Hao Asakura (麻倉葉王 Asakura Hao, also written as ハオ Hao), known as Zeke Asakura in the English anime, is a fictional character in the anime and manga series Shaman King. His seiyu is Minami Takayama, and his voice actor is Sebastian Arcelus.

Character

Hao Asakura is the main antagonist and the ancestor, twin brother and previous incarnation of Yoh Asakura, the main protagonist. The original Asakura Hao from 500 years ago was re-incarnated in the two of them.

A powerful shaman of the Asakura clan, he strived to become Shaman King one thousand years prior to the start of the story. He had mastered all the arts and techniques of Onmyoudou, including the ability to see the future, use reishi (soul sight), command powerful spirits and allow and control the circumstances of reincarnation.

Hao had the Reishi (a form of telepathy that allows the user to see the hearts of others), but he could not control the limit of the power. Because he lived in a time of war, disease, and famine (the Heian period), he attempted to help others with his powers. However, he began to see the darker side of human nature as he discovered through his reishi that those he helped were jealous and afraid of his power, and convinced them that he was evil.

His heart became consumed with hatred for humanity and began to plot the destruction of humanity by becoming Shaman King. He believes that by doing so, the planet and other animals that humans abused would be saved. In this time, he also allowed people to worship him as god, and appears to have developed a superiority complex, regarding all other beings as his inferiors; a belief made more dangerous by his ability to back up this claim.

Hao is by far the most powerful and talented shaman who has ever lived. In his original life, he was already the strongest shaman of his day, but since learning the ways of reincarnation, he has become a truly powerful being, his strength many hundreds—perhaps many thousands—of times greater than his nearest rivals. Both the Shaman Council and his descendant's—in both the Asakura family and Silva's tribe—fear him greatly. They have sought to bar him from the Shaman tournament, but know this is impossible, in part because he distracts the brutal rival Shaman faction the X-Laws, but mainly because if they tried to stop him, they know they would have no way of winning. Being the strongest shaman, Hao has a furyoku of 1,250,000.

In some chapters in the series, the relationship between Anna and Hao, he seemed to have feelings for her apparently because he was amused by her strong powers, personality and beauty. It has been said that Anna was his type once. Although Hao states that Anna is the only person he trusts,(chapter 250), and he was serious of telling her she will be his bride.

History

Ever since the start of his life, humans have constantly persecuted Hao. He had the ability to see demons and when he was young, his mother was murdered because people believed her to be a Yokai. Having his house burnt, Hao wandered and lived aimlessly, believing himself to be a boy with demonic powers (Since the other boys bullied him for this) and dreaming to exterminate all humans. However, one day while sitting by a gate, he met a spirit named Ohachiyo and they quickly became friends. Ohachiyo gave him the nickname mappa-douji (meaning demon boy) and convinced him to forget his vengeance towards humans and rather enjoy the aspects of life. Ohachiyo taught him things such as the skill of fishing, the sweetness of candy, the names of different song birds, and most importantly the ability of Reishi. Hao followed his word and lived life with a smile, for a moment at least. However, when a guard apparently heard Hao conversing with himself at night, he immediately suspected Hao of being a demon, and reported to Monk Densen, a known exorcist. Densen proved to be a fraud, and was easily overpowered, however this battle also proved to be a breaking point in Hao's path to evil. Hao recognized the man to be the one who killed his mother, and with his first oversoul, performed his first murder. By over depleting his Furyoku, Hao was unable to maintain control of his powers and unintentionally consumed Ohachiyo's power. This event leads to a constant Reishi that Hao is unable to turn off, leading to his path towards destruction. Having experienced the sensation of a shaman, Hao proved to be a genius in the divine abilities and his skills flourished with time. Hao grew to possess a good nature and worked as an onmyōji that eliminated demons. Though he sometimes created Oni from his sadness and anger, Hao was able to control the demons to his will. During this period, he also came across Matamune, a cat that would prove to play a great part in Hao's life by first helping Asakura Yohken to defeat him 500 years later, as well as teaching and fighting with Yoh against the grand Oni that threatened Anna Kyōyama. Hao stated that Matamune was his only true friend, and gave it some of his spiritual energy in the hopes that Matamune would stay with him forever. Nevertheless, the curse implanted on Hao from Ohachiyo was permanent and eventually drove Hao mad. Matamune sadly left Hao as he saw his master go into madness and blames himself for not being able to help him. Hao eventually learns of the Shaman Fight, and comes to believe it is the key to cleansing the world of non-shamans, which he felt were defiling the natural world. His plans to create a shaman-only world are discovered and the Asakura clan stood against him and managed to defeat him. Afterwards, the Asakura family decided to change their family symbol from the traditional Yin-Yang five star sign (the emblem of the family's head, Hao) into a seven star tree that stated their renewal. However, Hao's Ying-Yang jutsu, the mastery of the five elements of nature (fire, metal, wood, earth, water), prevented his permanent death as he could now control the circumstances of his reincarnation. He was able to gain the ability to control his soul using the ritual of Taizan Fukun, one of the greatest and most esoteric of Onmyodo arts, an old name for the god of the underworld. Though Taizan Fukun could only be reached by getting past the seventy five Lords of Hell, succeeding in making a contract with him gives one the ability to resurrect the dead or reincarnate themselves at will. The fact that Hao was able to perform this act as a living human being is a testament to his power, given that not even ghosts can reach Taizan Fukun.

