Anna the Itako (one-shot)

Anna the Itako (ITAKOのANNA) is Hiroyuki Takei's first one-shot chapter which won the 48th Tezuka Award.

It was later collected in the Volume 3 of Butsu Zone.

About
Anna and her grandmother head to Tokyo on Shamanic business when a greedy sword collector is bent on obtaining the legendary katana Harusame.

Characters

 * Anna the Itako: The main protagonist.
 * Kiyo: Anna's foster grandmother and mentor
 * Chuzo Kanenaga: Age 55. A notorious sword collector.

Spirits

 * Alfred: Kiyo's deceased husband, soldier, and foster grandfather to Anna. Integrated with Anna at the beginning.
 * Tojiro: A hitokiri during the Sengoku Period and wielder of the Harusame. He abandoned his killing ways after falling in love with Onatsu.
 * Onatsu: A resident of the temple which Harusame resides, and becoming Tojiro's love interest. She lingers in the temple in regret that Tojiro's death was the result of her words.

Trivia

 * As a one-shot, this chapter is non-canon with any of the following works by Hiroyuki Takei, which is evident through the ownership of Harusame during the Sengoku Period was replaced by Amidamaru in Shaman King.
 * Anna's character in terms of appearance and abilities would later be inherited by Kyoyama Anna, the main heroine in the author's hit franchise, Shaman King.