The Law of Ueki

[~GaLs~]

The Law of Ueki (うえきの法則, Ueki no Hōsoku) is a Japanese manga series by Tsubasa Fukuchi.
It was first serialised in the manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday in 2002 and ended in 2004.
Sixteen tankōbon volumes was compiled and published by Shogakukan.
An anime adaptation was first broadcasted on TV Tokyo on April 4, 2005, ended with 51 episodes on March 27, 2006. It was produced by Studio Deen.

Story Line
The story starts out with the Battle of the Supernatural Powers, a tournament to decide who will be the next God of Heaven (rendered as Kami (天界人) in the Japanese version).

Each candidate (100 in total) is required to choose a junior high school student (middle school) to act as their fighter. The student is given a unique power and told to eliminate as many enemies as possible. The winning God Candidate will become The New God of Heaven and the winning student will receive the Blank Zai (or talent), a talent that can be anything they choose.

While this leads many students to thoughts of greed and selfishness, Kosuke Ueki decides to take it upon himself to win this tournament to keep that power away from those that would abuse such a gift.

Initially, fights in the tournament consist of a battle between two power users - one wins by knocking the other opponent out.

When a knock-out is obtained, the loser will lose their power and the winner will gain a talent (才, Zai), which is a talent of some sort (e.g. "talent of running," "talent of studying," and so on). A power user who has lost a fight is disqualified and their power is labeled "retired."

The rules for the combatants of the tournament revolve around the talents:

• Power users are not allowed to use their powers against non-power users, or they lose one talent for each hit.
• If the power user loses all of his/her talents, then he/she will disappear.
• Every time a power user knocks out another power user, he/she will gain another talent, senseless or not.
• If, for any reason, both contestants become unconscious at the same time, the round is a draw: no talents will be gained, and no powers are lost. The contestants must be knocked out within 5 seconds of each other, or the last contestant wins.
  
  There are also rules which apply to the King of the Celestial World Candidates / God Candidates. The punishment for breaking them is that the King of the Celestial World Candidate / God Candidate is sent to Hell.
  
• King of the Celestial World Candidates / God Candidates are not allowed to interfere with their power user's fight. This means that they are not allowed to provide their power users with more supplies to use their power (this may only apply to during a fight), or even save them from dying.
  
• King of the Celestial World Candidates / God Candidates are only allowed to grant a power to one individual. However, it is possible for two King of the Celestial World Candidates / God Candidates to give a power each to one person; if found out, though, it will lead to a disqualification of both King of the Celestial World Candidates / God Candidates.

Near the end of the tournament, power users are allowed to form groups of five for "battle royale"-style fighting. Knock-outs during this stage do not result in losing powers. Each team is given a penalty if it loses, such as having all of the members die or losing their hair in addition to losing their powers.

To decide who receives the Blank Talent among the winning team, a device is used to measure the growth in power that each participant has shown from the beginning to the end of the tournament. To decide who is to become King of the Celestial World / God, the winning team votes which of the King of the Celestial World Candidates / God Candidates should be given that honor.

Level 2 powers may be obtained by the power users. The requirements are a total mastery of their original power and the powerful desire to become stronger.

Characters

Kosuke Ueki
植木 耕助​

Kosuke Ueki is the main character in the series. He is in Class 1-C at Hinokuni Junior High School. Ueki's ability is given to him by Kobayashi (a.k.a. Mr. K), who is also Ueki's homeroom teacher. His level 2 power is to reverse the power of his enemy. He is also seen wearing pinkish-red shoes during his first fight with Robert Haydn.

Ueki is an unusually calm individual, and doesn't care about what happens to him. He can be found snoozing in class, letting children use him as a target for shooting soccer balls (or in one case, a surfboard),and also calling the police without panicking when he faces a gang of rowdy teenagers. However, he cares for people around them, even going as far as saving Robert Haydn from falling debris in the Dogura Mansion.

According to a short profile of the main characters of The Law of Ueki (published in the end of manga vol. 16 by the author), Ueki's hobbies include cleaning up his town. In the first volume of the manga, Ueki is seen planting trees in the town park.

Ueki is a genuinely kind person who is always trying to help people. Ueki is actually a heavenly being sent to Earth by his father in order to take part in this tournament. Being a heavenly being allows him powers beyond his tree-making skills.

Ability - Change rubbish into trees.

Ai Mori
森 あい​

Ai Mori is one of Ueki's classmates at Hinokuni Junior High School. When in a casual mood, Ai is usually upbeat and friendly, although she is often shown with a very shallow side, initially believing that all power-users (with the exception of Ueki) are dangerous enemies that can't be trusted. Still, Ai cares deeply for her friends, especially Ueki. She discovers Ueki's power early on, coming to a rather unusual conclusion and at first believing him to be an alien. Upon learning of the competition Ueki is in, she decides to back him up, to keep him from losing all his talents and disappearing because of it.

