Chocolove McDonell

Chocolove is born in the United States and experiences severe violence while still young. His childhood leaves him angry at the world rather than naturally cheerful, and the comedy that later defines him is something he learns rather than an uncomplicated extension of his personality.

His parents are murdered when he is a child, and the resulting rage pushes Chocolove into criminal violence. He becomes involved with a street gang known as Shaft and personally participates in acts that destroy other people's lives. This period establishes the guilt that later becomes inseparable from his desire to make others happy.

The decisive change comes when he meets Orona, a shaman and comedian whose worldview is almost the opposite of Chocolove's. Orona believes laughter can interrupt hatred and bring people together, even when a joke itself is terrible. He takes Chocolove in, teaches him shamanism and gives him an alternative to answering pain with more violence.

Orona's philosophy becomes Chocolove's own ambition. Rather than simply seeking power, he decides that becoming Shaman King would give him the means to spread laughter throughout the world. His comedy remains famously unsuccessful on a technical level, but his commitment to the purpose behind it is sincere.

Mic, Orona's jaguar spirit, eventually becomes Chocolove's guardian ghost. Mic gives Chocolove a combat style based on animal speed, claws and heightened senses rather than the conventional weapon-based Over Souls used by many other Shaman Fight competitors.

Orona is later killed, depriving Chocolove of the person who rescued him from his violent life. Instead of returning permanently to vengeance, Chocolove carries forward Orona's belief in laughter and enters the Shaman Fight with Mic at his side.

He eventually joins Team The Ren with Ren Tao and Horohoro. Despite their contrasting personalities, the three develop into one of the central teams surrounding Yoh during the tournament.

Chocolove presents himself as a comedian and constantly searches for opportunities to make jokes. His sense of humor relies heavily on puns, visual gags and wordplay, and the people around him frequently find the results painfully unfunny.

The negative reactions rarely discourage him. Chocolove continues joking even when Ren becomes irritated or companions threaten to hit him, because his objective is larger than receiving immediate approval. Laughter represents the worldview Orona taught him and the life he consciously chose after his violent childhood.

His outward cheerfulness therefore coexists with a substantial capacity for seriousness. Chocolove understands death, guilt and revenge from direct experience. When circumstances force him to confront the consequences of his former actions, he does not dismiss those consequences merely because he has changed.

This willingness to accept responsibility distinguishes him from a character who simply leaves his criminal history behind. When the children of a man Chocolove killed confront him, he does not deny what he did or claim that becoming a better person has erased the harm. He accepts punishment even when doing so places his own life in danger.

Chocolove's instinct for empathy also makes him unusually receptive to spiritual emotion. His jokes can affect spirits directly, and his later abilities depend increasingly on understanding rather than overpowering the supernatural beings around him.

Among his teammates, he is considerably more expressive than Ren and often more deliberately comedic than Horohoro. Yet he can display impressive courage when the situation becomes genuinely dangerous.

His optimism is therefore acquired rather than naïve. Chocolove knows people can inflict terrible damage because he has both suffered from violence and committed it. His insistence on laughter comes from believing that hatred must be interrupted somewhere.

Chocolove is a teenage African-American boy with black hair ordinarily worn in a large Afro. His broad smile and expressive face suit the exaggerated physical performance that frequently accompanies his attempts at comedy.

His everyday clothing includes an open white shirt and garments associated with the South American period of his shaman training. His later battle clothing similarly incorporates patterns and accessories connected to the culture in which Orona trained him.

Earlier in his life, Chocolove wears his head shaved while participating in the Shaft gang. The difference between the shaved gang member and the Afro-wearing comedian visually separates the two periods of his life.

His facial appearance has varied between different published and animated versions of Shaman King. Later designs reduce some of the heavily exaggerated facial features present in the earliest manga artwork and first television adaptation.

When Chocolove merges with Mic through his Over Soul, his body takes on pronounced jaguar characteristics. His fingers become claw-like weapons, his movement becomes more animalistic, and the spirit enhances the senses needed to locate opponents.

Later spiritual forms change his silhouette substantially. His partnership with Pascual Abaj produces forms based on Mesoamerican imagery, including the enormous stone-head-like Over Soul Olmeca and more advanced armor configurations.

