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Title: The Road to the Tao
Stronghold
Series: Shaman King #8
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 192
Format: Digital Copy
Series: Shaman King #8
Author: Hiroyuki Takei
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 192
Format: Digital Copy
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Synopsis:
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Yoh and Ren
conclude their fight to a draw. The Great Spirit declares they both
get to advance and Tao joins the group that has coalesced around Yoh.
Now that the prelims are over, the real tournament will begin in a
month.
Yoh is confronted
by BoZ the Rocking Monks, who are acting as lackeys for someone named
Hao. Ryu appears and saves Yoh and cuts their hearse in half. Ryu is
also a contestant in the Shaman Fight and now a shaman in his own
right.
Ren heads home to
confront his father. Jun had already done so during Ren's fight with
Yoh and the father Yuan, put her into his dungeons. Ren cuts through
his father's forces only to be crushed by one blow by Yuan and put
into the same place as his sister.
Bason, Ren's spirit
cohort, escapes and begs Yoh and Co to come rescue Ren and Jun. Manta
arranges transport and the gang all head to the ancestral home of the
Tao's. Horohoro and Ryu tell the others to go on while they take care
of Yuan Tao's special goon squad, a set of 5 suped up dead bodies,
each a fusion of human and something else.
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My
Thoughts:
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Ok, I felt cheated. While I figured out that Ren and Yoh would end
up as friends, the “Great Spirit” declaring the draw as a win for
both of them just felt like the manga-ka was taking the easy way out
since he couldn't figure out a way to reconcile Ren's animosity with
the need to make Ren and Yoh friends. Eh, whatever.
I find all the setup in this book pretty impressive. Yuan Tao is dang
impressive, both physically (he “accidentally” crushes a panda
bear he is petting) and psychically (not even Ren could have created
the special hybrid creatures). Of course, it's all overshadowed by
this “Hao” character, whoever he is.
I like the group dynamic. Horoho with his enthusiasm coupled with
Ryu's humorous machismo works perfectly. I am really looking forward
to their battle in the next book. Ren is going to make a great
backbone to Yoh's laidback stoner approach to life.
★★★☆½
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