives him a good enough fight that he finally sees the error of his way.
Good Is Not Nice: Even after his Heel–Face Turn, he's arrogant and somewhat cruel.
Kung-Fu Wizard: Even without using his spirit, he's a kung-fu master who is much, much stronger than his size would suggest.
Happily Married: Red Crimson shows that Jeanne and Ren ended up having a very healthy and loving relationship, even with Ren asking her to bake her cheesecake recipe.
Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He starts off as a cold-hearted, deeply misanthropic Social Darwinist, but it is just his way of coping with his abusive upbringing and his family's legacy. He's actually quite kind; he just finds it difficult to show it.
The Lancer: He settles into this role when he joins Yoh. He even leads his own group in the final stage of the Shaman Fight.
Mr. Fanservice: If he's not going shirtless, he's wearing something tight-fitting or revealing. And he's surprisingly chiseled for a teenager.
My Sister Is Off-Limits: Reacts this way when Ryu 'falls in love' at first sight of Jun.
No-Nonsense Nemesis: He nearly killed Yoh in their first fight, almost cutting his abdomen open with his guandao. Yoh remained in the hospital for days afterwards, but got his revenge shortly after.
Perpetual Frowner: The few times he smiles are usually followed up with embarrassment and subsequent rage. It's also a foil to Yoh's Perpetual Smiler tendencies.
The Rival: He's the first shaman that Yoh ever fights, and remains his fiercest rival throughout the series.
Sarcastic Devotee: He's usually snarking at Yoh's ideals and trust in others, but he will usually go along with him anyway.
Ship Tease: Has some with Iron Maiden Jeanne, of all people. It has been hinted that they have a child in the future, and it's confirmed in the sequel.
Shock and Awe: Even before he obtains the Spirit of Thunder.
Slasher Smile: Has a lot of these moments before he's officially done his Heel–Face Turn. As the story progresses they reduce in number but they're still pretty prominent.
Spell My Name With An S: Is it Ren or Len? ^note
Stock Shōnen Rival: An Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy with a dark past who treats his magical partner like a tool. Through the heroes, he discovers The Power of Friendship and becomes their ally and designated Straight Man.
Straight Man: His designated role whenever Chocolove or Ryu are involved.
Toplessness from the Back: During his return to Japan for the Shaman Fight preliminaries, Ren is seen emerging from a bath; this handily indicates the massive Taijitu-flame tattoo that covers almost all of his back... and further indicates the extreme situations he's been through.
Trademark Favorite Drink: He drinks three bottles of milk a day.
Vitriolic Best Buds: With Yoh. Also with Horo Horo. Ren has a hard time to admit that he enjoys their company. According to Bason, Ren arguing with Horo Horo and Yoh is the happiest he has ever been.

Bason

Voiced by: Kousuke Takaguchi (Japanese), Bernhard Forcher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Bason is the ghost of an ancient Chinese warrior who serves Ren faithfully and obeys him without question. In the English anime and manga Bason calls Ren "Master Len," while in the Japanese version he calls Ren "Bocchama," which means "Young Master." It was only after Ren's Character Development that he came to value Bason as a true friend.

The Big Guy: The biggest spirit partner out of all the main spirits, and Ren's Over Soul can manifest his upper body into a giant Over Soul if needed.
Cool Horse: Hei-Tao, his trusty mount. His spirit can be summoned and integrated with a specially trained shaman-horse so that Bason can fight at his full potential. This is only used once, after which spirit integration is rendered obsolete by Over Souls.
Friendly Rival: Becomes this with Amidamaru after Ren starts to be friends with Yoh.
Meaningful Name: It roughly means "Descendant of the Horse," fitting for a warrior who is known for being nigh-unstoppable when mounted.
Multi-Melee Master: In life, Bason mastered the weapons of every enemy he defeated. This later pays off when Ren is able to use the Super Bushin Over Soul, giving his guandao the ability to become any weapon that Bason has mastered.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: His eyes are always a deep red, which makes him look terrifying. Subverted in that he's actually just a super-intimidating Gentle Giant.
Satellite Character: Compared to other spirit companions, Bason doesn't get much characterization of his own. It's also justified; as a Tao family spirit, he is trained to be seen, not heard, and unswerving devoted to Ren. Unlike the more mindless spirits of the Tao, however, he genuinely cares about Ren and tends to act more like a parental figure than a servant.
Signature Move: The Chuka Zanmai technique that Ren uses is actually one that Bason made famous, Ren just memorized it through rigourous training with Bason's spirit. Ren makes it his own through numerous variations.
Spell My Name With An S: Like his master, he runs afoul of this due to the Chinese language transliteration. In his native language, it would be Ma Sun, which becomes either Ma Son or Ba Son in Japanese, depending on how the kanji is read. The English translation and the anime decided on the latter, so Bason it was.
Third-Person Person: He refers to himself as "Kono Bason", roughly meaning "This Bason". Curiously, he refers to himself this way a few times in the English Dub, but uses the word "I" most of the time.

Usui "Horo Horo" Horokeu

Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (Japanese), Michael Sinterniklaas (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/horohoro.png

An Ainu shaman from Hokkaido. Horohoro's main goal in the Shaman Fight is to save the Koro Pokkuru "Minutians", a tiny spirit people. As part of this goal, he intends to plant a vast field of Butterbur. In the English anime, he is described as from "the Northern Woods" instead of from Hokkaidō. His guardian ghost is Kororo "Corey". Also, he becomes the third strongest of the Five Elemental Warriors and gains the Spirit of Rain. His furyoku is 120,000 (as seen in Chapter 276). This, oddly, makes him "technically" stronger than both Yoh and Tao Ren, who have more importance in the series than he does, who have only 108,000 and 100,001 furyoku respectively.

Horohoro is good natured and cheerful, but he gets serious in dangerous situations. He argues constantly with his teammate Ren, and they do not seem to get along at all. However, it is shown that he really does care for him when he tells Yoh Asakura that if he can't save Ren, as his friend, Horohoro would never forgive him. Horohoro is also very secretive about his past not willing to talk about it even to his friends. It is later revealed that Horohoro's real name is Usui Horokeu. Horokeu is the Ainu word for wolf, a divine animal in their culture.

Affectionate Nickname: His nickname "Horo Horo" was given to him by his First Love who he called Damuko in return.
Beneath the Mask: Avaf points out that Horohoro is hiding his true self behind his "cool and easygoing" persona that's holding his true power from being released. Horohoro is actually very headstrong and analytical, but he chooses not to fall back into it because it reminds him of Damuko's freezing to death when she tried to look for him in the mountains. He finally discards his mask for good when he learns what happened to her spirit.
Big Brother Instinct: Horohoro and his little sister Pirika are very close.
Call to Agriculture: In both the manga and the anime, Horohoro states that he will make his field for the Koropokus, even if he gets to be the Shaman King or not. By the time of Funbari no Uta and Flowers, Horohoro has been making a farm on his own and launched his line of organic snacks, which he keeps plugging to everyone.
Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Most of the series emphasizes the moron part. But he has his moments. Then Opacho, mind reader and close companion with Hao - the strongest shaman in the world, says this while visibly trembling:
"Lord Hao wanted to kill Horohoro... but Horohoro survived! Opacho has seen... a wolf! Horohoro... scares me!"
Dark and Troubled Past: He lost his Only Friend and First Love because his family forbid him from hanging out with her anymore and she got lost in the snowy mountains while looking for Horo Horo, resulting in her freezing to death.
Do Not Call Me "Paul": He hates being called by his real name because he gave it up out of guilt for Damuko's death.
Elemental Hair Colors: He has pale blue, almost white hair and uses ice attacks.
Elemental Weapon: With Over Soul, he manifests giant ice gauntlets.
Friend to All Living Things: Horo Horo has the goal to defend all living things, from plants, animals and spirits. He even tries to befriend a big aggressive bear named Apollo instead of hunting him down.
Foil: They form a quick friendship after seeing they have a lot in common. He has the same goal as Yoh to become Shaman King, with both of them enduring hard training menus from girls close to them (Yoh's fianceé and Horohoro's sister). While Yoh only wants to win so he can have an easy life, Horohoro wants to use the Shaman King position to heal the world with a big field of butterbur, the natural habitat of the Koropokus.
Graceful Loser: Horohoro takes his loss to Yoh in the first round really well. So much so that he joins him in the party at the Funbari Onsen held in honor of his first Shaman Fight victory out of respect for his strength. When Pirika comes to drag him out and shouts at Yoh refusing to forgive him for trying to sabotage her and her brother's dream, Horohoro remains calm and tells Yoh to ignore what she said saying that he deserved to win and that he looks forward to seeing him again in the next round.
Hard Work Hardly Works: Ever since the outcome of the Tournament, Horohoro has been working hard to sustain his farm and making his dream a reality. The only problem is that money is still hard to get, he manages to launch a line of snacks that roughly generates decent sales, and he is forced to seek for Ren to give him a loan to keep the farm.
Hot-Blooded: "When a person exposes himself to an extreme cold... he becomes extremely hot!"
An Ice Person: All of his techniques revolve around ice.
Idiot Hero: He's not stupid, but his upbringing has made him naive and ignorant of the outside world.
I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Horo Horo blames himself for the tragic death of his childhood crush Damuko since she froze to death in the mountains while trying to find him.
Let's Get Dangerous!: He wipes the floor with two divine-class shamans; directly after they defeat his teammates Ren and Chocolove - who were both explicitly stated to be stronger than Horohoro at the time.
The Mourning After: Damuko is the only girl he has ever loved and he never forgave himself for pushing her away because of her family's dam, which resulted in her freezing to death while looking for him in the mountains. He's overjoyed when Kororo reveals her true identity as Damuko and they reaffirm their love for each other. In the sequels, he stays unmarried which indicates he's still loyal to Kororo/Damuko.
My Greatest Failure: He tries to befriend a wild bear named Apollo instead of hunting him down. Ultimately he fails when two hunters arrive out of nowhere and kill him from afar. Horo Horo can only avenge him and lament that he couldn't do more with him.
Nature Hero: He's an Ainu, a culture that highly reveres nature and sees gods in many natural things.
No-Sell: He tanks a direct hit from Hao's Spirit of Fire in Hao's first appearance and shows no ill effects.
Only Known by Their Nickname: He's mainly known by his nickname "Horo Horo".
Shameless Self-Promoter: During Flowers, he is constantly shoving plugs for his snack line, only managing to place an advertisement display at Funbari Onsen. Hana is having none of that.
Social Darwinist: He has traits of this, revealed later in the series. Mostly instilled in him by his father.
Star-Crossed Lovers: In the past, he had a crush on a girl who also liked him, but his family forced him to stop interacting with her because her family was building a dam and the Ainu hate those who harm nature. The girl ended up dead when she got lost in the snowy mountains while looking for Horo Horo and she became Horo Horo's guardian spirit to stay with him.
Totally Radical: In the dub, at least. He is a snowboarder though.
The Un-Favourite: His dad doesn't seem to care much for either of his kids, but Pirika gets much better treatment than Horohoro does.
Vitriolic Best Buds: He ends up being this to Ren, since they bicker a lot. Horo Horo has been shown to care a lot whenever Ren is in mortal danger, and in Red Crimson, he travels all the way to China to make sure Ren is fine, even if he secretly wanted Ren to loan him some cash to save his farm.

Kororo

Voiced by: Megumi Nakajima (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

^{Click here to see her true form}

Kororo is a Koropokkoru (a race of tiny people in Ainu folklore whose name means "little people under butterbur leaves"), known as Minutians in the English anime. Surprisingly cute, she is Horohoro's spirit ally.

Blush Sticker: She has cute blush marks on her cheeks.
Characterization Marches On: Early volumes show her displaying a crush on Manta, since he looks an awful lot like a Koropokkoru, and she's occasionally seen lovingly hugging the top of his head surrounded by little floating hearts. This trait disappears completely after the Shaman Fight officially begins and the two are never seen interacting again, with her best friend Horohoro seemingly taking Manta's place as the object of her affection. Especially after it's revealed she's the reborn spirit of his childhood crush.
An Ice Person: Horohoro's ice powers come from Kororo.
It Only Works Once: When she made the deal to become a Koropokkoru, she was allowed to regain her true form once and only once, in the time of her choosing before she's stuck in Koropokkoru form for good. It isn't until Horohoro finally divulges his past to the group that she chooses to do this.
The Lost Lenore: She's the spirit of Horo-Horo's dead childhood crush. He originally became a shaman to apologize to her for being the cause of her getting lost in the mountains during Winter.
Nature Spirit: She is an ice spirit, making her able to take solid form without being placed in a medium and can control ice on her own. It's later revealed she was a human girl who died frozen in the snow and became a koropokkuru.
One-Word Vocabulary: "Kuru" is the only word she can say. She is capable of normal speech in her true form.

Chocolove McDonell

Voiced by: Motoko Kumai (Japanese), A.J. Beckles (English)^{Foreign VAs}

An African-American shaman from New York who wants to be the Shaman King so he can spread comedy and laughter in the world. The only problem with that is... he's not very funny. His spirit partner is Mic the Jaguar, his mentor's spirit partner; later obtains Pascal Avaf, and as one of the elemental warriors owns the Spirit of Wind.

Afro Asskicker: He grows an afro after becoming a shaman. It's partially to dissociate himself from his past, when he had a Bald of Evil, and partly for the sake of this trope.
The Atoner: He really regrets some of the choices he made while in the Shaft Gang. Even going to prison afterwards for due time.
Beware the Silly Ones: Choco is a goofball with a terrible sense of humor, but he's a powerful shaman, and later proves to be the strongest of the other Elemental Warriors.
Dark and Troubled Past: He was a gang member. His parents were murdered on Christmas, and later he would become the leader of the criminal gang Shaft. After meeting and joining Orona, Chocolove's old gang reappears and kills Orona.
Disability Superpower: Gives up his sight to atone for his sins, which has the side effect of highly enhancing his spiritual energy, to the point of turning him into the strongest shaman of the group by the later portion of the manga.
Dub Name Change: He's Joco in the English dub and the only character to retain his dub name in the 2021 anime for obvious reasons.
Early-Installment Weirdness: His early appearances (including his Early-Bird Cameo) gives him a rather African aesthetic (with him and his supporters all wearing African Tribal masks). This combine with him talking about how he learned about the location of the Shaman King from texts from his tribe all imply that he was originally meant to be African. However, a little bit later we learn that he's in fact an American from inner city New York and his spirit partner is South American. Both of them.
Empowered Badass Normal: Was a hardened gangster before unlocking his Shaman powers.
Foil: When his past is revealed much later, it turns out that he is this to Ryu. Both are goofy members of the gang, but while Ryu used to be a Japanese Delinquent who never engaged in criminal activity, Chocolove did a lot of crimes during his time as a thug, including murder, before changing paths once he discovered his shamanic abilities.
Funny Afro: Invoked. He was bald when he was a gang member, but grew his hair out when he decided to be a comedian.
Lost in Translation: His puns are usually accompanied visual effects or props. They don't always make sense in the English translation.
Pungeon Master: His main routine, as many involve Incredibly Lame Puns. Only a few can find them funny.
Replacement Goldfish: Team-themed. After Lyserg leaves the group to join the X-Laws, he comes to fill in his spot, which eventually earns him a spot in Team Ren.
Sixth Ranger: He joins the group relatively late in the series.
Strong, but Unskilled: He's a novice shaman compared to folks like Yoh and Ren, but the sheer amount of mana he naturally has is much more than both of them combined.
Thou Shalt Not Kill: He inherited Orona's belief that people can be saved with the power of laughter, so he never kills his opponents, not even the ones who are themselves remorseless killers, like Hao's mooks.
Token Minority: The only Black person in the cast. A bit of an odd example, given how diverse the main cast is, but Chocolove is so visually dissimilar from all the others that he fits the bill.
Took a Level in Badass: Once he gets ahold of the spirit Pascal Avaf, he gets a massive power increase.

Mic the Jaguar

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mic_shaman_king.png

Chocolove's main spirit, a jaguar owned by his previous mentor, Orona. He is often used for his master's lame yet effective pun theme attacks. Later when combined with Pascal Avaf, he can use wind to erode anything into a desert.

