Shaman King

Meet Asakura Yoh, who is like any other normal child his age, except for one thing.. he is a shaman and able to see spirits. Together with Amidamaru, his 600 years old samurai spirit, Yoh participates in the Shaman Fight, a tournament which takes place once every 500 years to determine who becomes the Shaman King. While working towards this goal, he comes across many other shamans, each with his or her own reason for wanting to claim this title.

Osorezan Revoir

This part contains spoilers for volumes 19 and 20, in which the Osorezan Revoir takes place.

The Osorezan Revoir is the tale of Anna and Yoh's first meeting. Five years prior to the current situation, ten years old Yoh is sent to Aomori at the start of his winter break, for his wife has been chosen for him. He is accompanied by Matamune, one of the oldest Asakura spirits, who takes the form of a cat. During their trip to Aomori, we discover that Yoh, while being surrounded by people in the main storyline, actually did not have any friends at all back then. He explains this as the main reason why he aspires to become the Shaman King, to see if that would change his situation.

Then there is Anna, an orphan who was taken in by Asakura Kino, Yoh's grandmother. She was taken in as a disciple to become an itako, who are normally blind, but Anna still has her eyesight. A girl covered in blood, from her past to present, she is said to be a "difficult girl to handle". Anna, who has an ability called "reishi", is able to understand a person's feelings and thoughts, without having to look or listen to said person. However, unable to control this gift, Anna was abandoned by everyone, she was lonely and started to hate the world she was born in. All this hate made it possible for oni's (a "being" full of grudge and resentment) to materialize in a solid form.

Anna and Yoh's first encounter isn't the exciting and lovey-dovey kind -- in fact, it's the exact opposite. Yoh, who has no idea what Anna looks like, meets her by chance, and is told to "go and die" for blocking her way. What a way to be greeted by your fiancée! Nevertheless, Anna is in fact thankful Yoh came to meet her, but she does not wish for him to lead a life full of danger, and thus tries to cut ties with him. Things take a turn for the better when Yoh, sharp as always, sees through Anna and convinces her to go out and make a prayer for the new year. It is also here where Yoh makes a promise to stand by Anna, and to help her deal with her ability.

Unfortunately, by the time Anna and Yoh reach the temple, a large amount of oni have already materialized, and by absorbing each other, is turning into one giant oh-oni. Even so, he cannot defeat Matamune, and in an attempt to get away, he takes Anna with him to Osorezan, a place where many spirits gather. Yoh and Matamune follow him there, and they become one through "hyoui gattai", to defeat the oh-oni and to save Anna. However, this causes Matamune to dissapear, because he used up his furyoku, and cannot stay in the human world without a physical body. As a sign of their friendship, Yoh still wears Matamune's bear claw necklace to this day.

But aside from this story, we also get to know a bit more about Hao when he was still an onmyouji. He met Matamune in a time when many died, and took a liking to him for his strength to survive. Matamune describes Hao as a very gentle person: "There is none that has a heart as kind as his." But it is this kind heart of his, combined with the ability of reishi, that turned Hao from someone gentle into one that finds regular humans unworthy to live. Although Hao gave Matamune the possibility to turn into a spirit, an example of his good nature, his kind character and extraordinary shamanic powers caused his heart to be consumed by oni. No longer could he control whether or not to read people's thoughts and feelings, leading him to become the man he is today. If only he had someone like Yoh to save him, he could have turned into an entirely different person.