He chose to be reborn 500 years later, in time for the next Shaman Fight. His new incarnation was as one of the Patch, the clan that organizes the Shaman Fight. During this time, he obtained the Spirit of Fire, the honor and symbol of the Patch tribe. With his new ghost, Hao conquered many enemies with ease, including the five Seminoa warriors sent to stop him. He once again projected his idea of a shaman world, but was rejected by the shamans he was trying to promote. Though he was ultimately killed once more, by Asakura Yohken with the assistance of Matamune (his former loyal companion) using the Futsu no Mitama (the Antiquity in the English anime), a sword of spirits, and the Senhachijuu (only in the anime), a set of 1080 prayer beads containing powerful spirits of the Asakura family. In the manga, the 1080 beads were not used as they were created from the spirits that formed the demon that Anna summoned, and so clearly the 1080 had not existed back then. Hao came very close to winning the shaman tournament, and was able to demonstrate the capacity of his power, becoming very infamous to shamans world wide. Despite the fact he died before becoming Shaman King, he achieved his goal of capturing the legendary Spirit of Fire for use as his guardian spirit in his next life.

• Silva, the council member overseeing Yoh, is a descendent of the Patch Hao. Their similarity is so striking that at first Yoh mistakes Patch Hao for Silva.

Miscellanea

Hao enjoys watching fights, particularly those that involve Yoh. During the anime, from the time Yoh arrives in America, Hao is always watching him at some point. However it is the fights that the strong shamans and Yoh are in that Hao is most interested, given his aloof and elitist attitude to the world.

At one point, he also shows great interest in Ren, asking him to join his team. Ren refuses, and Hao does not bring up the subject again until the final battle in the anime. He states that Ren's temper is suitable for his power, "as expected of someone I once had my eyes on."

Hao constantly keeps an eye on Yoh or sends his men or women to do his bidding in an effort to make Yoh stronger so that when he and Yoh "become one", Hao won't be pulled back by Yoh's weakness. The reason for this is that Yoh is actually Hao's reincarnation- part of Hao's original soul was reincarnated as Yoh, so Hao wants to merge their souls eventually so he can become whole again, and much more powerful.

