An Eye for The Fandom: Soul Eater
It's-a me again!
After the positive response I got on my last review, it gave me the encouragement needed to do another one. Thank you all so much!
This time, we are reviewing the series where middle-schoolers fight using other middle-schoolers,
Main Overview of the Plot
In Soviet Russia Death City, 13 year-old girls ass-kick YOU!
Our story is set in a very animated world, to say the least. Within a city that the physical representation of a lovechild between a Tim Burton movie and something out of David Lynch's dreams, normal humans and those that can shape shift between human form and weapon form live side by side. Souls have physical properties in this universe; They can be seen, as well as resonated with each other (meaning they combine to become even more powerful).
Tim Lynch/ David Burton town (known as Death City) is home to the Shibusen academy, known as the DWMA in the official English translation. Here, young "normal" humans (known as misters) match up with a weapon parter in order to train to become a Death Scythe, a weapon that serves the Grim Reaper himself. They do so by collecting 98 souls that have become pure evil, and one witch soul.
It's here that our heroes go to school. Pictured above are the two main characters, Soul Eater and Maka Albarn, although they are not alone in their quest to become a death scythe.
Our story opens with our heroes finally receiving their 99th soul, from a witch named Blair. However, it is soon realized that they have mistook a shape-shifting cat, meaning that they have 98 evil souls and one cat soul. Because of this, they have to start all over again.
Now, you're probably thinking, "Woohoo, another shonen manga with like 500 chapters, a different monster every arc, and a goal that will of course be reached perfectly at the end. Wow. Haven't seen that before."
Well, that would have happened, if that pesky thing called the plot hadn't gotten in the way.
Not just Shibusen, but the entire world is in danger. A plague of insanity has started to creep across the planet, witches have become more and more aggressive, and the awaking of a demon god is more likely that not.
It's up to our heroes to use the power of SHEER BADASS to combat the crazy.
Confused yet? Don't worry, this is Soul Eater. As one fan put it, "Just smile, nod, and enjoy the ride."
The anime, because of time constraints, has a different ending than the manga (which is still ongoing), but the basic premise is the same.
Important/Notable Characters
From Advanced Anime
Hooray for friends that will beat the crap out of demon gods and zombies with you!
Our cast is primarily made up of seven middle-to-high school aged teenagers, all of which are just as badass as the adults. From left to right we have Maka, Soul, Black*Star, Death the Kid, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patty.
While they may seem like rather typical characters for a manga, all of them subvert your expectations as the series goes on, maturing and developing as characters along the way.
This series is also notable for avoiding the annoying "rival turned friend who's not really a friend but more of a person that hangs around denying that they are your friend despite protecting you and fighting alongside you every step of the way" cliché, RTFWNRAFBMOAPTHADTTAYFDPYAFAYESOTW for short. All of the protagonists are or quickly become friends, and remain devoted to each other for the entire manga. Despite the fights and arguments they have, they all remain completely loyal to each other. Even when one of the group goes batshit insane, the rest will set off on a mission to bitch-slap the crazy out of them, no matter what.
Maka Albarn: Our main heroine. She kicks ass at fighting, gets the best grades in the class, but utterly fails at anything that can't be learned from a book. She is quite the unexpected shonen protagonist: female, petite, bookish, serious, able to show affection and even a bit girly sometimes (while remaining completely badass). She's courageous and always willing to do good, no matter what it takes. Despite being the most "normal" of the group, even she falls prey to a short temper, being too competitive and lack of confidence in her abilities. Her goal is to make a Death Scythe like her (currently unseen) mother did, and become a great meister. Her weapon partner is Soul.
Soul Eater Evans: Cynical and snarky, Soul is Maka's opposite, which is why they are able to resonate so well. This doesn't mean they don't get on each other's nerves because of this, however. Always trying to seem cool and aloof, his inner personality greatly differs from what he projects outwardly. Again unusual for a shonen hero, Soul is very level-headed and self-controlled , but is able to read into people, despite close relationships being what he fears the most. Don't think he's always stable though, even he has inner demons to fight. Despite being the title character, he serves support to Maka as a weapon, a scythe.
Black*Star: Remember what you said Soul Eater was going to be like above (the 500 chapter monster-arc one)? This would be the hero of that manga. Arrogant, brash, loud, goofy, headstrong and above all, an idiot, Black*Star's (yes, the * is necessary) goal is to literally surpass God. The last remaining of a clan of ninja that was wiped out due become insane because of the influence of the demon god, Black*Star wants to be as strong as possible, even if following that road leads him down the path of a devil. Despite that, deep down he does care and is completely loyal for his friends and his weapon partner, Tsubaki.