Beast Man: What he does when combining with Chocolove.
Blow You Away: When combined with Pascal, he can erode anything into a desert using wind.
Charles Atlas Superpower: His Oversoul enhances the senses, speed, and strength.
Fusion Dance: It combines with an Olmec spirit named Pascal Avaf to make Chocolove the strongest of the Five Elemental Warriors.
Meaningful Name: If the Punny Name is invoked, then it also makes it this in a sense.
Punny Name: A play on Mick Jagger. Probably invoked, since his shaman is a comedian.
Team Pet: He's the team's only animal spirit.

Pascal Avaf

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (Japanese), Malcolm Bowen (English)^{Foreign VAs} Bruno Coronel (Latin American Spanish)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/abaj.png

Chocolove's second spirit, an ancient Olmec demigod capable of manipulating air and can combine with Mic to form the powerful Jaguarman Over Soul. In life, he was a participant in the last Shaman Fight, and his knowledge proves extremely valuable.

Abstract Apotheosis: His power represents the Inca People as a whole, particularly the ancient city of Machu Picchu.
Adapted Out: He never appears in the 2001 anime.
Ancestral Weapon: A spirit revered by Orona's people, Orona passes the legend on to Chocolove to encourage him and challenges him to integrate with the spirit to prove his strength. It works.
Blow You Away: His power allows Chocolove to walk on air and create powerful gusts of wind. When combined with Mic, this enables Chocolove to create blades of wind and erode the area around him into a desert.
Friendly Enemy: He was killed by Hao for refusing to join him, but unlike most of Hao's victims he doesn't seem to harbor any resentment for it. That doesn't change the fact that he's determined to defeat Hao by any means, but he's rather easygoing about it.
Mr. Exposition: In the latter half of the manga, Pascal provides vital information about Hao, the Shaman Fight, and the 5 Elemental Spirits. Especially useful due to the absence of Silva or Anna.
Old Master: He doesn't look it because he's ghost who died young, but he's a thousand-year-old spirit of an extremely powerful shaman.
Support Party Member: Avaf's Over Soul isn't actually made for combat. It merely enhances Chocolove's abilities.

Allies

Lyserg Diethel

Voiced by: Yoko Soumi (Japanese), Erica Schroeder, Greg Abbey [adult] (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Lyserg, who was born in London, England, is also a dowser, a person who is able to find a person or persons using his special abilities. Lyserg uses his Crystal Pendulum for dowsing and Oversouls. He channels his Oversoul into his dowsing pendulum, allowing it to become a rope dart. His method of fighting with it consists of using high speed attacks that come out too fast for his opponent to react against.

At first, Lyserg joins with Yoh Asakura and the others, but later joins the X-Laws, a group dedicated to destroying Hao. When Lyserg joins them he is unsure about the ways the X-Laws try to eliminate Hao. Though Lyserg holds great hatred for Hao, Yoh's own philosophies and personalities keep him from crossing the line. Finally, he rejoins Yoh's team. He is among the five elemental warriors and outside Hao Asakura, he is the official owner of the Spirit of Fire.

11th-Hour Ranger: He defects from Yoh's group to the X-Laws for the tournament, but rejoins the party as the Shaman of Fire during the final arc when the tournament is over (and all X-Laws except for Marco and Jeanne are dead).
Achievements in Ignorance: The only reason he got sent to Hell before Sati could tell him about the training is because Anahol Poki managed to kill him in his attack at Jeanne's limousine. To Sati's surprise, he managed to arrive there by himself and survive, returning with the second most powerful furyoku of the Elemental Five, the strongest being Chocolove.
The Baby of the Bunch: Not counting Jeanne, Lyserg is the youngest of the X-LAWS, to the point the others (minus Marco) treat him like a little brother.
Badass Longcoat: An Inverness cape like Sherlock Holmes wears.
Beware the Nice Ones: Usually, he is very cute and a nice boy... but you're in for a real storm if you get him angry. He also won't hesitate in harming his friends if he deems it necessary, like when he nearly slaughtered Team Niles with his Oversoul. That pendulum is sharper than it looks.
Born Detective: His father was a famous detective at Scotland Yard, and trained Lyserg to follow his steps. In order to inherit Morphine as his companion, Lyserg's father tasked him with finding the key to Morphine's cage using a series of clues across the city.
Broken Bird: Bad enough losing his parents to Hao. But then his friend, who had taken him in, has a mentor who is involved in criminal activities and he's forced to kill the two out of self defense. And then his desire for revenge leads him to join the X-Laws, believing that his friends aren't determined enough.
Curtains Match the Window: Green hair, green eyes.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: When he meets Yoh's group, they at first think that Lyserg is a girl, with Ryu often commenting that he has a very pretty face for being such a strong fighter (and pretty enough for him to develop a crush on Lyserg). After the Time Skip, Lyserg grows up, looking more Tall, Dark, and Handsome Bishōnen.
Early-Bird Cameo: In the 2021 series, he appears earlier but in the first opening.
Gentleman Detective: After the Time Skip, he makes his way into the British Secret Intelligence Agency. He retains his good manners and charming personality.
Heel–Face Revolving Door: Starts as a heel, makes one whole revolution, and then eventually ends up as a face. Lyserg remains in good terms with Yoh after joining the X-LAWS and never shed his gentle nature.
Hero of Another Story: He is one of the main characters of Shaman King: Marcos.
I Am Very British: Surprisingly averted. In the English dub, Lenny (Ren) is the one with the British accent despite being Chinese, but Lyserg, who is an actual British, doesn't have one.
Occult Detective: After the Shaman Tournament, he attends university and becomes an MI6 agent, using his abilities as a shaman for the job.
Parental Abandonment: He was orphaned at a young age by Hao, then lost his grandfather to natural causes, then lost his foster father by his own hand.
Revenge: Against Hao. It's later subverted in that his taking control of the Spirit of Fire is meant to suppress his anger for Hao.
Sherlock Scan: Lyserg has shown observation skills, since he was trained to be a detective by his father. He immediately knew where Renim was hiding by watching Opacho's reactions to his thoughts. In Funbari no Uta, he is the first person to deduce correctly who is the mother of Ren's son, and has to hint it to Horohoro.^note
Sixth Ranger Traitor: He joins the group later on in the series, only to defect to the X-Laws shortly afterwards.
Transforming Mecha: Zeruel, as an Archangel, is capable of turning into a car, which is his original form.
Unsettling Gender-Reveal: On Ryu and the others. It was hilarious. He cleared the mistake in a... *ahem* "blunt" way. By flashing his genitals, no less.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: When he joins Jeanne's Knight Templar group the X-Laws.

Morphine

A pixie-like spirit who is Lyserg's guardian spirit.

Dub Name Change: The 2021 dub localizes her name as "Morphea".
Fairy Companion: She looks like a small, pink fairy and serves as Lyserg's guardian spirit.
Fairy Sexy: She appears as a cute pink-haired fairy with a form-fitting outfit and many guys call her pretty.
Monochromatic Eyes: She has dark pink eyes with no irises or pupils.
Pointy Ears: Being a fairy, she has pointed ears.
Sweet Tooth: She loves eating sweet-tasting things.
The Voiceless: She never speaks.

Redseb and Seyram Munzer

Redseb and Seyram Munzer (later Asakura Munzer)

Redseb is voiced by: Misuzu Togashi (Japanese), Erika Ishii (English)^{Foreign VAs}
Seyram is voiced by: Shino Shimoji (Japanese), Laura Stahl (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Redseb

Seyram

Two siblings who enter the Shaman fight with their golem and Mikihisa, Yoh's father. After seeing the corpse of their murdered father, Seyram's mind apparently broke and she became completely emotionless. Redseb entered the competition to become Shaman King so that he might restore her mind. However, he also has a darker purpose in mind.

Ambiguously Jewish: Their team name, the Kabbalahers, comes from a Jewish school of thought, and Redseb mentions that golems like theirs were created long ago to protect his ancestors, and golems come from Jewish folklore. And their particular golem has "emeth", the Hebrew word for truth written on it. Muddying the waters a bit is the fact that they are celebrating Christmas, though that may simply be an error on the Japanese writer's part since Christmas is a secular holiday for most in Japan.
Big Brother Instinct: Since their father died, Redseb becomes very protective of his sister, who has become an Emotionless Girl.
Early Installment Character-Design Difference: In their first Early-Bird Cameo in chapter 26, both are shown (from behind) to have black hair, and Seyram appears to be the older (or at least bigger) of the two. Their golem also looks different than it does later on.
Emotionless Girl: After seeing the corpse of her murdered father, Seyram stops displaying any emotion, or even speaking at all. She CAN speak, she just doesn't really want to.
Failed a Spot Check: They never found out until too late that their vengeful father's spirit was inhabiting the golem and was using Seyram for possession purposes.
Happily Adopted: After the Shaman Fight ends, the Asukuras adopt the two young siblings.
Pink Girl, Blue Boy: Redseb has light blue eyes and wears a blue shirt, while Seyram has red eyes and wears a red dress.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: They have laughable mana levels, but their golem has far and above mana levels because it's run by their father's spirit and he designed a unique battery that works just like a car battery but can store thousands upon thousands of mana to allow anyone to wield it.
Revenge: Redseb seeks revenge on Chocolove and his old gang for killing his father. And while he does kill them all (temporarily in Chocolove's case), Yoh (knowing that he could still revive Chocolove) scares Redseb out of that mindset by telling him that Yoh has every right to kill him now in revenge for Chocolove's death, which would cause a Cycle of Revenge.
You Didn't Ask: When Anna tries to keep them safe from Team Flower, she believed at the time that they had lost the golem to them, until Redseb casually points out that it was no big deal because they can always call the golem to them.

Matamune

Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka (Japanese), Greg Chun (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A cat spirit that has been connected to the Asukura family for hundreds of years.

Adapted Out: He does not appear in the 2001 anime due to Mt. Osore arc being absent as a whole.
Badass Bookworm: He almost always has his nose in a book. And he was a strong enough spirit to kill Hao alongside Yohken 500 years earlier.
Bakeneko and Nekomata: He's a nekomata, a cat spirit with two tails.
Cultured Badass: Wears rather formal outfit, is never seen without his pipe, and is very knowledgeable due to Walking the Earth for a millenia, which is probably helped by the fact he is always seen to read the books. He can also assert this authority by force when needed, as Conchi and Ponchi found out.
Death by Origin Story: Though it is a rather belated origin story, Matamune's main role in the story is during 10 year old Yoh and Anna's first meeting where Yoh helps Anna overcome her personal demons, during which Matamune sacrifices his physical form to help Yoh save the day.
Failure Knight: He was originally Hao's cat. When he died, he remained loyal to Hao... for a time. After seeing how far Hao had fallen in his misanthropy, Matamune abandoned him and eventually sided against him by helping his descendant Yohken and killed him in the Shaman Fight 500 years before the story. He feels great guilt for turning against Hao like that, but still remains connected with the Asukuras, and eventually helps Yoh during a trying time a few years before the start of the proper story, when he met Anna for the first time.
Ghostly Goals: Matamune is unable to move on to the afterlife because of the guilt he feels for abandoning, and then later killing Hao. He acknowledges that it was the right thing to do, but he still feels immense shame for betraying the man who saved him in life.
Heroic Sacrifice: He sacrifices his physical form so Yoh can destroy a powerful Oni created by Anna's negative feelings. Due to this he was forced to move on to the afterlife.
Mentor Occupational Hazard: He passed on a few years before the story begins, but he was Yoh's first mentor and spirit companion who taught him about Over Soul.
Posthumous Character: As much as one can be in Shaman King. He lost his ability to materialize in the living world and thus moved on to the afterlife 3 years before the start of the story.
Right-Hand Cat: Unusual to the trope, he was Hao's familiar before he became evil, and then abandoned Hao when he fell into villainy.

Asakura Family

Yohmei Asakura

Voiced by: Hiroshi Naka (Japanese), Doug Stone (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asakura_yohmei.png

Yohmei is Yoh's grandfather and powerful shaman who utilizes leaf shikigami's for many tasks. He is also Tamao's teacher.

Arranged Marriage: His marriage with Kino was arranged by his family.
Miniature Senior Citizens: He's about Manta's size, despite being much, much older.
Stern Teacher: Not quite on Kino's level, but he's definitely a no-nonsense mentor to Yoh.

Kino Asakura

Voiced by: Hisako Kyoda (Japanese), Erica Schroeder (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kino.png

A master itako who trains young girls in the art at Osorezan. She is short-tempered and practical like her apprentice, Anna. Kino is Yoh's grandmother.

Arranged Marriage: As the level of her spiritual ability rose, she caught the eye of the Asakura family and was asked to marry Yohmei.
Blind People Wear Sunglasses: She wears sunshades to hide her blindness.
Handicapped Badass: Anna is an itako despite not being blind. Kino, on the other hand, lost her vision when she was in her twenties, thus became an itako out of necessity.
Miko: She's been a priestess for most of her life.
Miniature Senior Citizens: Like her husband, she's very short due to her old age.
Never Mess with Granny: Anna very clearly takes after her in the "don't fuck with me" department.
Tsundere: An even more severe example than Anna, given that she gets exactly one moment of genuine tenderness in the entire series.

Keiko Asakura

Voiced by: Mika Doi (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Keiko is Mikihisa's wife and Yoh's mother. She is capable hearing the voices of kami spirits.

Love at First Note: She fell in love with Mikihisa because he played her some music after her boyfriend dumped her for being able to see ghosts (coincidentally, Mikihisa could also see spirits)
Miko: A task inherited from her mother Kino.
Office Lady: Works as this. She is the only family member who works outside the Asakura's traditions.

Mikihisa Asakura

Voiced by: Kenyū Horiuchi (Japanese), Keith Silverstein (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asakura_mikihisa.png

^{Click here to see Mikihisa's face prior to being burned}

Yoh's father, an ascetic priest working as a spy and messenger for the Asakura family and Tamao's master. He's also the leader of the Kabbalahers, a Shaman Fight team consisting of himself and the two children who control the Golem, Redseb and Seyram Munzer. He used to be a simple street musician until he met Keiko and became the first boyfriend of hers who didn't dump her after learning of her Shaman powers.

Badass Teacher: Tamao's mentor and can curb stomp Tao Yuan.
Comedic Underwear Exposure: He spends a lot of his appearances in his Goofy Print Underwear, though not by choice since the enemy attacked his charges while fishing for food. The Hana-gumi girls think he's a pervert after seeing his appearance.
Cool Mask: He wears the mask out of shame for his failure during Hao's rebirth and to cover his scars from Hao's attack. It's the same mask that Yohken Asakura used before.
Disappeared Dad: Due to feeling guilt for not stopping Hao from escaping after being born, Mikihisa chose to Walk the Earth in penance. It has the side effect that Yoh feels no affection for Mikihisa as a son since he was never there for Yoh, though Yoh seems to at least have no resentment towards his father.
Dropped a Bridge on Him: Killed by a mugger after the series' end.
Foil: To En Tao. Both are fathers who have unconventional relationships with their sons, married into prominent shaman families, and hide what they actually look like within guises. En was abusive to Ren, a constant presence in the boy's life, intimidating, has severe trust issues to the point he hides his true form from his own children, and is initially despised by his son, despite calling him, father. Mikihisa is absent for most of Yoh's life to the point that the boy doesn't consider him a father, laidback- though serious when pushed, can bond with others outside of the Asakura family and is only really hostile to Hao, but then again Hao is hated by everyone for his actions anyways.
Good Scars, Evil Scars: Was scarred when Hao was reborn as one of Mikihisa and Keiko's twin children.
Knight Templar Parent: While he is a laidback guy, he can't help himself from acting like a caring parent even with young girls who are on the enemy's side (he immediately interrupts the fight between Jun and Tamao vs. the Hana-gumi correcting each of them, even telling Kanna to stop smoking). He even beats Tao Yuan to prove that he is qualified to train Ren.
Replacement Goldfish: Invoked towards looking after Redseb and Seyram Munzer. He was best friends with their father, and then he decided to look after them when he died and they joined the Shaman Fight.
Street Musician: Before meeting his wife, Mikihisa used to make ends meet by playing his guitar on the streets. He was also a fan of reggae, which he passed to his son Yoh.
Took the Wife's Name: He took the family name of his wife since he was a hobo-like Street Musician whereas her family was a very traditional shaman clan.
Understanding Boyfriend: He and Keiko met when she was crying over the last boyfriend who dumped her, then asked him to play his music for her.
Walking Shirtless Scene: He's mostly always seen in his Goofy Print Underwear, so he's always shirtless.
Walking the Earth: Did this after the whole deal with the Spirit of Fire, taking levels in badass meanwhile. He also met Tamao during said travels and took her in as an apprentice.
Warrior Monk: He is an ascetic monk who, after Walking the Earth and training himself in various environments, can go toe to toe with very strong opponents and is shown to have easily defeated En Tao and Ren.
The Watcher: Acts in this capacity to Yoh, mainly as recompense for not being there for him personally.

