Soul Eater

Im not a seasoned anime pro, i have seen like 3-4 series so far. Soul Eater is my latest discovery, and i must say I'm glad i found it.

Usually a fan of refined, state-of-the-art-graphics stuff such as Ghost In The Shell, Soul Eaters style didn't catch me from the first second. But having decided to give it a try anyway, i found out that this complete graphical madness somehow has reason to it. It emphasizes (with arrows! :) ) only the most important, almost childishly drawing out the obvious. Which is actually quite original, plus you get surprised a lot by the changing style.

Story is deep enough and has just enough background to tie the episodes together, yet always having a new twist. As childish as it is, it doesn't really feel like meant for kids - reminding me Harry Potter for that matter. Maybe its just me, but i found some other similarities with Harry Potter stories there..

All in all, Soul Eater is a series worth watching for every anime fan for its original style.

The first time I watched Soul Eater I honestly liked it, however later on in the series I couldn't stand it.

I will admit the critical reasons I didn't adore it are unreasonable so we'll put those aside. This anime has a very unique sense of animation, the dub is fine, and the theme song is great. The characters, though, are very quirky. Which is enjoyable honestly, you can't find too many characters like them.

But like unlike other animes, this one disappointed me (will get to that later) It was very different, in many ways, for example it's comedy, it's characters, and it's storytelling. Throughout the series, however, I did not bond with any character like I do with at least one of every animes I watch.

There not a lot of reasoning to why, they just didn't seem relatable. Yes, the characters are funny but it's hard to click with them.

The ending is very unsatisfactory, in all honestly I wanted more but I didn't really want to read the manga. It's odd, I don't really how to explain maybe it's just me.

Beside the fact, it's a good watch. The appropriate age range would be maybe 12 or for mature kids 10. It's dark but not too dark.

In conclusion, I respect Soul Eater. It goes a different route than other anime and gives out a risky animation style. But besides it's dark humor, the story is pretty typical. Which is the main reason why this anime disappointed me.

Want a fun going anime? This is the perfect one you are searching for. The background score really good it brings goosebumps out of you and the characters are really good and the anime won't disappoint you and it is worth watching but the ending may somewhat disappoint you as the end concentrates on only one character. The fights and killings will be so intresting and they were tremendous with the background score. If you wish to watch an entertaining fictional anime i would say this will be the best on.

SOUL EATER is possibly one of the most original anime's I've ever seen! Not just in story telling but art design too! Most animes all have the exact same looking art style. Soul Eater on the other hand, goes for a almost punk looking art style that you'd find with GORILLAZ! This anime also (strangely enough) has a very Tim Burton feel to it (and I'm a HUGE fan of Tim Burton), a lot like The Nightmare Before Christmas! At the time of making this review I've only watched the first episode and am thoroughly looking forward to the rest of the series! Soul is a very cool character and the only gripe I found was: WHY DID THEY GIVE BLACK STAR A FEMALES VOICE?! AND IT'S SO OBVIOUS IT'S A FEMALE!

But apart from that, I'm really looking forward to the rest of the series!

5/5

10/10

I first watched and loved Soul Eater, my first shonen anime, as a teen, and have been coming back at it out of pure nostalgia. Here's my impression as an adult:

In a universe in which some persons can transform to weapons, Death himself has created an Academy where Meisters and Weapons team up to learn to fight evil and madness. This is the setting for a wild ride full of electric action scenes, creepy enemies and slapstick comedy.

The teenage cast fulfills the clichés of the shonen genre: there's the ambitious, hard-working girl, the pretentious idiot, the too cool for school-kid, etc. In a sense they are all very caricatural and over the top, but so unashamedly and stubbornly so that I quickly grew fond of everyone. There's also a whole set of secondary adult characters that I really like, and even the villains hold a special place in my heart. All characters have very strong personalities, which are reinforced by the stellar voice acting (of the Japanese version) and by the great character designs.

The animation is colorful and vibrant (although gloomy and gore at times), with very interesting hallucinatory sequences when Madness strikes, and a lot of signature notes that just scream "Soul Eater!". The music has a very cool flair, never pushing itself to the foreground but always adding the special touch.

This show is clearly aimed at a (presumably male) teenage audience, and the humor is often way too childish for my taste. But it also sometimes indulges in totally absurd humor I found uproariously funny (especially the Excalibur "troll episodes"), but then that's my personal taste. There's also a lot of clichés in the narration. But you can overlook this flaws in part thanks to darker themes like madness v.s. order, progress v.s stability, and in part because of the compelling character dynamics.

Because it's the intensity of the relationships between the main pairings of the cast (usually Meister and Weapon) that make me go fan-girl over it. There's no romance, but deep friendship and such amounts of mutual trust and loyalty that it makes for deeply human and relatable relationships.

So if you can generously overlook the pubescent humor and the clichés in the storyline, and can warm up to energetic and goofy teenagers fighting Demons with cool weapons, give Soul Eater a try. It most certainly has a lot of feelings and joy to share with its audience.