Yoh Asakura
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Yoh Asakura (麻倉 葉 Asakura Yō?) is the main character in the anime and manga Shaman King. In the original Japanese anime, his name is sometimes romanized with a circumflex, sometimes romanized as Yoh, and sometimes romanized as You, while in the English adaptations, his name is always romanized as Yoh.
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[edit] Character
Yoh was four years old in 1989 and therefore was born in 1985. Yoh, hailing from Izumo, Shimane Prefecture, Japan, is a slacker and wants to become Shaman King so that he could lead an easy life, as well as to fulfill his promise to his fiancée. His fiancée, Anna Kyōyama, is pushing him into being the Shaman King. Yoh's grandparents paired them up in an arranged marriage in order to keep the family bloodline going (In the English anime, Anna saved Yoh's life and Yoh promised her that she would be Shaman Queen if he was Shaman King).
Yoh's best friend is the panicky Manta Oyamada (Mortimer "Morty"). As the story progresses, Yoh's adversaries are often won over by his good nature and become his allies in the Shaman Tournament. Yoh attends Shinra Private Academy along with Anna Kyoyama and Manta, and along with them is in Class C in the 7th grade.
Yoh is 13 years old. He was born on May 12 and is a Taurus. His blood type is A. In the manga, by the time the prelimenaries are over and the final tournament starts, he has become 15 years old(Hao's profile in one of the later volumes states his age as 15, therefore Yoh is 15 at that time as well).
Yoh is part of the Funbari Hotspring Team (Team Asakura in the English anime). It is stated in the first volume of the manga that Yoh's name means "Leaf" in Japanese. His favourite musician, "SOUL BOB", is a reference to Bob Marley.
Jeanne has described his Mana as,"soothing, calm and crystal clear." Jeanne then asks Yoh if he would consider becoming an X-Law. He rejects and says good-night.
[edit] Amidamaru
Yoh's spirit ally is Amidamaru, a dead samurai, and his sword is named Harusame, which means 'Spring Rain' (called "The Sword of Light" in the English dub). Yoh has different special attacks, based on certain positions. One of them is the most common: Amida-Ryuu Dai Gokoujin (Halo Blade in the English anime). This is when Yoh and Amidamaru do a very powerful slash that can be quite murderous. The other attack, Shinkuu Buttagiri (or Celestial Slash in the english dub), is where they emit an energy wave from their sword. At one point in the anime, Yoh and Amidamaru execute an attack, Shinkuu Buttagiri, in which Yoh strikes using the over-soul shield. This attack is presumably a lot weaker than his other muscle memory techniques.
[edit] Family
It is revealed in Shaman King that part of the reason why it is critically important for Yoh to become Shaman King is that he has to defeat Hao Asakura (Zeke in the English anime), who wants to destroy humanity.
When Hao and Yoh first meet, what is notable is that Yoh is a dead ringer for Hao, except for his shorter hair length. Even as it is revealed that Hao was actually Yoh's ancestor, who reincarnated himself, it doesn't seem to explain how the two look so alike.Eventually, it is revealed that the two are actually twins.
Hao had been defeated by the members of the Asakura family one thousand years ago, but he managed to reincarnate himself 500 years later as a member of the Patch Village Tribe (Dobi Village in English anime). In his first reincarnation, he was defeated by Yohken Asakura (an ancestor of Yoh's) and the spirit Matamune. Not one to give up so easily, Hao reincarnates himself back into the Asakura family 500 years later, this time as one half of a pair of twins, by accident. The fact was that they weren't just twins. Hao and Yoh were actually once one and the same person, Hao had the larger portion of his soul with all his memories, while Yoh had the smaller portion, as the original Hao's soul somehow split when he got reborn. In other words, Yoh was Hao in his previous life, and they used to be one. Later, the reason why Hao wants Yoh to get stronger is revealed. Hao had said, " Please take care of my other half of my body well. I'll eventually come back to claim it."
The Asakura family is notable for its spiritual prowess and only those with the strongest spiritual abilities marry into the family. Anna, because of her unusually strong itako powers, is one of the select few who may become members of family. Yoh, in particular, possesses a rare potential seen in few members of the family.
Yoh's father, Mikihisa Asakura (麻倉 幹久 Asakura Mikihisa), is an ascetic monk and commands two spirits of nature, a kitsune (fox) and a tanuki (raccoon-dog). Keiko Asakura, his mother, is a miko whose most distinguished ability is hearing spirits telling of impending disaster. Yoh's grandfather, Yohmei Asakura (麻倉葉明 Asakura Yōmei), is an onmyōji known for his divining abilities. His grandmother, Kino Asakura, is a master itako who trains young girls in the art at Osorezan.
[edit] Abilities/Techniques
Ko-Oni Strike (小鬼ストライク) - he learned this technique from his grandfather Yohmei and used it when he was 10 years old. Yoh can create three tiny leaf Shikigamis and send them flying towards his target. This is a weak attack however.
