Soul Eater

[Koby]

What is Soul Eater...?

Soul Eater is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Atsushi Okubo. The manga is published by Square Enix and was first released as three separate one-shots serialized in two Gangan Powered special editions and one Gangan Wing issue between June 24 and November 26, 2003. The manga started regular serialization in Square Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan manga magazine on May 12, 2004. The first bound volume was released by Square Enix under their Gangan Comics imprint on June 22, 2004 in Japan, and as of March 22, 2008, eleven volumes have been released. The manga has been licensed for distribution in North America by Yen Press. The English translated version of Soul Eater will originally be serialized in the first issue Yen Press' Yen Plus manga anthology magazine on July 29, 2008, and the first volume will be released in early 2009.

An anime adaptation produced by Bones first aired on TV Tokyo in Japan on April 7, 2008, and is set to contain fifty-one episodes. Set in the shinigami technical school for weapon meisters, the series revolves around three groups of each a weapon meister and a human weapon. Trying to make the latter a "Death Scythe" and thus fit for use by a shinigami, they must collect the souls of ninety-nine evil humans and one witch.

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Storyline Introduction

Soul Eater primarily revolves around students classified as meisters at the Shinigami Weapon Meister Vocational School, or Shibusen for short, located in the fictional Death City, in Nevada, United States. The school is run by Shinigami, the God of Death himself, as a training facility for weapons and the human wielders of those weapons, the meisters. Each meister has at least one demon weapon companion which has both a weapon and human form. Shinigami created the school as an organization that enforces peace in order to prevent the rebirth of the "kishin", evil demon gods that nearly destroyed everything by plunging the world into chaos. Human souls that have become evil by straying from the path of humans have a high risk of becoming kishin, so evil humans are constantly being hunted down and killed by the students trained at Shibusen. The ultimate goal of the students with their weapons is to have their weapons defeat and eat the souls of ninety-nine evil humans and one witch, which will dramatically increase the power of the given weapon and thus be capable of being used by shinigami. In order to ensure this is done in a timely manner, all students and weapons attend classes regularly and are given homework or supplementary lessons to further their training. The meisters have a rating system that goes from one to three stars which usually measures soul energy. It is important that the meister and weapon can tune their "soul wavelength" to perform high level attacks and bring out the weapon's full power.

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Characters

Maka Albarn

Maka Albarn Maka is Soul's meister. She is the more level-headed of the two but when her anger gets the better of her, she will put her foot down. Where Soul seems to be the brawn, Maka is the brain. She always tries to think of a way to beat their opponent by exploiting the opponent's weaknesses. Her father is the Shingami's current death scythe, she seems to hate her father for constantly flirting with other women but she still loves him. Her mother was also a scythe meister; she and Maka's father are divorced. Maka may have feelings for Soul due the fact she became extremely depressed when Soul was injured while trying to protect her, and get very upset when Blair flirts with him.

Soul Eater Evans

Soul Eater Evans Soul Eater, "Soul" to his friends, is Maka's Demon Scythe partner; his human appearance is that of a teenage boy, and his attitude is like one also. Soul's personality mostly consist of what he considers "cool". Being a "cool" guy, he almost always uses the direct approach which most of the time fails. He sometimes becomes too driven by the idea of eating souls, which leads him to bicker with Maka, but in the end they remain friends and partners. He may have feelings for her as he is "willing to die for his technician" and he also said that he really liked her (whether as a friend or something more is not known). He is also friends with Black Star because of their similar personalities, but at the same time they can't match their wavelength. His way of absorbing souls is literally eating them. He says that it's the texture, not the taste, that matters.

Black Star

Black Star He is Tsubaki's meister. He comes from a family of ninjas (The Star Clan), which explains the star on his shoulder. Black Stars' biggest weakness is that he is a total show-off and thinks that he is some kind of star, which he happily proclaims, defeating the purpose of the ninja arts. The few times he uses his ninja stealth is when he peeps on Tsubaki (which normally ends up with him yelling and showing his whereabouts upon seeing Tsubaki's nude body) when she is bathing, or when he finally takes the fight seriously. His delusion of stardom is so great that he constantly gives out autographs that nobody wants. Black Star hates it when someone gets more attention then him and will show them who the real star is. He is also able to use his soul wavelength in hand-to-hand combat.

Tsubaki Nakatsukasa

Tsubaki Nakatsukasa She is Black Star's Dark Demon Blade partner. She can change into multiple ninja weapons (shuriken, smoke bomb, a katana, etc). She is most of the time disheartened by Black Star's loud self but she still puts up with it because that is what she likes about him. She holds in her a fear that Black Star would abandon her for another weapon. She has a very forgiving personality and always tries to help everyone even when she has no idea how to help. Tsubaki soul is "very co-operative and has a lot of space to accept people" as said by Dr. Stein. Tsubaki comes from an established family of weapons created by Arachne. She also seems to have a talent for cooking, having been complimented on a few occasions by her friends.

