Yoh Asakura
'Yoh is a fictional character and protagonist of the manga series Shaman King created by Hiroyuki Takei. Yoh is a shaman with a lazy demeanor who is accompanied by a six-hundred-year-old samurai ghost, Amidamaru. When first introduced, Yoh appears as a young teenager who wishes to become the "Shaman King", the world's ruler, in an attempt to grant his own wish of living a peaceful life. However, as he befriends more people in the shaman fighting tournament to become the Shaman King, it is revealed Yoh has a twin brother named Hao Asakura who wishes to destroy humanity. As a result, Yoh's objective changes to stop his brother's hatred to mankind.
Yoh also in the prequel Shaman King Zero and in the sequel Shaman King Flowers. He also appears in the anime adaptation of Shaman King where his Japanese voice actress is Yūko Satō, and his English dub voice is provided by Sebastian Arcelus. He also appears as the protagonist in all the Shaman King video games and appears in multiple crossover fighting games alongside other characters that appeared in the same magazine that Shaman King'' debuted. Critical reception to Yoh has been mostly positive, based on his interactions with other characters. Merchandising based on him has also been released.
Creation
For Takei, Yoh was the hardest character to make; Takei explained that it was difficult to develop Yoh's character because of the criteria set by Weekly Shōnen Jump. The engagement between Yoh and Anna being introduced at the beginning of the story has been regarded as unusual for a shonen manga for its maturity and partly reflects Takei's own personal experience, but it still an ideal relationship.Overview
Yoh is the protagonist of Shaman King who befriends a fellow student from school named Manta Oyamada during his introduction. When Manta is badly beaten by local delinquents led by "Wooden Sword" Ryu, Yoh reveals himself to be a shaman and comes to Manta's defense with the help of a six-hundred-year-old samurai ghost, Amidamaru. Yoh and Manta soon become best friends and have numerous adventures involving local ghosts until Yoh reveals his actual purpose in coming to Tokyo: he has come to train for the Shaman Fight, an event that occurs once every 500 years, where shaman from all over the world will battle to become the Shaman King and gain the power to change the world. In order to ensure the trains properly, Yoh is soon joined by his fiancée Anna Kyoyama, an itako from Aomori, who drives Yoh relentlessly and brutally so that he may stand up to the powerful opponents he will have to contend with in order to become Shaman King. While Yoh possesses an overly laid-back personality and lazy demeanor, he is noted as being a perceptive individual who is generally able to remain cool under pressure. His most distinctive trait is a pair of orange headphones and a necklace with three bear claws, both of which he wears almost constantly; his usual attire consists of his school uniform with his shirt unbuttoned along with a pair of sandals. He is the latest descendant and heir to the Asakura family, a prestigious family of a shaman whose lineage dates back to the Heian era.Despite Yoh's claims that he wishes to become Shaman King merely to live an easy life, his primary motivation is the promise he made to Anna when they first met and he saved her life after her powers, fueled by her deep-seated hatred of humanity and the resulting loneliness she felt, nearly destroyed her. Because Yoh's own loneliness in childhood, resulting from being regarded as an outcast by his peers for being a shaman, he deeply treasures his friends and will not hesitate to do anything to protect them.
It is revealed in the series Yoh was born as the younger of a pair of identical twin brothers to Keiko Asakura and Mikihisa Maki. Before Yoh's birth, it had been predicted that the family's progenitor, Hao Asakura, would reincarnate himself for the second time as one of Keiko's children and attempt to become Shaman King. The circumstances allowed the Asakuras to spare Yoh and Yohmei raised his grandson with the hope that he would be able to defeat Hao once and for all, thwarting Hao's plans to create a shaman only world.
In 1995, Yoh's grandmother Kino suggests that Yoh be engaged to her apprentice, Anna Kyoyama. Accompanied by the spirit Matamune, Yoh went to Aomori and fell in love with Anna at first sight. However, her unchecked ability to read minds resulted in Anna closing her heart off and developing a hatred of humanity, which manifested as powerful demons. Matamune, who had once been the original Hao's greatest friend, used his power to help Yoh save Anna; Anna began to open her heart again out of the love she had developed for Yoh and Yoh resolved to become strong enough to summon Matamune again in material form.
Upon entering the Shaman Fight, he meets a number of the shaman who would become his friends and allies. Upon the second round of the Shaman Fight, Yoh becomes the leader of "Team Funbari Onsen", which includes "Wooden Sword" Ryu and Faust VIII as his teammates. When Yoh learns of his connection to Hao and learns more about his past and personality, Yoh becomes determined not only to stop Hao from realizing his plan to create a shaman only world, but also to the considerably more difficult task of saving Hao by defeating the darkness in Hao's heart.
Other appearances
In Funbari no Uta, a series of short stories written by Hiroyuki Takei and set six or seven years after the conclusion of Shaman King, it is revealed that Yoh and Anna had a son named Hana. The child wields Yoh's Futsunomitama Sword and travels around with Ryu Umemiya in search of the Five Elemental Warriors. An older Yoh and Anna do not appear until the conclusion of the short series, apparently on their way to Funbari Hill, as they have been traveling around the world in order to resolve various conflicts. In their absence, Hana was raised by Tamao Tamamura with no awareness of who his actual parents are, though Tamao intends to tell him when his parents return at last. Yoh and Anna also appear in flashbacks in Shaman King Flowers, the sequel from Shaman King series set about six or seven years after Funbari no Uta with Hana. Shaman King Flowers also revealed Yoh became a father when he was 16 years old.Yoh appears as a playable character for the Nintendo DS titles, Jump Superstars and Jump Ultimate Stars. He also appears as a main character in the various video games based on the Shaman King series.
Reception
He has been featured various times in the Animage's Anime Grand Prix polls, ranking as one of the most popular male anime characters. Merchandise based on Yoh have been released, including action figures, key chains, and plush toys. In a Shaman King popularity poll from 2018, Yoh's first appearance was voted as the series' most popular character.Critical reception to Yoh's character has been both positive and negative. Justin Freeman from Anime News Network qualified Yoh as an "easy-going" person. He criticized the fact that "Yoh is a vessel for his ephemeral allies, but in reality, they up end being a vessel for him, to the benefit of no one." Writing for Mania Entertainment, Eduardo Chavez commented that Yoh is "such a laid back casual character", and that "Yoh's attitude to not go beyond his own abilities might be a little lazy" but he thinks that is "a smart approach to conserve mental and physical strength." Chris Beverdige also from Mania said Yoh is "very much a laid back slacker." Alexander Hoffman of Comics Village declared "in this first novel, letting the relationships between Yoh, Amidamaru, and Manta flesh out is more important that developing every spiritual entity that shows up." Active Anime's Holly Ellingwood praised the Yoh's "much more idealistic and noble than that of his rivals." A reviewer for The Star noted that while it was predictable that Yoh will meet other Shamans to become the Shaman King he noted it would be entertaining how the character will develop more powers. While reviewing the manga's twenty-second volume, Margaret Veira from Active Anime remarked the scenes in which Yoh starts feeling rage to the point she said "you can feel the anger emanating from the page! It feels so real!" In the book "Summoning the Spirits: Possession and Invocation in Contemporary Religion", author Andrew Dawson called Yoh the "Japanese Shaman" as he is not based on any religion unlike other characters appearing in the series despite noting some his relationship with the spirit of Amidamaru who is closed on Buddahood. Dawson also praised Yoh's character for being relatable with most of the readers of the series.