Hiroyuki Takei

Hiroyuki Takei (my Scanner)

Hiroyuki Takei is an inspirational mangaka, or Japanese comic artist, who has an exceptional talent. He was born on May 15th, 1972 in Yomogita, Aomori, Japan. He began his career as an assistant artsist to Nobuhiro Watsuki who wrote Rurouni Kenshin (another Shonen Jump manga). He launched his own manga after several years of dedicated and hard work. His efforts were rewarded with the Osamu Tezuka and Hop Step awards. Upon writing Butsu Zone, a manga based on Buddhist mythology, he became published in Shonen Jump Weekly in 1997. This got his career to where it is today.

Hao (flickr.com)

In 1998, Takei released his most successful manga: Shaman King. Its plot is as follows: On the way back home from a late night at cram school, Manta Oyamada cuts his way through a local cemetery. While running through, meets Yoh Asakura who is talking with the graveyard spirits. Yoh later tells Manta of his shamanic powers. Manta learns he has enough sixth sense to see ghosts, unlike many people, but not enough to control them. Yoh shows Manta his unique shaman ability to help ghosts achieve their lives’ goal and travel to the afterlife. After a while, Yoh meets Amidamaru, an ancient samurai. Amidamaru becomes Yoh’s ghost partner who aids him in fights.

One day, Yoh meets Ren Tao, a Chinese shaman with a ghost named Bason who was a Chinese warlord. Ren wants to fight with Yoh to prepare for the Shaman Fight and gain ownership of Amidamaru. The Shaman Fight is a tournament held once every 500 years between shamans to find the best who will become the only "Shaman King", or the one who controls the universe and gains the Great Spirit as a battle partner. When Yoh ends in the hospital after his fight with Ren, Anna Kyoyama (Yoh's crazed fiancée) visits and elects herself as his personal trainer. Yoh then is taken on a journey in which he teams up with Ren (who has been reshaped personally) and other shamans including Ryu, Lyserg, Faust VII, Joco, and Horohoro.

In the end, must face off against Hao, an evil monster of a shaman who wants to destroy the human race. He turns out to really be Yoh's twin brother.

Some of Hiroyuki's Newer Work (shamanking-nation.com)

Takei had never officially ended the series, but drew a single panel. The panel featured Hao and Yoh, and Anna. It was unknown for ten years if Yoh or Hao dies and if either win the Shaman Fight. But just several months ago,Hiroyuki Takei released an official ending in Japan. He reprinted all the chapters in Japanese in volumes called "Kang Zeng Bang," or in Japanese, "perfect ending." The final volume, volume 27, was released on April 4th, 2009.

Ultimo (shamanking-nation.com)

Recently, Hiroyuki has worked with Marvel comic creator Stan Lee. The two have collaboratively created a manga titled "Karakuri Douji ULTIMO!" It makes its first appearance in the June 2009 issue of Shonen Jump.

The Final Shaman King

I consider Hiroyuki Takei my hero because he has inspired me. I never had considered reading manga before I stumbled across Shaman King volumes 1 and 11 in my local library. I instantly fell in love with the plot and characters. Those two volumes inspired me to read other manga including One Piece, Bleach, Tegami Bachi-Letter Bee, Naruto, and many more! He has also inspired me to take my drawings to the next level and become a mangaka in Japan working for Shonen Jump. He has created a great story of friendship, passion, nonviolence, and faith that I hope everyone will read. He is a true mangaka whose example I hope to live up to.