Yohken Asakura

Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese), Kirk Thornton (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yohken.png

Yohken Asakura is Yoh's ancestor who defeated the Patch Hao in the last Shaman Tournament 500 years ago. He is the previous wielder of Matamune, Hao's cat who abandoned Hao after his fall from grace.

Precursor Hero: To Yoh and his friends, as he was the one who stopped Hao's worldwide rampage 500 years ago.
Self-Inflicted Hell: Due to his guilt in killing another person, especially his ancestor Hao, he became trapped in hell, unable to forget his sin that he still thinks the shaman fights just finished and didn't notice that 500 years have already passed. Once Yoh snaps him out of his funk, he finally escapes hell and returns with him to the real world.
Squashed Flat: Suffers this when an Oni ambushed him while chatting with Yoh. He gets better since his soul is too strong to be destroyed in hell.
Strong Family Resemblance: When Yoh first met him, he is wearing ascetic clothes and a bird mask similar to Mikihisa's that Amidamaru and Yoh mistook him as the latter. Once unmasked, he looks similar to Patch Hao and Yoh.
Villain Killer: He and Matamune killed Hao's Patch incarnation 500 years ago. They felt guilty over doing this, however, due to Matamune remembering how Hao used to be before his fall to madness.
Warrior Monk: Just like Mikihisa, he's an ascetic monk who's powerful enough to defeat Hao in his previous life.

Oyamada Family

General Tropes

Adapted Out: They don't appear in the 2001 anime, but are adapted in the 2021 series.
Family Theme Naming: Manta, his father Mansumi and his sister Mannoko all have names starting with "Man".
Muggles: The Shaman Fight is of no concern to these folks whatsoever.
Satellite Character: They're really only in the series to provide background for Manta.

Mansumi Oyamada

Voiced by: Kousuke Takaguchi (Japanese), William Salyers (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oyamada_mansumi.png

Manta's father.

The Chessmaster: Him being CEO of big conglomerate already implies this, but then he manages to get most of Hao's followers killed by revealing a critical information to one of them as well as sending his Number Two on site for assistance.
Education Papa: Manta's anxiety seems to be due to his father's constant pressure and his cold home environment, and he looks down on anything Manta does that isn't academic.
Fantastic Racism: As soon as he sends his butler to investigate everything about Yoh and his family, Mansumi tells Manta to stop being friends with Yoh, making emphasis on the Asakura family being all shamans as the main reason. He later goes big to exterminate shamans by leading a float of submarines and hiring Hans and Teruko to attack Hao.
Fantasy-Forbidding Father: Mansumi would much rather Manta take over his company, rather than hang out with shamans and spirits.
Follow in My Footsteps: He wants Manta to one day inherit his company.

Keiko Oyamada

Voiced by: Tomo Sakurai (Japanese), Erica Schroeder (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Manta's mother.

Huge Girl, Tiny Guy: Keiko's only as tall as the average woman, yet she towers over Mansumi.
Slave to PR: Keiko explicitly discourages her son's friendship with Yoh, believing it would look bad for a member of the prestigious Oyamada family to be seen with a "spiritualist".
Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Keiko is tall, slim and pretty, while Mansumi looks like an older and uglier version of Manta.

Mannoko Oyamada

Voiced by: Ryō Hirohashi (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/oyamada_mannoko.png

Manta's younger sister.

Annoying Younger Sibling: She outright blabs to her mother that Manta as skipping cram school to hang out with Yoh.
Child Prodigy: She's five years old, but she's a master at computers. Because of this, she's the one in charge of software development at her father's company. She loves to rub this in Manta's face, despite not liking the job itself.
Pint-Sized Kid: She's only five years old and the teenagers are over half her size. Her older brother, however, isn't that taller than her.
Strong Family Resemblance: She and her brother share the same facial features, hair color, and short stature. She's basically Manta if he was a girl.

Tao Family

General Tropes

Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: The whole family arrives to Team The Ren's first match, riding Tao Yuan's oversoul, carrying banners and the jiang-shi army organized as a cheering squad for him. Ren is not amused at all.
Chainmail Bikini: Ran's combat outfit, as seen in Red Crimson. Jun and Horo Horo even question it.
Cynicism Catalyst: A long history of betrayal attempts and discrimination caused the Tao family to become sheltered from the outside world, basically building their own empire inside their lands.
Evil Counterpart: They start as this for the Asakura family, as a long line of shamans. After their Heel–Face Turn, they become more of a Foil to them.
- Ching is a counterpart for Yohmei, as the elder leaders of their families.
- Tao Ran to Keiko Asakura as the mothers of their families. While Keiko is mostly neutral and keeps a relatively normal life compared to the rest of the family, Tao Ran is still involved in the family business.
- Tao Yuan to Mikihisa Asakura. Both men married into their respective families through their wives, and took charge of them. While Tao Yuan has the spirits of every ancestor of the Tao Family, Mikihisa carries the guilt of letting Hao escape and stays separated from the family.
Family Portrait of Characterization: After the Shaman Tournament, the Tao family is shown to have closer relationsips with each others, as seen in two photos.
- In Flowers, Jeanne and Ren are happily posing together while holding baby Men.
- In Marcos, the Tao family is overjoyed to welcome Jeanne into the family. This is shown in their wedding picture, where not only the Taos are there, the X-LAWS are also considered family members from Jeanne's side.
The Family That Slays Together: The Tao Family comes from a long line of assassins, who served many Chinese Dynasties. To keep their army of jiang-shi, they are responsible of many deaths to add more bodies to their zombie army, including the murder of Lee Bai Long.
Heel–Face Turn: After Yoh and his friends manage to defeat their traps and obstacles, they become powerful allies to them. They even start opening to the outside world and treat their family members better.
Pretty Boy: Tao Ran's personal bodyguards, Shu and Kyo, are handsome guys and her main jiang-shi. Yuan doesn't want to admit that he is jealous of them.
Tough Love: Despite the frequent Training from Hell, extreme tortures as punishments, and strict control on their children, the Tao family are very close and protective of each other.
Training from Hell: Every member of the family has endured hard tortures to increment their spiritual energy.

Tao Jun

Voiced by: Michiko Neya (Japanese), Lisa Ortiz (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Ren's older sister and a dao-shi (spellcaster), who can re-animate corpses. Her guardian ghost/zombie is Lee Pai-Long (Lee Bailong), a famous movie star in Hong Kong who died seventeen years ago. She uses Jufu talismans to control her guardian ghost, but after she battles Yoh Asakura and Amidamaru and loses, she lets Bai-Long obey her commands only if he wishes to when she realizes that spirits have hearts too, and they just cannot be controlled.

Action Girl: She is capable of fighting Kanna Bismarch evenly.
Anime Chinese Girl: She wears a qipao, uses the distinctly Chinese art of ganshi, ans uses a guardian that uses Chinese kung fu.
Bodyguard Crush: She seems to grow quite fond of her guardian ghost, Lee Pai-Long. After some time, the feeling appears to be mutual. Their relationship is explored further in Red Crimson.
Breakout Character: She is the main character of Red Crimson.
Cool Big Sis: After her Character Development.
Graceful Loser: After her battle with Yoh, she calmly admits defeat and walks away. The fact that he saved her from Li's Unstoppable Rage likely helped.
Sexy Slit Dress: She wears a cheongsam with a high leg slit.
Stepford Smiler: She has become this in Red Crimson. Horo Horo asks her how can she murder her enemies in cold blood, to which Jun just smiles and dodges the question. Bai Long can tell her to stop pretending in front of him during her fight with Hong-Hong.

Lee Pyron

Voiced by: Tooru Sakurai (Japanese), Dan Green (English; credited as Jay Snyder)^{Foreign VAs}

Also known as "The White Dragon", Lee was a Kung Fu movie star who was murdered by the Tao family to be Jun's guardian. He is a thinly-veiled reference to Bruce Lee, who died under suspicious circumstances. Technically, he is not a spirit, but a living corpse reanimated using Jun's "ofuda" or talismans. However, he can be considered to be serving a similar purpose, since he protects Jun and perpetually hangs around her.

Bodyguard Crush: Later on, once Jun has mellowed out a little and permitted him some free will. Their relationship is explored further in Red Crimson.
Bruce Lee Clone: He looks like the dude, he was a movie star when he was human, and he's a martial artist who fights with a nunchuck. And his assassination to serve as a revenant bodyguard so the Tao family could take advantage of his skills mirrors real-world conspiracy theories about Bruce Lee's death.
Chinese Vampire: Introduced as such, though he lacks most of their common characteristics.
Easily Forgiven: After getting his ass kicked by his master and calming down, Lee is pretty quick to forgive Jun for keeping him as a mindless zombie for 10 years, choosing to stay with her so he can master his martial arts form in his own body.
Lightning Bruiser: His fighting style is a terrifying mixture of fast and powerful.
Martial Pacifist: He was like this in life, both through the characters he played in his movies and in reality. He regains this mindset as a jiang-shi after coming to terms with his death.
Our Zombies Are Different: He's technically a jiang-shi, or Chinese Vampire, but he never displays any qi-draining powers.
Undeathly Pallor: After being resurrected as a Jiang Shi, his skin has turned slightly pale.
Would Hit a Girl: Once Jun's spell on him had been broken and Lee realized what had happened to him, he turned on Jun in a fit of Unstoppable Rage. The fact that she's a woman didn't stay his hand in the slightest.

Tao Yuan

Voiced by: Hideaki Tezuka (Japanese), Marc Thompson (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taoyan.png

Patriarch of the Tao family.

Archnemesis Dad: He's this to Jun and Ren, using them as pawns to win the Shaman fight and torturing them to get stronger or put them in line when they disobey him. This stops he's defeated, becoming far less abusive as a result.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite refusing to join dinner with the rest of the family after he is defeated, Yuan still catches up to Ren to give him the Horaiken sword as a symbol of approval.
Disc-One Final Boss: After the First Round battles end, Yoh, Horohoro, and Ryu travel to China to defeat him and rescue Ren and Jun before entering the major fight involving the real Big Bad Hao.
Evil Counterpart: To Mikihisa as well as his Foil, both are fathers who married into major Shaman families who raise their kids in unconventional manners while hiding their true appearances for most of their major screentime. Yuan is an isolated traditionalist, who tortures his children, has them under his strict indoctrination, and is very intimidating. Mikihisa is absent for most of his sons' lives, never shown to be abusive to Yoh, but very hostile to Hao for very justified, reasons, and is overall relaxed, letting Yoh be his own person. Yuan also takes the family's married doctrine as his own, to the point of taking all of the ancestors as his Oversoul, and is distrustful to others outside of the family. Mikihisa is isolated from his family and takes in unrelated children in order to protect them as well as raise them to be Shamans- being willing to adapt and trust others.
Fat Bastard: While he has the Jerkass part initially, his obese yet muscular look is a facade for his more well-built true form.
Humanoid Abomination: Initially perceived as this, with the ability to regenerate his body instantly despite being destroyed at several points, fatal wounds don't apparently hurt him, and is immensely fast for someone of his immense stature. This all foreshadows he's actually using an advanced Oversoul, and is actually a muscular, but realistically large man underneath due to the impossibilities of his physiology at that point.
Large and in Charge: When Yoh and company arrive in the Tao mansion, they are shocked to see that Tao Yuan is very large- far larger than humanly possible- triple the size of the already tallRyu for comparison- while being inhumanly fast for someone of his apparently huge stature to do with ease. This form is revealed to be actually an Oversoul armor composed of all the Tao family ancestors, while his true form is still fit, muscular, and tall, but more realistically so than his initial look.
Our Dragons Are Different: His Trump Card is an Oversoul that resembles a traditional Chinese dragon, but with the exaggerated human head of his normal Oversoul rather than a traditional one.
Prophet Eyes: Initially is portrayed with completely white eyes without pupils before his true form reveals he has golden iris eyes like his son.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: High ranking member of the Tao dynasty and a very powerful shaman.
Stout Strength: Initially seemed to be the case with his obese, massive yet muscular form, but his true form is much more well-fit in stature.
Took the Wife's Name: He is a Tao by marriage, being the best suitor for Tao Ran, the actual heiress of the main family line.

Usui Family

Pirika Usui

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka (Japanese), Brianna Knickerbocker (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pirica_usui.png

Horohoro's/Trey's little sister who trains him in a similar manner to Anna's training of Yoh. Pirika later becomes friends with Anna and Tammy.

Annoying Younger Sibling: To Horohoro, being his answer to Anna.
Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: With her brother.
Curtains Match the Window: She has light blue hair and light blue eyes.
Drill Sergeant Nasty: Like Anna, she also makes her brother do the most insane training menus.
Genki Girl: She is cheerful and energetic most of the time, even while scolding his brother.

Torara

Pirika's partner spirit, a Marimo or Torasanpe as said in the Ainu language. Torara was said to have saved Pirika from drowning at an early age, and since then they became partners. The author shares information about him in a guidebook, but he doesn't make a debut in the manga or anime.

Making a Splash: Torara can manipulate water.
Shrinking Violet: He's very shy, so he never shows himself around anyone.

Lycan Usui

Voiced by: Kousuke Takaguchi (Japanese), Jason Marnocha (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Horohoro and Pirika's father.

Adapted Out: He is never mentioned in the 2001 anime.
Bigger Is Better: Lycan is a big guy who also happens to have Gororo, the biggest Koropokkoru, as his companion.
Parental Neglect: Lycan believes that once his kids leave home, he is no longer responsible for them. According to Horohoro, they are not close as father and son, and have a very distant relationship.
Throw the Dog a Bone: Despite disapproving of Horohoro's relationship with Damuko, he still let him see her, since he had the feeling that he would most likely never experience love again.

X-LAWS

General Tropes

The X-LAWS is a freelance organization with the sole purpose of eliminating Hao and ensure Iron Maiden Jeanne wins the Shaman Tournament.

Badass Longcoat: The standard X-LAWS uniform includes a long white coat with silver embelishments.
Church Militant: The X-LAWS was founded by Luchist, a priest, and Marco, after they adopt Iron Maiden Jeanne and build her image as The Chosen One, while the rest of the group firmly believes they're doing God's work.
Cool Car: The mediums used by the X-Laws for the Archangels are their weapons and supercars from Marco's company.
Family of Choice: In Marcos, all the X-LAWS (except Marco, who was MIA at the time) attend Jeanne and Ren's wedding, standing as Jeanne's family in the big family photo with the Tao family.
Knight Templar: The entire organization is built under the principle of killing Hao and make Iron Maiden Jeanne the new Shaman Queen to bring peace to the world at any cost, even if that involves casualties.
Military Mage: The organization has six people with military training that have the ability of using shamanic powers. All the members of X-II, X-III and Hans Reiheit were former military members from their respective countries.
Multinational Team: 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.
Revenge: All of the current members of the X-LAWS have as main motivation to get revenge on Hao, since he destroyed their lives in different ways. Kebin lost part of his face, Venstar lost his legs, Marco lost his family and his fortune, Lyserg lost his parents, etc.
Soul Fragment: Shaman King: Flowers reveals that all the Archangel spirits of the X-Laws are just fragments of the original Archangels even with Luchist and Hans. When Spemia faced them with the original Lucifer, all of the X-Laws are immediately curbstomped in one hit and even Luchist can hold the Fallen Angel back for a few seconds."
Well-Intentioned Extremist: All of them are convinced that their actions are in the name of good, even if it means people will get caught in the crossfire during their war against Hao. They are really good people when there's nothing involving Hao. After the Shaman Tournament, the X-LAWS become a big charity organization who help victims and survivors of warzones.
With Us or Against Us: While they claim to be on the side of good, they consider everything that isn't against Hao their enemy, and they don't hesitate to kill potential allies for Hao. They only consider Yoh a threat when he expresses his intention of not killing Hao, despite Yoh clearly being against Hao's actions.
"X" Makes Anything Cool: They really like to spam X almost everywhere. The organisation's name makes this obvious already, but then you have Hand Grenade X, which is a bomb improved by Chris Venstar to burn out all air in an explosion, Ark X, which is the name of their ship, X Conference, which is what they call their organized meetings, the label Xガネ on Marco's glasses case, which is a play on the japanese word for glasses, and Lincoln X, which is Marco's/Jeanne's personal car.