Chocolove is a highly mobile shaman whose earliest combat style depends on complete synchronization with Mic. Instead of simply placing his guardian ghost into a sword or another external weapon, Chocolove uses parts of his own body as the medium for their Over Soul.

The resulting transformation gives him jaguar-like speed, agility and senses. His fingernails become claw weapons, and his movement can become difficult for slower opponents to follow.

This style requires unusually close synchronization between shaman and guardian spirit. Because Chocolove is effectively incorporating Mic's characteristics into his own body, the usefulness of the Over Soul depends on both of them functioning almost as a single creature.

Speed is one of his primary advantages. Chocolove can close distance quickly, reposition around slower opponents and attack from angles that conventional weapon users may find difficult to defend.

His senses are similarly important. Mic's jaguar nature enhances his ability to track movement and respond to enemies beyond straightforward visual observation.

Chocolove also develops abilities centered on comedy. His Furyoku can be used to construct supernatural gags whose effect is particularly pronounced on spirits. Although the jokes may fail completely on nearby humans, spirits can become helpless with laughter.

This produces Gag Wind, a technique that weaponizes comedy rather than simply adding jokes between attacks. The target's laughter creates an opening Chocolove or his allies can exploit.

After being killed and revived, Chocolove gains an enormous increase in Furyoku and acquires a second major spirit ally, Pascual Abaj. Pascual is an ancient shaman who provides knowledge of advanced Over Souls and becomes central to Chocolove's later development.

Chocolove deliberately accepts blindness as part of his atonement. Rather than making him helpless, the loss of sight pushes his remaining senses to extraordinary levels; he can identify people and navigate through smell and other sensory information with remarkable precision.

His later Furyoku reaches approximately 197,500 after repeated supernatural training, placing his reserves above those of the other Five Elemental Warriors at that stage.

Pascual's teachings also allow Chocolove to manipulate wind and atmospheric forces more directly, shifting his combat style from primarily jaguar-based physical attacks toward large-scale spiritual techniques.

Near the conclusion of the Shaman Fight, Chocolove receives the Spirit of Wind, one of the Five Grand Elemental Spirits derived from the Great Spirit. The acquisition formalizes his place among the Five Elemental Warriors.

Oversoul: Mic uses Chocolove's own body as a medium for the jaguar spirit Mic. The technique grants him feline speed, claws, agility and enhanced senses.

Black Jaguar is one of Chocolove's principal Mic-based combat forms, emphasizing the predatory movement and close-range physical abilities of his guardian spirit.

Jaguar Claw channels Mic's power through Chocolove's hands and nails, creating claw-based attacks designed for rapid close combat.

Gag Wind converts Chocolove's comedy into a spiritual attack. He creates an elaborate visual joke through Furyoku that can cause spirits to laugh uncontrollably, leaving them vulnerable.

Oversoul: Olmeca uses Pascual Abaj to manifest a massive stone-head form inspired by Olmec monumental sculpture. It provides extraordinary mobility and allows Chocolove to move through the air at high speed while using relatively little Furyoku.

Armor Oversoul combines the knowledge Chocolove gains through Pascual with his existing relationship with Mic, producing a more advanced form optimized for high-level shaman combat.

Spirit of Wind Oversoul uses the Grand Elemental Spirit of Wind. Through it, Chocolove gains access to atmospheric and wind manipulation on a scale far beyond his earlier guardian-spirit techniques.

Orona is the person most responsible for redirecting Chocolove McDonell's life. Chocolove McDonell meets Orona while still shaped by the violence and anger of his childhood, and Orona responds by teaching rather than condemning him.

Orona introduces Chocolove McDonell to the belief that laughter can break cycles of hatred. His influence explains why Chocolove continues telling jokes regardless of how badly audiences receive them; comedy represents a moral commitment rather than merely a career ambition.

[After Orona is killed, Chocolove McDonell inherits both his purpose and his guardian spirit Mic. Rather than answering Orona's death by permanently returning to violence, Chocolove attempts to continue the life his mentor encouraged him to build.](#spoiler)

Mic is Chocolove's first and most recognizable guardian spirit. Originally associated with Orona, Mic becomes Chocolove McDonell's partner after Orona's death.

