Butsu Zone (series)

Butsu Zone
Information
Author	Hiroyuki Takei
Publisher	Shueisha
Years	March 3, 1997—August 14, 1997
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Jump

Butsu Zone (仏（ブツ）ゾーン, Butsu Zōn) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei as his first series before Shaman King. It was serialized in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from March to August 1997, and its chapters were collected in three tankōbon volumes. A "Butsu Zone" is a Buddha that has appeared on Earth using a Buddha statue (仏像, butsuzō).

Plot

The series highlights the adventures of Senju (the Thousand-Hand Avalokiteśvara Bodhisattva) who has to find and protect Sachi, an incarnation of the Buddha Miroku (Maitreya Bodhisattva). Miroku is said to appear on Earth at a time when the dharma is no longer taught and is completely forgotten, to achieve complete enlightenment and then to re-teach the pure dharma, becoming a successor of Śākyamuni Buddha, the founder of Buddhism. It is thus Senju's job to aid Miroku (Sachi) in achieving enlightenment, enabling her to achieve Buddhahood.

Relations to Shaman King

• The Gandhara organization where their leader Sati Saigan, and most of the Guardian Ghosts are "homages" to the buddhas that appear in the series and are called Butsu Zone when they are Over Souled through statues.
• In the omake "Tales of Funbari Hill: Rokujizo Night", Yoh fantasizes about a fighting rokujizō, and the OVA adaptation makes the animated statue look and fight more like Jizoh/Zizou and expands on the fantasy to include additional characters from Butsu Zone, such as Sachi, Senju, and Asura.
• Chapters 9 to 11 of Shaman King Zero regarding Sati's flashback abridged to the point where the events take place after the series.
• Senju appears as a playable character in the fighting game Shaman King: Funbari Spirits.
• In Flowers Chapter 8, the mall's movie theater has a poster featuring Senju.
• In Shaman King The Super Star, one of the story arcs is called the "Daibutsu Zone" and involves Sati and Senju.