Team X-I

Iron Maiden Jeanne

Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese), Veronica Taylor (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jeanne_1.png

Jeanne is an 11-year-old young girl from France and powerful shaman in her own right. She is the leader of the X-Laws. Her title of Iron Maiden refers to the fact that she spends nearly all her time inside an iron maiden in order to increase her strength by keeping her in a near death state. She rarely leaves it unless she is desperately needed, believing her suffering will bring justice to the world. Her iron maiden, however, was crushed most likely beyond repair.

She is known for her red eyes, pale hair and delicate appearance. She is extremely charismatic; in the English anime Tamamura calls her a "princess" after hearing her speak for the first time.

Babies Ever After: At the end of the first series, she has a son with Ren, named Men.
Black-and-White Insanity: She believes that her way is just and all who don't follow her way must be punished. She is able to sense that Yoh isn't cruel like those in Hao's employ, and thus assumes that he'd be willing to join the X-Laws because of that. When he bluntly tells her no, she is brought to tears and a few pages later lament that he will have to be brought to justice for refusing them.
Child Prodigy: She is only eleven years old when she is introduced in the story, having the highest furyoku level of all the female characters in the story.
Cycle of Vengeance: She starts one when she kills an Egyptian shaman whose family and teammates knew to be an arrogant but good-hearted man. When the victim's brother shows up, he's looking for vengeance. Then, in Flowers, the families of the other members of that team go after Jeanne's son.
Dark Messiah: She's Hao's most powerful adversary and leads the quasi-religious X-Laws as their savior. Her approach to fighting Hao involves brutally killing anyone who opposes them, whether they work for Hao, are vaguely related to Hao, or just happens to be in their way.
Fake Ultimate Hero: Turns out she's just a sickly orphan girl with enormous spiritual power that came under Luchist and Marco's care. They lead her to believe she was the Messiah in the hopes of having enough power to take down Hao. Considering the guidance she was given and the fact that one of her mentors turned on them, no wonder her views on good and evil are so messed up.
Happily Married: Red Crimson shows that she and Ren ended up having a very healthy and loving relationship, even with Ren asking her to bake her cheesecake recipe.
Heel–Face Turn: By the end of the manga, she's thrown her lot in with Yoh and company, and by the sequel has hooked up with Ren.
Incorruptible Pure Pureness: She's a prime example of how Pure Is Not Good. She's innocent beyond reproach and wholly unsusceptible to Hao's corruption. The price of that innocence is unmitigated cruelty and naiveté.
Iron Lady: Despite her soft appearance, she's dauntless and merciless once she puts her mind to something.
Knight Templar: She views Hao as the ultimate evil, and anyone who doesn't side with her is an enemy, whether they help Hao or not. She does show sadness over such divisions, but it doesn't do anything to change her course of action.
Mystical White Hair: She is an albino girl who was adopted by Marco an Luchist for having a high Furyoku level from early age.
Pimped-Out Dress: She gets along well with Tamao when she compliments her frilly dress, which is a couture dress with corset, ribbons and many layers of fabric, and even shares with Tamao that she would rather use something more simple like her because putting the dress on is too complicated.
Red Eyes, Take Warning: Well... she truly means well, but Jeanne has her own way of dealing with sinners.
Ship Tease: With Ren Tao of all people and it's hinted that they have a son together.
Sudden Sequel Death Syndrome: Chapter 22 of Shaman King Flowers reveals that she was killed and turned into the Oversoul for the Black Maiden.
Training from Hell: Uses various horrific tortures on herself, repeatedly dragging her consciousness back and fourth across the line between life and death to increase her spiritual power, and willingly accepts her suffering as the price she must pay to save mankind from Hao.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: They view Hao as a vicious monster who will bring ruin to the world. He must be stopped, regardless of the cost or collateral damage.
Wrong Genre Savvy: She truly believes that she is the All-Loving Hero (Yoh Asakura has that role) or at LEAST the Big Good. (She has only one-half that role, the other half belongs to Lady Saigan Sati the leader of the Gandhara group.)

Marco Lasso

Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (Japanese), Eric Stuart (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/marco_1.png

The de facto leader of the group, whose authority is overruled only by Jeanne herself. He helped found the X-Laws with the shaman Luchist Lasso, who would later fall under the influence of Hao Asakura.

Marco Lasso is extremely loyal to Jeanne, and will stop at nothing to achieve what he believes will bring about Jeanne's ideals of a world free of corruption and evil. Like Jeanne, he tends to see issues in black and white; either something is good or evil. Those who join the X-Laws are considered good and those who do not are automatically evil and with Hao Asakura.

Because of his utter and complete devotion to Jeanne, he is the most devastated when Jeanne's attempt to destroy Hao by opening the Gate of Babylon fails. However, while the other X-Laws go to challenge Hao and avenge Jeanne's defeat, dying in the process, Marco becomes the only survivor (not counting Lyserg, who leaves the group to help Yoh).

As Yoh Asakura prepares to defeat Hao, Marco chooses to follow Jeanne's lead and places his faith in Yoh in hopes that Yoh will achieve what the X-Laws failed to do.

Marco was originally an entrepreneur who worked with cars and a close friend of Luchist, the leader of the X-Laws at the time. Marco's company was on the verge of creating a new sports car, but gave up when Hao apparently destroyed his house and killed his entire family. Marco was driven to attempt suicide, but eventually chose the path of revenge.

Berserk Button: Being referred as the leader of the X-LAWS over Jeanne, because that makes him recall Luchist, who was the true leader who betrayed them for Hao.
Cloudcuckoolander: In spite of being a badass and stern leader, he has a lot of uncommon quirks: The best way of using his Spiritual power is by taking off his pants and fight with only his shirt and underwear. Also the only way to calm him down is to give him some Belgian chocolate.
Embarrassing Nickname: "Puny Marco" when he was young.
Establishing Character Moment: Marco's differing views on what enemies deserve compared to Yoh is established in his opening moments. After the defeat of Boris, Yoh wants to stop Boris from dying of his wounds. However, Marco shows up and finishes Boris off with his powers, showing his views that death is the only answer for those working with Hao.
Four Eyes, Zero Soul: His eyes are usually covered by the reflection on the glasses.
Knight Templar: From his perspective, he's a hero of justice and chief servant of the Big Good. He's really a well-intentioned Anti-Villain whose moral judgment is clouded by his hatred of Hao.
The Man Behind the Man: He is the real leader of the X-LAWS, as Jeanne is only The Face and the most powerful shaman in the organization, as he and Luchist raised her to belief she was The Mesiah, so they could recruit more shamans to destroy Hao.
Mean Boss: More than a few times, he slaps Lyserg, and it's implied he physically disciplines him by striking his hands a whip.
Psycho Supporter: Claims to enforce the Maiden's will, which to him, translates to "annihilate anyone who so much as questions her." Marco also tends to get very eager to execute whoever he thinks is a sinner.
Secondary Character Title: While the spin-off Marcos is named after him, the story instead is about finding Marco, following Hans Reheit, Lyserg and the other X-LAWS in their quest.
Stripperiffic: Along with Luchist, both of them apply the "combat outfit" as a technique to increase Furyoku during a fight. In Marco's case, his outfit consists of an unbuttoned shirt, boots and booty shorts.
Undying Loyalty: Towards the Iron Maiden.
Well-Intentioned Extremist: He puts as his main goal to defeat Hao and he will exterminate anyone in his path, even if they're not the enemy.

Lyserg Diethel

See Allies Folder.

Team X-III

Meene Montgomery

Voiced by: Mariko Nagai (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A former member of the Canadian Special Forces and the only female member of the X-Laws, other than Iron Maiden Jeanne.

Action Girl: Was a member of the Canadian Armed Forces before joining the group.
Disposable Woman: After she dies, John Denbat wants to avenge her by killing Hao.
Dude Magnet: According to the fanbooks, she is very popular in the force, and the guys even created a secret fanclub for her.
The Gunslinger: She uses guns as her weapons of choice.
Only Sane Man: She has quite a down-to-Earth approach to people, specially to Lyserg.
Pet the Dog: Meene, Kevin and Venstar told Marco to go easy on Lyserg, and she even encourages him to keep his kind personality. Her death hits Lyserg hard.
Psycho Supporter: Still, less than Marco.
Vasquez Always Dies: Not counting Jeanne, she also dies with the rest of her team.

Chris Venstar

Voiced by: Tsuguo Mogami (Japanese), Anthony Brandon Walker (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A member of the X-Laws and is a part of Team "X-III". He once served in the military fighting off terrorists in the middle east and barely survived an onslaught of Hao on his unit, during combat.

The Big Guy: He is the largest member of the X-LAWS.
Handicapped Badass: The metallic boots he wears are actually Oversoul prosthetics, since he lost his legs in the Gulf War because of Hao.
Pet the Dog: Meene, Kevin and Venstar told Marco to go easy on Lyserg, and Meene even encourages him to keep his kind personality.
Psycho Supporter: He is a little nicer about it than Marco. He and Cebin would often show kindness to Lyserg.
Senseless Sacrifice: Like the rest of his comrades, he was willing to sacrifice his life if it was needed to gather information on Hao. To rub salt on the wound, Hao himself says out loud that his medium is the air, rendering their deaths as pointless.
Undying Loyalty: Towards the Iron Maiden.

Cebin Mendel

Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (Japanese), Eric Stuart (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A member of the X-Laws and Team "X-III", who seeks revenge against Hao Asakura. He is commonly seen wearing a black smiling mask.

Facial Horror: He uses his mask because Hao burned him.
Pet the Dog: Meene, Kevin and Venstar told Marco to go easy on Lyserg, and Meene even encourages him to keep his kind personality.
Psycho Supporter: He is a little nicer about it than Marco. He and Chris would often show kindness to Lyserg.
Undying Loyalty: Towards the Iron Maiden.

Other X-LAWS teams

Team X-II

John Denbat is voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese), Aleks Le [first voice], Sean Rohani [second voice] (English)^{Foreign VAs}
Porf Griffith is voiced by: Takumu Miyazono (Japanese), Ogie Banks (English)^{Foreign VAs}
Larch Dirac is voiced by: Kousuke Takaguchi (Japanese), Zeno Robinson (English)^{Foreign VAs}

The Second division of the X-LAWS composed by John Denbat, Porf Griffith and Larch Dirac.

The Big Guy: Larch is the tallest member of X-II, since he is as tall as Venstar.
Broken Pedestal: After they discover that Iron Maiden Jeanne was not a Goddess, like Marco and Luchist made the others believe, they decide to take down Hao on their own.
Heroic Sacrifice: They form a plan to corner Hao in a secluded área and fire the laser beam from the X-LAWS satellite. They give their lives, but it doesn’t work against the Spirit of Fire.
The Lost Lenore: For John Denbat, Meene becomes this for him, as she and the rest of X-III are killed in the first Shaman Fight against Hao.
Undying Loyalty: John, along with the other members, are loyal to Iron Maiden Jeanne, although he, Porf and Larch suffer from Broken Pedestal when they are told the truth about her origins. After it's revealed that he and some others get revived prior to Red Crimson, he, along with Hans and Meene, volunteer to guard Jeanne's grave.
Worthy Opponent: Zig-zagged. Hao praises their attempt at killing him, remarking that not even he could've dodged or survived being directly hit by SDI X-Laser. Unfortunately, they pressed his Berserk Button during their assassination attempt.

Team Hao

Team Star – Hoshi-Gumi

Hao Asakura

Hao Asakura/Asaha "Mappa" Douji

Voiced by: Minami Takayama, Hikaru Midorikawa [Patch Tribe incarnation], Hiroki Nanami [Heian era incarnation] (Japanese), Erica Mendez, Dan Green [Patch Tribe incarnation] (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/25dc17e47264727b7273547825740b3f7c9062fe.png

^{Click here to see Hao's incarnation from 1000 years ago}

^{Click here to see Hao in Shaman King: Flowers}

The main antagonist, Hao Asakura is a member of the Asakura family. Hao failed to win his first Shaman King tournament but was able to reincarnate with full awareness of his past life in time to participate in the next tournament and again for the current tournament.

In the months leading up to the tournament, Hao began to kill the prospective competition while gathering an entourage to assist him in winning the current Shaman King tournament.

