Now that most people have had time to read/watch Yahabe, I thought now would be a good time for some extended thoughts about the oneshot and how I think it links into the Shaman King universe. So these are my thoughts, I might not be 100% correct, but I’m pretty sure this is the direction Hiroyuki Takei was going with it. So this is your warning that there is Yahabe oneshot spoilers, and Shaman King Flowers spoilers up to chapter 24. It’s also a bit wordy, but sometimes it’s nice to just write it all out.
How does Yahabe link into the Shaman King Universe?
1. Yahabe = Yabisu
We are going to assume that they are one and the same. Our little one-eyed pyramid acts the same and functions the same in both the oneshot and in Flowers. So he’s the same. I’ll loop back to “Fura Yabisu” later (from Shaman King Zero chapter 7). The name of the cards are slightly different as well. But let’s assume that they are the same as well.
2. Yosuke = Yosuke
This one is easy. We are going to assume the main character in the oneshot is the same character in Flowers. We can assume the timelines/worlds are the exact same as well.
How does Yabisu work?
Alright, let’s work with the “X-Laws Angel” concept. In the Shaman King Universe, if you love a physical object to much it can eventually gather it’s own spirit. With Marco and Luchist’s love of cars they were able to create spirits. Effectively if you push enough of your own furyoku into an object over time it will form a spirit. Cool.
Next let’s take a look at the Golem. The Golem is basically a large furyoku reservoir. You can put in furyoku into it which can be used later. Cool.
Now Yabisu is powered by money. I believe that all money has been given a little furyoku. From day-to-day handling, little bits of furyoku is added to money just because people find it important. Like how Marco just loves cars, he was pushing furyoku into it without actively thinking about it. Since money has importance this same logic can be applied.
Yabisu then works as a machine similar to the Golem. It takes the little furyoku attached to money and is able to extract it. This is how money can produce “magical” results, which wouldn’t normally make sense in the Shaman King universe. Some cards cost more money since they would need more furyoku to complete.
Currently in the Shaman King universe, we’ve mostly seen shamans use furyoku for fighting ability. However, like the Itakos, there is uses for furyoku that aren’t fighting. Itakos can use furyoku to effectively teleport spirits from one location to another. Why couldn’t Yabisu have a card that does the same thing?
Speaking of cards, why does Yabisu need them? First of all, we need to remember that at a core Yabisu is a machine. Machines (like computers) need instructions in order to know what to do. These cards are basically “shaman skills” that have been encoded into card format. Similar to the Golem which can fly and shoot lasers, the Golem isn’t a master swordsman since it hasn’t been programmed to do that.
You can also notice that Yabisu loses his expressions when performing a card’s ability. I think this his showing a bit more of Yabisu’s “machine-like nature” that he was originally created for.
“Lost” background story in Yahabe
Did you notice that the Yahabe oneshot was a little bumpy in the storytelling? What was the purpose of Kagome? Well…
During the card battle against Tsuruto, when Yahabe pulls him away, Kagome was suppose to chase after him! At this point Yahabe was going to give some better explanation on his background story. Yosuke would probably then want to use Yahabe’s power to save Kagome from danger when “they” attacked.
When Takei drew out the draft for Yahabe, he probably made it 60 pages in length. While working with his editor, they probably agreed to cut back this story above since it was a bit too wordy. It also retold alot of the same explanation from earlier in the story. So when condensing the story down, he makes the end of the oneshot a bit sharp as well.
Now you may be wondering… “How do you know all of this?” Well, go back and look at the original trailer. We never have a scene like that in the oneshot! But looking at the entire story, I think my explanation fits in pretty well. But we’ll never know for sure!
Final Yabisu theories…
This next part is alot more guessing on my end… so I could be wrong…
“Them” from Yahabe is probably a group called “Otakara.” There goal is to create “Yabisu machines” that they can use to help rebel against Hao. Fura Yabisu was at one point Shaman King, and the “Otakara” want to re-establish him to power via the “Flower of Maize.”
Yabisu is probably a failed attempt in the creation of their machines. The Golem, for the most part, doesn’t have a “soul.” Something must have happened where Yabisu became self-aware and that’s why he initially was on the run from “Otakara.” However, Yosuke probably needed to make a deal with “Otakara” to keep Yabisu. Part of that deal is probably killing Hao. For this reason he probably went back in time to attack the Patch Village. This explains why Hana appears younger while Yosuke was a about the same age as he is in the oneshot. Yosuke probably stayed in that timeline which allowed him to age an additional 7 years to make him appear older.
So there you go! Hopefully this gives you some more insight onto Yahabe! Shaman King Flowers chapter 25 also appears to give a little bit more information, but it should fall basically in line with what I have written above.
