Shaman King: Encyclopedia II - Shaman King - Characters

Shaman King - Characters

Most characters' names are in Western order, with the given name before the family name. The names of the Taos and other Chinese characters are in Chinese order, with the family name before the given name. The English anime name is to the right of the Japanese name. The English manga uses the Japanese names.

Shaman King - Humans

• Yoh Asakura (麻倉 葉 Asakura Yō) - The main character and fiance to Anna Kyōyama. He is easy-going, laid back, and carefree, which causes him to have an open mind and makes him relax in extreme situations. Yoh's only goal in life is to live it easily, and he believes that when he becomes Shaman King, he will achieve that goal. According to Anna, his free-thinking and laid-back nature makes him think "Outside the Box" which makes him a perfect candidate for Shaman King. His guardian ghost is a powerful samurai by the name of Amidamaru. He is the twin brother, descendent, and reincarnation of Hao Asakura. Part of Team Funbari Onsen (Team Asakura in the English anime). It is stated in the first volume of the manga that Yoh's name means "Leaf" in Japanese.

• Hao Asakura (麻倉葉王 Asakura Hao, ハオ Hao)- Yoh's evil ancestor, twin and previous incarnation who looks exactly like him who wants to destroy humanity. In his first life, he was the greatest shaman of the Asakura Clan. But after mastering the five elements to become the ultimate Shaman, he came to believe that every single non-shaman must be killed. He intended to do such an act as Shaman King, but he was assassinated by his clansmen. But because he mastered the five elements, Hao defied death and reincarnated as a member of Silva's tribe five centuries later. Hao stole the Patch Tribe's Spirit of Fire and attempted to become Shaman King, only to be killed again by his descendent & former spirit, Asakura Yohken (麻倉葉賢 Asakura Yōken) and Matamune (マタムネ). . Now 500 years later, Hao is in his second reincarnation. However, when he was reincarnated this time, his soul somehow split, forming twins, and one part became Yoh, therefor, making both of them the reincarnations of the original Asakura Hao. Hao controls a host of shamans who either are loyal to him because they share his views on humanity or out of personal gain. His followers call him 'Hao-sama'. His group of three in the Fight is called the 'Hoshigumi'.

• Anna Kyōyama (恐山アンナ Kyōyama An'na) - Fiancée of Yoh Asakura, and an itako, a traditional shaman from Aomori, Japan (she is called a "spirit medium" in the English anime). Anna is Yoh's personal trainer and will stop at nothing to become the wife of the Shaman King, although she does indeed hold affection for Yoh. She later obtains the necklace of 1,080 beads and mastery over Hao's Shikigami. Anna also appears in two of Takei's other works, Butsu Zone and the one-shot Itako no Anna.

• Manta Oyamada (小山田まん太 Oyamada Manta / Mortimer "Morty" - An intelligent but worrisome teen who carries a dictionary, and can see ghosts, even though he is not a Shaman. He is very expressive and a bit panicky. His rather abnormal height has gotten him into trouble numerous times, once having been mistaken for one of the shy nature spirits, and almost being cut open and used for bait during Yoh Asakura's match with Faust VIII. Near the final battle with Hao he actually becomes a Shaman and is able to merge with a spirit. His weapon is a hammer and his unofficial guardian ghost is Mosuke, a friend of Amidamaru who forged his sword, Harusame. After that episode in the anime, Manta is able to junction spirits to his laptop. He is refered to as "Morty" (short for Mortimer) in the English anime.

• Tao Ren (道 蓮 Japanese: Tao Ren; Chinese Pinyin: Dào Lián) / Len Tao - An ill-tempered boy who is one of Yoh's rival shamans and hails from China.
  • Before being defeated: Ren, though younger, is dominant over his elder sister Tao Jun and is determined to be the Shaman King. Ren's true purpose to become Shaman King is considered to be confusing; he originally hated humans and his family and wanted to destroy them.
  • After being defeated: Seeing the good in people like Yoh and his Ren becgins to challenge his father's way and he aims for a better world, by "destroying the chains of hate." Ren is obsessed with milk, bodybuilding, and the number 3 (in the anime). His trademark is his unique, weird "Tongari" haircut. In the English anime, Len has a British accent. His guardian ghost is a massive 500 year old Chinese warrior named Bason.

