Chocolove McDonell

Chocolove McDonell (チョコラブ・マクダネル) is one of the main characters in the Shaman King manga and anime series. Chocolove is a member of Team "The Ren" during the Shaman Fight in Tokyo 2000 and later becomes one of the Five Elemental Warriors.

Appearance
He is an African American boy of average height and his hair an Afro-style. He wears an African wrap on the lower half of his body, an open white dress shirt and cloth boots as his street clothes. His battle outfit is a yellow native dress with red and green patterns and a black open vest. The dress and the accessories where all from a tribe in South America and was given to Chocolove by his master Orona.

When he was still a part of the Shaft Gang his head was clean shaved and wore a pair of cargo pants knickers and a black jersey. One could see a scar he received the day that his parents were killed and was a symbol of his sad childhood.

Personality
Chocolove likes to tell jokes to his companions a lot, the only drawback is that his jokes and puns are quite corny and make no sense most of the time. The others have the tendency to run after him or beat him up after telling a joke. This makes him typically another comedy relief in the 2001 anime, where he jokes at the wrong time which irritate others although Yoh occasionally lets out a light chuckle to them, while both Tamao and Pirika laugh hysterically. One time, Ren states that he is jealous of Chocolove's own courage to tell an obviously funny corny joke.

His dream in life is to become the Shaman King and a great comedian because he was inspired by his late master. Both of them believe that laughter is the best medicine, so even if people do not believe that his jokes are that funny, he does not give up and he tries even harder to achieve his dream to give the world what it needs the most, is laughter.

Abilities and Powers
Chocolove is a supposed comedian but in reality is not really funny, although one of his jokes did save his friends. Most of his techniques involve making spirits and very rarely, humans laugh, leaving them a vulnerable target to attack. After going blind, some of his other senses seemed to have been increased as he is able to smell the position of Yoh and the others. Chocolove also possesses the power of wind and he learns to use his Furyoku to erode anything in his vicinity.

After undergoing training in Hell twice, his furyoku level raised to 197,500, thus giving him the highest reserve of the Five Elemental Warriors.

Spirits

 * See More: Mic the Jaguar | Pascual Abaj | Spirit of Wind

His late master used to own a guardian ghost named Mic the Jaguar who was passed down to Chocolove when he died. His Over Soul is different from most shamans since he and Mic literally become one, by using his own body as a medium. This uses the full power of both Chocolove and Mic at the same time but is taxing since they both have to be synced the entire time.

During the second rounds, he gains a second guardian ghost named Pascual Abaj. His Over Soul with Pascual is a giant stone head. It provides Chocolove with the power to literally walk on air and move at an incredible speed. With the power of both Pascual and Mic, Chocolove creates his new combination armor Over Soul, "Jaguarman".

For the final battle, he also gains the Spirit of Wind that, according to Pascual, has the ability to generate wind with its wings.

Past
He was born on October 2, 1985, and was from New York, USA. His parents were murdered on Christmas, and Chocolove was brought up in the streets, where he eventually became the leader of a gang named Shaft. After killing a man on Christmas with his gang members, Chocolove walks alone on the streets, reflecting on the horrible murder of his parents.

After making a little comment, an old man named Orona appears and makes a pun with a sight gag using fake blood. After telling him to go away, Chocolove tries to shoots his gun, but Orona dodges all his shots. Saying that he could not use laughter to help Chocolove, later Orona uses his Over Soul Mic to punch him. The fact that Chocolove laughs at Orona's comment about using laughter to save the world and that Chocolove can see Mic forges a relationship between the two. The two lived together for some time until Chocolove's old gang appeared before the two and killed Orona, but not before Orona made a passionate speech that made Chocolove believe in saving the world with the winds of laughter.

Shaman Fight in Tokyo
Not much is known about Chocolove's performance during the preliminary round, but he did win two matches and advanced to the main competition. Chocolove and the other qualifying competitors attended the opening ceremony at Mimata Hall.