Their Over Soul is unusually intimate because Chocolove McDonell uses his own body as the principal medium. Mic's jaguar traits become integrated directly into Chocolove's fighting style rather than appearing only through an external weapon.

Ren Tao becomes Chocolove's teammate and one of his closest companions during the main stage of the Shaman Fight. Chocolove McDonell, Ren Tao and Horohoro form Team The Ren.

Their personalities frequently clash. Ren Tao has little patience for Chocolove McDonell's terrible jokes, and Chocolove's attempts to create laughter can provoke immediate irritation from him.

Beneath that comic friction, their friendship is substantial. Chocolove McDonell stands beside Ren Tao through battles whose stakes eventually extend far beyond the formal Shaman Fight.

Both characters also understand the consequences of having committed violence. Ren Tao grows up within a family culture that encourages killing, while Chocolove McDonell has to acknowledge violence he committed during his gang years.

Horohoro is the third member of Team The Ren. Chocolove McDonell and Horohoro are generally more openly emotional than Ren, although Horohoro finds Chocolove's comedy every bit as irritating as most of their companions do.

Their cooperation becomes especially important as Team The Ren encounters increasingly powerful opponents. Horohoro's ice techniques, Chocolove's mobility and Ren Tao's lightning-based attacks provide the team with very different combat specialties.

Yoh Asakura becomes one of the wider circle of shamans with whom Chocolove allies himself. Chocolove McDonell does not belong to Yoh's own Shaman Fight team, but the two share a belief that simply destroying opponents does not solve the hatred motivating them.

Yoh Asakura's willingness to forgive people who have caused harm becomes particularly relevant to Chocolove McDonell, whose own past prevents him from claiming that only innocent people deserve another chance.

Lyserg Diethel represents a more conflicted approach to justice. Lyserg Diethel's experiences push him toward the X-LAWS' belief in eliminating evil, whereas Chocolove McDonell's own history makes absolute condemnation more difficult.

Hao Asakura stands as the principal threat surrounding all of the allied shamans. Chocolove McDonell eventually participates directly in efforts to oppose Hao Asakura's plans.

Unlike characters whose relationship to Hao begins with personal revenge, Chocolove's opposition is grounded more strongly in protecting others and preserving the possibility of a world in which hatred does not remain dominant.

Pascual Abaj becomes Chocolove's second major spiritual teacher and ally. [After Chocolove experiences death and resurrection, Pascual Abaj becomes associated with him and teaches advanced shamanic techniques.](#spoiler)

Pascual Abaj's knowledge significantly expands Chocolove McDonell's capabilities beyond the jaguar-style physical fighting learned through Mic.

[Through Pascual Abaj, Chocolove develops Olmeca and later gains the knowledge necessary to use increasingly sophisticated wind-oriented techniques.](#spoiler)

Redseb Munzer and Seyrarm Munzer become painfully important to Chocolove because their history intersects directly with his own crimes.

[Their father was killed by Chocolove McDonell during his violent gang period. When Redseb Munzer and Seyrarm Munzer later confront him, Chocolove refuses to excuse what he did merely because he has since changed.](#spoiler)

His willingness to accept their anger demonstrates that atonement, for Chocolove, cannot mean demanding forgiveness from the people he harmed.

Golem is closely connected to the Munzer siblings and consequently becomes part of the confrontation between Chocolove's present identity and his past.

The encounter with Golem results in Chocolove's death, but that death subsequently becomes part of the spiritual growth that dramatically increases his Furyoku.

Chocolove enters the main Shaman Fight later than several members of Yoh's circle and quickly establishes himself through an unusual combination of formidable speed and relentless comedy.

His membership in Team The Ren creates a balanced trio around Ren. Where Ren is proud and severe and Horohoro is impulsive, Chocolove introduces a deliberately comic personality whose fighting ability is nonetheless entirely serious.

The early Mic-based battles demonstrate another possible form of Over Soul. Rather than channeling a spirit into a sword, snowboard or other conventional external medium, Chocolove integrates jaguar characteristics directly through his body.

