Shaman King
Shaman King was originally a hentai comic created by Hiroyuki Takei, who, after watching The Exorcist decided that it did not have enough nudity. Thus, he created a series of his own, hoping to convince the public that necrophilia was not bad and that it was okay to carry dead bodies around and use them to fight and kill people add them to one’s growing collection of rotting corpses. Eventually it received much attention in Japan, so it was then brought to the United States under the title Full Metal Alchemist: A Prequel. It is also often referred to as Cardcaptors 2: Gender Change and Sailor Shaman.
Story[edit]
The son of Goku and the half-cousin of Ash Ketchum, Yoh is a hippie, who, after being stoned for seventy-six days, decides to become a shrink. In doing so, he meets the main characters of the show: Horo-Horo (the next replacement for the lead singer of Linkin Park ) and Ren the Milk-Chuffing Boy Headhunter. The storyline follows the growing romance between the two, with many extra characters who follow them around, hoping to one see some action. There is a side-story about a beauty pageant, which all the characters compete in, wanting to win the title “Ramen King”, but for the most part it has nothing to do with the overall story.
Characters[edit]
- Horo-Horo-(a.k.a. “Gray Taser” in the dub) a boy from a random tribe in Belgium who has the power to make his hair turn blue and his sideburns turn black. His name means “Tony Hawk” in Dutch.
- Confucius Ren – (a.k.a. “And Stimpy” in the dub) a Roman Catholic from Brazil. In the original version, he had a Lebanese accent, whereas he was given a Jamaican accent and dreadlocks in the dub. His gender varies; he was originally male in the original Japanese and Italian versions, but to the rest of the world, he is completely and utterly female.
- Yoh – an extra character who contributes nothing to the storyline
- Ryu of the Woody Sword– an illegal Mexican immigrant who decided to travel with the group in order to escape the authorities. He is well-known for his association with the famous martyr Brian Peppers
- Mini-me – the mascot of the show
- Ranma – the fiancée of Yoh who tries to cover up her gender-switching abilities by acting like Jessie from Pokemon
- Howie – Yoh’s twin uncle who is agoraphobic. His name in the dub version is Ezekiel, meaning ‘accurate translation’. His sole purpose in the show is to break up Ren and Horo
- Kenshin – Yoh’s spirit and secret lover
- Token – the most serious member of the group. He was originally called “Chocolove”, but his name was changed due to its offensive nature
- LIEserg – the most masculine member of the group who is in no way affiliated with drugs
- Faust the 174th – the cheery one of the bunch. He once made a deal with Paris Hilton, wanting to know her secret to immortality. He was heavily based on the character Gandalf from Stephen King’s best-selling novel “A Wizard Did It”
- The X-Laws – a singing group of scientologists who are mainly used for comic relief
- Matamune - Garfield's brother, who has two tails due to frequent exposure of radioactive Pingas.
Spin-Offs[edit]
The series had several spin-offs: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Kim Possible, Speed Racer and Friends, to name a few. Sadly, all of them failed to become successful.
Merchandising[edit]
Only one Shaman King product was ever produced, but it managed to sell millions: The Super Saiyan Mode Yoh Costume. It has been proven that there is one of these products in every household in France.
Trivia[edit]
- Ren was at one point Emperor of the Digimon world
- Horo-Horo is good friends with Brock from Pokemon
- “Puff Daddy” named himself after Token’s (a.k.a. Chocolove’s) hair