Shaman King Vol. 28

シャーマンキング [Shaman King] #28

by Hiroyuki Takei

Every shaman in the world is vying to be the Shaman King!

R to L (Japanese Style). Every shaman in the world is vying to be the Shaman King! A Good Woman
Yoh, Ren, Horohoro, Joco and Lyserg find themselves in their own personal version of Hell. To escape they must reach the level of the five warriors. If they succeed, they will possess the power of the Five High Spirits. But if one of them fails, they will all remain trapped in Hell for eternity!

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Graphic Novels, Action, Shonen, Comics Manga, Comics

188 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 4, 2004

About the author

Hiroyuki Takei (武井宏之 Takei Hiroyuki) is a Japanese manga artist, best known as the creator of the manga and anime Shaman King. His brother, Hirofumi Takei (武井宏文) is also a manga-ka.

Reviews

[Lashaan Balasingam · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick break from reality as characters are sent to Hell for their latest training endeavour. While the outcome is obvious, this is purely to rush things to an inevitable ending. The subplot regarding the invasion of humans into the Shaman Fight is also completely unnecessary and odd. Why detract the story from the main event? Guess we're trying to get a whole "teamwork amidst rivalry" thing going. Why not, right?

Yours truly,

Lashaan | Blogger and Book Reviewer
Official blog: https://bookidote.com/

[Brandon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Now this volume was exciting!

Takei's been switching back and forth in previous volumes between official Shaman Fight matches and unofficial ambushes. The unofficial battles still happened one at a time, making them not too different from the Patch-approved fights (well, we learn here that the unsanctioned fights do indeed work in the Patch's favor for hastening the crowning of the Shaman King, but whatever). We now have the action build up better, with several things going at once: Tamao and Marco versus Sphinx-guy leading into Anna versus Hao, Ryu versus Team Moon, Yoh in Hell, Ren in Hell, Horohoro in Hell, Chocolove in Hell (again!), and Lyserg in Hell.

We don't see much of Chocolove. Avaf takes his original human form and fucks off to help Lyserg, while Matamune (whom Avaf seems to know) keeps an eye out for Ren and Horohoro. Yoh finishes the last of the oni and asks to see the King of Hell, realizing along the way that Yohken's spirit can't have truly died (and indeed he comes back). Ren fights wave after wave of Chinese warrior ghosts, while Horohoro seems to just be playing hide-and-seek with Matamune. Lyserg spends a chunk of time running from a Western-style demon, afraid that he's in Hell because of Sphinx-guy's attack rather than being brought by Sati, and he takes a while before he's calm enough to start training, after which Avaf rewards him with Morphine and Zelel.

I was concerned last volume with the appearance of the fodder oni in Yoh's Hell as they seemed to exist mostly to give Yoh something to kill for a second. There was risk that the manga would devolve into too long a sequence of "training arcs" while weaker characters are left to run from Hao and his men. Technically, this wouldn't be so bad - Dragon Ball did this excellently with the Namek arc - but it could still kill the flow of the story, and it worked out anyway as the bulk of training occurs off-panel. Yoh comes in to save Ryu from Team Moon (that is, he knocks Ryu out so he can mog on Team Moon himself). The goth girls from Team Flower try to ambush the Myooh trio guarding the corpses of Team The Ren only to be counter-ambushed by the resurrected heroes.

Some neat info is introduced. Jeanne quickly resurrected Marco on the brink of her own death (though maybe it's a plothole that he still survived the car's explosion). Faust can resurrect the dead easily enough with the Chou Senji Ryakketsu - Jugon Zonshi, with enough furyoku to bring Yoh back to slap Team Moon in the face with his dick, and presumably have enough power to revive Sati later (this hasn't happened yet). Team The Ren are resurrected by Sati's secret apprentice: Tao fuckin' Jun, who uses her big Chinese titties in that tight cheongsam to revive her brother and his friends (okay, that's not precisely how it happened...). Anna has power beyond what we've seen earlier, and her mind cannot be read by Hao (maybe this was teased in her flashback, I don't actually remember).