His larger narrative role becomes clearer when his past is revealed. The aspiring comedian was once someone who used violence against other people, making his obsession with laughter a response to guilt rather than an arbitrary personality quirk.

The arrival of the Munzer children forces that history into the present. Chocolove discovers that the people harmed by his former life have not disappeared simply because he has become kinder.

His death and subsequent resurrection dramatically increase his Furyoku. He also gains the guidance of Pascual Abaj, opening an advanced stage of his development and connecting him to knowledge from a much older Shaman Fight.

This growth transforms him from a fast but comparatively specialized fighter into one of the strongest shamans among Yoh's wider alliance.

Further training in Hell raises his Furyoku again, eventually reaching approximately 197,500. At that stage, he possesses the highest recorded Furyoku among the five shamans selected as Elemental Warriors.

His ability to manipulate wind develops alongside this increase. What begins as a jaguar-centered Over Soul ultimately aligns him with one of the world's five great elemental powers.

Chocolove becomes one of the Five Elemental Warriors together with Yoh, Ren, Horohoro and Lyserg. He is entrusted with the Spirit of Wind, matching both his advanced techniques and the mobility that has characterized his fighting style from the beginning.

The five subsequently participate in the final attempt to confront Hao after the conventional objective of winning the Shaman Fight has been overtaken by Hao's ascension.

Chocolove's development begins before his formal introduction. The cheerful comedian seen during the Shaman Fight exists because an earlier version of him chose violence as the answer to grief.

The murder of his parents leaves him furious and alienated. His involvement with Shaft eventually turns that anger outward, and Chocolove becomes responsible for inflicting the same kind of irreversible loss that originally damaged him.

Orona provides the first interruption in that cycle. Rather than telling Chocolove simply to forget his anger, he offers an alternative purpose: making people laugh.

Comedy becomes a discipline. Every bad joke is, in a small way, Chocolove deliberately choosing the identity Orona helped him construct over the person he had previously been.

That makes the comic failures meaningful. Chocolove does not stop because the audience groans; the objective is to keep trying to create joy even in circumstances where hatred comes more naturally.

The Shaman Fight eventually tests whether this philosophy survives contact with accountability.

When Redseb and Seyrarm confront him over their father's death, Chocolove cannot portray himself only as a victim who overcame tragedy. He must acknowledge that he also became the source of someone else's tragedy.

His response is not to claim that rehabilitation cancels guilt. He accepts their anger and punishment, even when it leads to his death.

That confrontation distinguishes forgiveness from absolution. Chocolove can change without possessing the right to demand that those he harmed consider the debt erased.

Resurrection gives him dramatically greater spiritual strength, but the advancement comes after he has faced the ugliest part of his own history rather than escaped it.

His decision to sacrifice his eyesight further develops the theme of atonement. Although blindness strengthens his dependence on other senses and ultimately contributes to an unusual combat advantage, he does not initially approach it merely as a power-enhancing technique.

His association with Pascual gives his growth a second mentorship after Orona. Orona teaches him why he should live differently; Pascual teaches him how to become a stronger shaman within that new life.

By becoming the Elemental Warrior associated with wind, Chocolove reaches a position of enormous spiritual responsibility. He has moved from a child driven by revenge to someone entrusted with one of the five greatest elemental spirits.

Yet the comedy remains. His development does not require abandoning the deliberately ridiculous behavior that others find irritating. The jokes become evidence that he has retained the choice around which his new life was built.

The name Chocolove McDonell is written チョコラブ・マクダネル in Japanese.

"Chocolove" is an unusual constructed given name, while McDonell reflects the character's American identity. English-language adaptations have not always retained the original given name.

The 2001 English-language anime notably renames him Joco. Later English franchise material has used both Joco and Chocolove depending on edition and context.

His guardian spirit Mic carries a musical wordplay reference. The name is commonly understood as a play on Mick Jagger, the singer of the Rolling Stones.

His mentor's name, Orona, and later guardian spirit Pascual Abaj accompany the strong Indigenous American and Mesoamerican imagery used throughout his spiritual techniques.

The advanced Over Soul Olmeca derives its name and appearance from the Olmec civilization, particularly the monumental stone heads associated with Olmec archaeological sites.