Affably Evil: He's genuinely polite and hospitable, to the point that sometimes it is easy to forget he is the bad guy.
Badass Cape: He uses a big poncho as part of his attire.
The Bad Guy Wins: He successfully obtains the Great Spirit. But Yoh and his group manage to convince him to at least keep an open mind and not kill everyone over a petty grudge.
Big Bad: He's the main villain of the series.
Birds of a Feather: When around his mother, he gets easily flustered like Yoh does, which Manta finds hilarious to find out.
Blessed with Suck: He can read minds and talk to spirits, but on the flipside of that, he is able to listen to all the despicable thoughts of humans.
Born-Again Immortality: Thanks to a deal with Enma, he can reincarnate every 500 years (just in time for the Shaman King fight), so even if he's killed, he'll just come back even stronger. In his first life, he became perhaps the world's greatest Onmyouji and wrote the Tome of the Shaman, which is used by several characters to send their OSes to the next Evolutionary Level. In his second life, he appeared as a member of the Patch tribe, which is implied to be how he got his hands on the Spirit of Fire. In his third life, well, you've been reading the story, haven't you?
Cain and Abel: With Yoh. They're twin brothers, but are on opposite sides of the conflict.
Catchphrase Insult: He has a habit of calling those around him "so small". Unfortunately, it was Lost in Translation in the official Viz translation, most of the time it is translated as "amateurs", though arguably some meaning is lost from that, and in other instances it is translated differently as well.
The Chessmaster: Firmly set as this in the sequel series since he's God, though he's done little to change the world with his power. Instead, he's having fun manipulating Yoh and Anna's son into representing himself and leading his team.
Chick Magnet: It's all but outright stated that Matti and Mari are in love with Hao, which is why they follow him so devotedly.
Dude Looks Like a Lady: Hao is very thin, almost emaciated, even; and the artist is afraid of taking advantage of that to make the audience uncomfortable. He is even represented as "Princess Hao", as a metaphor for Yoh to rescue.
Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: What makes him abandon his plans to eliminate humans from the world is seeing his mother again, and getting the Legendary Left slap from her.
Evil Twin: His recent reincarnation was born as Yoh's twin brother and he's one of Yoh's main enemies.
Final Boss: He is the final opponent to be fought in the entire series.
From Nobody to Nightmare: In a side story, it's revealed that Hao started out as a weak little kid whose mother got killed because locals thought she was a demon in disguise. Look at him now.
Go-Karting with Bowser: Prior to the final battle, he shares a night at the hot springs with Yoh's group. He even has a pleasant-ish conversation with them.
Hero Killer: Not counting the possible thousands of Shamans during the two Shaman Fights, he's killed Lyserg's parents, the majority of the X-Laws and later Yoh and friends, though the latter get better. Not to mention the other Shaman teams and a group of spirits For the Evulz during Yoh's travels to Patch Village.
Iaijutsu Practitioner: In his initial fights, his fighting style could be described as the Shamanic equivalent of this. Early on, his speed is rated as being a bigger threat than his power. Hao’s favorite approach is to manifest the Spirit of Fire in an instant to attack for massive damage, before dismissing it just as quickly. He does this by taking advantage of the fact that the oxygen in the air is the medium for his Oversoul, using its omnipresence to make the Spirit of Fire appear wherever he wants or needs it to.
Identical Twin ID Tag: He has the same face as his twin brother Yoh, but his hair is longer and he wears a different outfit.
I Have Many Names: Hao Asakura is actually the name given to him by the emperor of Japan a thousand years ago. He was born with the name Asaha Douji, and nicknamed Mappa Douji (Mappa is another reading of the kanji of his first name) by the oni Ohachiyo.
I Love You Because I Can't Control You: He's rather pleased when Anna slaps him around and talks back to him.
Invincible Villain: The guy is pretty much untouchable. Only Anna was able to harm him and that was with a slap and only because he let her. His mother does the same in the climax as punishment for the whole "destroy humans" plot.
Irony: Hao is finally stopped when his mother showed up and gave him a Bitch Slap, which not only ended the Final Boss fight in an instant, but also postponed his Omnicidal Maniac attempts.
The Juggernaut: The closest he's been to being stopped in his tracks is when Yoh and everyone convince him not to destroy humanity because no one is at his level.
Knight of Cerebus: Prior to him, while Tao En was an extremely abusive parent whose influence was mainly to his children primarily, the only real casualties being his own jiangshi who as proven in spinoffs- could get their bodies easily replaced with their own spirits being placed inside them- with the conflict being resolved peacefully. With Hao's direct appearance, suddenly living people- innocent bystanders and Shaman alike start dying at a rapid pace- including the main heroes temporally at several points in the story and he even succeeds in his goal, which spells tremendous ramifications for the sequel, albeit sparing humanity with some convincing- with no one- alive or dead being capable of defeating him in a conventional manner with his victory due to both his immense power and via Reincarnation in the slim chance he did die- to repeat the rebirth process to gain even greater power due to this rebirth to try his ambitions once again- as an inevitable conclusion.
Knight Templar Just like the X-Laws. Except that Hao is fully aware of what he is doing and isn't as deluded as the X-Laws.
Lightning Bruiser: He's offensive powerhouse, defensively he can tank a Kill Sat, but what makes him so dangerous is the speed with which he can create Oversoul. In both manga and anime when X-Laws try to find out his medium they need two attempts because Hao's first attack was so fast they couldn't even see how it was created.
Like Parent, Like Spouse: His interest in Anna makes sense when everyone meets Douji Asanoha, and everyone notices that she is basically a grown-up Anna, even giving Hao a Legendary Left slap.
Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He's a pretty-looking boy with waist-length hair.
Love at First Punch: Literally. Anna gives him one Legendary Left in the face, and he liked her spunk...
A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Read: His ability to hear the thoughts of others drove him insane and convinced him that all non-shamans were evil and must be killed.
Mommy Issues: Hao's Start of Darkness is ultimately rooted in his mother's murder. Resolving this is also how he is temporarily dissuaded from murdering humans. Now go and re-read all the entries regarding him and Anna.
Omnicidal Maniac: He attempts to destroy humanity, but his mother is having none of it.
One-Man Army: Late in the manga and the 2021 anime, he tasks with Yoh and his group to stand guard by the beach not to assist him, but to witness his combat prowess as he mops the floor with a military task force consisting of frigates, cruisers, and a contigency of combat helicopters (and transport helicopters carrying soldiers), plus the two Shamans who act as Mansumi's bodyguard. The only reason he doesn't finish him off is due to Manta's presence and doesn't want to create another Lyserg like he did with the latter's parents.
Physical God: He becomes this once he awakens the titular king and does battle with Yoh and the other good guys in the spiritual dimension inside the Great Spirit known as the Shaman King Society. Yeah, it’s confusing.
Power Incontinence: He couldn't control his Reishi when he was younger, meaning he read the minds of everyone around him whether he wanted to or not.
Psychic Powers: He can read minds his inability to turn it off is what drove him insane among a lot of things in his life.
Reincarnation:
- In his first life, during the Heian Period of Japan, in the 980s, he was once known as Asaha Douji, who lost his shaman mother when she was murdered by Densen Houji, a sadistic monk, and was later adopted by an Oni called Ohachiyo. This led to him developing Reishi like Ana did. Unfortunately, the loss of Ohachiyo after he Oversouled and killed the monk combined with his Reishi damaged his sanity and birthed his desire to transcend humanity, become a god and dismantle civilization. Eventually, he met the famous Onmyouji Hamo Tadatomo, who took him as his apprentice and became a close friend of Daitaro Boshi, a fellow apprentice. When Tadatomo turned Daitaro into an oni, Hao was forced to kill his friend. After he stopped Tadatomo's plan to slaughter Kyoto, he became the Emperor's well-respected Onmyouji, who changed his name to "Hao Asakura".
- In his second life, Hao was reincarnated as a member of the Patch tribe and was successful in taking control of the Spirit of Fire, an elemental spirit that embodies the essence of one of the five elements of nature. He used the spirit to go on a murderous rampage across the whole world, before he was stopped and killed by his descendant Yohken and a former friend of his, the cat spirit Matamune.
- In his third incarnation, Hao reincarnated as a pair of twins, one of them keeping his past lives' identity and personality, and the other becoming his Good Counterpart, Yoh. Both of them bear half of the original Hao's soul. Shortly after his rebirth, Hao escaped from the Asakura family with the help of the Spirit of Fire, who burned Mikihisa for trying to kill his master.
Shirtless Scene: Whenever he goes poncho-less, he goes around shirtless.
Start of Darkness: Covered in side stories. The first and primary part was, of course, the murder of his mother, after which he met Ohachiyo and took the power to control spirits from the little demon. The second part was the betrayal of his fellow onmyoudo student Daitaro, who was forced to undergo a Face Monster Turn by their master^note, after which he fell beyond his Despair Event Horizon and challenged Daitaro to a fight — either Hao would win and the DB would be no more, or the DB would win and Daitaro and Hao would go off to destroy the world together. No points for guessing how that last one turned out.
Straw Nihilist: He plays the card that normal Humans Are the Real Monsters and incapable of being enlightened, so he'll kill them all in order to create a Shaman Kingdom. Even his sparing of Yoh and co. is to show them how pointless it is to change humanity's path.
Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth: In the second Mappa Douji special, the Daitaro-Boshi tried to consume Hao's horde of oni, only to fail and get absorbed in turn.
Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: His brother Yoh knew that he didn't have any friends. He spent 900 years in Hell and the worst part is that the 100 years he spent in the outside world were more unbearable than his time in Hell. Even among his followers, they mainly follow him BECAUSE of his power and never truly get to KNOW him. Combined with the Reishi it is no wonder he became what he is. In Zero we learn more about how he became such. After Ohachiyo abandoned him due to displeasure at Hao's thirst for revenge, Hao was picked up by an onmyouji named Tadatomo, and eventually became friends with another monk named Daitaro. However, during an exorcism ceremony, Tadatomo turned out to have been experimenting on Oni and had them enter Daitaro's body, turning him into what looked like Hana's Dark Oni. After learning about Tadatomo's Freudian Excuse for it, Hao completely lost it.
World's Strongest Man: No one is else is even close, which is why he (and almost everyone else) treats his victory as a foregone conclusion. Even at the end of the series, the 5 Elemental Warriors (Yoh, Ren, Horohoro, Lyserg, and Chocolove) put together don't measure up to half of his strength (though he WAS Shaman King at that point, with the Great Spirit backing him up).
You Fool!: Asanoha refers to him as her "stupid son" while apologizing to the heroes.

Opacho

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Laura Stahl (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A baby Hao adopted in Africa when he found her near starvation.

Beware the Nice Ones: Opacho has a very strong Furyoku, enough to finish one of the Patch officers with a single tackle.
Dead Guy Junior: Hao gave her the name "Opacho" in reference to the old spirit Ohachiyo who used to look after him when was he orphaned, though she herself chose the name like that because she couldn't pronounce "Ohachiyo."
The Empath: Like Hao and Ana, she can read people's minds.
Morality Pet: To Hao. She's the source of his major Pet the Dog moments.
Pint-Sized Powerhouse: She's even smaller than Manta, yet with her Oversoul she can send a full grown man like Ryu flying with one attack. Eventually a databook revealed that she has 800,000 Furyoku, making her the second strongest Shaman in the series.
Undying Loyalty: Opacho is very fond of Hao, as he rescued her from dying as a baby.
World's Strongest Man: She started at 800, but Her Furyoku level is 800,000 by either the time she was saved by Hao or during the Shaman Tournament. Either way, she's the most powerful female Shaman in the series, surpassing even Lady Sati's 750,000 Furyoku, and only second to Hao as most powerful overall.

Luchist Lasso

Voiced by: Ken'ichirou Matsuda (Japanese), Bernhard Forcher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/luchist.png

Founder and former leader of the X-Laws, Luchist Lasso is by far one of the more powerful shamans working under Asakura Hao. Luchist acts as the main rival to Marco Lasso. Apparently, the two were close friends in their past. However, when Aaskura Hao intervened, the comrades' lives would be forever changed.

Affably Evil: In spite of his alliance with Hao, Luchist is generally polite.
Archnemesis Dad: Technically he is this to Marco, as he adopted and raised him since he was young.But in Shaman King Marcos, its more complicated than that.
Badass Preacher: A former priest who wields the power of Lucifer himself.
Evil Mentor: To Marco, as his fighting style was learned from Luchist's, by using cars and guns as mediums.
Face–Heel Turn: At some point prior to the main story, Luchist abandoned the X-LAWS and defected to Hao's side, after he was beaten by him and decided that only the winners deserved true justice.spoiler:But in 'Shaman King: Marcos' it is revealed that he was already in Hao's side in the first place long before the story starts. Luchist was actually planning to side with Hao even before he was reincarnated. It is also revealed that it is also protect Marco from Hao and the Lasso Family as he knew Marco would be killed in the name of revenge and the Lasso Family would manipulate him.
Fallen Angel: Luchist's spirit, Lucifer. He bears the name of the Morning Star himself, and was the first and strongest of the Archangels. Shaman King: Marcos revealed that Lucifer is just a fragment of the original Lucifer (an actual angel) who was wielded by Luchist's relative, Spimea.
The Man Behind the Man: He, along with Marco were this, as they both made Jeanne The Face of the X-LAWS, before he defected to Hao's side instead.
Rank Scales with Asskicking: One of Hao's top lieutenants and a very powerful shaman.
Sinister Minister: He was once a good priest who took Marco under his care. He would later change sides and serve Hao. spoiler:Shaman King: Marcos reveals that his job as a priest was just an cover for his real job, an assassin for anyone who can be a threat to the Lasso Family.
Stripperiffic: Along with Marco, both of them apply the "combat outfit" as a technique to increase Furyoku during a fight. In Luchist's case, his outfit consists of a yellow vest with no shirt underneath and tight leather pants.
White Sheep: In Shaman King: Marcos, which explains his origins, it is revealed that Luchist was born into a Arms Dealer Ancient Conspiracy Lasso clan who manipulates the world through weaponry since the ancient times. Luchist actually loathed his clan for this so he was finding a way to stop them and siding with Hao is the only way he knew.

Other teams affiliated with Hao

Team Flower – Hana-Gumi

General Tropes

Chromatic Arrangement: Kanna has blue hair, Matti is a redhead, and Marion is a blonde.
Creepy Doll: Matti and Marion's spirits, Jack and Chuck, have creepy-looking dolls as mediums.
Dark and Troubled Past: Like many of the members of Team Hao, they have been subjected to discrimination due to their powers.
- Kanna was a Lonely Rich Kid, isolated in her family's castle until her parents died and the relatives appeared and took everything away. Hao arrived and killed them all and invited her to join his team.
- Marion's father was a Mafia boss and her mother a fortuneteller. When the young Mafia Princess' parents were killed by the father's mob enemies, Hao appeared and saved her by killing them.
- Mati was abandoned by her parents in the forest and raised by a witch. When the witch fell ill and died, she started to distrust humans and Hao helped her to bury the witch.
Heel–Face Turn: After Hao becomes Shaman King, they, like the other remaining members of Team Hao, became servants at Funbari.
Subordinate Excuse: It's implied that they're devoted to Hao because of their admiration towards him.

Kanna Bismarch

Voiced by: Saki Endo (Japanese), Camden Singer (English)^{Foreign VAs}

^{Click here to see Kanna in Shaman King: Flowers}

The leader of Team Flower.

Ectoplasm: During her infancy, she used to vomit ectoplasm because she unconsciously used her body to canalize spirits.
Impoverished Patrician: She was born into a distinguished German family, but after her parents died in an accident, lawyers and relatives took all of her fortune and inheritance, leaving her with nothing.
Ms. Fanservice: Her outfit consists of gauntlets, shorts and a bra. Later on, she starts to wear skirt over her shorts in second half of the storyline, but her clothing is still very revealing.
Smoking Is Cool: Kanna's medium is the cigar smoke.

Ashcroft

Voiced by: Masaaki Ihara (Japanese), Dennis Kleinman (English)^{Foreign VAs}

^{Click here to see him when he was human}

Kanna's spirit companion.

Knight in Shining Armor: He was a knight loyal to Kanna's ancestors. Since Kanna's smoke allows him to have a material body, he can wear his former armor to attack the enemies.

Matilda "Matti" Matisse

Voiced by: Wakana Kingyo (Japanese), Erika Harlacher [ep. 13], Erica Schroeder [all other episodes] (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/matilda_matisse.png

^{Click here to see Matilda in Shaman King: Flowers}

A Northern Scottish druid and is loud and aggressive. Raised by a kind elderly woman regarded as a witch when everyone else rejected Matti for her spiritual powers, her hatred of humanity comes from how the people helped by foster-mother's kindness did not come to save her when she was dying.

Alliterative Name: Matilda Matisse.
Cute Witch: She was raised by a witch, from whom she learned to control a jack-o-lantern as a medium for her spirit.
Girlish Pigtails: She's a young girl with her hair tied up into pigtails.

Jack

^{Click here to see him when he was human}

Matilda's spirit companion.

Dual Wielding: He dual-wields a pair of knives.
Evil Redhead: When he was human, he had orange hair and was a Serial Killer.
Psycho Knife Nut: He carries two knives that he used to kill a lot of people.
Pumpkin Person: His medium is Matilda's handmade doll with a jack-o-lantern for a head.
Resurrected Murderer: He was a Serial Killer who Scotland Yard nicknamed "The Second Jack", due to how similar his crimes were to the Ripper. After he was shot down by a policeman, his spirit lingered within his knives and Matilda eventually turned him into her guardian ghost, using a jack-o-lantern to give him a new body.
Sealed Evil in a Can: After his death, he was sealed by the witch taking care of Matilda, but the seal was removed with the death of the witch. Matilda then took him as her guardian spirit.
Serial Killer: Before his death, he had already killed 112 people, including his own family.

Marion Phauna

Voiced by: Kei Shindō (Japanese), Carrie Keranen (English)^{Foreign VAs}

^{Click here to see Marion in Shaman King: Flowers}

A gloomy Italian doll master.

Girlish Pigtails: Her pigtails complement her Elegant Gothic Lolita fashion.
Goth Girls Know Magic: She wears a black Elegant Gothic Lolita dress, and as the daughter of a Fortune Teller, she could already manipulate puppets even as a child, long before she even got her powers to use a Spirit as a Shaman.
The Stoic: She changes her default Poker Face expression only if something way out of line is happening.

Chuck

^{Click here to see him when he was human}

Marion's spirit companion.

Cowboy: He's the spirit of a Western gunfighter who was an assistant sheriff in life. He possesses a doll that looks like a classical cowboy.
The Gunslinger: In life, a sheriff taught him marksmanship and Chuck became well-known for his skill in using the gun. As a spirit, Chuck's weapon is one of his guns that was given to Marion's family.
Identical Stranger: The doll has a very striking resemblance to Manta, though it's just a coincidence.
Perverse Puppet: His medium is a doll that was personally sewn by Marion's mother.

Team Earth – Tsuchi-Gumi

BoZ Brothers

BoZ Brothers (Ryo Sugimoto and Zen Yoneda)

Ryo is voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Japanese), Greg Abbey (English)^{Foreign VAs}
Zen is voiced by: Kishow Taniyama (Japanese), Kenton Chen (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/boz.png

A duo of Budhist monks formed by Sugimoto Ryo and Yoneda Zen, who started as Budhist-Rock street performers until Hao recruited them.

Anti-Villain: Their goal in life is to purge the world evil spirits. Their methods are...less than reputable. First they try to cheat in the Shaman Fight by exorcising Yoh's spirit before they fight him. Then they join Hao to get more power.
Butt-Monkey: While they're allied with Hao, they are treated as a joke by allies and enemies alike. Once they change sides, they do get respect from Sati herself for aiding her with her search for Five elemental warriors, however.
Heel–Face Turn: After being used by Peyote as People Puppets, they defect Hao's side and join Gandhara.
Musical Assassin: They attack by playing Chimi-Chimi Moryo (Remix) and they have a song that can send ghosts to their afterlife.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: They are treated as a joke, and it fits for most part. However, they can seal ghosts of their opponents, rending them essentially defenseless, and they can send ghosts to the afterlife.

