Asakura Yoh (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
mikanphones) wrote2001-02-05 10:07 pm
mikanphones) wrote2001-02-05 10:07 pm
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hollyheights
OOC INFORMATION;
Player: Tora
Age: 29
Personal Journal:athenalaureate
Contact Info: Plurk: Serilia || AIM: torastellar
Other Characters: Sena Kobayakawa (fastestshorty)
IC INFORMATION;
Characters Name: Yoh Asakura
Age: 15
Canon: Shaman King
Canon Point: Chapter 263, after the fight at the beach against Mansumi Oyamada's army.
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Orientation: Heterosexual, Yoh has a fiance in canon and is very much in love with her.
History: Wiki link
Appearance: Normal clothes | Fighting clothes
Personality: Note: Unfortunately, despite being the main character many important traits of Yoh's personality aren't shown until later on, basically we don't even come to fully understand him until the end of the whole series. However, since those traits are always there and it's just a case of them not being shown beforehand, this section is going to have references to events that happen later than his current canon point.
Born to be a shaman, belonging to a family of shamans and on the edge of the start of a new Shaman Fight, many things in Yoh's life were predetermined even before he knew about them. For many that would have been an annoyance, something that would burden them and suffocate them. Yoh wasn't different, though his take on things was one of resignation rather than confrontation. Since everything was decided for him, why should he bother? He would just go with the flow, easily and without worry and live a simple life that way, without responsibilities or having to make decisions himself. He had no interest in humans whom he saw as sheep, stupid and without a real reason to exist. Humans who were too blind to even see the spirits around them, even those of their loved ones, humans who treated the world as their possession rather than realizing that the world was allowing them to live on it, not the other way around. Humans who teased and bullied him for being different, even without his shamanic powers, just his music tastes were enough to be labeled as different without any of them bothering to try to understand. Back in the day, he really thought that if he ever became the Shaman King, humanity would cease to exist because he hated them all.
But all that is now in the past. Though he still can't say he likes humans much, and he still thinks that they are pretty close to cancer cells to the world, he hasn't lost hope nor thinks that destroying them would do any good. He understands that it's too late in humanity's story for them to change their behavior and flaws by themselves, but that's something that the Shaman King could do, fixing the situation so humans don't ruin the planet anymore without sacrificing anyone in the process. A peaceful and calm world where he could live an easy and relaxed life, that's Yoh's dream and objective to participate in the Shaman Fight. However, most of this is something only very few know, sure, he tells everyone that if he becomes the Shaman King all he will care for is to live an easy and peaceful life, but he doesn't share the deepest parts of himself. He doesn't openly share how he himself doesn't think highly of humans even though he defends them even going as far as asking Hao to promise to not kill many humans even though humans themselves are attacking them first. Only inside of his mind or when he knows that no one can see them, he stops pretending to be fine with humans.
In many ways one could say that Yoh is pretty hypocrite, to be able to scold Hao and others for killing shamans and humans even though he himself isn't really a fan of them and even admits that they do little good for the world. It can be said as well that he's an "elitist" of sorts as he's the first one to make a difference between shamans, people who aren't shamans but can see spirits and the rest of the people. Though this is mostly true for all the shamans in the series, Yoh seems to consider that shamans and humans are different races, otherwise there's no real sense in him making differences when he speaks about both groups. For Yoh the world divides itself in spirits, shamans, special humans who can see spirits even though they can't do the same things shamans do, and the rest of the humanity, the latest being the main problem of the planet due their lack of conscience regarding their own planet or their own past.
It's worth to note, though, that despite those negative traits and his inherent dislike to humans, Yoh is someone capable of forgiving and accepting others easily, and he deeply believes in that people can change, even for just a moment and if they are really lucky for even longer. Many of his friends are actually people he was at odds with initially for diverse reasons, yet all of them became dear to his heart and people he trusted almost completely (though even if he didn't show the deepest corners of his soul they knew him well enough to understand them already). One of the best examples of how accepting Yoh can be is Ryu, who was merely a punk at the start of the series, unable to see spirits and with little to no respect for the death, but slowly develops into a shaman himself once his powers to see spirits awake and he undergoes a severe training. Ryu also provides a great example of how Yoh deals with people in general, though once he becomes a shaman Ryu shows nothing but devotion and respect for Yoh, treating him as his boss, Yoh never treats Ryu as anything but a friend. Even with his "elitist" view of the world, Yoh simply can't treat someone, be it a shaman, a spirit or a human, as something that is inferior to him, neither as something superior though so it's both a good and a bad thing as he will respect everyone the same way no matter their position or anything. If he thinks someone is wrong he will scold them, even if it's the holiest being in the world, just as he will praise someone for something done that he considers good even if said person is the biggest evil in the world.