Near the end of the series, there are some differences that should be noted: In the Japanese version of the anime, Hao is disgusted with Yoh due to his "Everything will work out" attitude. In addition, he says that he has more than enough power ever since the Spirit of Fire consumed Shamash, so he no longer needs Yoh. However, he still consumes Yoh's soul because he considers him an eyesore. In the English dub, Hao says that Yoh's true purpose is to join forces with him so that they can take the Great Spirits (King of Spirits in the English dub), and since Yoh refuses, he consumes his soul, but not before hinting that he would've spared Yoh had he just "fulfilled his destiny".

Followers

• Kanna Bismarch
• "Big Guy" Bill Burton
• Han Zanchin
• Peyote Diaz (Tecolote in the English manga)
• Luchist Lasso
• Blocken Maiya
• Maltida Matisse
• Nichrome
• Opacho
• Marion Phauna
• Sugimoto Ryou
• Mohammad Tabharish
• Boris Tepes Dracula
• Kouji Yamada
• Yoneda Zen

Events of Shaman King

Upon Hao's second reincarnation, he chose to be reborn as a member of the Asakura family once more. However, his soul ends up splitting in two; the other half becomes Hao's twin brother, Yoh Asakura. This made both of them the reincarnations of the original Asakura Hao, and it was said since Yoh was, in a sense, Hao, as the two of them were once one and the same, he might be the only one capable of defeating Hao.

As he is being born into his second incarnation, Yohmei Asakura attempts to assassinate him, but hesitates at the last moment. The moment of hesitation is enough as the Spirit of Fire appears and takes Hao away forcefully. In the fight that ensues, Mikihisa Asakura, Yoh and Hao's father, is permanently disfigured, and has to wear a mask at all times. While the Asakuras had failed to prevent Hao from attempting to becoming Shaman King, the birth of Yoh brought hope that Hao would finally be defeated. After this time Hao also recruits a number of powerful shaman and each forms divisional groups ending with the word -gumi. These groups include:

• Hoshigumi:

Hao Asakura, Luchist Lasso, and Opacho

• Hanagumi:

Marion Phauna, Maltida Matisse, and Kanna Bismarch

• Tsuchigumi:

Peyote Diaz, and "Yoneda Zen and Sugimoto Ryou", otherwise known as Boz (Or in the dubbed series, the flying zen brothers)

• Tsukigumi :

Han Zang Ching, Big Guy Bill, and Mohammad Tabharish

• Kazegumi :

Boris Tepes Dracula, Yamada Kouji, and Blocken Maiya

Hao is Yoh's identical twin, who is a small part of Hao, and he has regained a body with the powerful blood of the Asakura lineage. The relationship between Yoh and Hao is not unlike that of Eriol Hiiragizawa and Fujitaka Kinomoto (see Cardcaptor Sakura), in that only one of the two characters inherits all of the power and memories of their past lives.

His guardian spirit is the Spirit of Fire. However, because of the Spirit's journey back from hell, it lost much of its power, which it regained by consuming other souls. By the time of the Shaman Fight, the Spirit of Fire is only very slightly less powerful than 500 years before, which is visible in the scene where Hao destroys the Seminoa warriors.

In the anime, Hao forcefully subjects the Great Spirits to his will, gaining unimaginable power in the process. The Spirit of Fire morphs and its new form easily defeats all of Yoh's group in a single attack. Yoh, who had just broke out of his prison and nearly beat Hao a moment ago, was now easily defeated by Hao, now practically unstoppable. However, eventually every single shaman in the world donates their furyoku, or what is left of it, to Yoh, and he achieves an ultimate oversoul that uses furyoku to recreate a body for both the Spirit and the Shaman. Hao and Yoh continue to struggle, until finally Hao is defeated by the combined power of the world, and the holy land of the stars disintegrates around the shamans.

However in the manga, Hao does eventually become Shaman King and it is during this period that he loses the Spirit of Fire (obtained by Lyserg) for the ultimate power, the great spirit itself. Though Yoh and his team were on the path to stopping him while he slept to merge with the great spirit, the manga abruptly ended due to its cancellation from Shonen Jump and no definite ending was released, but its assumed Yoh defeated him. With the return of the series in Japan in 2008 (two reprinted volumes scheduled for release each month, totalling up to the re-release of 27 condensed volumes with new coverart), the definite ending between the decisive battle will be revealed.