Death The Kid

Death The Kid He is Patty and Liz's meister and the Shinigami's son. He is called Kid by his friends and family. He suffers from obsessive-compulsive disorder, which is represented as a obsession about everything being symmetrical and takes the idea of perfection to the extremes. To him, anything symmetrical is beautiful and if it is off by any measurement, he will try to correct it right away, even if the situation calls for utmost attention. The biggest problem Kid has is his hair, one side being completely black while the other has three white strips going across it. His father has mentioned that Kid is a shinigami and does not need to collect souls but Kid says he wants to make a weapon of his own. His father also says that since he uses two weapons, he will have to collect twice as many souls (198 human souls and two witch souls). It is mentioned by Maka that it is normally hard to match soul wavelengths with more than one weapon, but Kid is able to do so because he, Liz, and Patty have a mutual admiration for each other. Kid admires Patty and Liz's positive souls due to his negative personality. His favorite number is eight because it is symmetrical.

Patricia "Patty" Thompson

Patty She is one half of Death the Kid's Double Team Demon Guns. Patty is the younger of the two sisters, and the most naive. Both sisters wear cowgirl (tight sleeveless shirt and cowboy hats) outfits but Patty wears puffy shorts. She has a larger bust size than her sister, and she mostly speaks in a sing-song voice. Also, she acts and speaks like a little kid. Unlike her sister, Patty enjoys the drama brought on by Kid's perfectionist attitude, though she does cheer him up when he gets down on himself about it. If Kid is not with them, she can use her sister's weapon form and vice versa. She and her sister collect souls in the magazines of their gun forms. Patty and her sister used to live on the streets of Brooklyn before being found by Kid. Both Patty and Liz admire Kid's dignified soul, due to the fact that they are from the streets.

Elizabeth "Liz" Thompson

Liz She is the other half of Death the Kid's Double Team Demon Guns. Liz is the older of the two sisters and the most mature. Both sisters wear cowgirl outfits (tight sleeveless shirts and cowboy hats) but Liz wears long jeans. She has a smaller bust size than her sister, which annoys her to no end. While Patty is very child-like, Liz is more like a teenage girl (worried about make up, shopping, etc). If Kid is not with them, she can use her sister's weapon form and vice versa. Liz and her sister collect souls in the magazines of their gun forms. Kid's obsession with symmetry and how he'll sometimes let it control his life sometimes gets on her nerves. She and her sister used to live on the streets of Brooklyn before being found by Kid. Both Liz and Patty admire Kid's dignified soul due to the fact that they are from the streets.

Franken Stein

Franken Stein Dr. Franken Stein is the man that changes Sid into a zombie. He was Death Scythe's first partner (Maka's mother was the second). Dr. Franken was the most powerful meister to ever graduate from Shibusen. He has a bolt going through his head which turns so his thoughts would be on the matter at hand and stitches all over his body and clothes. Stein is such a strong fighter that he can take down Black Star while still seated in his chair. Stein sees everything in the world, including himself, as an experiment or specimen. He even experimented on Death Scythe when he was sleeping during the five years they worked together. His understanding of soul wavelengths gives him a huge advantage against other users since he can change his own to match the other's wavelength and thereby nullify or disrupt the soul wavelength of the meister and weapon. This comes from his high spiritual flexibility and by observing his opponent beforehand. His soul wavelength is so high that he does not need a weapon and can channel it through his body and release it as an electric discharge.

Death Scythe

Death Scythe He is the Shinigami's current weapon and Maka's father, formerly known as Spirit. He is very protective of Maka and is ready to jump to her aid any time she is in trouble, but he is always stopped by the Shinigami. His wife is Maka's mother but they are divorced now due to his constant flirting with other women. Even though he visits clubs, he is still insanely loyal to his ex-wife and daughter. He usually runs yelling about how much he loves Maka and her mother (he calls Maka's mother Mama). He is extremely sad that his daughter hates him but he still tries to be a good father by looking out for her in his own silly way.

Sid Barett

Sid Barett A man who died and turned into a zombie. The rumors of the school said he got the idea of absolute freedom stuck in his head and started attacking students to show them the amount of freedom dying has brought him. When they found Sid in the graveyard, he fought them by using his own gravestone as a substitute weapon to great effect. It was shown that Dr. Stein turned him into a zombie and thus was targeted by the Maka and Black Star's teams as part of their remedial lessons. It was later revealed to be a trick set up by Shinigami and Dr. Stein to show the students how to see and use soul energy (only Maka could see it after the assignment). Since then, Sid acts as a spy to get information on the witches and their plans. During his time when he was alive, Sid was a three star meister and a knife meister.