Tsubaki Nakatsukasa: To be partnered with Black*Star, one must have the patience of a saint, if not more. Fortunately, Tsubaki is here. Easily the most kind, patient and motherly of the cast, Tsubaki is the one that has a voice of reason amongst the craziness. She may seem like the stereotypically weak and fragile shonen female love interest, Tsubaki is resolute and definitely more than capable when the chips are down. She is passive, however, and can be taken advantage of due to her kindness.Tsubaki comes from a long line of powerful ninja weapons, as a result, she has many forms she can shift to rather than just one, which serves great use to her meister, Black*Star.
Death the Kid: To call Death the Kid neurotic is a massive understatement. He's a high-strung perfectionist who lives in his own world where everything must be symmetrical, no matter what reality is throwing at him. He's the son of Death himself, which does little to alleviate his anxiety issues. Despite having a severe case of symmetry-related OCPD, Kid is by no means weak or pathetic. If you are a. his enemy and b. unsymmetrical, you are going to get an ass kicking, hell be the circumstances. When he's not in a OCPD-related funk, Kid is easily one of the more mature, sophisticated and serious characters, coming from a high-class background. He's by no means haughty, though, as he honestly does care for his friends deeply. He refuses to fight if one of his weapon partners, Liz or Patty, is missing.
Elizabeth Thompson (Liz): Raised on the streets of Brooklyn, Liz was a tough and vicious street thug. At least until she tried to mug the son of Death. After realizing what symmetry she and her sister had as a pair of guns, Kid took them both in as his partners. While she has become much more mature and calm due to Kid's influence, she is also a bit cowardly and shallow at times. Being one of the older character, she's the most sensible of the Kid-Patty-Liz group. Despite being Kid's weapon, she can use her sister as a gun quite effectively, as they learned to use each other as weapons for mugging on the streets.
Patricia Thompson (Patty): Patty is a cheerful and childish girl who always is smiling and having fun, no matter what. One of the stronger characters, she never falls prey to sorrow or even insanity. This is because she's probably the most batshit of the main cast already. As one of the Tompson sisters, she was feared by all of Brooklyn before being taken in by Kid. After that, she still remained just as crazy as ever, only this time she does it with a smile on her face. Lord help you if she loses that smile, though. It's unknown whether that smile is an act, a cover-up, or just how she likes to act, as she has had moments of surprising clarity.
Fandom Overview
Just smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave.
The Soul Eater fandom is rather small (compared to others), with about 2,500 members on the main comm. Despite being small, and only having chapter updates once a month, the fandom is active, with a lot of very talented artists and writers.
Since Soul Eater is not as well known as other shonen series (Bleach, Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, etc) it's fandom is quieter. There's really no "you read this series, therefore I don't like you" reputation attached to this series as there is to the other shonen series. This fandom has less to be vocal about, due to no stigma attached to it.
People in the SE fan community are typically mature and nice. They will gladly review your art and fanfiction, offering constructive criticism. They really are appreciative of graphics that you make for them (icons, friends only banners, etc), and will gladly tell you so. There aren't many shipping wars, and real * arguments* tend to be a rare sight. Expect no giant fan wars to pop up anytime soon.
As for activities and lolz, there is again less due to the size of the fandom. Of course there is the occasional art/writing contest, but unfortunately this doesn't happen often. There was a capslock comm, but it is dead now. Having a nice, small fandom means sacrificing other aspects. :(
In short, SE has a small but very pleasant fandom.
Shipping Dynamics
(Picture not by me, credit goes to a very talented artist out there.)
So, who's going to date who today?
Soul Eater is a shonen manga that shows close bonds between friends, with a good percentage of the fandom being female.
It is absolutely overrun by het.
Feel free to say it. Whaaaaaaaaaaat.
I have yet to see another fandom where het rules over the shipping aspect this much. Sure, there is the occasional Spirit/Stein or Giriko/Justin yaoi couple, but overall you're going to see more Soul/Maka, Black*Star/Tsubaki and Kid/Liz/Patty.
That's right, this fandom actually likes shipping almost canon couples. What a concept.
However, the entire fandom agrees that all the boys have beautiful relationships between them. Relationships that will never break, no matter what girls are there, or how utterly incompatible their souls are.
Relationships of bromance.
Look at this thing of beauty.