Abilities/Techniques

As a result of Hao mastering all five elements, he can simply change the Spirit of Fire's element around as he wishes. However, while he doesn't use the Spirits of Earth or Rain directly, but having mastered the elements, he can make Spirit of Fire change its element almost instantly. However, it does take quite a bit of concentration and power as he congratulates the X-Law for being able to "push him this far" before killing him.

• Onmyōdō (陰陽道)

Hao's original abilities of a Taijitu master from his first life gives him full control over the elements and divination powers. He is not only able to manipulate the five elements of nature, fire, earth, wood, metal, and water materially, but also spiritually as shown when he converts the spirit of fire into the spirit of water. Even without the spirit of fire, Hao possesses great elemental and divination abilities and can easily bend oni and demigods to his will. However with the addition of the Spirit of Fire, one can only assume that he can greatly amplify the circular properties of his art by using the spirit of fire as a power source. However, the spirit of fire uses mostly physical attacks, and on occasion its fire attributes. Since Hao is fond of the element fire, he is rarely seen using his taijitu arts in both the manga and the anime. Nevertheless, the combination that his Onmyōdō abilities and the Spirit of Fire forms definitely gives him an oversoul second in power only to one with the great spirit.

• Reishi (霊視)

This is the ability to read the hearts of others. Whilst in some ways a useful ability, it is incredibly hard to control, with the end result that Hao was constantly inundated with the thoughts of those surrounding him. As a result, his contempt for the human race grew until he sought to create a world of only shamans.

• Taizanfukun no Sai (泰山府君祭)

Taizanfukun is the ancient Chinese name for the King of Hell, who judges the dead and decides their fate. It is through this technique that Hao was able to be reborn 500 years later as one of the Patch, and then again 500 years later.

• Ring of Fire (リング・オブ・ファイアー)

An attack similar to that of Yoh's Shinkuu Buddha Giri (Celestial Slash).

• Kurobina (黒雛; Manga only)

Hao's form of armor oversoul, it is first shown in chapter 233 when he used it to defend himself from a laser shot by a X-Law satellite. Like other armor oversouls, the power of Kurobina is immense as shown when Hao personally destroyed a fleet of battle ships sent from Manta's father. In this form, Hao is able to hover and fly in the air while also being able to fire immense blasts using the shuttle packs on his back.

Anime vs Manga

• In the manga, Hao becomes the Shaman King and Yoh sets off to stop him. The series abruptly ends in the middle of the conflict. In the anime, Hao's Spirit of Fire devours the King of Spirits. Yoh, with the combined power of all the shamans in the world, achieves an ultimate level of oversoul, and defeats Hao and the Spirit of Fire by slicing them in half. The Shaman Tournament is put off indefinitely as the Patch Village fades away, but is set to begin again at the end of the series.
• In the manga, Hao's Spirit of Fire consumes far less often then it does in the anime.
• In the manga, Hao also seems less interested in Yoh than in the anime, taking a more direct pursuit of obtaining the Great Spirit. Although in some points he does state that he wants Yoh to join him. However, he does show interest in Ren, like the anime, and Horohoro, after obtaining armor oversoul in the manga.
• In the manga the Spirit of Fire comes to the possession of Lyserg Diethel; this is not the case in the anime.Hao was chopped in half by Yoh and Amidamaru and then Hao exploded and died.

Connection with Abe no Seimei

There are at least two connections between Hao Asakura and the famous onmyoji, Abe no Seimei:

• Both died in the year 1005.
• Abe no Seimei wrote Senji Ryakketsu, an onmyodo primer. Hao Asakura wrote the "Chou Senji Ryakketsu," the ultimate tome of the shamans.

External links

• WingedFire - An Asakura Hao shrine and gallery