Shinigami

Shinigami Shinigami, is the Grim Reaper himself. He is by far the most powerful character in the series. Shinigami is a bit of a joker but when the time comes, he is all business. His number to call him through a window is 42-42-564 (shini-shini-goroshi), which literally means die-die-kill in Japanese. He seems to take on a more playful attitude when talking with his son, but at the same time thinks he can be quite the handful and is glad that Patty and Liz look after him. Shinigami's soul wavelength is so large that it covers the entirety of Death City. Shinigami sealed the first kishin and the seal is the reason he cannot leave Death City. Shinigami used to wear a more skull-like mask and spoke in a much scarier manner than he does today. He explained this was because when Shibusen was founded, he changed it in order to not scare the children. While it has not been shown what he looks like without the mask on, since his son appears as a human, Shinigami may also have a human appearance.

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So well, we can all discuss the series here. Soul Eater recently finished in Japan with a grand total of 51 episodes. FUNimation has licensed the series for dub release, due to be out November 2009. They said they will be releasing the series in half-season box-sets, which means 12 to 13 episodes per box-set.. which also means a total of 4-box-sets.

So let the discussions roll-on.

I just finished watching episode 51, and while I loved the entire series (probably my top favorite), I must say the ending was complete bullshit. :'(

[SChristine]

the ending was indeed very depressing. I wish they could have continued it. As far as I know...the manga is still progressing.

www.onemanga.com

As far as the dubbed episodes...it's up to about 39. I haven't seen a dubbed episode 40.

http://english-dub.kametsu.com/soul-eater.php

[Kid Ryan]

As far as the dubbed episodes...it's up to about 39. I haven't seen a dubbed episode 40.

http://english-dub.kametsu.com/soul-eater.php

Episodes 40-51 dubbed will be out in July 2010.

[idl12]

It really pisses me off when animes with a good overall series tend to have mediocre endings, I'm looking at you FMA! and Chrono Crusade!!

[Bindy]

This sounds like a really good series, ill have to watch it

[XOokamixHowlinX]

um guys the series continues father past 80 oh and Koby it's not the kishin that shinigami-sama can't leave the city it's cause his soul is the city it's self thats why in episode 6 i think it shows shinigami's soul covering the city showing the reason why maka couldn't see his soul

and soul eater is a good anime i recommend it to any one who really loves a good laugh at the same time of good fight lol and pluse alot of randomness happens at the wrong times but i give soul eater a 4/5

[Koby]

um guys the series continues father past 80 oh and Koby it's not the kishin that shinigami-sama can't leave the city it's cause his soul is the city it's self thats why in episode 6 i think it shows shinigami's soul covering the city showing the reason why maka couldn't see his soul

and soul eater is a good anime i recommend it to any one who really loves a good laugh at the same time of good fight lol and pluse alot of randomness happens at the wrong times but i give soul eater a 4/5

You are completely wrong. Shinigami is Shinigami, he is not Death City. It was even stated he could not leave because he has to stay in Death City to maintain the seal. If he left, then the Seal would break thus freeing the Kishin. Also, most of the info I used was directly translated from the official Japanese website originally, so that alone should prove it to be true.

[XOokamixHowlinX]

O.o sorry your right i checked his soul is tied to Asura. my friend told me other wise >.< i'll kick his butt later for lying to me thank you for clearing it up =D

[Koby]

Wait er, I was a little off in my last statement. I said he couldn't leave cause the seal would break, but that was incorrect. Of course if he did, the seal would break, however he is unable to as he sealed himself in order to stop Asura and seal him. Shinigami is now stuck to Death City, so in a way you were right, but he isn't Death City. Which is why I think they had to move the entire city to take Shinigami to Asura. I need to go back and refresh by watching it again. I haven't watched it since it originally aired in Japan. If I did I would probably have a clearer explanation and be able to word it how they originally stated in the series.

[allen_walker]

i was wondering does it have romance, a good villain, and sick fights?

[madcapxlilies]

Kind of lacking in romance (unless I missed something...), the villians are interesting and the fights are pretty epic. At least, I think. I don't watch much action anime or read action manga.

[gohan1366]

so understand what you are saying i was really sad when it ended it could of done so much more Claymor was the same way.

[Eudae]

The only part of the anime I don't like (so far) is Black*Star's voice in the dub! Everything else is good, though.

[CardCaptorAngel]

Again like most people here i didn't like the ending and agree with the chrno cursade ending remark. However i am adicted to this anime and have reciently started to read the manga since it continues the anime. I love the ideas that come through and plot twists like the black blood. I believe that both the anime and the manga are well drawn. Bones has stayed very close to the anime with the majority of the episodes, and i love their work (including Ouran high school). I don't see why the anime magazines i read here in the uk don't like this anime very much. Anyway can't wait to read the rest of the manga.

[DarkKrystal]

The only part of the anime I don't like (so far) is Black*Star's voice in the dub! Everything else is good, though.

I couldn't agree with you more Black Star's voice is painful to me. But it is the price I pay (often) for favoring dubs over subs.