Forum - View topicREVIEW: Shaman King GN 1
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Necros Antiquor
 Posts: 571 Location: Funny in a car crash sort of way |
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I agree wholeheartedly with this review. When Shonen Jump USA first started serializing Shaman King, the only thing that really made any impression on my was the first chapter, and the first chapter of a manga is supposed to do that. It really did seem like Pokemon with ghosts instead of monsters. "Oh, I'll collect this ghost as my 'partner'. Oh, here's my token rival who hates me for a poorly-explained reason. Oh, here's a tournament for shamans." The entire concept was weak, and the concept of fighting with a ghost possessing you wasn't dynamic.
However, recently I've changed my opinion of the manga. While I thought that approximately the first year of its run in Shonen Jump was less than stellar (up until the end of the Tokagero story), once they started delving into the actual Shaman Fight and developed the idea during the fight with Silva (the tournament officiator) of the "oversoul" (in which the shaman gets off his lazy ass and does some work fighting on his own), I became intrigued. Apparently, there was more to shamans than simple ghosts (and one case of a ghost using his own dead body thanks to a daoshi). Suddenly, there were all different kinds of shamans, using nature spirits, familiars, and even necromancy. Not only that, but the characters started acting like actual people, not just stereotypes. While it is still far from my favorite manga, I encourage anyone who hated the first couple of volumes of Shaman King to stick with it, as it does turn into a pretty good read, though definately not a classic. |
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ACDragonMaster
 Posts: 405 |
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I dunno, I found Shaman King to be entertaing from when I started reading it. Perhaps it's just because I tend to read into characters far more than most casual readers, or just that I enjoy the occasional simpler plost setup, but it never struck me as being put together so poorly.
Of course, I've read better, but it's certainly far from the worst I've seen. Out of the titles running in Viz's Shonen Jump, it competes with Naruto for my second-favorite of all of them (first goes to Hikaru no Go), so I guess I personally find it to be pretty good. It may be just me, of course, but I do find it to be a fun story, myself. |
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imaginary_num6er
 Posts: 53 Location: In the U.S, was in Japan for 18 years |
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Hey reading Shonen Jump from Japan I could say this, but spoiler[Sherman King ended...In fact, rather upruptly this year in Oct-Nov.].
If you are a real fan of Sherman King, don't read the spoiler! 
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Trident
 Posts: 13 |
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Personally, I really enjoy both the manga and the anime (I've seen the latter in its entirety subbed and own the four volumes of the former that have been released thus far). Therefore, my comments are obviously biased. However, I think there are some things in the review that are arguable in general.
Mainly, there's the whole monster-of-the-week thing. Does that describe Shaman King? To an extent, I suppose. But really, after the first volume the fights become plot-point fights. You could almost call it a monster-of-the-week series in the same way you'd call Rurouni Kenshin one. Put it this way: Vol. 1 exists to set up who Yoh is and how a modern shaman works. The entrance of Tao Ren really just signifies the beginning of the actual story. I will say this--it's definitely aimed for a younger audience. The artwork is highly stylized, the expressions are comedic, and the plotline is simple. In short--well, it's published in Shonen Jump. It's not for the intellectual. But hey, everyone needs comic relief every once in a while, right? I had more to say but I'm really tired... and anyway, one review is enough, right? 
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UltimaShadowfax
 Posts: 288 |
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Shaman King is good for a casual read. It has nice, cartoony art and very simple themes. I don't think it aims to be a mature story, so I never got the sense that I'm supposed to feel anything for the characters, except laugh at them. I'd at least give it a C.
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mangaka
 Posts: 5 Location: Hawaii, U.S.A. |
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I started to read Shaman King in Shonen Jump, liked it for awhile but then stoped reading it. Naruto and One Piece are the best manga in Shonen Jump
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darkhunter
 Posts: 2992 Location: Los Angelas |
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Yea I agree with you on that part. Before I got into reading the manga, I knew it was kiddy. so i'm expecting some humor and action, nothing deep. The first few volume are pretty good in which we see Manta flipped out by his new discover. His facial expresssion and humor remind me a lot of the One Piece book. Actually I enjoy manta's part the most in the first volume, Yoh is just so typical and predictable. |
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Ryuko
 Posts: 104 |
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I started reading Shaman King back when it was being scanlated, and I was bored in a class at HS. I agree, at first it was a little slow, and even though there were a few stories I liked, I mostly kept going for something to do.
Later on, the characters became a lot better and the story really shaped up. I agree that the art is an acquired taste, sort of a graffiti-esque thing. And yes, I am very sad that spoiler[Shaman King has fallen by the wayside and won't be finished... ] |
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Wyvern
 Posts: 1599 |
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I don't think the comment about the characters "collecting" the ghosts is really fair. Collecting implies you get more than one of something-yet as far as I've seen into both the anime and manga, none of the characters ever seems to have more than one ghost they ever bond with. And Yoh really seems to mean it when he calls Amidamaru a person, considering how he treats him as a close friend (even buying him food while knowing he can't eat it, because "it's the thought that counts.")
Having said that, I can't say I'm especially fond of Shaman King. I don't hate it, but it's solidly middle of the road for me. It's just that I've researched real Shamanism (and met two practioners) and it seems about ten times more interesting than anything depicted in the manga-Takai took what could have been the basis for a great story and turned it into yet another excuse to have people fight. All the potential spirituality that could be there is replaced with the same old Shonen superpowers and Form-Blazing-Sword attacks. I like that kind of story, but when I read Shaman King, I can't help thinking to myself, "there's so much MORE you can do with this concept! You're squandering it! Gaaaah! I punch your liver!" and that kind of ruins it for me. On the other hand, Takei's art style RULES. I really hope they bring out some of his other series over here, so I can see more of it. |
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Necros Antiquor
Posts: 571 Location: Funny in a car crash sort of way |
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While that's true, I remember that there was a dead boxer who Yoh wanted to add to his "team" (something like that) until he realized that he didn't like boxing. And Ren tries to collect Amidamaru. Thankfully, they stop talking about this after the first volume or so.
Nice sentence there, with the liver punching and all.  And I agree that it's another excuse to have people with powers fight, though it does add a twist to the usual formula.
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tebalith
Posts: 134 |
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I think it's a bit unfair to compare the first volume of Shaman King to the whole series of Rurouni Kenshin, as the review does... Rurouni Kenshin started out very episodic, too. The structur of the first few volumes looks very similar to Shaman King. Both series launch a bigger arc a few volumes later.
The first episodes, in both cases, introduce the main characters. These characters are all later thrown into the main story, a bigger, more important, more difficult matter altogether, and they all grow and change over time... Hmm. Even though I am not fond of episodic beginnings, I must admit they fulfill a neat function. Later on, when everything is somehow different, and bigger and more frightening and maybe your beloved characters face despair and death, you can look back at those easy-going first episodes as "the good old time". What I currently dislike about Shaman King is the tournament-based fighting that's pretty dominant (I'm at vol. 20, I believe)... There's always been a lot of fighting going on, but it kind of annoys me in tournament form. Also, the story itself is really interesting... there are certain characters and certain relationships that I find very, very fascinating. So to me, the battling wastes precious pages. |
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