times.
Friends! Effort! Victory!
This is the common formula for anything in Jump, including Shaman King.
But even primary students can chant E=mc^2
Any decent secondary students can put numbers into this simple equation
and calculate the unknown.
However,
Any decent university students would know that the theory of Relativity
is much more than this formula...
Ever ask youself how can Takei, or anybody, create a character like Hao/Yoh/Anna without having them as 'part of oneself'?
If you ever look carefully at the human mind, and the memory structure (neurons) , you would realize the freedom one can have in our 'mind'. We can only physcially exist in the time point called 'now', but our brain structure permit us to exist, in a way more intriguing that the quantum states, as a fan of possibilities psychologically.
Personally, I believe that everyone has a psychological part in them which can be seperated into Hao, Yoh and Anna.
If it is there, that is because it was there.
If not, this is something coming from the Sea of Chaos.
And yes. I agree with Takei that moral discussions should be more than just words. We should experience our own arguements so we can truly understand the true meaning of our own words. (Although Takei didn't said this, he is DOING it...)
Another thing which I agree much with Takei is his method of dealing with 'spirits' and 'ghosts'. I might be biased in this discussion because I have to confess that my view on 'spirits' and 'ghosts' is very similar to how Takei defines these lengendary matters in Shaman King.
"Spirits" are the memories and desires of the dead people, which somehow are preserved. "Ghosts" are products of 'oversoul', which is just a name coined to anything that is a manifestation from spirits. Shamans are those who have a higher sensitivity to 'spirits'.
(262501 the author: may be I would write a more elaborte article called 'Is shaman, shaman fights, spirits and ghosts(oversouls) a metaphor' later this year)
Therefore, the shaman fights naturally involve miscellaneous cultures (from Ainu to Indian to Egyptian), and the shamans are actually fighting with the different values, knowledge and desires of their spirits (you can say 'themselves' too), so actually the whole story is about putting all the peices of human civilizations together, and giving them a vivid competition to see 'who's better'...
Beside these 'higher' intellectual contents, Shaman King has a unique atmosphere which one can partly blame on the art. The character designs are not as beautiful as CLAMP's Card Captor Sakura, but the 'stylish index' is as high. Takei sometimes are able to produce some really cool portraits but most of the time his work are just standard of 'Shounen Manga'. Takei had successfully put many 'little thingy's which is symbolic of the traditional Japanese culture here and there in this story which is supposed to be (at the start of the story 1998, and the 'now' in manga should be 2001 I think) modern, and therefore gave a very leisure and 'home'ish feel to the manga. This feel of 'at home' is a perfect match with the main character, Asakura Yoh, who seldom worries unnecessarily, and keep calm when most can't.
Other articles:
1. Yoh and Hao (and Anna)
2. Anime and Manga Spoiler-free extract Full version
3. Shaman King Questions (with the smell of glitches)
4. Character Analysis
5. Spirits, Shamans, Oversouls and Ghosts in Reality
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