Shaman King (Volume 13) Review

Another Manga that I have read this summer other than "Attack On Titan" was "Shaman King", a strange yet interesting series written by Hiroyuki Takei. In Hiroyuki's world of "Shaman King" ghosts are stuff of fiction according to most people however to Shamans like Yoh Asakura, who  is 13 years old at the beginning of the series and a normal sized young man at 5'3" he also has neck length dark brown hair and he is constantly seen wearing a pair of orange headphones behind or on his ears and Tao Ren, was shorter than Yoh and most of his friends but he seems to look taller when the length of the tip of the spike in his hair is added up. This spike is a part of his hairstyle called an "tongari". He is relatively thin, and his spiked hair is a shade color of dark purple. Ren's eyes were golden yellow in the anime, however in the manga colored pages, they usually appear gold, brown or the same color as his haircolor, they are powerful companions that get the job of protecting the innocent done right. However, to keep the world from plummeting into chaos, the few modern-day Shamans that there are must keep their powers a secret. However, Yoh's Secret is discovered by Manta, who has short sandy-brown hair and large eyes. Throughout the manga he is usually shown wearing his school uniform - green pants, running shoes, white dress shirt and tie. His casual outfit consists of white shorts, and a blue hoodie with white angel wings on the back and a halo on the hood. Also, he usually has his laptop with him. And he is by far the shortest of the group, measuring in at 2'7". But after meeting Yoh it turns out that he can also see ghosts and later on helps Yoh find his Spirit Ally, Amidamaru, a 600 Year Old Samurai nicknamed the fiend for his legendary one-night slaughter fest. Yoh then channels Amidamaru in order to defeat a thug who had bullied Manta named Ryu, a very muscular man with a very unique appearance. He usually wears exaggerated 1970's fashion: white suit while wearing a purple shirt with over sized collars, cuffs and lapels, while wearing a pair white pointy shoes. He has an exaggerated goatee that ends in an spike and sideburns that also ends in a spike. 3 years after this encounter, Yoh is at the sight of the Shaman fight, preparing compete for the title of Shaman King along with Ryu, Ren, and a Shaman from the mountains named Horohoro, who is a tall boy. He is most commonly seen wearing a white and blue skiing outfit, dark blue shorts and skiing shoes that can be attached to his snowboard. He has long light sky blue hair that when tied together with his head band, that has Ainu styled patterns on them, sticks up in spikes. As they all prepare to compete it turns out that Yoh and Ren who have decided to be team leaders for the Shaman fight, need a third teammate. Luckily for Ren a boy named Chocolove who is an African American boy of average height and he always has his hair in an Afro. He wears an African wrap on the lower half of his body, an open white dress shirt and cloth boots as his street clothes. His battle outfit is a yellow native dress with red and green patterns and a black open vest. The dress and the accessories were all from a tribe in South America and was given to Chocolove by his master Orona. However Yoh's third member by force is his former enemy Faust VII, who  has discolored lips and permanent bags under his eyes from lack of sleep. He is also extremely thin due to malnutrition. Along with his height, these lend him an intimidating presence. Another very noticeable trait is the different color skin sutured onto his chest and torso. This doesn't appear to inconvenience him in any way, but, only makes him look scary. Shortly after, the Shaman fights start with Ren's team stepping up first. And that's where Volume 13 ends. I believe that this connects to different  religious texts as the main characters deal with different spirits and strive to be compatible with the Great Spirit, a.k.a. God. I suggest this to people who love action, ghost stories, ghosts themselves, or suspense. If you hate any of these things however, I do not suggest reading this series. And as always, start at Volume 1 so you are not lost.