The name Gag Wind states the two defining elements of Chocolove's later combat identity directly: comedy and wind.

• Chocolove is an African-American shaman who competes as a member of Team The Ren alongside Ren Tao and Horohoro.

• His original guardian spirit is the jaguar Mic, inherited from his mentor Orona.

• Unlike many shamans, Chocolove initially uses his own body as part of Mic's Over Soul medium, producing a particularly close synchronization between shaman and spirit.

• His primary ambition is to become a great comedian and spread laughter, even though his companions routinely consider his jokes terrible.

• His later Furyoku reaches approximately 197,500, the highest among the Five Elemental Warriors at that stage of the story.

• Pascual Abaj becomes his second major guardian spirit and teacher, greatly expanding the sophistication of his Over Souls.

• The Over Soul Olmeca draws directly on the monumental stone heads associated with the ancient Olmec civilization.

• Chocolove ultimately becomes the Elemental Warrior associated with the Spirit of Wind.

Chocolove appears in the 2001 television adaptation of Shaman King, where Motoko Kumai voices him in Japanese. The adaptation retains his role as an American shaman, comedian and member of Ren's group while eventually following an anime-original storyline rather than the manga's completed ending.

The English adaptation of the 2001 series changes his name to Joco. This localized name became widely associated with the character among viewers introduced to the franchise through that version.

Because the first anime diverges from the manga, major elements of Chocolove's later development are either substantially altered or absent. Pascual Abaj, the full consequences of Chocolove's criminal past and his eventual elemental role belong more directly to the completed manga continuity.

The 2021 television adaptation restarts Shaman King from the beginning and follows the completed manga storyline much more closely. Chocolove is voiced in Japanese by Motoko Kumai, reprising the role, while A.J. Beckles voices him in the principal English-language version.

The newer adaptation consequently includes the material concerning his former life, Orona, the Munzer siblings, Pascual Abaj and the later stages of the Shaman Fight that the older adaptation could not reproduce faithfully.

His visual presentation also received renewed attention around the modern adaptation because some features of his original manga design had long been criticized as resembling racist caricatures of Black people. Later representations moderate aspects of that imagery while retaining his Afro, clothing motifs and recognizable overall identity.

Chocolove appears in numerous Shaman King games and crossover products. His playable abilities commonly emphasize Mic's jaguar transformation, claws and extreme mobility.

Later franchise stories continue his involvement beyond the original Shaman Fight. In sequel-era material, the older Chocolove remains connected to shamanic conflicts and to the legacy of the Five Elemental Warriors rather than disappearing after Hao's tournament.

Chocolove's combination of comic relief and unusually serious personal history gives him a different trajectory from many joke-oriented supporting characters. His intentionally poor comedy is initially the most visible characteristic, but later material reveals that the behavior was built on a conscious rejection of violence.

His combat style also stands apart within Shaman King. Mic's jaguar form emphasizes speed, claws and physical synchronization rather than the oversized weapons associated with Yoh or Ren, and Pascual later expands that style into sophisticated mobility and wind manipulation.

The character's original visual design has also attracted criticism, particularly because exaggerated facial features in early artwork resemble racist caricature traditions. Discussion around the character has consequently distinguished appreciation for his characterization from criticism of how he was originally drawn.

That issue became especially visible before the 2021 adaptation, when viewers debated whether newer character designs would modify those features. The modern animated representation does soften aspects of the original caricature while preserving the Afro and other recognizable elements of Chocolove's appearance.

Within the story itself, Chocolove receives one of the more explicit atonement narratives among the major shamans. He is neither treated exclusively as a former criminal nor allowed to pretend that personal reform removes the consequences of his actions.

His confrontation with Redseb and Seyrarm is crucial in that regard. Chocolove has become a compassionate person by the time they meet him, but the story still requires him to face people whose family was destroyed by the person he used to be.

His later spiritual advancement gives that development additional weight. The former gang member ultimately possesses the highest Furyoku reserve among the Five Elemental Warriors and is entrusted with the Spirit of Wind, placing immense supernatural power in the hands of someone whose most important lesson was learning not to use strength simply because he could.