• Horokeu Usui "Horohoro" (ホロホロ) (碓氷ホロケウ Usui Horokeu) / Horohoro "Trey Racer" - An Ainu from Hokkaido (called the "North Woodlands" in the English anime) who wants to save the Koropokkoro from extinction. Horohoro is an easily-provoked, good-natured boy who can quickly get happy or mad. His spirit ally is Kororo ("Corey"), a Koropokkoro (Minutian in the English dub of the anime). His sister, Pirika ("Pirika") trains him as harshly as Anna trains Yoh. Horohoro's name sounds like "boroboro", (which means "ragged and worn out") so in the Japan releases, a good number of jokes come from. Part of Team The Ren (Horohoro, Ren and Chocolove originally had a huge argument over the choice of their team name, but Ren won, anyway). In the English anime, it is acknowledged his real name is Horohoro, but the characters usually refered to him as "Trey (Racer)", a nickname given to him by the English dubbers.

• Tao Jun (道 潤 Japanese: Tao Jun; Chinese Pinyin: Dào Rùn) / Jun Tao - Ren's older sister, a Dao-shi (a Taoist spellcaster) that re-animates corpses and commands jiang-si. Jun only wanted to keep the peace and wishes only what is right for her brother (whom she calls by his Chinese name, "Lian" - Or, in the English version of the anime, "Lenny"). In the English anime, Jun has a British accent, possibly in an attempt to convey the affluence of the Tao family. Her personal jiang-si is Lee Bailong, a former martial-arts movie star who was killed by Tao assassins so that Jun would have a powerful corpse familiar.

• Ryunosuke Umemiya (梅宮 竜之介 Umemiya Ryūnosuke), a.k.a. "Wooden Sword" Ryu (木刀の 竜 Bokutō no Ryū) / Rio - A gang leader who is always on the lookout for the "Happy Place" or "Best Place" (the "Sacred Hang" in the English anime, where his gang is known as the "Dead Enders"). He became a Shaman on the day his life was saved by Yoh. He comes off as being not too bright, and really thinks more about girls and his "'do" than anything else; however, he is quite deep and philosophical and turns out to be a magnificent shaman who gains Tokageroh (the spirit of a thief who tried to steal Amidamaru's sword Harusame, who nevertheless turned out to be a good person), and masters the powers of the legendary Yamato no Orochi. Part of Team Funbari Onsen.

• Faust VIII (ファウストⅧ世) - A necromancer whose shamanic focus is a skeleton of his lost love, Eliza. Faust is a descendent of the legendary Faustus, who made a deal with the devil for the knowledge of necromancy. At first, Faust (like his family) wanted nothing to do with his ancestor's black magic and became a doctor. However, the death of Eliza drove the man insane and he took up the mantle of a necromancer, using his power to manipulate Eliza's skeletal body into wielding a scythe. Faust first meets Yoh and Manta in a cemetery in Chokohama (spelled Chocohama in the actual artwork); Yoh gets angry at Faust after he slices Manta open (in the anime, Faust concentrates spiritual power around his hands and gropes around inside Manta's torso, claiming to be "experimenting"); the injury is a tactic to get Yoh angry. During the match, Yoh returns the favor by mocking Faust's plan to resurrect Eliza, calling her a "puppet" and a "doll". Yoh loses to Faust in the match but Ren prevents Faust from killing Yoh out of blind rage. Faust eventually joins Yoh's group and is truly reunited with Eliza, after Anna summoned the real Eliza, who then became Faust's guardian spirit. Faust's first name is Johannes.

• Tamao Tamamura (玉村たまお Tamamura Tamao) / Tamara "Tammy" - A shy girl who has a huge crush on Yoh, even though she knows that Yoh truly loves Anna. Tamao's specialty is her use of a kokkuri board, which is similar to a Ouija board. She is also an ascetic, like Mikihisa; her spirits are Conchi, a fox, and Ponchi, a tanuki. They are apparent homages to Ren (Conchi) and Stimpy (Ponchi).

• Silva (シルバ) - A Native American from the Patch Tribe that qualified Yoh for the Shaman fight. He has issues with Hao because of the Hao's previous life as a member of the Patch Tribe and thief of the tribe's sacred spirit. Because Silva is a descendent of Hao, he feels the guilty and somehow involved. He has five different sacred animal spirits that can be combined into one massive "Totem Cannon".

• Kalim- A Patch tribe member and one of Silva's friends who is an organizer for the Shaman Fight. He qualified Horohoro to be a part of the Shaman Fight. Karimu means calcium in Japanese, furthering the trend of Patch priests being named after metals.

