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The Law of Ueki is one of those anime series that I can easily relate when recommending it. Someone asks me what it's about, and first I tell them "it's about a kid who can turn trash into trees", but I make sure to tell them at some point, "it's like Shaman King, but with a killer environmental message!"

One of the first real anime I got into was Shaman King. And to find Shaman King reincarnated as this modern anime (though probably not intentionally so) really caught my attention.

I mean consider the similarities. They're both about kids with powers who are trying to compete in ... this competition against other kids with powers so as to win the ability to have whatever they want to be so. Yoh wanted to be Shaman King. Ueki wants the talent of blank. Even the start of the series is the same. Ai Mori is basically the anima of Manta Oyamada, as both of them try to nose into the business of the story's protagonist and find them out and expose them for who they are. Likewise both become friends with the story's protagonist and try to help them. It's such a literal translation I can barely begin to describe.

Thus whenever I recommend Law of Ueki I always call it 'Shaman King with a killer environmental message.' Copying isn't a bad thing; if nobody ever did anything that hadn't been done before nobody would ever do anything, ever.

This is an awesome anime! It's probably my all-time most favorite anime. Once in a while I'll go back and watch the last two episodes just so I don't forget why I like it so much.

The music, for one thing. Seatbelts is an awesome group and I wish I could find some of their non-Cowboy Bebop music because I would definitely listen to it plenty.

The story is probably the best part in my opinion. How mysterious Spike's past is, and yet how clear it becomes without even having a character recount the occurrences. And then the ending itself, that's something else. I won't spoil anything, ... but if you see all the stuff that happens in the first 24 episodes then you'll know why the last two are so open-ended.

Art, geez, that doesn't even need to be said. Some of the visual effects they use can ordinarily only be captured on film, and yet they use most of them to the nth degree. Their portrayal of certain scenes are so perfect that I don't think Hayao Miyazaki himself couldn't have done a better job.

All in all, 10/10 because it's just that great.

A great (albeit unorthodox) series. Though some of the plots may seem skewed because of the poor translations, the story is clear and I think it is a great series.