Soul Eater NOT!

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A lot of reviewers (many of whom have only read the first one or two chapters) write about this series like it's a silly slice of life comedy set in the world of Soul Eater. And that's not... *untrue*. However, this manga also has some plot beats that are pretty heavy! Characters get hurt and struggle. If you want an experience that's perfectly light and happy, you're not going to get that here.

...On the other hand, if you want an experience that's gritty, psychological, and dark, you're... also not going to get that here.

So what on earth's the deal with Soul Eater NOT!? ...

This is a series that was being written at the same time as the OG Soul Eater. The characters in Soul Eater are part of Death Weapon Academy's elite EAT class, training to become heroes who defeat witches and so on, but the characters in Soul Eater NOT! are part of, you guessed it, the NOT class, where they're really just training to live in the regular world. Soul Eater NOT!, then, provides a bit of a layperson's perspective on what living in Death City is like. Most of that perspective is meant to be funny (one of my favorite bits is around how the characters in NOT! see Liz and Patty). For my money, the humor is pretty consistently successful. Even in Soul Eater proper, there's a good sense of comedy, and it's awesome to get more of that in this series. With that said, on top of the regular Soul Eater NOT! chapters, there's also "Soul Eater JOT!," little one- or two-page scenes into the lives of characters, and these can be funny, but there's... a lot of them, and I often found myself wishing that we could just have regular chapters.

With that said, there is a heavier plot going on, sometimes in the background and occasionally in the foreground. The main character gets capital-T Traumatized on a couple different occasions! A fun gimmick turns out to have a dark origin, someone dies in a really brutal way. Does that succeed? Eh... not really, in my opinion. The digressions into more serious beats often feel more the result of the writers getting bored. The central struggle of the protagonist (to pick a partner between the two main characters) doesn't really have that much to do with the antagonist and their goals, for instance. A lot of the twists that happen in the last handful of chapters are actually pretty well foreshadowed, but I often wasn't sure what the point of including them was. Still, it's not by any means unreadable. When the plot gets darker, it's in the same way that Soul Eater gets dark, so even if it doesn't make a ton of sense, it's usually still pretty cool.

That's the broad strokes of the story and tone discussed, but what about the characters? The main characters of Soul Eater are basically irrelevant in NOT! (which I kind of appreciate). Maka shows up once or twice, but after her the most relevant member of Soul Eater's cast are, like, Liz and Patty, which I really enjoyed. As for the new characters, they're a mixed bag! Some of them aren't very well utilized and don't really have an arc, while others have pathos out the wazoo. But the worst a character ever gets is forgettable, they're never that obnoxious, and the rest of the cast is really fun and endearing. I sometimes struggled with the fanservice (come on... these characters are like... 14.... we don't need to see them naked.....) but the dynamic between the main three characters is pretty strong and sets up well for a lot of funny bits! There's also a well-written lesbian relationship! I dunno, I think that's pretty neat.

All in all, I think Soul Eater NOT! is... okay! It's not going to knock your socks off, but the characters are all enjoyable and it's funny when it needs to be. There are serious moments, and I'm not always thrilled with how they're handled, but when I looked at the manga as a whole I was happy to have read it. Just keep in mind that it's not (NOT!) trying to be like Soul Eater, and you'll have a good time.

When you hear the word Soul Eater in Soul Eater Not it makes you think that it has to be about the main characters in Soul Eater. Well the truth is that Soul Eater Not is a series that revolves these three freshmen girls that are trying to get used to the school while at the same time finding themselves in awkward situations. While the original Soul Eater focused mostly on action and storyline, Soul Eater Not focuses mostly on comedy and side stories of Soul Eater. The artwork is done pretty great like it was in the original Soul Eater. While Soul Eater Not ... is considered a prequel, I wouldn't recommend reading until you have read Soul Eater. Anyway Soul Eater Not takes place way before the whole Kishin thing occurred in Soul Eater. The story starts with Tsugami, the protagonist, arriving at death city to control her new weapon powers. Hoping to find love at death city she instead finds two female weapon meisters who both want to be her partner. There is Meme who has a nice body, but is a bit kind of a ditzy. Then there is Anya who is a bit stubborn sometimes, but still wants to have fun. Overall the comedy portion that makes this book funny is the lifestyle they live in and what they go through at the D.W.M.A

If you are frequent reader to Soul Eater, this spin-off is what you should look for. The recent chapters of Soul Eater storyline has a serious tone. Its nice to read the spin-off that takes you back to the past to a much lighter comedic time. Introduced certain characters in different respective. (Minor characters have more back stories. Hooray!)
You also learn more about Shibusen School. Chapter one (Instantly hooked!) The EAT and NOT classes clever puns.
The characters and their personalities make the storyline so far as they are still slowly building up, eventually I know though soon Atushi Okubo is definitely going to make ... these characters cross paths with the Soul Eater's current storyline which I look forward to. Or possibly they have met already and they're just implying it? Hehe a theory I have the reason for this spin-off is that later on Halberd will also have a big involvement in the Kishin war.
(^_^)