• Lyserg Diethel (リゼルグ・ダイゼル) - A British Shaman, whose parents were killed by Hao. Lyserg has dramatic interactions with all of the main characters at some point, and though he travels with them for a long time, he fights against Yoh's team more than once during the series.
  • Pre X-Laws: When Lyserg first encounters Yoh's group, to determine their strength, he attacks them, hospitalizing both Ren and Horohoro with one attack. After Yoh knocks some sense into him, Lyserg calms down and they welcome him to come along as they search for the Patch Village. His name is pronounced differently in the English anime so that it's not a recreational drug reference (lysergic acid). His spirit's name Morphine is also a drug reference (morphine) but called "Chloe" in the English anime. He is apparently so beautiful that Ryu could mistake him for a girl.
  • X-Laws: Once the X-Laws are introduced, Lyserg starts to question whether Yoh is truly strong enough to defeat Hao. Marco, of the X-Laws, convinces Lyserg that Yoh is too sweet and kind-hearted, but that the X-Laws have the strength that Yoh is lacking because they have the power to kill. When Yoh states firmly that he will not kill, Lyserg decides to leave and follow Marco. During the Shaman Fight, Lyserg competes as a member of X-Laws. Lyserg's spirit is Morphine, until he gains control of Zeruel, an Archangel provided by Jeanne. In the manga, Lyserg never abandoned Morphine, even when he was presented with the Archangel Zeruel. Morphin & Zeruel combined to form Lyserg's Armour Oversoul, which in the anime was part of his final act of justice, bringing him back to Yoh's side.

• Pirka / Pilika is Horohoro's sister, who trains him in a similar manner to Anna's training of Yoh. Pirika originally calls Yoh a jerk for defeating her brother, giving Yoh a heartache over people hating him. Pirika later becomes friends with Anna and Tamao. "Pirika" means "pretty" and "pirika" means "good" in the Ainu language.

• Marco (マルコ) : One of the two founders of the X-Laws (the other being Luchist/Luka), which is a group that aims to rid the world of Hao. His Archangel is called Michael. He does everything in his power to please Jeanne. He was the only surviving adult member of X-Laws by the finale.

• Iron Maiden Jeanne (アイアン・メイデン・ジャンヌ) : The leader of the X-Laws. She hates Hao with a passion and will go to great lengths to see him dead, no matter who else might die in the process. She earned the nick-name "Iron Maiden" by spending her time in an Iron Maiden {which increases her strength by keeping her in a near-death state} and only coming out when desperately needed, until the day injustice no longer exists. With her spirit guardian Shamash, Jeanne gives each of her followers an Archangel as a spirit.

• Chocolove McDaniel (チョコラブ・マクダネル) / Joco Chocolove - An African-American Shaman who aspires to be Shaman King so he can give the world what it needs the most, laughter. He's a comedian by trade, though his jokes annoy people (especially Ren) sometimes (which results in Chocolove getting beaten up or stabbed in the nose with Ren's Kwan Do. His spirit is a jaguar ghost named Mic Jaguar (a takeoff on Mick Jagger), who belonged to Chocolove's mentor. In the manga, he gains a second spirit guardian named Pascal Avaf. Chocolove killed Redseb's & Seyram's father before he repented under his teacher. He is refered to as "Joco" in the English anime.

• BōZ (manga) / ZenRyo (Japanese anime) / Flying Zen Brothers (English anime) - A goofy rock group that turn out to be a pair of shamans under Hao. They were the other known lackies Hao let go from his group without killing them. In the anime, their names are revealed as Ryo Kamishiro and Zen Hoshi (Zen Hijiri in the Japanese version). While Ryo has a Judeo-Christian theme, Zen had a Buddhist theme.

• Yohmei Asakura - Yohmei is Yoh's grandfather and an onmyōji who utilizes leaf shikigami. He is the husband of Kino Asakura, Anna's teacher and Yoh's grandmother.

• Kino Asakura - A master itako who trains young girls in the art at Osorezan. She is short tempered and practical like her apprentice, Anna (or perhaps the other way around). Kino is Yoh's grandmother.

• Mikihisa Asakura - Mikihisa is Yoh Asakura's father. He is an ascetic monk who is frequently away from home. Mikihisa is also the one who brought Tamao to the Asakuras and trained Ryu to become a shaman. He wears a mask to cover his face as a result of severe burns courtesy of the Spirit of Fire. He is married to Keiko Asakura. He is also known as 'Miki Asakura' to Redseb & Seyram. Miki is part of Team Kabbalahers in the Shaman Fight(manga). In the manga, Mikihisa aids Tao Jun and Tamao fight the Hanagumi team.

• Keiko Asakura - Mikihisa's wife and Yoh's mother. She is a Cleric,type of Shaman who hears voices of Gods,she works as a miko at a local shrine. The English anime hints that Mikihisa was adopted into the family when he married Keiko, who must have been a member of the Asakura clan to begin with. She shares the same given name (at least when romanized in English) as Manta's mother, Keiko Oyamada.

