WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Shaman King (2021), now streaming on Netflix.
Throughout Season 1 of the Shaman King reboot, shaman Asakura Yoh impresses his rivals with his wit, altruism and resilience. More so, his belief in everyone else motivates warriors he fought in the prelims of the anime's main tournament, the Shaman Fight, to become allies.
They already know they'll meet up in the tournament later but for now, they're happy to be friends and stoke the flames of competition from a position of support rather than jealousy. However, the Season 1 finale drops some massive bombshells that change the landscape and overall mission for the crew going forward.
What Happens to the Patch Tribe
Shaman King revealed earlier on that the Patch warriors are a Native American tribe and custodians for the tournament. 10 of them are charged with ensuring all goes well, that competitors and their Spirit Allies are worthy, and that one king will be crowned to get closer to the Great Spirit and transcend to become a god.
They monitor many prelim fights, with the likes of Silva and Kalim acting as referees who deem Yoh and co. ready for battle. Sadly, the likes of Chrom get killed, with Ren, for example, getting too hasty for battle. While this angers Silva, the Patch priests cannot intervene -- they just judge and leave it to the Great Spirit to guide them on who will enter the brackets.
Is the Patch Tribe Trustworthy?
The Season 1 finale has Yoh's crew leaving Tokyo for America -- but just before that, they're assaulted by a young warrior named Hao who has the Great Spirit of Fire with him. It's one of the five most powerful elementals and an Over Soul, which only legends can wield. Hao's playful about it though, beating up Horohoro (the ice warrior) and making it clear he's toying with them until he can murder them all to become the king.
When the team finds a library in America and investigates the strange occurrence, they discover "Patch" is a dark warrior linked to the "Song of Destruction." A young native American girl named Lilirara then finds them and reveals the Patch tribe isn't heroic, but genocidal. They were lethal toward participants like the Seminoa tribe and sought dominance, with the entire tournament being a ruse to find new weapons for their war. Hao seems to be one of these beings.
Hao's True Secret
Lilirara uses her powers to manifest four dolls which possess Yoh, Horohoro, Ryu and Ren, showing them how a warrior -- who actually looks like Silva -- slaughtered her people. He's wielding the Fire Spirit as well, making it clear the Seminoa are tools and cannot stop whatever he's planning. Lilirara confesses this warrior was all about creating a Shaman Kingdom where humanity was dead and only shamans lived.
Thankfully he failed, but he did enact a ritual from 500 years ago where he'd be reincarnated in a new body. This is Hao, who shows up the next day and murders Lilirara and her totems. He makes it clear he wants revenge against mankind for some mysterious reason. From the first scene of this reboot -- and the original anime/manga -- it's clear Hao is being shaped as Yoh's evil long-lost twin, so Season 2 of Shaman King will explore how this reincarnation and rivalry affects Yoh's destiny.
