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Title: Kung Fu Master
Series: Shaman King #2
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 20
Format: Digital Copy
Series: Shaman King #2
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 20
Format: Digital Copy
Synopsis:
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Yoh survives his
battle with Ren but ends up in a coma for 3 days in the hospital. He
has flashbacks to when his grandfather was training him and we the
audience learn all about The Shaman King. Yoh wakes up and a girl
named Anna walks into his room, abuses Manta, claims she is Yoh's
fiance and then states that'll she be training Yoh over the summer.
Fast forward 3 months, school is starting and Yoh and Manta think
things have settled down, only to find that Anna has transferred to
their class. Those poor guys.
Ryu, ie, Pompadour
Man, and his gang of hooligans finally find their happy place, only
to have it taken over by Ren. Ren's big sister Jun shows up and
promises him she'll get him Amidamaru. She sets up a battle between
her and her corpse ghost and Yoh and Amidamaru. The Tao's had a super
skilled martial artist killed and Jun has been using him, one Lee
Bailong [think Bruce Lee]. Bailong beats the crap out of Yoh and Anna
just watches to see if Yoh is strong enough to eventually be the
Shaman King. Manta goes and confronts Wooden Sword Ryu, beats the
crap out of him with a dictionary and steals his wooden sword. This
allow Amidamaru to defeat Bailong.
Unfortunately, an
uncontrolled Bailong goes full spirit berserk and starts trying to
kill Yoh, even though Yoh just set him free from Jun's control. Anna,
who can control any ghost in existance, calls forth Bailong's old
Master and he integrates with Yoh. Old Master/Yoh have a good chat
with Bailong while beating him senseless for being such a stupid
student.
Everyone comes to
their senses and its all happy smiles and thumps on the shoulder.
Bailong wants to perfect his martial art and so goes along with Jun
so he can continue to use his body. Yoh learns his limits and
realizes he has to get a whole lot better if he hopes to become the
Shaman King.
My
Thoughts:
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This was a very good blend of humor, kick butt fighting scenes and
info dumping. I have to admit, when Yoh was flashbacking to his 4year
old self and he asks if Jesus was a Shaman King, I could only picture
a “Ninja Jesus” complete with throwing stars and katana.
The introduction of Anna is a good choice, as at this point she's
tougher than Yoh and can make him do the stuff he needs to, unlike
Manta. Poor Manta. Anna beats on him like a ragdoll. Yet he shows his
devotion to Yoh by getting the wooden sword from Ryu.
Poor Ryu. He has the worlds most awesome pompadour and it just keeps
getting cut off. He's definitely going to be a “punk with a heart
of gold” kind of character.
The fight scene with Lee Bailong was just right. That is the nice
thing about earlier books in a shonen fighting manga like this,
everyone isn't ridiculously overpowered yet so the battles can't
stretch out for multiple volumes. We also learn a lot about the
various types of shamans and that not everybody is going to be like
Yoh.
One thing I found very interesting, and I might really be reading too
much into it, is that both Anna, as Yoh's family appointed fiance,
and Jun, as Ren's older sister, don't want to be the top Shaman
themselves. At this point, both of the females are stronger than the
male characters but they evince zero interest. I'm going to just say
that the simplest explanation fits and let it go at that.
Happy so far with this. Much more enjoyable than Oh My Goddess and I
suspect that having a goal for the series, for Yoh to become the
Shaman King, helps keep the manga-ka focused.
★★★★☆
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