Bill Burton

Bill Burton (ビル・バートン) is a fictional character in the Shaman King manga and anime series. He is a member of Hao's followers and part of Team "Tsuki-Gumi".

Appearance
In battle, he wears a modified version of his old football uniform with spikes on his helmet and kneepads. His upper body is completely bare save for a pair of chest plates and spiked shoulder pads. He has stars on his gloves and wears a cape with patterns similar to the American flag.

When he is dressed in the public he wears a pair of orange overalls, an orange cap, black boots, and black gloves.

Later on in the Manga series, Bill is shown wearing several red and yellow block pieces worn over his normal outfit including shoulder pads, a neck bracer, chest armor, gauntlets, and boots, presumably gained from Brocken.

Personality
He is very loyal to Hao and is not above attacking opponents from behind or when their guard was down, but he has also shown a sense of honor and gratitude after being saved from the X-Laws by Asakura Yoh and even guided Yoh and his friends towards the Patch Village.

Spirit

 * See More: The Big Guys

His guardian ghosts were the deceased twenty-one players of his former football team called "The Big Guys" that were all killed in a bus crash. Even after their death, they still followed him and took orders as if they were still alive and were a football team.

Past
BIll originates from Detroit, USA and was born on April 5, 1967. He was once the captain of the American Football Team called "The Big Guys", nicknamed by the team's fans because of his great skills. One day, however, their bus drove over a cliff and the entire team except for Bill were killed. Later it was revealed that the brakes had been cut by a fan who Bill had refused an autograph. Bill was forced to retire due to his injuries and later he became known as "Little Bill". He had lost hope until one day, he met a younger Asakura Hao who had appeared before him and healed all of his injuries with a single touch of his hand. That day, he swore loyalty to Hao.

Five years before the Shaman Fight and after agreeing to join Hao, Bill was seen inside the Spirit of Fire as Hao brought him to his new home with the other members of Hao's group before Hao left again to find new comrades. Being bewildered that the "center of attention" left already, Bill ridiculed the surroundings before almost picking a fight with Hang Zang-Ching. As the majority of Hao's group came to introduce themselves to him, he remained very skeptical of such an odd bunch living together, until he met Brocken Meyer who seemed to be a genuine person and happy and thankful to Hao, noting that bad habits aside, they seemed to be genuinely good people. When the BoZ Brothers attempted to pick a fight, Bill merely glared them down, while Brocken warned them not to mess with their newest ally.

Shaman Fight in Tokyo
Not much is known about his First Round experience but he did qualify to enter the Shaman Fight by landing a successful hit on a Patch Officiant and won at least two matches to get to the Second Round. He was first seen in the series with Hao's other followers when they interrupted their boss from playing around with Asakura Yoh and friends so that they would not miss the Patch Jumbo, which would take them to America. He sat among his allies on the plane, and later rode on the Spirit Of Fire with Hao and the others when the inhabitants of the plane were dumped out of it.

Traveling through America
When Yoh and company reach Mesa Verdede and find an area that is completely blocked off saying "keep out", Bill alongside Turbine, Hang Zang-Ching, Damayaji, and Boris Tepes Dracula show up and attempt to stop them from going any further. Tao Ren thinks they were quite suspicious looking, and eventually, they are recognized as Hao's henchmen. Bill remains quiet, and watches as Yoh's group go into battle with Boris. Eventually, Turbine acknowledges that Boris is too out of control and even he cannot stop him, saying that he does not want to get involved in this while taking Bill and Hang-Zeng with him to go and report back to Hao.

Later after Boris dies at the hands of Marco Lasso, Bill suddenly shows up behind the X-Laws and attacks them with his Over Soul, but they all summon their Archangels and manage to nearly kill Bill with their combined power. Before they can deal with the finishing hit, Asakura Yoh comes to Bill's defense, proclaiming that he realizes it is too late to do anything about Boris, but he will not allow them to kill anyone else. Eventually, the X-Laws leave, and refusing to leave him behind, Umemiya Ryunosuke carries Bill further into the mesa with them. Eventually, as he wakes up, Bill states that he owes them a debt for saving his life, so he reveals that the pathway they have chosen is called "The Path of Truth", that they have been guided there by their guardian ghosts, and that the Patch Village has been protected by the Patch and had many traps placed there to prevent regular humans from entering. When pressed by Ren for more info, Bill refuses to say more since his debt has been paid and that they should continue on. When asked by Yoh what he will do now, he proclaims that he will continue onwards with his own power, boasting he is one of Hao's most resilient men, and that he will not die so easily.

Shaman Fight Second Round
When the Second Round begins, Bill wears a casual outfit while sitting in the stands with the other followers of Hao's group, watching Team "Tsuchi-Gumi"'s battle with Team "The Ren".

He later reappears before Icemen team after their defeat against Yoh's Team "Funbari Onsen", wanting to kill them and feed them and their souls to Hao's Spirit of Fire although Horohoro steps in. Horohoro's father, Usui Lycan also strolls by and Bill goes to kill Lycan but is easily knocked back by his guardian ghost Gororo. Later, he was about to deal a finishing blow to the weakened Horohoro but is stopped by Lyserg Diethel's Archangel, Zelel.

While the group was ordered to deal with a fleet of human warships, they begin to wonder if they are doing the right thing. When Hang Zang-Ching asks Peyote and Mohamed to stop because they scare him he is suddenly killed by Peyote's O.S. "Grande Fantasma". Peyote tells them to calm down as he only wants to make them stronger by dying, but then pierces Bill completely and reveals that he was just kidding.

Invading the Plants
Though Bill and most of the others were revived, in a conversation with Anahol Pokki, he reveals that because Peyote and Mohamed's bodies took too much damage, they were the only ones from the slaughter who were unable to be revived.

After Hao becomes the Shaman King, Bill is seen sitting with Zang-Ching and Brocken in one of the cars aboard the train inside the Great Spirit, stating that despite him denying it, it is obvious that he needed them.

Funbari no Uta
Several years later, Tao Ren, together with Bill, Brocken Meyer, and Hang Zang-Ching, builds the Leidi Group, a large electronics manufacturing company.

13 years after the tournament, Bill, Hang Zang-Ching and Brocken Meyer, travel with the current heir Tao Men to Funbari Onsen.

Anime/Manga Difference
Like the rest of Hao's followers, Bill was seen less often in the 2001 anime series. Bill was sent with Ashil to keep him from "accidentally" killing Yoh. For a while he kept Yoh from entering the battle, although Yoh was eventually able to get past Bill and fight along with his friends.

He initially fights Porf Griffith in the battle of Babylon Gate, and is later shown killing Larch Dirac by tackling his Archangel and crushing Larch with it. In the final assault, however, Bill could not control his new power boost that his body could not handle. This ends up killing him in the progress ("knocked out" in the English anime).

In the 4Kids version of the 2001 anime series, he was given a southern accent.