Traveling through America
A month later, Chocolove and the other competitors gathered at Yokocha Base and were flown to America in the Patch Jumbo. The shamans were tasked with locating and reaching the Patch Village within three months. While still tens of thousands of feet in the air, the jumbo jet was revealed to be an Over Soul shortly before it was dematerialized, dropping all of its passengers.

Chocolove successfully reached the village and approached Asakura Yoh and company in his search for teammates for the upcoming tournament. Chocolove explained the details of the tournament and also about the three forces in the Shaman Fight: Asakura Hao and his followers, the X-Laws, and Gandhara. Tao Ren quickly made a team with Chocolove and Usui Horokeu, naming them Team "The Ren", much to the objections of the others.

Shaman Fights Second Round
Two months later, Kalim flew Team "The Ren" to the island Tokyo, where the tournament would take place. In the first match of the tournament, Team "The Ren" was pitted against Hao's Team "Tsuchi-Gumi". The BoZ Brothers attacked first and were easily defeated by Chocolove's Shaft attack. Peyote, however, used the BoZ Brothers as mediums for his Over Souls. Chocolove tried to fight back but was almost defeated by them. He then remembered his past and pulled out the winds of laughter and the Ayers Rock Sunrise. This forced the spirits possessing the BoZ Brothers to laugh and freed them from Peyote's control. Chocolove, however, ran out of power and fainted, being saved at the last minute by Ren, who finished off Peyote and won the match.

Afterwards, Teams "The Ren" and "Funbari Onsen" went back to the inn and ate together. The BoZ Brothers stopped by to thank Chocolove for showing them mercy and giving them a chance to restart. The two teams then rushed back to the stadium after Umemiya Ryunosuke announced that Lyserg Diethel would be fighting next.

When he goes to see his friends from the Shaft Gang, he sees that they were each killed by Redseb and Seyrarm Muntzer who are using their Golem and shot Chocolove in retribution for killing their father Camel Muntzer. After he dies he arrives in Hell where he is trained by the spirit of Orona and also attains the spirit of Pascual Abaj, a former participant of the Shaman Fight in AD 1000. Chocolove returns to help his friends and forms a new Over Soul he named O.S. "Jaguarman".

Invading the Plants
After being transported to the Continent of Mu by the Patch Tribe, Team "Funbari Onsen", Team "The Ren" and Team "X-I" decided to forfeit the tournament saying that none of them was able to face Hao. Luchist and Opacho both agreed to this, thus making Hao the next Shaman King by forfeit.

The three remaining teams watched him walk into the plants led by Lip and Rap, the Ten Patch Priests and Goldva. Chocolove enters the plants with Yoh and his friends but does not really do much except provide assistance when needed.

When they reach the plant of the Ocean everyone else has problems getting through Thalim's plant type oversoul. Chocolove steps up and battles him. Thalim unleashes his Oversoul "Rafflesia" to combat Chocolove's enhanced sense of smell. Chocolove overcomes it by stabbing his claws into his nose forcing himself to smell blood instead of the flower. Thalim then uses his O.S. Great Impatiens Balsam to attack from every angle. Chocolove begins to think about the powers the five of them have gained from training in hell and reveals that he has yet to discover his power of wind.

As Thalim fires the gigantic seeds at him, Chocolove dissolves his Armor Over Soul and uses Pascual and Mic to Over Soul with the air itself as a medium and manipulates air currents literally eroding away all of Thalim's plants. Thalim then reveals that he knew such an attack would come and hoped to defeat Chocolove before he himself would realize it. Chocolove only chuckles and exclaims his turn to attack creating Ayers Rock and ending the fight.

Chocolove is later seen being carried out of the plant by Ryu complaining that Thalim was not fighting at full power. They all then enters the 9th Plant of the Glacier to face Silva. There he and the others watch the fight between Yoh and Silva, that Silva calls Yoh's final test, which he eventually passes.

