- Episodes : 51
- Genre :Supernatural, Action, Shounen, Adventure
- Airing Date : April 2008 – March 2009
- Producers : Bones, Funimation (US), Madman Ent. (AUS), Manga Ent. (UK)
Soul Eater Preview / Plot (No Spoilers)
A strange laughing sun rises over what looks like a medieval fortress with giant lit candles sticking out of it like weapons. However, this is no fortress, it’s a school where people like Maka & Soul, Black☆Star & Tsubaki, and Death the Kid & Liz and Patty Thompson live and study. They are paired as meister and weapon; respectively listed in said order.
They attend The Death Weapon Meister Academy located in fictitious Death City, Nevada, USA. As students, they hunt for souls in pairs. Weapons need to consume the souls of 99 evil humans, and 1 witch. In doing so, the weapon becomes a death scythe, their ultimate form, and able to be wielded by a true Shinigami or death god.
Who does Soul Eater cater to?
To give a simple idea of the series without ruining anything, this series is a must if you liked or watched Bleach. It’s like Bleach, but in 51 episodes, and with a clear ending. Personally, I suggest this for anyone who’s looking for a bit of humor, but with enough action to keep you entertained. This series has great fight scenes that can spawn a few episodes, but not drag them out for too long. Not to mention, the art style is very unique as well!
There are also comedic moments sprinkled throughout Soul Eater so as to not make it too serious as a series. This keeps the story from becoming watered down with action and fighting scenes.
What's so appealing about this piece of work.
First, the bonds of friendship shown in this series. This sounds slightly sappy, but in this series Maka and Soul, for example, trust each other with their lives while fighting demons and witches. I don’t know about you, but that would take a lot of trust from me. They will be at each other’s throats one minute, and then thick as thieves in the next. This shows how great of a bond they do share.
A great part about Soul Eater is that it takes a newer spin on anime who have weapon counterparts. Unlike most series, the weapons in Soul Eater are actual people with actual feelings, opinions, and personalities. They are not shown as flat, boring object, but rather as real people!
The best part by far, if not the action scenes, is the characters. While they can appear one dimensional on the surface, the characters here are actually quite three dimensional and very relatable. Soul Eater is unique in that in provides at least one character to whom the viewer can relate. Dark, light, sad, mad, arrogant, shy; this series just about has it all. Not to mention, there is a female lead! That doesn’t happen often in shonen anime.
Soul EaterTrailer
Soul Eater Main Characters List
Maka Albarn
Voice Actor : Omigawa Chiaki (Japanese)
Maka Albarn is the primary protagonist of Soul Eater. She is paired with the weapon Soul Eater who she refers to as Soul. Maka’s Father, Spirit, is the only current deathscythe at the academy, however he doesn’t have a good relationship with Maka. As such, she is hell-bent on getting Soul to consume the 100 souls so she can transform Soul into a deathscythe that can surpass him. Maka is very loyal to Soul and while they do butt heads sometimes, she does everything in her power to protect him.
Maka is the most mature of the main three protagonists. She is brave, a bit stubborn, and hard working. The two things she can’t stand are arrogance and a lack of morals. Lechery is another flaw that makes her mad due to how her father treats women, so she sometimes doles out her own punishment in the form of “Maka Chops.” Which are usually smacks to the back of the head.
Black☆Star
Voice Actor :Kobayashi Yumiko (Japanese)
Black☆Star is the pot-stirrer of this group. He wields Tsubaki as his weapon. Black☆Star is one of the last surviving members of the Star Clan. He’s extremely arrogant and outspoken stating that he will become more powerful than God someday. He speaks very highly of himself and always pushes himself to the extreme. This actually makes him one of the most athletic students at the academy. While he does seem like the idiot tag-along of the group, he’s far from it. His best feature is how he makes the viewer laugh so much. Some of Black☆Star’s best memorable moments are when he is mad at Death the Kid, and instead of throwing punches, he simply ruins the symmetry of things and hilariously wins.
Death the Kid
Voice Actor : Miyano Mamoru (Japanese)
Death the Kid is a unique individual that rounds out the trio of protagonists. Death is the son of Lord Death, the head of the academy, and younger brother of Asura known as the Kishin. Death is in line to become the next Grim Reaper and succeed his father one day. Thankfully his semi-godlike status, from his father, affords him a degree of invincibility in fights. However, it’s also a curse as he is hilariously bothered by things that are not perfectly symmetrical. Death is special because he has two weapons. Their names are Liz and Patty Thompson, and they usually appear in the form of, you guessed it, twin guns. He has to have both in a fight or he can’t fight at all. He uses them as a pair because he views them as symmetrical, unlike the lines in his own hair.
Contains Spoilers
Soul Eater Review
Soul Eater was a fantastic show. I watched it from start to finish and I loved pretty much everything about it. I should mention that the show’s plot does depart from the manga early on, but what anime doesn’t really these days?
I found Soul Eater when I was watching Bleach. There had to be at least 120 episodes of Bleach out at that time, but one of my friends said it was good. After 2 seasons of Bleach, I was just about burnt out on it. Then I heard about Soul Eater. I picked up Soul Eater and I never looked back. Soul Eater gives you a good plot, enjoyable characters, comedy, action, and above all else, a good, closed ending. They even have a character that’s so annoying, you just want to punch a wall.
Let’s delve a bit into what I wrote above. Previously, I wrote an article about Soul Eater when I talked about anime similar to it, so some things may ring a few bells if you’ve read it. First, the one thing that I genuinely like about this show was that the weapons had depth and personality to them. I say real personality in that they actually assumed a human form when not fighting. Countless shows have weapons that seem to resonate in show, or “have a mind of their own,” but never really expand beyond that. Soul Eater doesn’t do that. It brings you in, it shows you characters with real struggles, real identities, and relatable personalities. This is what makes this show so unique!
