This series has been on my list for quite awhile now, but it moved up a bit in the queue just post-Ohayocon. What led to this? Basically, at the con I ended up being told I have to cosplay Death the Kid thanks to a comment I made about symmetry, and I figured I should get to the series. Which I did, quickly. The Basics Episodes: 51Genre: Action, Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy, Shonen, SupernaturalAired: April 7, 2008 to March 30, 2009Directed by: Takuya IgarashiProducers: Bones, TV Tokyo, Dentsu, Square Enix, CodeOpening Theme: Resonance by T.M. Revolution / Paper Moon by Tommy Heavenly6 Closing Theme: I Wanna Be by Stance Punks / Style by Kana Nishino / Bakusou Yumeuta by Diggy-MO / Strength by Abingdon Boys School The Review The Story: Soul Eater takes place at a school for weapons and meisters—the weapons being 'human weapons', as in people who will take on the form of a weapon in order to fight. A pair of twins, for example, turn into matching guns. The goal of every pair is to turn the weapon into a Death Scythe—a weapon worthy of use by Shinigami-sama, this basically being the Grim Reaper. In order for this to happen, the weapon must devour the souls of 99 humans gone seriously wrong, and 1 witch. At the beginning, the pair of Maka and Soul are just about to finish, when instead of collecting the soul of a witch, they take that of a cat, which means they have to start all over again. The series thus revolves around their antics in collecting more souls, making and spending time with friends, and facing enemies far greater than themselves. The Characters: I honestly wasn't a big fan of most of Soul Eater's cast. The main characters include 3 pairs of meisters and weapons—Maka and Soul, Black Star and Tsubaki, and Death the Kid with both Patty and Liz. The majority of these characters got on my nerves and I didn't see why I should like them. Maka? An okay female lead, nothing special, kind of bitchy. Soul? So much more interesting than his meister, no more unique though. Black Star? I want to hit him in his annoying face. Tsubaki? Bland. Death the Kid? Him I actually like, because we're clearly the same person, what with our devotion to symmetry. Patty and Liz? Needed more screen-time. There are also a number of 'main' secondary characters, such as Maka's father Spirit, Dr. Franken Stein, Medusa, Crona and Shinigami-sama. The characters were the more impressive section of the cast, in my opinion. Spirit, for example, at first comes across as just a womanizer, and granted, he is, but there's also more depth where he loves his daughter. Stein? Sure, he's downright psycho, but that's also a problem, not just a personality trait. Each of the secondary characters seems to have so much more to them than the primary characters, honestly. It's as if some series really choose to focus on the wrong group of people. The Pairs: When a meister and weapon are working together, they need to be able to match up the wavelengths of their souls. So really, they have to have a certain dynamic and be compatible—not necessarily romantically compatible (though I thoroughly support Spirit and Stein being romantic) but if they can't work together, they will not succeed against whatever they're fighting, and if they do succeed, it'll likely be with heavy damage. Some of the pairs seem a lot more suited to each other. Maka and Soul, for example, seem to go very well together. Even if the characters are nothing spectacular when taken individually, the bond they have with each other makes them come across as a lot more interesting. It makes perfect sense for Kid to have the twins, as they lead to symmetry, though their personalities don't really mesh. It still works. The most baffling of the meister-weapon combos is, in my opinion, Black Star and Tsubaki. Black Star is crazy-hyper, with an oversized ego, while Tsubaki is calm, even elegant. Still, somehow they go together pretty well. The bonds between the meisters and the weapons that they're working so hard to turn into Death Scythes was the most charming aspect of the series for me. Conclusion?: My main problem with Soul Eater is that it couldn't seem to decide what it wanted to be. There was a serious rip in between the silly and the serious, and that detracted from the series in a major way. It's hard to focus on the severity of a situation when there's the ever-present concern that Death the Kid is going to freak out about symmetry at any given moment. Sure, there are some series which manage to pull off a great mix of hilarity and solemnity—the first example that jumps to mind is FullMetal Alchemist, and I would even dare to say the currently-airing Kore wa Zombie desu ka, but Soul Eater didn't even begin to rise to the challenge. Beyond that, it's an all right series. If you're looking for supernatural/fantasy fun and not the deepest of plots, I suggest giving Soul Eater a shot.   My rating: 7/10. Let's be honest—Soul Eater wasn't that great. I enjoyed it, and it had its moments, but for the most part...well, it was nothing special.
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