Okyō (御経)- in the manga, he learned this technique from Anna. By chanting a prayer (the Sankiraimon or the Three Refuges Prayer), he can make a spirit to pass on to the afterlife. This technique only works on spirits that have some understanding of or belief in the Buddhist teachings.
Chō SenjiRyakketsu FumonTonkou (超占事略決-巫門遁甲) - this was taught to Yoh by Anna where a shaman can read the flow of furyoku and determine where the opponent may attack next.
Chō SenjiRyakketsu MikazukaNoHarae (超占事略決 - 三日月ノ祓) - in the manga, this final technique was left to Yoh by Matamune and used this technique to exorcise the Oni Anna created. Matamune had to pass on because of this technique.
ShinkuuBuddaGiri (真空仏陀切り, Shockwave Buddha-Giri, (Celestial Slash in the English anime) - a technique Yoh uses often, he slashes in the air and sends a powerful shockwave (which takes form of a red horizontaly curved wave) to damage an opponent. He can sometimes use it even if he is not combined with Amidamaru.
GokōJin (後光刃) - an attack similar to the Shockwave Buddha-Giri. This is Amidamaru's original technique. The first time he performed it was when he used Hyoi Gattai at 100% for the first time against Tao Ren. In Oversoul mode, it was performed for the first time after coming out from the cave of Omi.
Amidamaru Shield (阿弥陀丸シールド)- Amidamaru's oversoul can change its shape and take form of a shield which is similar to the armor Amidamaru wears on his shoulders.
DaiGokōJin (大後光刃) - The attack is like an enhanced version of the GokouJin with a bigger range when Yoh uses the Spirit of Sword.
Oversoul missile - When Yoh uses the double medium, he can launch energy out of the weapon to propel himself towards his opponent. He uses this to attack the Spirit of Fire after it absorbed the King of Spirits.
[edit] Trivia
- Yoh is obsessed about food. In the English anime, he is specifically obsessed about cheeseburgers.
- Technically, Yoh and the present Hao were both Hao in his previous incarnation. They are actually one and the same person, only in two different bodies when Hao's soul got split when he was reincarnated, like Kagome Higurashi and Kikyo in InuYasha. In Inuyasha Kagome was Kikyo's reincarnation, much like Yoh is Hao's reincarnation, and Kikyo's soul was separated into two halves, one half became the part that had Kikyo's memories, but still wasn't completely Kikyo, and Yoh is actually Hao, it's just that he doesn't have Hao's memories, and is the cheerful side of Hao that was buried deep in Hao himself.
- In the short story Funbari no Uta, the main character, Hana Asakura, is the son of Yoh and Anna.
- In one episode of the Japanese version of the Shaman King anime, Pirika wrongly states that Yoh's name is Ha Makura (Makura Ha) due to incorrectly reading the kanji that makes up Yoh's name. The joke does not entirely translate into the English version, where she pronounces it correctly but remarks "Yoh Asakura? What kind of weird name is that?". Yoh counters her comment by saying that she does not really have the right to make fun of his name considering her brother's name is HoroHoro.
- In the bonus episode of where Yoh, Ren, Ryu and Manta are watching the playbacks of Yoh's previous adventures of the first half of the series, Yoh continuely rolls an orange on the table with Amidamaru watching over and commenting with a simple sentence, "Funga fu fu",which literally means "Orange yum yum".
- Apparently, only Yoh controls when and where he falls asleep, for effects that would put a normal person to sleep is delayed for Yoh.
- His favourite singer is Soul Bob.
[edit] Funbari no Uta
Following the conclusion to Shaman King, it is revealed in Takei's shorts, Funbari no Uta, that Yoh and Anna have a son named Hana. He travels around (while wielding Yoh's Futsunomitama blade (the Antiquity) with Ryu looking for five legendary warriors (meaning the lengendary warriors are Tao Ren, Chocolove Mcdaniel, Usui Horokeu (Horohoro), and Lyserg Diethel) while his parents are away. It appears that Tamao Tamamura is responsible for looking after him while Yoh and Anna are away.
| Shaman King |
|---|
| Techniques |
| Over Soul (Spirit Control)| Giant Over Soul (Giant Spirit Control) |Double Medium | Spirit Reduction |
| Characters |
| Asakura Family:Yoh Asakura | Anna Kyōyama | Kino Asakura | Yohmei Asakura | Hana Asakura | Yohken Asakura |
| Allies/Teammates: Horohoro (Trey Racer) | Manta Oyamada (Morty) | Chocolove McDaniel (Joco) | Faust VIII | "Wooden Sword" Ryu (Rio) | Tamao Tamamura (Tamara) |
| Spirits: Amidamaru | Bason | Lee Bailong | Tokagero |
| Native American Shamans: Silva | Kalim |
| Tao Family: Tao Jun (Jun) | Tao Ren (Len) | Tao Yúan (En) |
| X-Laws: Iron Maiden Jeanne | Lyserg Diethel | Marco |
| Enemies: Hao Asakura (Zeke) | The Hanagumi | Opacho |