Yoh believes with his whole soul that a person who can see spirits can't be purely evil, no matter what they do and say, deep down there must be some good in them. At the same time, Yoh knows from experience that even normal humans can come to be able to see spirits, which is most surely another reason as to why he can't bring himself to hate them completely. He knows from personal experience that everyone is always more than what they seem to be on first sight and always tries to get a good look at their hearts, so he can come to understand them. This desire to understand others probably comes from an experience in his childhood with one spirit who taught him that to have an opinion on something based just on general thoughts was wrong, ever since then he decided to ditch away the negative thoughts as much as he could and focus on the good things in order to be able to make friends, because if he wrapped himself with negativity he wouldn't be different from humans who acted like sheep, always going with the flow of times and not being even true to their own hearts. This is not to say that Yoh doesn't have negative thoughts, it should be clear already that he has them, and even with his capacity to forgive others there are many things he won't forgive easily and which will get his anger to show up. For a clear example of how Yoh can get angered one just has to look at his second fight during the first round of the Shaman Fight, when he faced Faust as an opponent. Before the start of the match, Faust decided to use Manta, Yoh's first human friend, as a guinea pig as he was curious about his body size, because of that Yoh lost his calm attitude and was truly angered. However, months after the event, Yoh had no major trouble accepting Faust into his team for the second round and even described the man as a "very innocent person" despite everything, having come to understand the man's heart beyond the madness on the surface.
Because Yoh tries his best to always live positively, leaving behind bad thoughts, he is someone who truly believes that there will always be a way that "everything will work out" as long as he doesn't give up and continues moving forward. He also refuses to worry too much about things as he thinks that thinking too much some times just doesn't do any good, and it definitively doesn't match his wish of having an easy and relaxed life. He always accepts everything that happens around him, this doesn't mean he doesn't oppose things but he does so in a way that doesn't reject them but instead aims to change them. He always shows a cheerfully carefree attitude that often makes people think he just can't take things seriously which often drives other nuts, but in truth Yoh seriously thinks about everything even if he doesn't constantly worry about it and because of that he can make decisions easily and without having a troubled heart haunted by second guessing himself. There are few things that Yoh does that are thoughtless, even if at times it seems he didn't think about them before he acted.
Loneliness and abandonment play major roles in Yoh's life since he was born. He has felt lonely ever since he was little and in fact his characteristic orange headphones and his Bob music collection are his because of that feeling and originally they belonged to his father, as a kid who barely saw his father, Yoh ended up picking up items that belonged to his father as an attempt to feel closer to the man who was mostly a stranger for him, to have some connection with someone besides being a shaman. Yoh never showed signs of feeling lonely, only those who paid close attention to the details were able to see through him, which surprises him, however he doesn't deny it when asked about it. Even after he decided to ditch the negativity in him and be positive to be able to make friends of any kind, Yoh was still shunned and teased at school for being a shaman, a power most didn't understand and even feared. So he has always been lonely, even after meeting Anna, the girl he loves with his whole heart -and it was love at first sight-, loneliness still clung to his heart until he met Manta who became his first friend, as a human and as a living person. Because of this Yoh is someone who deeply treasures his friends, not just Manta, but all the other friends he has managed to make ever since the start of the Shaman Fight, even if they aren't perfect and have the darkest of the shadows in their pasts, Yoh cares for them and is more than ready to do anything for them, to protect them or to save them. Even giving up his own dreams so they can regain their life and pursue their own dreams. Also, even though he understands his friends' strength and how important is to fight one's own battles, Yoh isn't a stranger to trying to do things on his own, not involving his friends so they don't get in trouble or have to endure something bad.
Abilities: A shaman is a person capable of interacting with spirits as well as to work with them on different ways, but even when dealing with the best natured spirits being a shaman isn't an easy road. Because of this shamans must train both their mind, their body and their heart in order to be able to work properly, even more so if they plan to participate in the Shaman Fight which tests their hearts and minds even more than their bodies. Although initially when he was young Yoh used to skip on his training sessions as much as he could, having no interest or desire to participate in the competition nor work as a shaman, ever since he turned ten, Yoh followed his training strictly and thanks to his fiancée Anna his trainings have been far more strict and challenging to make up for the lost time. Because of this Yoh, despite not being overly muscular, has a strong body with lots of stamina and resistance, when fighting he's flexible and agile even though he's not as fast as other shamans he still is quite fast in movements.
