As teased in last week’s episode…Best Girl (and Waifu) Anna has made her iconic and sassy entrance! Yoh, who is still recovering from his duel with Ren, is not at all delighted to see his feisty fiancé, and less so when she puts him under her intensive shaman king training course. But that’s just the charm of Anna and also why fans still adore her so much to this day and in this remake.
Speaking of badass female characters, Yoh, Manta, and Anna encounter the shaman Tao Jun (voiced by Michiko Neya), who has come to seize Amidamaru from Yoh, after her brother Ren failed to do so. Through the mystical power of her talismans, she controls the spirit of Lee Pyron (voiced by Tooru Sakurai), a renowned Dao Dan Do fighter, which is basically mixed martial arts. Can she break the bond between Yoh and Amidamaru?!
So, this was another fun but fleeting episode. Fun because of all the shaman/spirit action we get front row seats to (not to mention Anna’s deadly slaps we get secondhand embarrassment from). But fleeting because the main storyline has yet to be revealed or at least there’s nothing to tie in the events of the past episodes. Do keep in mind that we are just on Episode 3 and compared to the original series, all of this happened in a span of two to three episodes. Now, that’s plot pacing for you.
Speaking of storylines, we have also yet to see the appearance of the main antagonist, which is maybe why this episode feels so momentary. We don’t have a villain to hate yet thus, we don’t have something or someone to look forward to in the next week. All of the “bad guys” so far have seem to be won over by Yoh’s friendly attitude towards spirits. Don’t fret though for those of you who crave something edgier—things will get edgier in due time.
Also, a quick shout out to Manta who also brought his A game this week even in the company of such shaman heavyweights. He may be small—and he is terribly small—but he damn knows his way around to using a big, fat encyclopedia as a weapon. Case in point: Ryu, aka the Wooden Sword aka notorious gang leader aka the ass Yoh and now Manta whooped. Expect to see him in the coming episodes...
Overall, this was a relatively chill, relatively packed episode. Hopefully, things can only pick up from here on out.
Shaman King airs Thursdays at 17:55 JST.
Official Anime Website: shamanking-project.com
Official Anime Twitter: @SHAMANKING_PR