Miscellaneous cool stuff: Hao saying his balls are bigger than Ponchi's; Sphinx-guy's (I don't care enough to retain his name) nose poking slightly off a panel for a brief gag (he noted last volume how his nose is slightly longer than his brother's; Anna appearing with Golem (almost choked up from Hype, as I tend to do sometimes...); Peyote rebelling against the other Hao followers, with the giant skeleton popping out of the sea to cut fat-Chinese-guy in half. Team The Ren jumping out at the sexy little mallgoth slut team was really cool as well, but I already mentioned it earlier (just wanted to emphasize how neat it was, as well as further objectify these girls :P).

[Vikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Continued storyline for the team in Hell as Ren, Joco, and Lyserg join Yoh in their own personal Hell and they all have to fight to become stronger. And also things are escalating in the real world as we reach towards the end and now let's move on and Keep on Reading.

I have always loved comics, and I can and I have. I love comics to bits, may the comics never leave my side. I loved reading this and love reading more. You should also read what you love, and I hope you will always love them. Even though I grew up reading local Indian comics like Raj Comics, Diamond Comics, or even Manoj Comics, now's the time to catch up on international and classic comics and Graphic novels. I am on my quest to read as many comics as I just want to Keep on Reading.

[James Rodrigues · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story's use of death feels like a double-edged sword, managing to use the premise as an ingenious way to strengthen the characters with real stakes, while also diminishing the impact of death when the characters are resurrected so frequently. This volume sees the 5 warriors recruited to defeat Hao in hell, fighting to strengthen themselves and overcome their personal issues. It feels like a transitionary volume, so the characters are strong enough to be a part of whatever comes next. I'm committed to finishing this series, but I'm worrying it'll just disappoint.

[Stephen · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know I am probably being a bit mean on this but characters dying and coming back has become so regular in this series it makes me feel as if it’s as routine as eating a meal. The art is great and the story engaging but I just feel as if the writing is suffering a bit in the original or at least “change it up” category. I will also say the nudity in the series I feel is meant to be funny…and sometimes it is, but other times it is pretty cringe. Anna is in trouble, which isn’t the usual situation in the Shaman King series. I just felt like this book was not solid but maybe it is because I read a number of other manga series books in between coming back to this series. (Also...I feel this is the worst cover of the entire series)

[Hannah Belyea · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yoh, Lyserg, Horohoro, Joco and Ren find themselves facing horrifying power in their own versions of eternal prison as they fight to reach the ranking of five warriors! Takei explores his colourful cast on an emotional level in this entry to the "Shaman King" series. Our heroes may very well find their journeys ending quickly if they fail even once!

[AsianMerr · Rating 2 out of 5]

Woo everyone is alive again 🙄 we’re close to the end, I like the fact that the real world is now going to be involved and the way the last chapter ended here I’m interested to see how they get involved, but man this is the longest tournament arc of all time when you think about it lol

[Ty Ridgway · Rating 5 out of 5]

good book

[Natalia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5

[Siegfried · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew that Matamune would come back, but boy oh boy. What a treat.
Also, hell's arc is kinda cool.
Except the super plot armor on Lyserg as always...

[Gabriela Zambrano A · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5 ⭐️
Un volumen con mucha intriga y confusión. Pero no deja de ser interesante para el lector.

[Rodri · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5: the secret is coming undone

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is so much switching between characters that it can get difficult to remember who is doing what - which has been done before in the series - making it trickier than it should be to follow everything, and therefore also less enjoyable than it could be, in my opinion. Plus too often characters know much more than we expect from their actions/history, and it gets almost annoying; as the reader, it is very difficult to know the exact how annd why of their knowledge (sorry, but the whole 'mastering the Ultra Senji Ryakketsu is getting old and used).

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the whole rest of this series, expect a review for volume 32 on the whole series.

[Mona · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ooh, that is a pretty good twist!!

[Дени ★ Проданова · Rating 4 out of 5]

Продължаваме с връщането от смъртта на този и онзи. Много жалко, че не дадоха битката между Хао и Анна. Най-вероятно е била епична. А начина, по-който и се обяснява граничи с романтичното.

[Vanessa Rincon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hell! (and again... Didn't see myself liking Lyserg this much but here we are)