One of the main abilities of a shaman is to integrate spirits into their body, doing a "fusion" of souls basically, by having both their own soul and the spirit in their own body, this way the spirit's abilities and knowledge are passed to the shaman for as long as the "possession" lasts. But to achieve this the shaman must have a high mental strength and resistance, as well as a fitted body, because the spirit works with their body if a shaman doesn't have a well trained body the spirit won't be able to achieve their whole potential when using said body. There's also the issue of the mental stress this provokes as they have, for a period of time, two souls in the same body which produces a "fight" of wills of sorts. Basically, the shaman rarely can let the spirit possess their body completely yet the spirit must have enough control over the body to be able to work with it, it's not known what would happen if a shaman lost control over their body while in a possession as it also depends on the spirit controlling it, some spirits have no interest in doing anything bad but others can and will try to "live on" in the possessed body if allowed. If the shaman loses control over their body they won't be able to cancel the technique when they need to which can be quite troublesome. For those reasons Yoh has also been through a severe mental training so he has enough strength to endure this among other shamanic techniques. Because of his personality Yoh is capable of remaining calm and relaxed in most situations even in most of the fights -the only exception was during his fight with Faust, when Manta was hurt and his life was endangered-, this allows him to see through his enemies attacks and form strategies capable of countering them most of the times.
It can be said that what the Shaman Fight tests the most is the heart of the shamans that participate in the competition as only those who are determined and without hesitant hearts will manage to go through it. Through tests that force the shaman to make alliances and later on fight their own friends or even family members, the competition wipes away those with a weak will or who allow their feelings to get the best of them. It makes sense if one thinks that the Shaman King is basically the closest form to a God and that the ideal Shaman King would be someone capable of caring for others but also of judging them fairly if it's needed as well as someone with a will strong enough to rule for the next five hundred of years. Due to this it's also important for a shaman to train his own heart and will to be able to face the competition properly and in fact much of the mental training Yoh has undergone through also served for this. In fact Yoh is quite a good fit as a Shaman King candidate though he's not free from faults he's someone who always does what his heart tells him to do and always tries to find a way to do what he has to do without his heart having doubts about it, because he has no hesitation inside of him, his decisions and his will turn out to be stronger than most people expect. Most of the time he holds a good control over his emotions and few are the times he has cracked down or felt really troubled and confused, though those times have indeed happened.
More info regarding special abilities: list of shamanic spells.
Other: N/A
Player: Tora
Age: 29
Personal Journal:
athenalaureateContact Info: Plurk: Serilia || AIM: torastellar
Other Characters: Sena Kobayakawa (
fastestshorty)IC INFORMATION;
Characters Name: Yoh Asakura
Age: 15
Canon: Shaman King
Canon Point: Chapter 263, after the fight at the beach against Mansumi Oyamada's army.
Species: Human
Gender: Male
Orientation: Heterosexual, Yoh has a fiance in canon and is very much in love with her.
History: Wiki link
Appearance: Normal clothes | Fighting clothes
Personality: Note: Unfortunately, despite being the main character many important traits of Yoh's personality aren't shown until later on, basically we don't even come to fully understand him until the end of the whole series. However, since those traits are always there and it's just a case of them not being shown beforehand, this section is going to have references to events that happen later than his current canon point.
Born to be a shaman, belonging to a family of shamans and on the edge of the start of a new Shaman Fight, many things in Yoh's life were predetermined even before he knew about them. For many that would have been an annoyance, something that would burden them and suffocate them. Yoh wasn't different, though his take on things was one of resignation rather than confrontation. Since everything was decided for him, why should he bother? He would just go with the flow, easily and without worry and live a simple life that way, without responsibilities or having to make decisions himself. He had no interest in humans whom he saw as sheep, stupid and without a real reason to exist. Humans who were too blind to even see the spirits around them, even those of their loved ones, humans who treated the world as their possession rather than realizing that the world was allowing them to live on it, not the other way around. Humans who teased and bullied him for being different, even without his shamanic powers, just his music tastes were enough to be labeled as different without any of them bothering to try to understand. Back in the day, he really thought that if he ever became the Shaman King, humanity would cease to exist because he hated them all.
But all that is now in the past. Though he still can't say he likes humans much, and he still thinks that they are pretty close to cancer cells to the world, he hasn't lost hope nor thinks that destroying them would do any good. He understands that it's too late in humanity's story for them to change their behavior and flaws by themselves, but that's something that the Shaman King could do, fixing the situation so humans don't ruin the planet anymore without sacrificing anyone in the process. A peaceful and calm world where he could live an easy and relaxed life, that's Yoh's dream and objective to participate in the Shaman Fight. However, most of this is something only very few know, sure, he tells everyone that if he becomes the Shaman King all he will care for is to live an easy and peaceful life, but he doesn't share the deepest parts of himself. He doesn't openly share how he himself doesn't think highly of humans even though he defends them even going as far as asking Hao to promise to not kill many humans even though humans themselves are attacking them first. Only inside of his mind or when he knows that no one can see them, he stops pretending to be fine with humans.
