Hoshin Engi

Hoshin Engi (封神演義, Hōshin Engi), also known as Soul Hunter, is a Japanese manga series by Ryu Fujisaki.

The manga series was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump magazine from 1996–2000 and compiled in 23 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha. VIZ Media acquired the rights to the manga, with bimonthly releases starting June 5, 2007. Also of note is that the manga has been re-released and re-compiled into fewer larger volumes with new cover art, illustrations and afterwords. The 18 Kanzenban volumes were released periodically between July 2005 and June 2006 in Japan only.

The story has been adapted into an anime series titled Senkai-den Hōshin Engi, broadcast on Japanese TV in 1999 and released in North America on DVD as Soul Hunter in 2001. The anime is 26 episodes in length. In January 2009, Shomei TV announced their intentions to remake the anime series if they received 10,000 signatures. Although the 10,000 signatures were reached, there's been no word about the remake as of April 2011.

Plot
The story is set in legendary China. A beautiful female fox spirit named Dakki (妲己) is controlling the emperor Chu-o (紂王 Chū-ō) and the ruling In (殷) dynasty, and is using her power over him to do evil in the nation. An immortal-in-training named Taikobo (太公望 Taikōbō) is chosen by the great immortal sages for the Houshin Project (封神計画) — to seal away or destroy the evil demons that infest the world. In the course of his adventures, Taikobo gathers other powerful companions and sets out to seal away the demons and eventually destroy the fox-spirit Dakki.

There are significant plot differences between the novel, the manga series and the anime.

Official

 * Hoshi Engi Official Japanese

Other Sources

 * Hoshin Engi