Shaman – Review of the first volume

After talking about Exquisite! let’s continue with the theme of Italian manga published by Jundo talking about Shaman, one of the most interested projects by the young publishing house. Since its announcement, in fact, I admit that the shonen has managed to capture my interest also because, due to the title, it reminded me a lot Shaman Kingwhose anime kept me company for years during my sleepless nights.

Starting to read the work of the two Italian artists, Shinichi Hotaka And Arisubut I immediately noticed how the latter manages to deviate well from the masterpiece of Hiroyuki Takeifinding its own dimension.

We reviewed Shaman via the print volume provided to us free of charge by Jundo.

The story, therefore, opens by immediately showing us the protagonist of Shamanor Aki struggling with what seems like a dream in which someone or something is talking to him. In fact, when he wakes up, something has changed as the boy will find a mysterious sphere right next to where he was sleeping. As will be explained in the following pages, therefore, in this world there are these relics capable of giving incredible powers to their owners. Also, a bit like the fruits of one piecealso seals Of Shaman they will all be different from each other, giving elemental and non-elemental powers. For example, some of the characters will base their power respectively on music and on monarchs. Unfortunately for Aki, however, not all seal holders are good, in fact he won’t even have time to find it before he will be hunted down by one of the hunters, real seal seekers who have no problem killing to complete their mission.

What particularly struck me about Shaman it’s his rhythm. From the first pages we will witness several clashes in which, despite himself, Aki will be involved, all however broken up by various explanations regarding the plot. Just to give an example, rather than slowing down the pace with explanatory balloons, the use of seals will be explained to us directly by an expert in the field which Aki will turn to since he too was completely unaware of what the sphere could do. Another key element of Shaman, as reiterated several times, is Yin and Yang, the concept of light and shadow.

As anticipated, in fact, not everyone will use the seals for good and the inexperienced Aki will immediately find himself risking his life since he has not yet understood what his power is. Furthermore, this first real battle reminded me a little of the first one Yoh vs. Lenbefore the start of the shaman tournament except that, in this case, the protagonist won’t come out well, which I find much more realistic given his inexperience. Shaman has all it takes to be your neighbor shonen favorite.

Note of merit also for the drawings which, despite a very dirty style, manage to make even the most frenetic cartoons clear. The icing on the cake is the use of screens on the backgrounds, which helped to give greater depth to various scenes. Furthermore, for just six euros, we will be able to take home a very respectable edition with even the dust jacket which hides the same design as the cover but “sketched”. Furthermore, the title of the manga was printed in relief and with a golden border, a choice that managed to give considerable value to the volume.

Who do we recommend Shaman to?

Shaman it’s an excellent product, a shonen that I would recommend to any fan of the genre. In my opinion, in fact, Arisu And Shinichi they managed to take the best of several cornerstones of the genre and mix them together. As mentioned, in fact, the work does not shine for originality but it works so damn well that all this will not be a problem, on the contrary, we can’t wait to find out more about the world created by the two Italian artists.