In many ways one could say that Yoh is pretty hypocrite, to be able to scold Hao and others for killing shamans and humans even though he himself isn't really a fan of them and even admits that they do little good for the world. It can be said as well that he's an "elitist" of sorts as he's the first one to make a difference between shamans, people who aren't shamans but can see spirits and the rest of the people. Though this is mostly true for all the shamans in the series, Yoh seems to consider that shamans and humans are different races, otherwise there's no real sense in him making differences when he speaks about both groups. For Yoh the world divides itself in spirits, shamans, special humans who can see spirits even though they can't do the same things shamans do, and the rest of the humanity, the latest being the main problem of the planet due their lack of conscience regarding their own planet or their own past.
It's worth to note, though, that despite those negative traits and his inherent dislike to humans, Yoh is someone capable of forgiving and accepting others easily, and he deeply believes in that people can change, even for just a moment and if they are really lucky for even longer. Many of his friends are actually people he was at odds with initially for diverse reasons, yet all of them became dear to his heart and people he trusted almost completely (though even if he didn't show the deepest corners of his soul they knew him well enough to understand them already). One of the best examples of how accepting Yoh can be is Ryu, who was merely a punk at the start of the series, unable to see spirits and with little to no respect for the death, but slowly develops into a shaman himself once his powers to see spirits awake and he undergoes a severe training. Ryu also provides a great example of how Yoh deals with people in general, though once he becomes a shaman Ryu shows nothing but devotion and respect for Yoh, treating him as his boss, Yoh never treats Ryu as anything but a friend. Even with his "elitist" view of the world, Yoh simply can't treat someone, be it a shaman, a spirit or a human, as something that is inferior to him, neither as something superior though so it's both a good and a bad thing as he will respect everyone the same way no matter their position or anything. If he thinks someone is wrong he will scold them, even if it's the holiest being in the world, just as he will praise someone for something done that he considers good even if said person is the biggest evil in the world.
Yoh believes with his whole soul that a person who can see spirits can't be purely evil, no matter what they do and say, deep down there must be some good in them. At the same time, Yoh knows from experience that even normal humans can come to be able to see spirits, which is most surely another reason as to why he can't bring himself to hate them completely. He knows from personal experience that everyone is always more than what they seem to be on first sight and always tries to get a good look at their hearts, so he can come to understand them. This desire to understand others probably comes from an experience in his childhood with one spirit who taught him that to have an opinion on something based just on general thoughts was wrong, ever since then he decided to ditch away the negative thoughts as much as he could and focus on the good things in order to be able to make friends, because if he wrapped himself with negativity he wouldn't be different from humans who acted like sheep, always going with the flow of times and not being even true to their own hearts. This is not to say that Yoh doesn't have negative thoughts, it should be clear already that he has them, and even with his capacity to forgive others there are many things he won't forgive easily and which will get his anger to show up. For a clear example of how Yoh can get angered one just has to look at his second fight during the first round of the Shaman Fight, when he faced Faust as an opponent. Before the start of the match, Faust decided to use Manta, Yoh's first human friend, as a guinea pig as he was curious about his body size, because of that Yoh lost his calm attitude and was truly angered. However, months after the event, Yoh had no major trouble accepting Faust into his team for the second round and even described the man as a "very innocent person" despite everything, having come to understand the man's heart beyond the madness on the surface.
Because Yoh tries his best to always live positively, leaving behind bad thoughts, he is someone who truly believes that there will always be a way that "everything will work out" as long as he doesn't give up and continues moving forward. He also refuses to worry too much about things as he thinks that thinking too much some times just doesn't do any good, and it definitively doesn't match his wish of having an easy and relaxed life. He always accepts everything that happens around him, this doesn't mean he doesn't oppose things but he does so in a way that doesn't reject them but instead aims to change them. He always shows a cheerfully carefree attitude that often makes people think he just can't take things seriously which often drives other nuts, but in truth Yoh seriously thinks about everything even if he doesn't constantly worry about it and because of that he can make decisions easily and without having a troubled heart haunted by second guessing himself. There are few things that Yoh does that are thoughtless, even if at times it seems he didn't think about them before he acted.
