'Shaman King' Creator Reveals New Character Designs

Shaman King is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year, and fans will be able to celebrate [...]

By Nick Valdez

Shaman King is celebrating its 20th Anniversary this year, and fans will be able to celebrate their love of the series with brand new collectible figures featuring Yoh and Hao Asakura.

The coolest aspect of the new figures? They are based on new character designs from series creator Hiroyuki Takei.

Kotobukiya Official will be releasing new Yoh and Hao Asakura collectible figures as part of their ARTFX J line starting in February next year. The two figures are based on special sketches from Hiroyuki Takei, and he collaborated with the company on the design of each figure, which include intricate details such as creases in their clothing as well as the extra representation from their spirits Amidamaru and the Spirit of Fire.

The Yoh Asakura figure will be releasing in February with the Hao Asakura figure following in March. Kotobukiya is currently taking pre-orders on their official website for the Yoh Asakura figure (which you can find here). For those interested, the figure will run you 11,880 yen (about $106 USD).

Shaman King was originally created by Hiroyuki Takei for Shueisha's Weekly Shonen Jump from 1998 to 2004 and has been collected into 32 volumes. The manga was licensed for an English language release by Viz Media, and was adapted into an anime series by Xebec. The series was licensed for an English language broadcast by 4Kids Entertainment and ran for 64 episodes.

The story follows Yoh Asakura, a shaman who is a medium between the worlds of the living and the dead. He enters into the Shaman Fight, a tournament between shamans held every 500 years, in order to become to contact the Great Spirit and become the Shaman King, one who is able to reshape the world in any way they wish.

The series was recently revived with the new Shaman King The Super Star, but not much is known about the new manga since it has yet to release outside of Japan. Fans are excited just to see the series getting new stories after such a long wait since they still feel the sting of the manga's original abrupt end. Takei had originally ended the manga due to a mix of fatigue and the feeling that his story fell into common shonen traps. Later releasing a "Perfect Edition" for the story, Takei finally put an end to the series in the way he initially envisioned. But now, the new arc will act as a sort of better fitting button for the series.

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