• Hana Asakura - Hana is Yoh's and Anna's son and appears in the 'Funbari no Uta' manga special. It is believed his name is derived from both his parents. Another theory is that since "Hana" roughly translates into "flower", it is a spin off of his father, Yoh's name, which translates into the word "grass"

• Redseb and Seyram - They, together with Mikihisa Asakura and Golem, form Team Kabbalahers in the Shaman Fight (manga). Their father was killed with a gun by Chocolove. They also own Golem.

• Goldva - A Patch tribe leader who is the organizer of the Shaman Fight.

• Tao Yúan (道円 Japanese: Tao En; Chinese Pinyin: Dào Yúan) / En Tao - The father of Ren and Jun. Tao Yúan commands an army of jiang-si.

• The Hanagumi - Three witches who happen to be three of the most powerful and loyal shaman by Hao's side. They consist of Kanna Bismarck (the leader, the tall one with blue hair), Matilda "Matti/Machi" Matissa (the one with orange hair and short pigtails), and Marian "Mari" Phauna (long pigtails and blond hair), a trio that are as beautiful, aggressive and to the point as Anna. Matti tends to be the most talkative and abrasive, Kanna is sarcastic and cynical, while the quiet and morose Mari tends to refer to herself in third person.

• Opacho - Hao's most loyal ally, was a malnourished baby in western Africa when Hao found her(female in the japanese version and male in the U.S. dubbed). Adopted and raised by Hao, Opacho follows Hao almost every where she goes. Hao often confides in Opacho about his plans, as well as about Yoh and his power. Opacho has strong, though still a bit unrefined powers, including reading events and projecting illusions. She is also part of Hao's team in the Shaman Tournament, though her attack power is never revealed. Although Opacho supports Hao loyally, near the final episodes of the anime series, (once Hao obtains the Great Spirit's Power), Opacho notes that Hao has made a change for the worse and flees from him. Opacho's last anime appearance is in episode 64 watching the destiny star fly by. She is one of the few survivors of Hoshigumi.

Shaman King - Spirits

• Amidamaru (阿弥陀丸)/ Amidamarou - Samurai that died during the Muromachi period 600 years ago - now is Yoh's ghost companion. He is very powerful and wise but quite taciturn and extremely devoted to "lord Yoh" ("Yō-dono" in Japanese).

• Bason (馬 孫 Japanese: Bason, Pinyin: Mǎsūn) - Bason is the ghost of an ancient Chinese warrior who serves Ren faithfully and obeys him without question. In the English manga Bason calls Ren "Master Ren," while in the Japanese version he calls Ren "Bocchama," which means "Young Master."

• Lee Bailong (李白龍 Japanese: Rī Bairon, Pinyin: Lǐ Báilóng), (manga) / Lee Pai-Long (anime) - "The White Dragon"; he was a kung fu movie star who was murdered by the Tao clan to be Jun's Jiang-si bodyguard. He is a thinly-veiled reference to Bruce Lee, who died under suspicious circumstances. Technically, he is not a spirit. However, he can be considered to be serving a similar purpose, since he serves Tao Jun and hangs around her perpetually.

• Kororo (コロロ) - Kororo is a Koropokkur (which means "little people under butterbur leaves" in Ainu. Known as Minutians in the English anime), and Horohoro's spirit ally. She has a crush on Manta Oyamada, even though he is human. Her name in the English anime version sounds similar to Koori(氷 Kōri ), which is the Japanese word for ice and also the element that Horohoro's attacks are based on.

• Togakero (トカゲロウ Togakerō) / Tokageroh - A thief that was killed by Amidamaru, born into terrible poverty. Tokagero always talks about being a nasty villain, but he is actually a big softie. He is the spirit partner of Wooden Sword Ryu.

• Ponchi and Conchi - A tanuki with, in the original Japanese, large testicles, or in the English manga, a large stomach, and a fox or kitsune who are the familiars of Tamao Tamamura. Ponchi and Conchi are parodies of Ren and Stimpy. Ponchi's testicles are never seen in any versions of the anime. Conchi's name is sometimes spelled as "Konchi".

• Eliza (エリザ) - Eliza was Faust VIII's wife, she worked as a nurse until she was murdered (along with the family dog, Frankenstiney) by robbers who broke into Faust's house. Eliza's death led her (now-insane) husband to dig up her skeleton from her casket and enter the Shaman Fights to bring her back to life. But when Faust joined Yoh's group, Anna brought the spirit of Eliza to be reunited with her husband as his Guardian Ghost. Her "Giant Over Soul" form is a giant bat-winged version of herself called Mephisto-E(Mephisto being a reference to Mephistopheles, or the devil, whom Faustus summons).