Ability - Change her opponent into a glasses-lover

Seiichiro Sano
佐野 清一郎​

Sano can change towels into iron by holding his breath, however sharp-eyed fans can see that sometimes it appears to be voice-activated instead. But after he gives the commands, he is sometimes left with a second or two to stop breathing in.

Sano, a 9th grader at Inaho Junior High School, was known as the Genius of Robert's Ten while he was part of it. But he had joined because the leader of Robert's Ten (Karlpaccho) had placed a Death Pentagon on Sano's King of the Celestial World Candidate Inumaru that would kill him by removing all his blood unless he listened to Robert.

Sano can be creative with his power, creating shields, springboards (spring) and even boomerangs which he calls "boomerang cutter".

He has a burn over his left eye which was caused during an accident with a hot spring. Still, he does love those hot springs and hopes to get the blank talent to obtain the talent of discovery in order to find a hot spring of his own.

Ability - Changes towel into iron.

Rinko Jerrard
鈴子･ジェラード​

She comes from a rich family and in the past many people had pretended to be her friend so that she would buy them things. Disillusioned with the seeming coldheartedness of the world, she succumbs to Robert's hypnotic charisma and joins the Ten. Initially, Rinko has a crush on Robert since he treats her as a real friend, but she eventually sees Robert for what he really is and joins up with Ueki, indeed becoming his guardian and constant caretaker.

Rinko's Celestial King Candidate is a man named Nikay, one of Margarette's followers whom she hasn't seen since the battle began.

She loves all animals, taking an immediate liking to Tenko (whom she calls "Tenki"), but her weakness for cute things makes her vulnerable to Ban's power.

Note that it is wise not to insult her no matter what, for she has a side to her that makes her incredibly unhealthy for the person who insults her.

She doesn't seem to realise that she has this "evil" side and fortunately for her that she forgets whatever her "evil" side says or does. This "evil" side seems to be activated whenever someone insults her.



The only example of this is when Ban calls her an 'insect' which causes her to become furious and unlock her "evil" side. This "evil" side has no love for animals,as shown when she remorselessly swats away Ban's cute, living Pick with her special glove, then beats Ban by slapping him with the glove relentlessly. In another instance at the end of the manga series, she confesses her love to Robert, but Robert insults her (although he doesn't really meant to) by calling her "small fry". Robert becomes her second victim and has to be hospitalized for a fortnight.

Ability - Change beads into bombs

Hideyoshi Soya
宗屋 ヒデヨシ​

His first King of the Celestial World Candidate, Nero, was a kind heavenly being that did not want to become the King of the Celestial World; he simply wanted to help out humans which he did at the Sun House. Soya offered to become gifted so that Nero could stay longer on Earth. Unfortunately, he helped Soya during a fight and was sent to Hell.

Then, Soya received a new King of the Celestial World Candidate, Zack, whom he hates for turning out to be a jerk and wanting him to join forces with a nasty bunch of power users. He agrees to help Ueki when he hears that they can save Nero. Although sometimes cowardly and weak when Soya performs his sneak attacks in conjunction with his power he can be a formidable foe.

Ability - Turn portraits into voices

For more character's characteristic, please refer to this site.

Spoiler

Opening 1
[youtube]W1tQdZbnbAs[/youtube]

Opening 2
[youtube]LCfG2RgLyuU[/youtube]

Ending 1
[YOUTUBE]iCLsYZUSXCU[/YOUTUBE]

Ending 2
[YOUTUBE]ZbZv9yY2poQ[/YOUTUBE]

Ending 3
[YOUTUBE]XBBX-2KmeE0[/YOUTUBE]

Ending 4
[youtube]vZ5HVLDP4Sk[/youtube]

Enjoy~!

 

[13lade619]

... i'm currently watching the season where the team battles start, this is a cool anime.

IMO, Ueki pwns FMA. why follow laws when you can have your own?

 

[~GaLs~]

>>why follow laws when you can have your own?
Laws can be followed by a creative way.

 

[darkRae]

You forgot Hideyoshi

My number one favorite anime (obviously, look at my avatar)
I wish all Anime could be like this (moral-themed)
This anime shows what 'The Law of Ueki' is (helping others etc.)

 

[~GaLs~]

>>You forgot Hideyoshi
Added.

I love this anime, as it really represent how human can uses their intelligence.
Even a non ability user can beat an ability user.