Peyote Diaz

Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono (Japanese), Luis Bermudez (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/peyote.png

A Mexican Mariachi who joined Hao's side.

Ambiguously Gay: He tearfully admits that as much as he loves Hao the most, he also hates him the most.
Beard of Sorrow: A reeeeeeeeeaaaaally long one in Marcos.
Broken Pedestal: Suffers this about Hao when he starts to doubt about his goals as Shaman King, also revealing to the rest of the team that Hao can read minds.
Death Seeker: Has shades of this by the end of the original manga, but it's taken up several notches in Marcos. Peyote's so upset at being ripped away from Hao via his resurrection that he has no will to live; he even asks the X-Laws to kill him so he can rejoin the Great Spirit and be closer to Hao.
Fan Boy: It's clear that Peyote's loyal to Hao, but he also appears to be borderline obsessed with him. He asserts that he loves Hao more than anyone; all of his tattoos have something to do with Hao; he would rather be dead if it meant he could stay with Hao.
Nigh-Invulnerability: In Shaman King: Marcos, it's revealed that Santa Muerte (as in the Mexican Goddess of Death) got obsessed with him and prevents him from dying, to the point he survives several bullets in the middle of a cartel fight.
People Puppets: His other ability is his control over human bones, even form people who are still alive.
Skeleton Crew: Peyote uses Calavera dolls as medium.
Smug Snake: He isn't above using his teammates as weapons, and he is also the only member of the team not entirely loyal to Hao.

Team Moon – Tsuki-Gumi

Hang Zang-Ching

Voiced by: Tsuguo Mogami (Japanese), William Salyers (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A very obese Chinese shaman.

Acrofatic: He is large and very competent in combat.
Bald of Evil: He is bald and also one of Hao's minions.
Bodyguarding a Badass: He, Brocken Meyer and Big Guy Billy become Jun and Men Tao's bodyguards in Flowers and Red Crimson.
Evil Eyebrows: On the other hand, he has long, impressive moustache, and a pair of eyebrows to match.
Freudian Excuse: After years of people discriminating him for both his powers and his body size, he joined Hao's side because he wanted a world where appearance wouldn't matter.
Heel–Face Turn: By the time of Funbari no Uta, he partners with Tao Ren and Big Guy Billy and build the Raitei Group, a large electronics manufacturing company. He later becomes Tao Men's bodyguard, along with Brocken Meyer and Bill.
Sunglasses at Night: He wears sunglasses at all times, even when Ren breaks them on one occasion.

Mohamed "Turbine" Tabarsi

Voiced by: Anri Katsu (Japanese), Ryan Colt Levy (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/turbine.png

One of Hao's followers. He is usually the leader of his peers when sent to attack Yoh's friends.

Benevolent Genie: His spirit Djinn is this, although he isn't benevolent to his enemies.
Child Soldier: From an early age, he worked as a mercenary in the Middle East and was only a child when he held a firearm for the first time.
Dark and Troubled Past: He started off as a mercenary from early age and was almost killed during a war in Irak before Hao rescued him. He later comments with Peyote that life with Hao was Heaven compared to his past.
Killed Off for Real: He is the one of the two members of Team Hao who didn't get revived (along with Peyote) after the beach massacre because most of his body was destroyed.
Light 'em Up: His Beam Oversoul is essentially a laser beam.
Necessary Drawback: Turbine's Djinn Oversoul is pretty strong and it isn't limited to "shooting a laser" like Beam is; however, he can only use it once per day for a specific task (or "wish", as he puts it).

"Big Guy" Bill Burton

Voiced by: Takahiro Fujiwara (Japanese), Marc Thompson (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bigguybill.png

Former Football player and only survivor from a bus crash that killed all his teammates.

Bodyguarding a Badass: He, Brocken Meyer and Hang Zang-Ching become Jun and Men Tao's bodyguards in Flowers and Red Crimson.
Dark and Troubled Past: He was once a professional football player, before refusing to give a fan an autograph. The fan retaliated by cutting the break lines on their bus , killing everyone but Bill (who was crippled.) His loyalty to Hao comes from the fact that Hao healed him.
Heel–Face Turn: By the time of Funbari no Uta, he partners with Tao Ren and Hang Zang-Ching and build the Raitei Group, a large electronics manufacturing company. He later becomes Tao Men's bodyguard, along with Brocken Meyer and Hang Zang-Ching.
Sole Survivor: He was the only person who survived the bus crash that killed his entire football team. Their spirits became his companions.

Team Wind – Kaze-Gumi

Boris Tepes Dracula

Voiced by: Ryōtarō Okiayu (Japanese), Bruce Wexler (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A shaman from Romania and descendant of Vlad Tepes.

Barrage of Bats: Beffiting his inspiration, he can manipulate bats to attack his enemies through his "blood cape".
Composite Character: He is a mix between Vlad the Impaler and Classic Dracula. His powers mimic all the tropes related to Dracula (shape-shifting bats and mind-control of the people he bites), while his backstory is related to the legend of Vlad's origins and discrimination from the town.
Evil Is Petty: He kills his teammate because his opponents casually comment that Kouji looks more like a vampire than he does.
The Fighting Narcissist: Boris carries shades of this. He takes high pride in his family's heritage and his vampire-like abilities, calls Ryu ugly when the latter attempts to attack him after he just bit Lyserg, and looks beautifully handsome. He also doesn't like getting punched in the face by Ryu, even going so far as to call his act of "defiling his beautiful face" unforgivable.
Killed Off for Real: Though Yoh was planning to heal his wounds he sustained from Ryu, Marco finishes him off before Yoh gets the chance.
This Is Unforgivable!: Boris doesn't take kindly to Team Yoh humiliating him by pointing out that Kouji looks more like a vampire than him, nor to Ryu punching him in the face, at all.
White Hair, Black Heart: He has silver hair and one of first things he does after he's introduced is him killing a teammate for petty reason.

Blamuro

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bramro_spirit.png

^{Click here to see him when he was human}

Boris' spirit companion.

Vampire Hunter: In life, he hunted vampires.

Kouji Yamada

Voiced by: Kosuke Takaguchi (Japanese), Sean Rohani (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/damayaji.png

A shaman who dies at the hands of his teammate, Boris Tepes, when his blood is drained and regarded as one of the weakest members of Hao's followers. After his death, his blood is used to power Boris' Over Soul.

We Hardly Knew Ye: As soon as he is introduced, he is killed by his own teammate Boris.

Brocken Meyer

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Japanese), Zeno Robinson (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A young man with a growth disease. He is the first member of Team Hao to meet with him and became his Surrogate Parent.

An Arm and a Leg: When Hao approached him the first time, he accidentally burned off his arms. The accident awakened his spiritual energy and he replaced them with Lego blocks and rat spirits.
Bodyguarding a Badass: He, Hang Zang-Ching and Big Guy Billy become Jun and Men Tao's bodyguards in Flowers and Red Crimson
Harmless Freezing: Horohoro leaves him encased in a block of ice when he defends Icemen from Brocken and Big Guy Bill. He's no worse for wear after he thaws out.
Heel–Face Turn: By Funbari no Uta and Flowers, he later becomes Tao Men's bodyguard, along with Big Guy Billy and Hang Zang-Ching.
Parental Substitute: He is the first member of Team Hao, as Hao approached to him when he was just a baby, so Brocken basically raised him. Though it's downplayed since Hao was born with all his past lives memories intact.
Retcon: Early material said he was from Hiroshima. Shaman King Zero establishes that he is actually from Copenhagen, Denmark.
Sole Survivor: He is the only one in the Beach Massacre who was found still barely alive.
Swarm of Rats: Ghosts of rats to be precise. He uses ghosts of rats to oversoul each Hao brick separately, allowing him to make various formations with them.
Tank Goodness: One of formations he can form with Hao bricks is a Die-Tank.
Undying Loyalty: Towards Hao. He claims that, even though he burned his arms, Hao rescued him from a Fate Worse than Death, since his disease condemned him to a secluded life.

Other Shaman Organizations

Ghandara

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gandhara.png

Gandhara is a Buddhist pacifist organization, led by Sati. Their only mission in the tournament is to prevent Hao from becoming the Shaman King.

Adapted Out: The organization doesn't appear in the 2001 anime, and Lady Nyorai is a replacement based on Sati.
Back from the Dead: Sati Saigan is one of the few characters who can resurrect dead people as she shows when resurrecting Ryu after he's killed by Hao's minions. She later resurrects Jeanne, Marco, and Lyserg after they're killed by Anahol
Badass Pacifist: While they stand as pacifists, they have enough spiritual power to defend themselves when it's needed. Their leader, Sati Saigan, is the most powerful member with 750,000 Furyoku and is the next most powerful character following Hao.
Bad Powers, Good People: In Flowers, Sati revealed that her guardian spirit, Dainichi Nyorai, is one of the avatars of the real archangel Lucifer, not the one created by Luchist which is only an artificial spirit. This is the reason why she's didn't want to become Shaman King when she had the power to do so.
Big Good: Sati herself. She's one of the strongest shamans and is stated to match Hao's powers if she wanted to. Unlike Hao, she and the rest of Ghandhara are not interested in winning the Shaman fights since their group already won one tournament 2500 years ago and only cares about stopping him so the world won't be destroyed. There is one good reason why she didn't want to be the Shaman King though.
Crippling Overspecialization: Yainage can nullify any Furyoku-based attacks which makes him invincible to most shamans. But once Ren figures out a weakness in his abilities, he's taken out quickly since he has no means of attacking or defending himself.
Friendly Enemy: They never once antagonized Yoh's group outside of their designated battles and resurrected them whenever they died to train their Furyoku. They even helped them gain their elemental spirits while invading the plants.
Greater-Scope Paragon: Since their main mission is to stop Hao from becoming Shaman King, Ghandara is willing to help Team Funbari and their allies become stronger. Sati is responsible for sending the rest of the Elemental Warriors to train in Hell to gain more spiritual power, and giving the Elemental Spirits to Yoh, Ren, Horo Horo, Lyserg, and Chocolove before they go to the Great Spirit.
Power Nullifier: All of them have the ability to nullify Furyoku-based attacks as adherence to their Badass Pacifist philosophies. Yainage of Team Myooh demonstrates this by nullifying Ren's Golden Chinese Dance while not moving from his spot.
Warrior Monk: Nearly all of them are monks from different ethnicities who can kick ass even without violence and are even stronger than the main characters Furyoku wise. Fittingly their spirit partners are large Bodhisattva spirits able to nullify attacks.

Team Niles

Anatel Pokki is voiced by: Koji Yusa (Japanese)^{Foreign VAs} Ayman Samman (Latin American Spanish)
Khafre Puljiz is voiced by: Kohsuke Tanabe (Japanese), Zeno Robinson (English)
Nakht Pitrah is voiced by: Shogo Sakata (Japanese)

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/niles_team.png

A group of Egyptian shamans, led by Anatel Poki. They are the first opponents of Team X-I.

Cruel and Unusual Death: The three shamans die in their matches against Team X-I, each victims of Iron Maiden Jeanne's different torture instruments.
Gag Nose: Anatel Poki has a long nose. His twin brother Anahol claims that he isn't identical to his brother because Anatel's nose is 3 cms. longer.
Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Because Anahol managed to kill Lyserg, he accidentally gets sent to Hell, getting stronger once he is revived, and becoming the second most powerful member of the Elemental Warriors.
Sacrificial Lamb: The team serves as an example of how ruthless the X-LAWS can be to their enemies, even if they are not allies with Hao.
You Killed My Father: Anahol wants to get revenge on Team X-I for the deaths of his brother and his team, succeeding in killing Marco, Jeanne and Lyserg in a surprise attack. He could have gotten away with it if not for them getting revived later.

Team The Icemen

Pino Graham is voiced by: Shuhei Sakaguchi (Japanese), James Simenc (English)^{Foreign VAs} Marc Winslow (Latin American Spanish)
Zria Gagarik is voiced by: Yuka Terasaki (Japanese), Carrie Keranen (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Tona Papik Cadimahide is voiced by: Kouji Ishii (Japanese), Ayman Samman (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/icemen_team.png

A group of shamans who specialize in ice techniques. The team is composed of Pino Graham, Zria Gagarik and Tona Papik Cadimahide.

Badass in Distress: They are pretty badass all right but they are not match for Blocken and Big Guy Bill when the duo comes to kill them as food for The Spirit of Fire. It requires Horo Horo's, Lyserg's and to a lesser degree Horo Horo's father intervention to save them.
Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Invoked by the other characters. Even thought Yoh could have easily defeated them with one blow, Anna explains that the team was actually holding back to give The Icemen a more dignified defeat, since he is considerate of how they would feel after the fight.
Druid: Pino Graham was trained as a druid.
An Ice Person: The three of them are shaman who use ice techniques and grew up in cold weather countries. Pino is Irish, Zria is Russian and Tona is Icelandic.
Graceful Loser: They accept their defeat and get along with the gang afterwards.
The Smurfette Principle: Zria is the only woman in the team.
Training from Hell: The three of them grew up and trained under extreme cold weather, and their ice powers are even colder than Horo Horo.

Other Characters

Mosuke

Voiced by: Masakazu Morita, Satomi Kobashi [young] (Japanese), Sean Rohani, Morgan Berry [young] (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Amidamaru's childhood best friend and the blacksmith who forged Harusame.

The Blacksmith: He was the one who forged Harusame, Amidamaru's sword, using his late father's cooking knife. The Funbari Team summons him whenever they need to repair it.
Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Amidamaru care deeply for each other and refused to move on to the Afterlife for 600 years. And even then, Mosuke nags at him whenever Amidamaru breaks a sword. When they finally see each other after 600 years, the first thing they do is punch each other.

Ryu's Gang

A group of misfits who follow Ryu, until he becomes a shaman.

Defeat Means Friendship: After Ryu is defeated by Yoh, and Ryu gets rescued from Tokageroh possessing him, the gang follow Ryu's orders to repair the Inn, and then they part on good terms with the Funbari gang.
Japanese Delinquents: They have a reputation as this, despite never engaging on anything illegal.
Muggles: Despite not being able to see spirits like Ryu, all of them are very understanding and wish Ryu the best when he decides to disband the gang and train as a shaman.
Only Known by Their Nickname: Their names are not revealed, and only some of them get called by the nicknames Ryu gave them.
Put on a Bus: After the Tokageroh arc is resolved and Ryu decides to train, all of them go on their own and get regular jobs.
True Companions: They follow Ryu's lead in the path of finding their Ideal Place.

Orona

Voiced by: Takaya Hashi (Japanese), William Salyers (English)^{Foreign VAs}

An Amazonian Shaman who would later become Chocolove's master. He was the original owner of Mic the Jaguar.

Blood from the Mouth: When Chocolove met him, Orona makes a Bloody Hilarious joke while coughing a comically amount of blood. When Orona confesses that he was still dying anyway while being held hostage by Shaft, Chocolove realizes that the blood from that time wasn’t fake.
The Bus Came Back: Quite literally "The Soul Train came back". He appears along with Chocolove's parents to cheer him up in the final fight.
Cool Old Guy: He is an old shaman with a bizarre sense of humor, capable of changing the people around him. He forms a close bond with Chocolove.
Mentor Archetype: He is the one who inspires Chocolove to change his life. After some puns and sharing a more optimistic point of view to him, Orona decides to take Chocolove as his apprentice when he discovers that Chocolove is able to see Mic.
Posthumous Character: He died years prior the main story.
Pungeon Master: Chocolove gets his sense of humor from him, which is a big factor in his rehabilitation from his life as a thug.
Walking the Earth: After his tribe disappears when the last generation moves to the cities, he and Mic start traveling the world, until he arrives to New York and meets Chocolove.

Midori Tamurazaki

Voiced by: Shogo Sagata (Japanese), Aleks Le (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A trusted employee of Oyamada family.

Badass Normal: He is not a shaman. Despite this he manages to kill Mohamed Tabarsi (by sneak attack while the latter was distracted by Peyote just killing Hang Zang-Ching, but still) and stall entire Hana-Gumi team attack before Peyote can finish them off. In manga only, him not believing in the afterlife also allows him to resist Kanna's Forbidden Killing Curse, which is otherwise an One-Hit KO.
Boom, Headshot!: Kills Mohamed Tabarsi this way.
Improbable Aiming Skills: Kills Turbine with single shot in his face from a pistol while the latter was jumping to attack Peyote. Considering nobody noticed him before that, he was also most likely good distance from his target.
More Dakka: Brings a M134 Vulcan minigun to the Beach Massacre that he uses to stall Hana-Gumi.
Number Two: Seems to be this to Mansumi. He's the only one coming with Oyamanda family to hospital where Manta was taken after Yoh's fight with Faust, he personally escorts Manta to the Patch Village and in general Mansumi trusts him with most essential task.