• Mosuke (喪助 Mosuke) - A master swordsmith whose ability to create swords matched Amidamaru's ability to wield them. He and Amidamaru were best friends & grew up together; their deaths resulted from Amidamaru's refusal to kill Mosuke when their lord ordered the samurai to. In the anime, Mosuke later becomes Manta's guardian ghost, semi-trapped in Manta's laptop.

• Morphine / Chloe - A pixie-like spirit who is Lyserg's spirit ally. She loves eating sweet-tasting things. She absorbed the Archangels to assume her "Giant Over Soul" form(in the anime). Her original name was obviously censored for being a reference to a drug (see morphine).

• Mic Jaguar / Big Mick - A jaguar spirit who is Chocolove's spirit ally. He used to belong to Chocolove's mentor. The name is a takeoff of "Mick Jagger".

• Pascal Avaf - The second spirit ally of Chocolove. Pascal Avaf taught Chocolove many things, also merging with Mic & Chocolove to form the Armour Oversoul Jaguarman.

• Spirit of Fire (スピリット・オブ・ファイア): Hao's spirit guardian, formerly was the sacred symbol of the Patch Tribe until Patch Hao took it for his own 500 years ago. The spirit's flames served as Hao's way of killing off shamans who failed him or those who refused to rally for his cause. The Spirit of Fire can increase its own power by eating spiritually-enhanced humans and other spirits.

• Zenki (前鬼) and Kouki (後鬼) - A pair of shikigamis which Hao created with the Genma Choboku to protect the Tome of the Shaman. Anna defeats both of them and claims them as her own, using them as her muscle until Hao regain contol of his creations to hold Yoh's friends at bay, though the shikigami were soon destroyed.

• Ashcroft, Jack, and Chuck - the spirits commanded by the Hanagumi: Kanna Bismarck, Machi Matisse and Mari Phauna respectively. Ashcroft is a knight spirit, Jack is a Jack-o-lantern spirit (in the manga, he is actually the spirit of Jack the Ripper, and Chuck is a voodoo doll. In the English anime, Chuck is referred to as "Baby Chuck", and he has a rattle gun.

• Enla, Kamaitachi, Onibi, Kosuta, and Keeta - the spirits of team Tre Magnifique: Sharona, Ellie, Millie, Sally, and Lilly respectively. Enla is a smoke-based chameleon spirit, Kamaitachi is a weasel with a scythe, Onibi is used in a crossbow by Millie, Kosuta is a hammer spirit, and Keeta is a dark spirit that combines with Lilly's glasses to give her long-range vision.(these characters are anime-only!)

• Shamash: Jeanne's god-class spirit. With Shamash's power, Jeanne is able to open the Gate of Babylon in an attempt to seal away Hao. (In the manga, he brings Ren back from the dead by kissing him.) The attempt ends in failure as Shamash was devoured by the Spirit of Fire.

• Archangels / Arch-Spirits: The Guardian Spirits of the X-Laws, which only Jeanne can present these powerful entities to their human partners. They all were asborbed into Morphine near the finale when all the members of the X-Laws fell by Hao's hands(ONLY in anime!).
  • Michael - The Archangel Marco commands.
  • Zeruel / Zeliel - The Archangel presented to Lyserg Diethyl after he had proved his loyalty to the X-Laws. In the manga, Zeruel did not replace Morphine; however, in the anime, Lyserg abandoned his original spirit in favor of the more powerful Archangel.
  • Gabriel - An archangel commanded by Mina
  • Metatron - An archangel commanded by Venstar
  • Uriel - An archangel commanded by Larch
  • Raphael - An archangel commanded by Denbat
  • Remiel - An archangel commanded by Cebin
  • Sariel - An archangel commanded by Porf

• Golem - It is a machine that functions like spirit of Fire in that it ingests spirits to get stronger. Seen more in the manga than in anime. It belongs to Redseb & Seyram, and it was built by their father(dead). Golem is part of Team Kabbalahers.

• Ernie L. Cake / Mr. Grimes - Ernie is a dirty old ghost who haunts Yoh's toilet. The name sounds a little like "urinal cake".

• Wū-fú Xing-dùi Sì-shàng-dēng or The Five-Curse Squad (known as the Johto Guard in the English anime)- Five jiang-si that Tao Yúan uses against Yoh and his friends. One was Li Bailong's mentor under Yúan's control while the other four had animal parts sewn onto their bodies to enhance their natural abilities.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Characters", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki