Shaman King, Vol. 29

シャーマンキング [Shaman King] #29

by Hiroyuki Takei

With Sati Saigan's blessing, Yoh and his friends return from Hell. But the Oyamadas' secretary, Midori Tamurazaki, has been working behind the scenes…and he succeeds in assassinating Hao's followers. Now it's finally time for Yoh's team to take on Team Ren. It's no-holds-barred. Who will emerge victorious?!

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

175 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 30, 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 2 out of 5]

Not only are there odd interactions that should never have taken place unless the intention is to kill all tension built up so far, but this one also sees an annoying interruption to one of the biggest fights in this story yet that really ruin everything. No wonder this series started to fizzle out onto its way to self-destruction. Mangaka Hiroyuki Takei is only getting on to an ending out of necessity.

Yours truly,

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

[Brandon · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Hao has no friends."

Somewhat strange to read so wholesome a manga, with unironic "power of friendship" stuff, not hampered any longer by my own nostalgia. That is, Dragon Ball sometimes (not as often as I remembered) has Son Goku fight for his friends (after finding out he's an alien he just fights to fight), but any such things are filtered to me through a pre-existing lens of Irony I've been spending years dismantling, and the underlining purity is magnified by a lens of Nostalgia. For Shaman King I never really read or watched far enough to see this part of the tournament (I think XEBEC's anime diverges somewhat in its plot, and I stopped following 4Kids's dub at some point anyway) so most of this content is quite new for me. Yoh's always felt like a bit of a stoner, particularly early in the manga when he has actual cannabis leaves printed on his clothing, and as such his purehearted views on friendship and the whole "anyone who can see spirits can't be bad" thing make for a decent twist on the generic shounen-battle-manga hero. So it's especially interesting when all the violence of the previous volume is put on hold so Yoh and Hao can have coffee together and chat briefly on the subject of the Shaman Fight. It is here that Yoh learns Hao's weakness, later revealed to be that Hao has no friends, that his millennium of fighting in Shaman Fights has brought him great strength at the cost of his social humanity, which partly explains why he's so lenient with Yoh - though of course Hao gives his excuse that he wants Yoh to get ever stronger before Hao can eat him and take his power.

Yoh seems to have changed his plan slightly. Previously, he wanted to be Shaman King to live an easy life with Anna and his friends. Then, he decided to allow Hao to become Shaman King so they can defeat him in his slumber within the Great Spirit. Now, it seems Yoh wants to become King again, knowing Hao's true weakness.

Being the appointed shounen-battle-manga rival character, Tao Ren will not stand idly by and allow Yoh's trio to progress, especially after Yoh's transgression in having a drink with their enemy. Ren tests his strength against Yoh, with Horohoro joining in, both of whom easily disable Ryu and Faust. There's a cool bit when Faust is stabbed through the chest by Tao and someone says something about preventing further resurrection ability. It doesn't come up often in manga like this, but I always thought it's kinda strange that so many JRPGs and things have dedicated healers but no such people really exist in battle manga. I recall for instance that Sakura has healing jutsu in some Naruto games on the Nintendo DS, but is mostly useless in the actual manga. Faust can heal wounds and resurrect the dead, but also has sufficient combat abilities. Taking him out lowers the total number of opposing combatants for Team The Ren's favor, but also allows Ryu to stay out of commission due to the loss of his arms (Faust is "killed" while dashing to stitch Ryu's arms back). Taking out the team healer is a good strategy in games and things, but rarely does it come up in manga, even in high-fantasy series inspired by Dragon Quest, &c., as I suppose 12-year-olds, the target audience for most of this stuff, don't care about anything other than fighting and offense-oriented superpowers.

Anyway, it's also cool that Yoh tanks Ren's lightning attack and survives, accusing Ren of not having the will to kill his opponents and back up his own words, despite Ren's own internal shock that he did indeed try to kill Yoh. Yoh is amazed by Ren's electricity and Horohoro's ability to control water vapor, reflecting the nature spirits they will soon obtain (Spirit of Thunder and Spirit of Rain, respectively). Ren is in turn impressed that Yoh survived his attack by doing something with the metal of Harusame, which I guess sets up the Spirit of Earth? It's weird, then, that Yoh's not getting his brother's Spirit of Fire, which will have to go to either Chocolove or Lyserg.

Also, it's cool as fuck when Lyserg interrupts the fight between Team Funbari Onsen and Team The Ren, interrupting everyone's attacks to mog on them with his new O.S., combining Morphine and Zelel into a single entity, based on the Mastema demon from his personal Hell, and resembling an armor-O.S. And then my girl Sati tells Goldva how to run the rest of the Shaman Fight, also bringing Jeanne's X-1 team back into the fold.

It's also cool that Yoh coldly uses Mu-Mu-Myou-Yaku-Mu against Team The Ren, stated elsewhere by Hao to be an offensive version of the furyoku negation everyone's been copying from Team Myooh. It's also cool that it pisses Ren and Horohoro off.

And it's funny that Chocolove just stood there during the whole fight because Avaf was still in Lyserg's Hell.

[Siegfried · Rating 5 out of 5]

The change in pace is interesting.
It's a bit obvious, since... we'll, death isn't an issue now.
But Manta's dad becaming a real threat and Hao's power (and knowledge) is something you don't expect.

Also why is MJ in the middle of the Shaman Fight?

[Vikas · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trips to Hell are complete. Yoh finally meets Hao and has some coffee. Also, the Shaman contest moves forward, and we have our first fight in the third round, between Yoh's team and Ren's team. It was nice too so let's go 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 4 out of 5]

This volume sees Hao and Yoh getting a coffee, and the momentous battle between Yoh's team and Ren's team take place. It's fantastic to see how far these characters have come, and how their power levels have excelled in this time. It feels like we're entering the final stage, as pieces fall into place ready for the endgame. We also have outside forces on their way to the island, and it currently feels out of place, but let's see how it goes.

[Hannah Belyea · Rating 3 out of 5]

A battle like no other is waging in the Shaman Fight: Yoh, Ryu and Faust are facing Ren, Horohoro and Joco - and it appears that the latter team may just have the upper hand! Takei gives fans the faceoff they have been waiting for with this momentous entry in the "Shaman King" series. Who will win out in this battle of will?!

[Vanessa Rincon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Can we agree that Hao is actually really funny? --Also, yes, fight!

[Gabriela Zambrano A · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5⭐️

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Page 44-45 might be simple dialogue…but they meant a lot to me as a reader of this series as I reach the 29th volume of Shaman King. Hiroyuki Takei delivers a beautifully rendered volume, but the action is everywhere. Ren versus Yoh is the real gem of the volume even though neither is on the cover. Ryu experiences something beyond just dramatic (at least in my opinion)! This volume is HEAVY! I am still processing, but it definitely was a mess.

[AsianMerr · Rating 1 out of 5]

This series has become “let’s have cool fights that will be badass when animated” cause the story has taken a nose dive a while ago and continues. The amount of plot holes and cop outs is just ridiculous.

[Keeloween · Rating 3 out of 5]

Annoying

I'm very annoyed at the ending of this vol. Why couldn't we have them really duke it out? Lyserg ughhhhh

[Rodri · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5: FINALISTS

[Rissy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Im getting so close to the end it makes me sad!! so so good.

[Emi えみ Takami 鷹見 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This might be horrible to a lot of Shaman King fans, but I absolutely freaking love Hao. I really think he just needs a hug or two. Heck, let's get him a girlfriend!

Anyhoo... in this volume we have the Yoh's team and Ren's team battling against each other. Lyserg finally comes back from hell, meaning all five warriors are now present. Let's get this show on the road, people!

[Дени ★ Проданова · Rating 4 out of 5]

Голямо разтърсване, наистина. Стават ясни финалните 4 отбора. Малко разочароващо прекъснаха битката на "Дъ Рен" и "Фунбари Онсен", но е по-добре от колкото да се избият... А часта където Хао и Йо си пият кафенце и си чатят беше толкова миличка.

[Dylan · Rating 4 out of 5]

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