Hans Reiheit

Voiced by: Motoki Sakuma (Japanese), Sean Burgos (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A former member of the X-LAWS and Mansumi Oyamada's bodyguard.

Adapted Out: He doesn't appear in the 2001 anime.
Ax-Crazy: According to the fanbooks, he got exiled from the X-LAWS for his violent tendencies, despite his usually calm and gentle personality.
- Marcos expands more on this, since Marco sidelined him from taking part in the Tournament, and later Larch mentions that Reiheit would’ve shot all the cartels straight in their heads instead of sparing them by just shooting their limbs.
Odd Couple: With Amano Teruko. While he is a calm and composed former X-LAW, she is a gloomy priestess.
Fourth-Date Marriage: After both get revived from their failed attempt at killing Hao, Teruko laments that she can't get married after Hans is forced to change her wet clothes and saw her naked. In response, Hans proposes to her on the spot and she accepts.
Hero of Another Story: He is one of the main characters of Shaman King: Marcos.
Undying Loyalty: Despite having being exiled from the X-LAWS, he still sees Jeanne as a Holy person, despite believing that she got weaker by "allying with the enemy", and he even attended her wedding with Ren along with the other X-LAWS. In Red Crimson it's revealed that he volunteered to guard Jeanne's grave along with Meene and John, with Marcos revealing that he rejoined the X-LAWS after their resurrections.

Teruko Amano

Teruko Amano (later Reiheit)

Voiced by: Haruka Tomatsu (Japanese), Carrie Keranen (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/teruko_amano.png

A shaman hired by Mansumi Oyamada to join the expedition to search and destroy Hao.

Adapted Out: She doesn't appear in the 2001 anime.
Creepy Loner Girl: She is a shaman who specializes in curses and her looks are according.
Defiled Forever: When she finds out that Hans had to change her clothes, she laments this, until Hans suddenly proposes to her.
Fourth-Date Marriage: After both get revived from their failed attempt at killing Hao, Teruko laments that she can't get married after Hans is forced to change her wet clothes and saw her naked. In response, Hans proposes to her on the spot and she accepts.
Miko: She was a priestess before she joined Mansumi's crew.
Mystical White Hair: She is a priestess and has light gray hair.
Odd Couple: With Hans Reiheit. While he is a calm and composed former X-LAW, she is a gloomy priestess prone to mood swings.
The Power of Love: In Marcos she explains that marrying Reiheit changed her completely, from her being in general more happy and adjusted, and even on how her power works, since instead of filling her cursed dolls with negative energy, she now uses love to deal with her target, even getting to calm the Goddess of Death and become friends.
Retired Badass: As of Shaman King: Marcos, Teruko becomes a housewife with multiple part-time jobs and enjoys cooking for Hans whenever he is home after a business trip. She decides to step in and save her husband after she is told he needed her help.

Liam Diethel

Voiced by: Seiro Ogino (Japanese), Greg Abbey (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Lyzerg's late father. He was a famous detective in London when he was alive.

The Bus Came Back: Quite literally "The Soul Train came back". He appears along with his wife to cheer on his son, and apparently he managed to track down Chocolove's parents as well.
Cruel and Unusual Death: He and his wife are burned to death by Hao after rejecting his offer to join his side. Lyserg arrives home as Hao was done murdering them.
Great Detective: He had a big fame as a Private Detective in London, and he even trained Lyserg to follow his steps.
Occult Detective: Since he was a Shaman and his spirit companion was Morphine, it's implied that he used his abilities to solve cases. This is also the reason why Hao tries to recruit him. Even in the Afterlife his detective skills become useful to find Chocolove's parents.
Posthumous Character: He and his wife were killed by Hao before the main story.
Sherlock Homage: He's a Great Detective from London. He smoked from a pipe and wore a green tartan coat, which he gave to Lyserg.

Lilirara

Voiced by: Mami Koyama (Japanese), Tinsel Korey (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Last descendant of the Seminoa Tribe.

Hope Spot: She starts trusting Yoh and his group when she learns that Horo Horo dreams of planting a big field of Butterbur. Unfortunately Hao kills her right after Yoh and the others leave her place.
Last of Her Kind: She is the last descendant of the Seminoa Tribe, which was nearly vanished 500 years ago in the previous Shaman Tournament.

Camel Munzer

Voiced by: Katsuyuki Konishi (Japanese), Christopher Bevins (English)^{Foreign VAs}

The father of Redseb and Seyram and an old friend of Mikihisa. He was murdered by Chocolove when he was a member of Shaft.

Posthumous Character: His death at the hands of Chocolove ignites the circle of vengeance revolving around Chocolove and his children.
Redemption Equals Death: Or in his case "Redemption Equals Moving On to the Afterlife", when he realizes that he endangered his children in his quest for revenge. Subverted, since Anna forbids him from leaving before he teaches them how to use the Golem.
Revenge Before Reason: While he is the one who got killed, he accumulated such hatred that his spirit didn't move on to the Afterlife and possesed his daughter Seyram, rendering her into an Emotionless Girl, with the sole purpose of finding Chocolove and get revenge.

Douji Asanoha

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Tinsel Korey (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/asanoha_douji.png

Hao's original mother, when he was still Douji Asaha.

Adapted Out: She doesn't appear in the 2001 anime, since Hao's origin is completely simplified and the finale deviates from the manga.
Almighty Mom: She is the only person who has managed to submit Hao into obedience.
Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: As soon as she arrives, she starts scolding Hao in front of everyone, like he just did a mess. Hao gets embarrassed when the Elemental Warriors and Anna are all laughing at him.
Bitch Slap: When Hao refuses to listen to her and spare humanity, Asanoha gives Hao a "Legendary Left" to force him to relent.
Posthumous Character: She was murdered by Hoshi Densen and his men, burned alive in her own home. Her death is the start of Hao's revenge path against humanity.
Totally Not a Werewolf: In their home village, Asanoha was mistaken for a Kitsune due to her ability to see spirits.
Walking Spoiler:She plays a big role in the Finale and Hao's final decision regarding humanity.

The Patch Tribe

General Tropes

Braids, Beads and Buckskins: The standard style they have both during their duties as officers and casual outfits. The Patch officers have to rely on this image to make meets end during their time in Tokyo, by selling handicrafts on the sidewalk. Later we see that Kalim and Silva are struggling to pay for an apartment with no air conditioning (in the middle of Japan's summer), and having a barely decent meal with the money they get from their handicrafts.
Bystander Syndrome: Enforced by Goldva by saying that they are the overseers of the Shaman Tournament, they shouldn't be favoring any of the contestants and shouldn't interfere in events as everything is the will of the Great Spirit. But it's clear that a few of them have biased opinions already, such as Silva favoring Yoh and Nichrom and Magna helping Hao.
Chekhov's Gunman: The neutral supervisors of the tournament end up becoming the final guard for Hao in the last arc of the series.
Lawful Stupid: They act as Hao's Praetorian Guard even though he's made no secret of his intent to wipe out humanity. He's Shaman King, no arguments, so the tribe works to stop the heroes despite this being suicidally stupid.
My Master, Right or Wrong: Even if Hao or any other shaman without good intentions ends up winning the tournament, the Patch Tribe is obliged to protect and obey the current Shaman King.
New Job as the Plot Demands: Played for Laughs. Since the Shaman Tournament is expensive to host, all of them have day jobs to cover the expenses. Silva and Karim are shown to sell handicrafts in Japan, then later shown working as cashiers in restaurants and shops in the Patch Village and Tokyo Island.
Praetorian Guard: They become this by the end of the manga, Hao having become the new Shaman King. With one exception, they're all much more dangerous than any of Hao's Followers, killing at least Faust permanently in the process, disabling Jeanne from fighting, and overall being a greater threat than initially assumed.
Rock Theme Naming: Their names are derived from elements from the periodic table.

Silva

Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese), Dan Green (English; credited as Jay Snyder)^{Foreign VAs}

He is the Patch officiant responsible for overlooking Asakura Yoh, Tao Ren, and "Wooden Sword" Ryu. Unlike most of the Patch Priests who just oversee the fights, to make sure they followed the rules, Silva believes that the Patch Priests should intervene more in the fights to avoid the massive death count fights leads to.

Forgot to Pay the Bill: His electricity got cut off since he was unable to sell enough handicrafts to cover his monthly bills.
My Master, Right or Wrong: After Hao wins the Shaman King tournament, Silva sides with the Patch in attempting to thwart Yoh and friends' plans to assassinate Hao while he is in the process of channeling the Great Spirit, even though he isn't very happy about it (that's why he had to be brainwashed with the Patch song to fully commit to their side).
Reasonable Authority Figure: He is one of the few Patch officers who refuses to remain neutral when the fights get out of control, as he wants to prevent unnecessary deaths in the Tournament.
Sins of Our Fathers: He is the descendant of one of the past incarnations of Hao, so he is still struggling with the bad reputation of his ancestors among his tribe.
Traveling Salesman: His day job is selling handicrafts on the sidewalk while staying in Japan. Too bad nobody is buying them.
Walking Armory: He uses five animal spirits at the same time, the Silver Arms:
- Silver Horn: Super kicks via a shockwave in the shape of a buffalo head.
- Silver Rod: Snake Whip.
- Silver Shield: Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me.
- Silver Tail: Super-Speed, In a Single Bound.
- Silver Wing: flight, later evolving into Razor Wings.
- All of them combined: Totem Pole Cannon, Flesh and Blood Spear.
Willfully Weak: As we find out later, Silva was seriously holding back in his test for Yoh. He puts up a much bigger fight later as one of Yoh's final opponents.

Goldva

Voiced by: Reiko Suzuki (Japanese), Jodi Carlisle (English)^{Foreign VAs}

The chieftess of the Patch Tribe.

Go Mad from the Revelation: When she realizes that Hao wants to kill every human (specifically, when he kills Lip and Rap just by looking at them), she completely loses it and tries to kill the heroes, Laughing Mad that everyone is better off being killed by her rather than being annihilated by Hao.
Lady Looks Like a Dude: She's commonly mistaken for a man due to her appearance and voice.
The Worf Effect: She fell on both sides of the trope, first demolishing Golem in a single hit, then being disintegrated by Hao in an instant.

Kalim

Voiced by: Eiji Hanawa (Japanese), Jonathan Todd Ross (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/calim.png

One of the Ten Patch Officiants that were assigned to travel from The United States to Tokyo, in order to find, test and qualify shamans for the Shaman Tournament. There he met up with Horohoro and qualified him for the Shaman tournament.

Brutish Bulls: His spirit is a bull.
Face of a Thug: Commented on by Silva as having one, that's why nobody wants to buy from them or even approach their stands.
Friendly Enemy: He is affable to Yoh's group when they reach his plant, even encouraging them to rest for the night in his home to replenish their stamina for the next day.
Our Centaurs Are Different: His Oversoul replaces his legs with a bull's body, essentially turning him into a centaur.

Nichrom

Voiced by: Noriaki Kanze (Japanese), Aleks Le (English)^{Foreign VAs}

The younger brother of Patch Officer Chrom, who was killed by Ren Tao. Nichrom inherits the position of 10th priest of the Patch Tribe who oversees the Cave Plant.

Family Theme Naming: "Ni" is "two" in Japanese where names referring to the order that siblings are born in is common, so this can be seen as a reference to him being Chrom's younger brother.
Poisonous Person: His spirit's scorpion tail can be extended to long lengths to attack the opponent with the poisonous stinger from any range. His poison is weaker than Namari's, but it cannot be healed unless Nichrom is killed.
Super-Speed: He's the fastest out of all the Officers thanks to Purple Kick, his brother's grasshopper spirit.

Magna

Voiced by: Satoshi Yamaguchi (Japanese), J. Michael Tatum (English)^{Foreign VAs}

An official of the Patch and overseer of the Volcano Plant who took Nichrom under his wing when the young boy becomes an official. He is the official responsible for Hao and Team Flower.

Adapted Out: He doesn't appear in the 2001 anime, instead being replaced by Canon Foreigner Zinc.
Face–Heel Turn: While he and Nichrom are clearly favoring Hao, they still follow the Patch orders (althought they are still willing to bend the rules if that means sabotaging Ren Tao)
Ominous Owl: His spirit, Magnescope, is a great horned owl.

Radim

Voiced by: Yasuhiro Mamiya (Japanese), Christopher Bevins (English)^{Foreign VAs}

The Patch Officiant who is selected to be the commentator of the tournament and is responsible for overseeing Team "Mariachi" and Team "T-Production".

Beware the Silly Ones: He was the commentator of the tournament and freaked out multiple times in fear. Then the final arc comes and he shatters Yoh's Over Soul in one hit.
Boring, but Practical: His Platinum Sword is a short blade. It doesn't have any fancy abilities besides a slight increase in speed and the ability to walk on water, and because of its simplicity it's exceptionally strong and sturdy.
Charles Atlas Superpower: He uses his own physical prowess, agility and intelligence to counteract his lack of armour.
Cool Shades: Wears a pair of these. They also come handy when the group fights him at his plant.
Glass Cannon: His Oversoul doesn't provide him any armor, meaning any unblocked hit can be potentially fatal. But he's strong enough to take on all the heroes at once.
Hero Killer: Kills Faust during his plant fight.
Laser Blade: Radim's Over Soul, "Platinum Sword."
Shoot the Medic First: The first thing he does is to attack Faust. Unlike most examples of this trope, Radim doesn't (initially) want to kill Faust, just make him consume enough furyoku to heal himself that he won't have enough left to resurrect anyone.

Namari

Voiced by: Shohei Kajikawa (Japanese), Lucien Dodge (English)^{Foreign VAs}

The overseer of the Desert Glaicer and official in charge of the three Gandhara teams.

Poisonous Person: His spirit's Over Soul forms a cobra head over Namari's hand and around his shoulders. Said the cobra head has poisonous fangs that can instantly kill opponents.
Reptiles Are Abhorrent: Has cobra spirit and clearly favors Hao as future Shaman King, though not to an extent of Magna and Nichrom.

Bron

Voiced by: Jiro Saito (Japanese), Raymond J. Lee (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/blon.png

The Patch Official who oversees the Valley Plant and oversees Lyserg Diethel's progress in the Shaman Fight.

Home Field Advantage: His Plant is atop of a deep valley, meaning that anyone who is incapable of flying or stay in mid-air in some way (for example, by standing on a web like he does) is at a serious disadvantage.
Projectile Webbing: When using Over Soul, Bron has the power to create spider webs for walking on, to create nets to catch an opponent or fire them as projectiles.

Renim

Voiced by: Akihiro Tajima (Japanese), Paul Nakauchi (English)^{Foreign VAs}

The overseer of the Jungle Plant who helps Bron in re-educating those who stray from the way of the Patch.

Combat Pragmatism: His tactic is to hide right above his Plant's entrance, banking on the fact that any invader necessarily has to defeat him in order to open the door to the next Plant and that they'll try looking for him in the jungle or the rivers below. Even if he wasn't able to pick off his enemies one by one with surprise attacks, he can simply waste their time until the Shaman King wakes up. Too bad that Opacho is a perfect counter to his invisibility.
Home Field Advantage: He relies on his camouflage to blend with the plants of his floor.
Invisibility Cloak: Since his spirit is a chameleon, this is a given. Although it's strong enough that he cannot be detected via non-conventional means such as sound, smell, or aura detection.

Thalim

Voiced by: Koji Okino (Japanese), Kenton Chen (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/thallim.png

A Patch official who oversees the Beach Plant, first seen working in the Patch Cafe and responsible for the Kabbalahers amongst other teams.

Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Played with. Among his many plant spirits, some are countermeasures against the usual weakness of most plants; for example, a water-holding cactus that can resist fire.
Green Thumb: His spirits are those of plants.
Walking Armory: His Green Seeds Over Soul is made of multiple plant spirits, which guarantees him a wide range of abilities.

Rutherfor

Voiced by: Hekiru Shiina (Japanese), Megan Hollingshead (English)^{Foreign VAs}

A Patch Priestess who oversees the Space Plant and escorts Hao to the King's Shrine, serving as his last line of defense while he merges with the Great Spirit.