As the group finally arrives at the 10th and final "Plant of the Universe" they realize that there is no oxygen and no gravity and begin to wonder how they are supposed to fight in there. At first, Lyserg suggest that they all protect themselves with their own personal O.S. but Ryu suddenly interrupts and suggest that they all use the heads of his O.S. Yamato No Orochi so that the rest can fight at full strength. As Ren questions the responsibility he would suddenly have he says that he wants to be useful too as the seven is currently his best place. Even though they are able to fight at their full strength they are still beaten by Rutherfor until Yoh nullifies her Over Soul.

When Hao finally awakens he sends a message to the Oracle Bells that reads "'so small" He arrives at the final plant and effortlessly kills everyone with a simple glance, excluding Rutherfor, Opacho and Yoh. After Hao attempts to banish Yoh from his area in the Great Spirit Ren, Lyserg, Chocolove, and Horohoro appear within it, with the Five Grand Elemental Spirits. A fierce battle between the Five Elemental Warriors and the Shaman King begins.

In the end, Hao reveals that he was merely preparing for their end and use the Great Spirit to destroy a sun and create a black hole that almost sucks in the Five Warriors until the train of souls arrives and anchors everyone. Hao is eventually discouraged from his plan of destroying humanity when his mother arrives and everyone is sent back.

Funbari no Uta
In the seven years after the Shaman Fights Chocolove has tried to make amends for his earlier crimes, by turning himself in together with his former gang Shaft. He is currently doing time in jail, having about ten years to go according to Umemiya Ryunosuke. On the request of Tamamura Tamao, Ryu and Asakura Hana were to break him out of jail and bring him and the other Five Elemental Warriors back to the Funbari Onsen, to bring back business although Ryu winds up in jail in the process. In prison, he became known as Mr. Wind.

He arrived at the meeting place with Lyserg and reprimands Horohoro for scaring Hana. When Horohoro wonders why he is out of jail he reveals that Lyserg helped relieve him of his prison sentence early though it wasn't easy to get permission for him to travel abroad. He like the others is shocked to see Ren arrive in a Horse Carriage and to see Tao Men initially believing him to be Ren. After remembering their promise to Hao, Yoh and Anna finally arrive and Chocolove goes to the party at the Funbari Onsen with the others. He is fast asleep when the party ends and does not even react to Hana's yelling and only barely reacts when Anna reveals the arrival of a new guide from the Patch Tribe.

Anime/Manga Difference
In the 2001 anime series, Chocolove first met Orona, on a snowy night when he was young after witnessing him subdue a robber with his comedy. The robber laughed his head off as he was taken away by the police and the hostage rescued. This version of Chocolove portrays him more of a street orphan and removes his gangster backstory towards estimate of the show's toning down of the violence to appease the manga's shonen content.

Unlike the manga and the 2021 anime series, where he joins Yoh's group upon arriving at the Patch Village, in the 2001 anime series, Chocolove is first introduced and joins the group before meeting Lilirara. Furthermore, Chocolove keeps his sense of sight unlike him choosing to discard them after his first training in hell by Gandara in the manga series

Chocolove's jokes differ between the Japanese and American versions.

Typically in the original Japanese version, Chocolove's jokes were puns on Japanese words with some visual effect to enhance it. (ex: The word "impossible" in Japanese is pronounced bakana, which is played with the word and object "banana"). Since the jokes make less sense in the English translation, the English version have replaced the jokes with new ones, where he usually say words that are homonyms to things already said with a visual accompaniment. A good example is when Ren says, "No appeal," Chocolove says, "No a peel," and would hold up a partially peeled banana.

The U.S. manga edits Chocolove's lips so that they match the other characters to avoid blackface stereotype. His lips remain unedited in the 4Kids Entertainment and Disney Jetix versions of the anime series, as well as in the credits for the game Shaman King: Master of Spirits.

In the concept art and Japanese version of the 2021 anime series, Chocolove once again has his lips edited, to avoid the blackface stereotype.

Trivia

 * His hobby is telling jokes.
 * His favorite food is donuts.