A second factor that I really think is great about Soul Eater, is the fact that Maka Albarn is a girl protagonist in a shonen anime. She isn’t some whining protagonist that needs to be saved constantly. She possesses all of the major characteristics of a male protagonist without being one. She’s brave, loyal, a bit stubborn, willing to make sacrifices for her friends, hardworking, and the list goes on and on! If things couldn’t get better for her, she can’t stand lechery which is something that many a male protagonist suffers with in most anime! Spoiler Alert, but she is the one who deals the final blow to Asura in the end with her own fist! It wasn’t Black☆Star, nor Death the Kid, nor Maka fighting with Soul, but Maka herself!
Let’s talk comedy. Black☆Star is hysterical sometimes to the point of making the viewer cry with his antics. While sometimes it can elicit eye-rolling, he is flat out funny. The best part is when Death the Kid is the victim of Black☆Star’s antics because he loses his marbles so quick over symmetry. This is another characteristic that tends to be on the rare side in Shonen anime.
Now for the action aspect. Come on. Its kids with weapons in a supernatural anime. Of course there is going to be fighting. There’s plenty of it. The best part is though, is that even boss fights aren’t too long. This leaves an almost refreshing feeling after each fight because you didn’t have to sit through 5-10+ episodes watching someone use the same abilities over and over to barely win a fight. (cough,dbz&naruto&inuyasha,cough)
Before I get to discussing the ending and my feelings about it, let’s talk about Excalibur. Ah yes, Excalibur. Anyone who knows anything knows that Excalibur is usually the most powerful weapon in any videogame, novel, manga or anime ever. Excalibur also happens to be the most powerful weapon in all of the Soul Eater universe. He can automatically do soul resonate with any Meister maximizing their power together. However, he has one fatal flaw. He is extremely annoying to the point that you want to, quite literally, punch a wall when he speaks. He is all powerful yes, but the price is that he’s so arrogant, all he can do is talk about himself nonstop. This drives away anyone who was even hoping to form a bond with him. Excalibur is the character that everyone loves to hate. Check him out!
Finally, let’s talk about the ending. This part has MAJOR SPOILERS so don’t read if you haven’t seen the series yet. I’m skipping towards the end of the series here. First off, mecha-castle fight? Yes please! Death City transforms into a robot to fight Yaga Baba’s castle so that they can recover Asura. After they do, Death City swallows Asura. Then as a fight unfolds between Lord Death and Asura, I was surprised that Excalibur decided to come back and watch the fight. Also, I was really surprised at how fast Lord Death was defeated by Asura. Asura’s back story was interesting though, about how he had decided at one point to plunge the world into madness so that no one would ever feel fear again. Ironically, Asura is so afraid of everything due to his phobia of fear, but he can fight against things he doesn’t understand? Interesting indeed.
Maka dives into Soul’s mind to save him while they are both supposed to be protected by Black☆Star and Death the Kid. After saving Soul, Maka returns to reality with a conscious Soul once again, but everyone else around them has been defeated. Soul is taken out by Asura and Maka is officially brought down for the count. As she is almost taken out, she revives and says that bravery is what comes from the heart. Asura is now crippled with fear about what bravery is since he has no idea what it is. Maka herself punches Ashura’s lights out with a direct punch to the face. Asura finally rids the world of his presence by exploding and cleansing the world of his madness magic. Kid, as ever clairvoyant, expresses fear that another that Asura will rise. However, Maka states that as long as bravery survives in everyone’s hearts, then the world is safe.
Do I want a second season? No not necessarily. This was a good closed ending. If there ever was a second season, I wouldn’t mind it going the route of Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood and being true to the manga, or just something that would naturally fit into the story without going beyond the defeat of Asura.
Soul Eater was a fantastic show. I watched it from start to finish and I loved pretty much everything about it. I should mention that the show’s plot does depart from the manga early on, but what anime doesn’t really these days?
1.Meisters and Weapons
In the world of Soul Eater and the Death Weapon Meister Academy, Humans known as Meisters and humans known as Weapons are paired together. The weapons are able to turn into weapons and are wielded by the masters in fights. The goal is to work as a team so that the weapons can consume 99 evil human souls and 1 witch soul. This turns them into the ultimate fighting weapon known as the death scythe.
Paired together are Maka & Soul Eater, Black☆Star & Tsubaki, and Death the kid with Liz and Patty Thompson. Can they beat the odds to get that one rare witch soul?
2. Death Weapon Meister Academy
The Death Weapon Meister Academy is where Meisters and Weapons learn about how to become better partners and in more control of their abilities. It is also where Lord Death, the headmaster and father of Death the Kid, lives. It also serves as a beacon of hope for all Meisters and Weapons to not allow the world to be plunged into darkness again.
3. Medusa
The major antagonist of Death Eater, Medusa is a powerful witch who, you guessed it, has many snake-like quialities and uses heavy snake imagery. Medusa used to be a scientist who developed the black blood with Dr. Stein. She aims to throw over the world by turning people mad with the help of the black blood. Will she succeed?
All in all, Soul Eater is great! A well balanced cast with enough forays into different genres like shonen, action, comedy, and supernatural keeps it interesting! This is a great show to either watch leisurely or to try and take it down over a few days, like I did.
This show, in my humble opinion, surpasses bleach because it’s not too long, fights are not too drawn out, and it has a good dash of comedy. This is what keeps the tone serious and moving forward, it’s not too serious. Check it out if you haven’t already, and if you have, let’s talk about it in the comments section!
Author: Nagareboshi
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