This is also a fandom that really does like writing about the friendships between the cast, so if you're not into shipping, there is plenty of works for you!
Possible Sources of Wank
Oh god, not this section...
Being such a small community, by logic it dictates SE fandom has less wank than most. However, there are some things that generally do create a little bit of a stir.
See this character?
This is Chrona. Chrona has had a very hard life. Ever since Chrona was a child, they have been horribly abused by their mother, and forced to kill with a weapon that is literally part of their body. Chrona is insane. Feel free to feel sorry for this character.
However, do not feel that you, for certain, know the gender of this character. To put it bluntly, you don't. Nobody does.
Moving on.
A very nice lady by the name of nenena is kind enough to put up a recap of each month's chapter, complete with a translation the text, before the scanslation comes out. Do not use this translation for a scanslation. Cause that's just not cool. :/
Also, a while back, a lot of Japanese artists were taking their work off the internet because people were using it for icons and the like without permission. Please don't do that.
And of course, there's always the dub vs sub debate, but that's really not a big issue.
Overall opinions
We're all friends here, yo.
Soul Eater is a great series in that, while it's crazy and fun, it also has interesting characters that aren't typical and a good plot to boot. It has lots of references to music and literature that actually add to the story rather than serve as an annoying distraction. The art, while sketchy (excuse the pun) at first, becomes more and more awesome as the series go on; Ohkubo's art can really make the mood of the manga come to life.Soul Eater is a series where you might just go "wait, what?" at half of the stuff that comes out of Ohkubo's brain, but it's better for it.
The fandom is smaller than the series deserves, but this means that it has less fanbrats and wars. Really nice people are in the fandom, and they're all really worth talking too.
I highly recommend this series for a person who loves a crazy story, but not a crazy fandom.
Useful Links
Main Soul Eater comm
Offical subbed/dubbed episodes
Soul Eater wiki
Hope ya'll enjoyed this review of Soul Eater, and will take the time to watch it. There are so many more crazy awesome characters and plot twists that I didn't go over, so go watch it yourself! Have fun (hint: you probably will)!
As always, I want to get this as accurate as possible, so please tell me if I need to include anything/leave something out/reword something! Your help is very much appreciated.
Peace!
Huggawugga2
A sound soul resides in a healthy body and a healthy mind...
After the positive response I got on my last review, it gave me the encouragement needed to do another one. Thank you all so much!
This time, we are reviewing the series where middle-schoolers fight using other middle-schoolers,
Main Overview of the Plot
In Soviet Russia Death City, 13 year-old girls ass-kick YOU!
Our story is set in a very animated world, to say the least. Within a city that the physical representation of a lovechild between a Tim Burton movie and something out of David Lynch's dreams, normal humans and those that can shape shift between human form and weapon form live side by side. Souls have physical properties in this universe; They can be seen, as well as resonated with each other (meaning they combine to become even more powerful).
Tim Lynch/ David Burton town (known as Death City) is home to the Shibusen academy, known as the DWMA in the official English translation. Here, young "normal" humans (known as misters) match up with a weapon parter in order to train to become a Death Scythe, a weapon that serves the Grim Reaper himself. They do so by collecting 98 souls that have become pure evil, and one witch soul.
It's here that our heroes go to school. Pictured above are the two main characters, Soul Eater and Maka Albarn, although they are not alone in their quest to become a death scythe.
Our story opens with our heroes finally receiving their 99th soul, from a witch named Blair. However, it is soon realized that they have mistook a shape-shifting cat, meaning that they have 98 evil souls and one cat soul. Because of this, they have to start all over again.
Now, you're probably thinking, "Woohoo, another shonen manga with like 500 chapters, a different monster every arc, and a goal that will of course be reached perfectly at the end. Wow. Haven't seen that before."
Well, that would have happened, if that pesky thing called the plot hadn't gotten in the way.
Not just Shibusen, but the entire world is in danger. A plague of insanity has started to creep across the planet, witches have become more and more aggressive, and the awaking of a demon god is more likely that not.
It's up to our heroes to use the power of SHEER BADASS to combat the crazy.
Confused yet? Don't worry, this is Soul Eater. As one fan put it, "Just smile, nod, and enjoy the ride."
The anime, because of time constraints, has a different ending than the manga (which is still ongoing), but the basic premise is the same.
Important/Notable Characters
From Advanced Anime
Hooray for friends that will beat the crap out of demon gods and zombies with you!
Our cast is primarily made up of seven middle-to-high school aged teenagers, all of which are just as badass as the adults. From left to right we have Maka, Soul, Black*Star, Death the Kid, Tsubaki, Liz, and Patty.
While they may seem like rather typical characters for a manga, all of them subvert your expectations as the series goes on, maturing and developing as characters along the way.
This series is also notable for avoiding the annoying "rival turned friend who's not really a friend but more of a person that hangs around denying that they are your friend despite protecting you and fighting alongside you every step of the way" cliché, RTFWNRAFBMOAPTHADTTAYFDPYAFAYESOTW for short. All of the protagonists are or quickly become friends, and remain devoted to each other for the entire manga. Despite the fights and arguments they have, they all remain completely loyal to each other. Even when one of the group goes batshit insane, the rest will set off on a mission to bitch-slap the crazy out of them, no matter what.
Maka Albarn: Our main heroine. She kicks ass at fighting, gets the best grades in the class, but utterly fails at anything that can't be learned from a book. She is quite the unexpected shonen protagonist: female, petite, bookish, serious, able to show affection and even a bit girly sometimes (while remaining completely badass). She's courageous and always willing to do good, no matter what it takes. Despite being the most "normal" of the group, even she falls prey to a short temper, being too competitive and lack of confidence in her abilities. Her goal is to make a Death Scythe like her (currently unseen) mother did, and become a great meister. Her weapon partner is Soul.
Soul Eater Evans: Cynical and snarky, Soul is Maka's opposite, which is why they are able to resonate so well. This doesn't mean they don't get on each other's nerves because of this, however. Always trying to seem cool and aloof, his inner personality greatly differs from what he projects outwardly. Again unusual for a shonen hero, Soul is very level-headed and self-controlled , but is able to read into people, despite close relationships being what he fears the most. Don't think he's always stable though, even he has inner demons to fight. Despite being the title character, he serves support to Maka as a weapon, a scythe.
Black*Star: Remember what you said Soul Eater was going to be like above (the 500 chapter monster-arc one)? This would be the hero of that manga. Arrogant, brash, loud, goofy, headstrong and above all, an idiot, Black*Star's (yes, the * is necessary) goal is to literally surpass God. The last remaining of a clan of ninja that was wiped out due become insane because of the influence of the demon god, Black*Star wants to be as strong as possible, even if following that road leads him down the path of a devil. Despite that, deep down he does care and is completely loyal for his friends and his weapon partner, Tsubaki.
Tsubaki Nakatsukasa: To be partnered with Black*Star, one must have the patience of a saint, if not more. Fortunately, Tsubaki is here. Easily the most kind, patient and motherly of the cast, Tsubaki is the one that has a voice of reason amongst the craziness. She may seem like the stereotypically weak and fragile shonen female love interest, Tsubaki is resolute and definitely more than capable when the chips are down. She is passive, however, and can be taken advantage of due to her kindness.Tsubaki comes from a long line of powerful ninja weapons, as a result, she has many forms she can shift to rather than just one, which serves great use to her meister, Black*Star.
Death the Kid: To call Death the Kid neurotic is a massive understatement. He's a high-strung perfectionist who lives in his own world where everything must be symmetrical, no matter what reality is throwing at him. He's the son of Death himself, which does little to alleviate his anxiety issues. Despite having a severe case of symmetry-related OCPD, Kid is by no means weak or pathetic. If you are a. his enemy and b. unsymmetrical, you are going to get an ass kicking, hell be the circumstances. When he's not in a OCPD-related funk, Kid is easily one of the more mature, sophisticated and serious characters, coming from a high-class background. He's by no means haughty, though, as he honestly does care for his friends deeply. He refuses to fight if one of his weapon partners, Liz or Patty, is missing.
Elizabeth Thompson (Liz): Raised on the streets of Brooklyn, Liz was a tough and vicious street thug. At least until she tried to mug the son of Death. After realizing what symmetry she and her sister had as a pair of guns, Kid took them both in as his partners. While she has become much more mature and calm due to Kid's influence, she is also a bit cowardly and shallow at times. Being one of the older character, she's the most sensible of the Kid-Patty-Liz group. Despite being Kid's weapon, she can use her sister as a gun quite effectively, as they learned to use each other as weapons for mugging on the streets.
Patricia Thompson (Patty): Patty is a cheerful and childish girl who always is smiling and having fun, no matter what. One of the stronger characters, she never falls prey to sorrow or even insanity. This is because she's probably the most batshit of the main cast already. As one of the Tompson sisters, she was feared by all of Brooklyn before being taken in by Kid. After that, she still remained just as crazy as ever, only this time she does it with a smile on her face. Lord help you if she loses that smile, though. It's unknown whether that smile is an act, a cover-up, or just how she likes to act, as she has had moments of surprising clarity.
Fandom Overview
Just smile and wave, boys. Smile and wave.
The Soul Eater fandom is rather small (compared to others), with about 2,500 members on the main comm. Despite being small, and only having chapter updates once a month, the fandom is active, with a lot of very talented artists and writers.
Since Soul Eater is not as well known as other shonen series (Bleach, Naruto, Full Metal Alchemist, etc) it's fandom is quieter. There's really no "you read this series, therefore I don't like you" reputation attached to this series as there is to the other shonen series. This fandom has less to be vocal about, due to no stigma attached to it.
People in the SE fan community are typically mature and nice. They will gladly review your art and fanfiction, offering constructive criticism. They really are appreciative of graphics that you make for them (icons, friends only banners, etc), and will gladly tell you so. There aren't many shipping wars, and real * arguments* tend to be a rare sight. Expect no giant fan wars to pop up anytime soon.
As for activities and lolz, there is again less due to the size of the fandom. Of course there is the occasional art/writing contest, but unfortunately this doesn't happen often. There was a capslock comm, but it is dead now. Having a nice, small fandom means sacrificing other aspects. :(
In short, SE has a small but very pleasant fandom.
Shipping Dynamics
(Picture not by me, credit goes to a very talented artist out there.)
So, who's going to date who today?
Soul Eater is a shonen manga that shows close bonds between friends, with a good percentage of the fandom being female.
It is absolutely overrun by het.
Feel free to say it. Whaaaaaaaaaaat.
I have yet to see another fandom where het rules over the shipping aspect this much. Sure, there is the occasional Spirit/Stein or Giriko/Justin yaoi couple, but overall you're going to see more Soul/Maka, Black*Star/Tsubaki and Kid/Liz/Patty.
That's right, this fandom actually likes shipping almost canon couples. What a concept.
However, the entire fandom agrees that all the boys have beautiful relationships between them. Relationships that will never break, no matter what girls are there, or how utterly incompatible their souls are.
Relationships of bromance.
Click to viewLook at this thing of beauty.
This is also a fandom that really does like writing about the friendships between the cast, so if you're not into shipping, there is plenty of works for you!
Possible Sources of Wank
Oh god, not this section...
Being such a small community, by logic it dictates SE fandom has less wank than most. However, there are some things that generally do create a little bit of a stir.
See this character?
This is Chrona. Chrona has had a very hard life. Ever since Chrona was a child, they have been horribly abused by their mother, and forced to kill with a weapon that is literally part of their body. Chrona is insane. Feel free to feel sorry for this character.
However, do not feel that you, for certain, know the gender of this character. To put it bluntly, you don't. Nobody does.
Moving on.
A very nice lady by the name of nenena is kind enough to put up a recap of each month's chapter, complete with a translation the text, before the scanslation comes out. Do not use this translation for a scanslation. Cause that's just not cool. :/
Also, a while back, a lot of Japanese artists were taking their work off the internet because people were using it for icons and the like without permission. Please don't do that.
And of course, there's always the dub vs sub debate, but that's really not a big issue.
Overall opinions
We're all friends here, yo.
Soul Eater is a great series in that, while it's crazy and fun, it also has interesting characters that aren't typical and a good plot to boot. It has lots of references to music and literature that actually add to the story rather than serve as an annoying distraction. The art, while sketchy (excuse the pun) at first, becomes more and more awesome as the series go on; Ohkubo's art can really make the mood of the manga come to life.Soul Eater is a series where you might just go "wait, what?" at half of the stuff that comes out of Ohkubo's brain, but it's better for it.
The fandom is smaller than the series deserves, but this means that it has less fanbrats and wars. Really nice people are in the fandom, and they're all really worth talking too.
I highly recommend this series for a person who loves a crazy story, but not a crazy fandom.
Useful Links
Main Soul Eater comm
Offical subbed/dubbed episodes
Soul Eater wiki
Hope ya'll enjoyed this review of Soul Eater, and will take the time to watch it. There are so many more crazy awesome characters and plot twists that I didn't go over, so go watch it yourself! Have fun (hint: you probably will)!
As always, I want to get this as accurate as possible, so please tell me if I need to include anything/leave something out/reword something! Your help is very much appreciated.
Peace!
Huggawugga2
A sound soul resides in a healthy body and a healthy mind...