Yoh Asakura

Yoh Asakura is the main protagonist of the Shaman King anime and manga. Despite his carefree and slacker nature, Yoh is a kind, strong and selfless shaman, almost always managing to bring out the good in his enemies.

Biography
Yoh was born into the Asakura family as the identical twin brother of Zeke Asakura, who re-incarnated himself for the third time in another attempt to win the Shaman Tournament and become the Shaman King.

Yoh's grandfather, Yohmei, told him of the grand Shaman Tournament when he was three years old. Ever since, Yoh began practicing his shaman abilities preparing. Because he was different from all the other students at his school due to his abilities of seeing and communicating with ghosts, he would always be rejected and could never find any true friends. The only two people he could relate to were two others also staying with the Asakuras; his fiancee Anna Kyoyama, and Tamara.

Yoh moved to a new city in Japan in attempt to find his Guardian Ghost, the spirit he would choose as his ally, and found his first true friend in Mortimer Oyamada, nicknamed "Morty." Like Yoh, Morty could see ghosts as well despite that he had no abilities as a shaman. Though Morty was afraid of Yoh at first like the others, Morty quickly changed his mind after Yoh saved him from Rio.

Upon performing Spirit Unity with Amidamaru, Yoh immediately saw Amidamaru as his destined spirit ally. Though Amidamaru refused at first, he changed his mind after Yoh brought him the Sword of Light, an ancient weapon that was very important to Amidamaru when he was still alive. Amidamaru became Yoh's Guardian Ghost and would fight with him during the Shaman Tournament.

As Yoh began to develop his abilities as a shaman with Amidamaru, he encountered another shaman named Len Tao. Len believed Yoh as a slacker and would stand in his way of becoming Shaman King, so personally took it upon himself to eliminate Yoh. Yoh won the fight, but with serious injuries and was taken to a hospital. There, his fiancee Anna showed up and was extremely dissatisfied with Yoh's lack of discipline in his trainings. She set him up with an extremely harsh training program to get Yoh in perfect physical condition. Despite Yoh's dislike towards her agenda, he eventually came to accept it as he noticed he was becoming a better fighter during Spirit Unity with Amidamaru.

During the qualification test for the Shaman Tournament, Yoh learned how to use Spirit Control - the ability of infusing Amidamaru into his sword and thus further increasing his abilities. Spirit Control enabled him to pass the test and enter the Shaman Tournament. Yoh's first opponent in the tournament was a friend he made named Trey Racer, who Yoh beat. He lost his second match against the creepy Faust VIII, but made a draw during his third match against Len. This enabled him to continue onto the second round of the tournament, and he even changed Len's hatred towards him into friendship.

Yoh traveled with his new friends Len, Trey, and Rio in search of Dobi Village, where the second round of the tournament was being held. On their way searching there, they were joined by two companions - Lyserg Diethel and Joco, the former of which left them before arriving. Yoh also learned from his father, Mikihisa, of his heritage of being Zeke's brother, and of Zeke's evil intentions of winning the Shaman Tournament to become the Shaman King and eliminate all humans in the world. It then became Yoh's quest to become strong enough to stop Zeke at any cost. Yoh gained new spirit abilities to help him fight Zeke upon reading the Tome of the Shaman, including the ability of Giant Spirit Control and the Double Medium.

Yoh and his friends were joined by Faust VIII, Anna, Tamara, Jun Tao and Morty upon arriving at Dobi Village. Yoh paired with Faust and Rio for the second round, and the three of them won several matches. However, the tournament was cancelled when Zeke broke the rules and found the secret path to the King of Spirits, whom the winner of the tournament would merge with to become Shaman King. Yoh fought against Zeke and tried to stop him, but failed, and Zeke absorbed Yoh's soul back into himself.

Despite being gone, Yoh's friends still believed in him and kept fighting Zeke. Amidamaru also talked to Yoh's spirit as he was being digested by Zeke, encouraging Yoh to fight against Zeke and break free. All his friends' words eventually broke through to him and Yoh's spirit was freed from Zeke before it could be digested.

Yoh, with the help of his friends, continued fighting Zeke. Though things still looked grim, all the shamans in the tournament gave Yoh their hope and furyoku in a last attempt to defeat Zeke. This enabled Yoh to fully merge with Amidamaru and finally defeat Zeke.

The Shaman Tournament was temporarily put on hold afterwards and Yoh returned to his lazy lifestyle, until it finally started again.

Personality
Yoh is lazy and goofy, often making jokes and hating training. Despite that, he holds a strong sense of justice and has a kind heart. He believes almost every person with evil can be redeemed; for example, he defended Borris against the X-Laws when they tried destroying Borris for siding with Zeke. He also tried to save Len from En Tao even though Len had originally been his enemy.