WARNING: The following contains spoilers for Season 1 of Shaman King (2021), now streaming on Netflix.
In Shaman King (2021), Yoh Asakura and his crew face a barrage of diverse opponents as they prepare for the Shaman Fight tournament. They're unsure what awaits -- especially as the rules in the prelims are so vague, with referees such as Patch hiding details so as to test the warriors. However, in Episode 10, "Night in the Flame," even Yoh is worried when he faces Season 1's most horrifying villains. Unfortunately, as these enemies -- the rockstars known as the BoZ brothers -- are unleashed, they end up being wasted.
It occurs when Yoh and Tamao come back from the grocery, only to be ambushed by the BoZ brothers, a Buddhist duo who have misappropriated music for evil. Zen is on the mic with Ryo on the electric biwa, making it clear they want to rock out and take Yoh down now. They've been following him for some time, but rather than wait until the Shaman Fight tournament, they're willing to break the rules. Ironically, Tamao's spirits, Ponchi and Conchi, saw them but didn't think they were significant enough to report on.
This angers the musicians, who then unleash a metal sutra that takes the spirits to the afterlife. It's a terrible kidnapping, ending their span on Earth and leaving Tamao petrified. Then they summon mystical mites known as the Chimi-Moryo, which are an extension of their Over Soul or chakra. The mites steal the hilt in which Yoh stores his spirit swordsman, Amidamaru, so they can summon and expel him to the afterlife too.
This would cripple Yoh as he won't have his ally for the competition, and as he's vulnerable, the BoZ brothers could have killed the Shaman King protagonist here. Luckily Ryu, the wooden swordsman, intervenes. He trained on the Yoh estate too but was forgotten, so he flexes his powers, using his energy to destroy their mites. The problem with this is, the BoZ brothers lose their sense of intimidation. They scared Yoh, which is rarely seen in Shaman King, so to have a noob like Ryu beat them in seconds, without a proper fight, feels weak. More so, the brothers are partnered with Hao, so it'll be hard to view them as a threat when they link back up at the competition.
The BoZ brothers' powers are admittedly very dangerous since everyone relies on spirits as weapons, but Shaman King should have crafted them as more serious fighters. Even if Ryu had to win to show he leveled up, he should have had to work for it, making the brothers fitting allies for Hao.
It would have been ideal to see Hao training them in a flashback or two, which would have informed the musical danger to come. Instead, they feel like one-hit wonders who'll ultimately be walkovers when stronger Shaman take them on down the line.