Loneliness and abandonment play major roles in Yoh's life since he was born. He has felt lonely ever since he was little and in fact his characteristic orange headphones and his Bob music collection are his because of that feeling and originally they belonged to his father, as a kid who barely saw his father, Yoh ended up picking up items that belonged to his father as an attempt to feel closer to the man who was mostly a stranger for him, to have some connection with someone besides being a shaman. Yoh never showed signs of feeling lonely, only those who paid close attention to the details were able to see through him, which surprises him, however he doesn't deny it when asked about it. Even after he decided to ditch the negativity in him and be positive to be able to make friends of any kind, Yoh was still shunned and teased at school for being a shaman, a power most didn't understand and even feared. So he has always been lonely, even after meeting Anna, the girl he loves with his whole heart -and it was love at first sight-, loneliness still clung to his heart until he met Manta who became his first friend, as a human and as a living person. Because of this Yoh is someone who deeply treasures his friends, not just Manta, but all the other friends he has managed to make ever since the start of the Shaman Fight, even if they aren't perfect and have the darkest of the shadows in their pasts, Yoh cares for them and is more than ready to do anything for them, to protect them or to save them. Even giving up his own dreams so they can regain their life and pursue their own dreams. Also, even though he understands his friends' strength and how important is to fight one's own battles, Yoh isn't a stranger to trying to do things on his own, not involving his friends so they don't get in trouble or have to endure something bad.
Abilities: A shaman is a person capable of interacting with spirits as well as to work with them on different ways, but even when dealing with the best natured spirits being a shaman isn't an easy road. Because of this shamans must train both their mind, their body and their heart in order to be able to work properly, even more so if they plan to participate in the Shaman Fight which tests their hearts and minds even more than their bodies. Although initially when he was young Yoh used to skip on his training sessions as much as he could, having no interest or desire to participate in the competition nor work as a shaman, ever since he turned ten, Yoh followed his training strictly and thanks to his fiancée Anna his trainings have been far more strict and challenging to make up for the lost time. Because of this Yoh, despite not being overly muscular, has a strong body with lots of stamina and resistance, when fighting he's flexible and agile even though he's not as fast as other shamans he still is quite fast in movements.
One of the main abilities of a shaman is to integrate spirits into their body, doing a "fusion" of souls basically, by having both their own soul and the spirit in their own body, this way the spirit's abilities and knowledge are passed to the shaman for as long as the "possession" lasts. But to achieve this the shaman must have a high mental strength and resistance, as well as a fitted body, because the spirit works with their body if a shaman doesn't have a well trained body the spirit won't be able to achieve their whole potential when using said body. There's also the issue of the mental stress this provokes as they have, for a period of time, two souls in the same body which produces a "fight" of wills of sorts. Basically, the shaman rarely can let the spirit possess their body completely yet the spirit must have enough control over the body to be able to work with it, it's not known what would happen if a shaman lost control over their body while in a possession as it also depends on the spirit controlling it, some spirits have no interest in doing anything bad but others can and will try to "live on" in the possessed body if allowed. If the shaman loses control over their body they won't be able to cancel the technique when they need to which can be quite troublesome. For those reasons Yoh has also been through a severe mental training so he has enough strength to endure this among other shamanic techniques. Because of his personality Yoh is capable of remaining calm and relaxed in most situations even in most of the fights -the only exception was during his fight with Faust, when Manta was hurt and his life was endangered-, this allows him to see through his enemies attacks and form strategies capable of countering them most of the times.
It can be said that what the Shaman Fight tests the most is the heart of the shamans that participate in the competition as only those who are determined and without hesitant hearts will manage to go through it. Through tests that force the shaman to make alliances and later on fight their own friends or even family members, the competition wipes away those with a weak will or who allow their feelings to get the best of them. It makes sense if one thinks that the Shaman King is basically the closest form to a God and that the ideal Shaman King would be someone capable of caring for others but also of judging them fairly if it's needed as well as someone with a will strong enough to rule for the next five hundred of years. Due to this it's also important for a shaman to train his own heart and will to be able to face the competition properly and in fact much of the mental training Yoh has undergone through also served for this. In fact Yoh is quite a good fit as a Shaman King candidate though he's not free from faults he's someone who always does what his heart tells him to do and always tries to find a way to do what he has to do without his heart having doubts about it, because he has no hesitation inside of him, his decisions and his will turn out to be stronger than most people expect. Most of the time he holds a good control over his emotions and few are the times he has cracked down or felt really troubled and confused, though those times have indeed happened.
More info regarding special abilities: list of shamanic spells.
Other: N/A