Gravity Master: She can move freely in the zero-gravity of her floor.
Home Field Advantage: Her Plant simulates the conditions of outer space, like vacuum, extreme cold, and space radiation... all things her Oversoul specifically guards against.

Chrom

The first and only official to die in the preliminary rounds of the Shaman Fight. He was Nichrom's older brother.

Sacrificial Lamb: He is the only Patch officer known to be killed during a Shaman fight, more specifically Ren Tao's fight. This serves to give Nichrom a more personal reason to fight against Ren.

Lip and Lap

Voiced by: ? (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (Lip), Brianna Knickerbocker (Lap) (English)^{Foreign VAs}

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lip_and_rap.png

Five year-old twin sisters who Silva looks after.

Back from the Dead: When Hao awakens from his slumber, he took the girls' souls and killed them instantly when they gaze upon him. But they were revived after Hao's defeat to serve as his intermediataries with the Patch Priests.
Identical Twin ID Tag: They look and dress identical, except one twin has pink accessories and the other has light blue ones.
Theme Twin Naming: Lip and Lap are identical twins with nearly identical names.

Spirits

Five Grand Elemental Spirits

These five powerful elemental spirits are known as the Godaiseirei in the Japanese media. They are derived from the Great Spirit itself, and like it, constitute a collective of souls.

Elemental Embodiment: These spirits are the prototypes of all the world's various elemental gods.
Elemental Powers: There's
- Spirit of Earth: Dishing Out Dirt, Extra-ore-dinary, Green Thumb, Gravity Master. He is given to Yoh.
- Spirit of Fire: Playing with Fire. He is given to Lyserg.
- Spirit of Rain: Making a Splash. He is given to Horo Horo.
- Spirit of Thunder: Shock and Awe. He is given to Ren.
- Spirit of Wind: Blow You Away, Razor Wind. He is given to Chocolove.
Evolutionary Levels: As they consume spirits, the elemental spirits are said to grow in size and power. The Spirit of Fire gives us the primary example, having a baby form (which appears in a flashback), a standard form (which it takes in the beginning of the main story), and a second form (which it takes after consuming enough souls). In a vision of Hao's past life, it's revealed he managed to get the Spirit of Fire to its fully adult form.
Horned Humanoid: The Spirit of Fire appears to have antlers of some sort.
Olympus Mons: Said to be of no equal except the Great Spirit itself.
Phlebotinum Muncher: Again, these guys grow in power by eating other spirits. (The Spirit of Fire indicates this by revealing his Fangs Are Evil). This may or may not be the case within the Great Spirit itself, as it can be assumed the GS has enough power to allow the five spirits to assume their main forms without having to eat anyone.
Token Evil Teammate: The Spirit of Fire, being Hao's primary spirit ally. There's no real word on how the Spirits themselves took this. He later joins up with Lyserg, of all people, once Hao wins the tournament and discards it.
Top-Heavy Guy: The five spirits tend to have relatively short or spindly legs compared to their main bodies.

Great Spirit

Great Spirit (King of Spirits)

The strongest and most ancient spirit which the Shaman King unites with, and the whole purpose of the Shaman Fight. Its physical form is of a massive swirling pillar of furyoku. All spirits come from it and return to it upon death.

Eldritch Abomination: Only a select few Shamans can be in its presence, the rest fall asleep forever or go insane from its flashes of the history of the universe.
Flaming Meteor: It can summon those to defend itself.
God: Of this series anyway. It's actually an amalgamation of every spirit taking the shape of a pillar of light.
In Mysterious Ways: While it's not always obvious, It will often favor Yoh and his friends, even the Shaman Council aren't always able to tell what it's playing at.
Minor Major Character: Though a minor character, he is of significant importance in the series.
Olympus Mons: Winning the Shaman Fight allows one to merge with it/them.
Power of the Sun: Combined with Light 'em Up. When Hao Oversouls with it, it manifests a miniature star between its pylons. Most of its strongest attacks involve the star, like collapsing it into a black hole and detonating it and unleashing a tiny supernova. Yoh notes that if it was an actual star, that last move would've obliterated the Earth itself.

Characters / Shaman King

Edit Locked

Team Funbari

Yoh Asakura

Amidamaru

Manta Oyamada

Voiced by: Inuko Inuyama (Japanese), Oliver Wyman (English) Foreign VAs Laura Torres (Latin American Spanish), Victoria Ramos (European Spanish), Nathalie Homs (French), Andrea Wick (German), Patrizia Scianca (Italian), Thiago Longo (Portuguese)

Anna Kyoyama

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Tara Sands (English) Foreign VAs Ana Lucía Ramos (Latin American Spanish), Roser Vilches (European Spanish), Nathalie Bienaimé (French), Beate Pfeiffer (German), Emanuela Pacotto (Italian), Letícia Quinto (Portuguese)

Ryunosuke Umemiya / Bokutou no Ryu / "Wooden Sword" Ryu

Voiced by: Masahiko Tanaka (Japanese), D.C. Douglas (English) Foreign VAs Jorge Ornelas (Latin American Spanish), Ferrán Carnicero (European Spanish), Adrien Antoine (French), Gianluca Iacono (Italian), Marcelo Pissardini (Portuguese)

Tokagero

Johann Faust VIII

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Matt Caplan (English) Foreign VAs José Arenas (Latin American Spanish), Jordi Navarro (European Spanish), Stéphane Ronchewski (French), Manfred Trilling (German), Dario Sansalone (Italian), Sérgio Corsetti (Portuguese)

Eliza Faust

Voiced by: Kanako Takeuchi (Japanese), Lisa Ortiz (English) Foreign VAs María José Guerrero (Latin American Spanish), Tania De Domenico (Italian), Raquel Marinho (Portuguese)

Tamao Tamamura

Voiced by: Nana Mizuki (Japanese), Veronica Taylor (English) Foreign VAs Gabriela Guzmán [first series], Irina Índigo [Flowers] (Latin American Spanish), Susana Macías (European Spanish), Adeline Moreau (French), Serena Clerici (Italian), Fernanda Bullara (Portuguese)

Ponchi & Conchi

Team the Ren

Tao Ren

Voiced by: Romi Park (Japanese), Laura Stahl, Sean Rohani [adult] (English) Foreign VAs Rolando de la Fuente (Latin American Spanish), Marc Torrents (European Spanish), Olivier Korol (French), Benedikt Gutjan (German), Mosè Singh (Italian), Fábio Lucindo (Portuguese)

Bason

Voiced by: Kousuke Takaguchi (Japanese), Bernhard Forcher (English) Foreign VAs Gerardo Reyero (Latin American Spanish), Angel del Río (European Spanish), Frederic Popovic (French), Matteo Brusamonti (Italian), Cláudio Satiro (Portuguese)

Usui "Horo Horo" Horokeu

Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (Japanese), Michael Sinterniklaas (English) Foreign VAs Abraham Vega (Latin American Spanish), Sergio Mesa (European Spanish), Benjamin Pascal (French), Dirk Meyer (German), Luca Bottale (Italian), Vagner Fagundes (Portuguese)

Kororo

Voiced by: Megumi Nakajima (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English) Foreign VAs Ananda García (Latin American Spanish), Ingrid Carreras (European Spanish), Lila Lacombe (French), Veronica Cuscusa (Italian), Isabella Guarnieri (Portuguese)

Chocolove McDonell

Voiced by: Motoko Kumai (Japanese), A.J. Beckles (English) Foreign VAs José Antonio Macías (Latin American Spanish), Sergi Mani (European Spanish), Benjamin Bollen (French), Stefano Pozzi (Italian), Yuri Chesman (Portuguese)

Mic the Jaguar

Pascal Avaf

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (Japanese), Malcolm Bowen (English) Foreign VAs Bruno Coronel (Latin American Spanish)

Allies

Lyserg Diethel

Voiced by: Yoko Soumi (Japanese), Erica Schroeder, Greg Abbey [adult] (English) Foreign VAs Irwin Daayán (Latin American Spanish), Pedro López (European Spanish), Paolo Domingo (French), Davide Garbolino (Italian), Francisco Freitas (Portuguese)

Morphine

Redseb and Seyram Munzer (later Asakura Munzer)

Matamune

Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka (Japanese), Greg Chun (English) Foreign VAs Arturo Mercado Jr. (Latin American Spanish), Luis Grau (European Spanish), Ludovic Baugin (French), Luca Sandri (Italian), César Marchetti (Portuguese)

Asakura Family

Yohmei Asakura

Voiced by: Hiroshi Naka (Japanese), Doug Stone (English) Foreign VAs José Luis Orozco (Latin American Spanish), Toni Astigarraga (European Spanish), Cyprien Fiassé (French), Riccardo Rovatti (Italian), Tatá Guarnieri (Portuguese)

Kino Asakura

Voiced by: Hisako Kyoda (Japanese), Erica Schroeder (English) Foreign VAs Circe Luna (Latin American Spanish), Silvia Castelló (European Spanish), Anne-Bérengère Pelluau (French), Caterina Rochira (Italian), Ivete Jaime/Zayra Zordan (Portuguese)

Keiko Asakura

Voiced by: Mika Doi (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English) Foreign VAs Fernanda Robles (Latin American Spanish), Ariadna de Guzmán (European Spanish), Antoine Fleury (French), Giuliana Atepi (Italian), Adriana Pissardini (Portuguese)

Mikihisa Asakura

Voiced by: Kenyū Horiuchi (Japanese), Keith Silverstein (English) Foreign VAs Edson Matus (Latin American Spanish), Francesc Góngora (European Spanish), Pino Pirovano (Italian), Mauro Eduardo (Portuguese)

Yohken Asakura

Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese), Kirk Thornton (English) Foreign VAs Alejandro Orozco (Latin American Spanish), Rafael Parra (European Spanish), Ruggero Andreozzi (Italian), Wilken Mazzei (Portuguese)

Oyamada Family

Mansumi Oyamada

Voiced by: Kousuke Takaguchi (Japanese), William Salyers (English) Foreign VAs Raúl Solo (Latin American Spanish), Miguel Calvo/Miguel Roldán/Toni Molías (European Spanish), Martial Le Minoux (French), Diego Sabre (Italian), Carlos Campanile (Portuguese)

Keiko Oyamada

Voiced by: Tomo Sakurai (Japanese), Erica Schroeder (English) Foreign VAs María García (Latin American Spanish), Tatiane Keplmair (Portuguese)

Mannoko Oyamada

Voiced by: Ryō Hirohashi (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English) Foreign VAs Nycolle González (Latin American Spanish), Ingrid Carreras (European Spanish), Antonella Colapietro (French), Veronica Cuscusa (Italian), Isabella Guarnieri (Portuguese)

Tao Family

Tao Jun

Voiced by: Michiko Neya (Japanese), Lisa Ortiz (English) Foreign VAs Gisela Casillas (Latin American Spanish), Elisa Beuter (European Spanish), Virginie Kartner (French), Jacqueline Belle (German), Alessandra Karpoff (Italian), Raquel Marinho (Portuguese)

Lee Pyron

Voiced by: Tooru Sakurai (Japanese), Dan Green (English; credited as Jay Snyder) Foreign VAs Gerardo Vásquez (Latin American Spanish), Jordi Filbà (European Spanish), Baptiste Marc (French), Diego Baldoin (Italian), Francisco Junior (Portuguese)

Tao Yuan

Voiced by: Hideaki Tezuka (Japanese), Marc Thompson (English) Foreign VAs Alejandro Villeli (Latin American Spanish), Toni Astigarraga (European Spanish), Baptiste Marc (French), Silvio Pandolfi (Italian), Nestor Chiesse (Portuguese)

Usui Family

Pirika Usui

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka (Japanese), Brianna Knickerbocker (English) Foreign VAs Mariana Ortiz (Latin American Spanish), Lara Casals (European Spanish), Aurore Saint-Martin (French), Giada Bonanomi (Italian), Tatiane Keplmair (Portuguese)

Torara

Lycan Usui

Voiced by: Kousuke Takaguchi (Japanese), Jason Marnocha (English) Foreign VAs Dafnis Fernández (Latin American Spanish), Mark Ullod (European Spanish), Fernando Mendonça (Portuguese)

X-LAWS

Team X-I

Iron Maiden Jeanne

Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese), Veronica Taylor (English) Foreign VAs Lourdes Arruti (Latin American Spanish), Marina García Guevara (European Spanish), Lila Lacombe (French), Laura Cherubelli (Italian), Rita Almeida (Portuguese)

Marco Lasso

Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (Japanese), Eric Stuart (English) Foreign VAs Esteban Desco (Latin American Spanish), Francesc Góngora (European Spanish), Anatole de Bodinat (French), Claudio Beccari (Italian), Wellington Lima (Portuguese)

Lyserg Diethel

Team X-III

Meene Montgomery

Voiced by: Inuko Inuyama (Japanese), Oliver Wyman (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Tara Sands (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Masahiko Tanaka (Japanese), D.C. Douglas (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Matt Caplan (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Kanako Takeuchi (Japanese), Lisa Ortiz (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Nana Mizuki (Japanese), Veronica Taylor (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Romi Park (Japanese), Laura Stahl, Sean Rohani [adult] (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Kousuke Takaguchi (Japanese), Bernhard Forcher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Yuji Ueda (Japanese), Michael Sinterniklaas (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Megumi Nakajima (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Motoko Kumai (Japanese), A.J. Beckles (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura (Japanese), Malcolm Bowen (English)^{Foreign VAs} Bruno Coronel (Latin American Spanish)

Voiced by: Yoko Soumi (Japanese), Erica Schroeder, Greg Abbey [adult] (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Hideyuki Tanaka (Japanese), Greg Chun (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Hiroshi Naka (Japanese), Doug Stone (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Hisako Kyoda (Japanese), Erica Schroeder (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Mika Doi (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Kenyū Horiuchi (Japanese), Keith Silverstein (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Shin-ichiro Miki (Japanese), Kirk Thornton (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Kousuke Takaguchi (Japanese), William Salyers (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Tomo Sakurai (Japanese), Erica Schroeder (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Ryō Hirohashi (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Michiko Neya (Japanese), Lisa Ortiz (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Tooru Sakurai (Japanese), Dan Green (English; credited as Jay Snyder)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Hideaki Tezuka (Japanese), Marc Thompson (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka (Japanese), Brianna Knickerbocker (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Kousuke Takaguchi (Japanese), Jason Marnocha (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Yui Horie (Japanese), Veronica Taylor (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Yuichi Nakamura (Japanese), Eric Stuart (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Mariko Nagai (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Tsuguo Mogami (Japanese), Anthony Brandon Walker (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Wataru Takagi (Japanese), Eric Stuart (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Megumi Hayashibara (Japanese), Laura Stahl (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Ken'ichirou Matsuda (Japanese), Bernhard Forcher (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Saki Endo (Japanese), Camden Singer (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Masaaki Ihara (Japanese), Dennis Kleinman (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Wakana Kingyo (Japanese), Erika Harlacher [ep. 13], Erica Schroeder [all other episodes] (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Kei Shindō (Japanese), Carrie Keranen (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Mitsuaki Madono (Japanese), Luis Bermudez (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Tsuguo Mogami (Japanese), William Salyers (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Anri Katsu (Japanese), Ryan Colt Levy (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Takahiro Fujiwara (Japanese), Marc Thompson (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Ryōtarō Okiayu (Japanese), Bruce Wexler (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Kosuke Takaguchi (Japanese), Sean Rohani (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino (Japanese), Zeno Robinson (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Anatel Pokki is voiced by: Koji Yusa (Japanese)^{Foreign VAs} Ayman Samman (Latin American Spanish)
Khafre Puljiz is voiced by: Kohsuke Tanabe (Japanese), Zeno Robinson (English)
Nakht Pitrah is voiced by: Shogo Sakata (Japanese)

Pino Graham is voiced by: Shuhei Sakaguchi (Japanese), James Simenc (English)^{Foreign VAs} Marc Winslow (Latin American Spanish)
Zria Gagarik is voiced by: Yuka Terasaki (Japanese), Carrie Keranen (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Takaya Hashi (Japanese), William Salyers (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Shogo Sagata (Japanese), Aleks Le (English)^{Foreign VAs}

Voiced by: Motoki Sakuma (Japanese), Sean Burgos (English)^{Foreign VAs}