Soul Eater

Edit

What would you like to edit?

SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links  

I can't recommend this manga enough, the only slight downside I can think of is that the art style changes very slightly. The later volumes have absolutely astounding art, incredibly detailed and intricate. The characters are really likeable and develop a lot over the story. One thing I found really cool is the little details that become really important later on, it makes the story feel well thought out and crafted. Another thing I really enjoyed is how this manga never takes it self too seriously right down to the last chapter, it manages to be deep and engaging while also being light hearted ... and fun.

I really enjoyed this manga and feel its definitely worth a read, it starts off a tad slow but really picks up pace so be sure to give it a good go.

My absolute favourite manga and I highly recommend it! :)

I fell in love with this manga from the very first chapter I read.The drawing style,the story,the characters and pretty much everything else make the reader not wanting the pages to come to an end.There's almost everything someone might ask from this gender of manga and probably even more.A great story with amazing action and sudden blasts of humor when one least expects it make it worth reading.

The characters all have their own quirks that make each one of them unique in their own weird ways which adds even more to the whole package :P

I undoubtly recommend it for everyone that likes to get a ... thrill from battle action as well as good laugh at the same time...

After I watched Soul Eater, everyone said, “The manga ending is better.” So I decided to take them up on that and read it.

Why oh why did I finish this manga? Because I’m an idiot?

Maybe.

More likely than not it's because I wanted to reach this “better ending”. While I’ll admit that “bravery” isn’t the best ending to a series, the Soul Eater anime surpasses the manga.

Let’s break down why, shall we?

... Characters: 4/10

The characters ranged from bland to erratic with no one I formed any particular attachment too. I liked Crona in the anime, but the character went from interesting to relatively boring in the manga. I enjoyed watching/reading about Death the Kid and Excalibur, but, in the manga, the rest of the cast fell short.

Most main characters—like Black Star, Tsubaki, Soul, Patty, Oxford, Maka, etc.—seemed dull and underdeveloped. While some had vibrant personalities, they still lacked emotional depth. Sure, some matured as the manga went along (Black Star in particular), but I never found them compelling or a driving force of the series.

Soul and Tsubaki were capital offenders. Between the two of them, I can’t think of any adjectives to describe them apart from their shounen trope counterparts. Soul barely had any personality besides his “cool” vibe and wish to live up to his brother. He played the piano, but that didn’t really add to his personality. And Tsubaki was “nice” and a powerful weapon but that’s about it.

After 20 something volumes, I had hoped for a bit more from the cast. Instead, most of the characters battled a single problem throughout the series and received a single chapter of backstory (or a few scattered panels) for development. The caricatures were fine, I guess, but difficult to distinguish from other characters like them. Needless to say, I didn’t attach.

None of the character annoy me, but I didn’t care for them either. At the very least, I found Death the Kid’s eccentricities amusing, as well as Excalibur’s. Both, sadly, lacked “screen time”, if you will. Excalibur remained a joke character, but Death the Kid whiplashed between a humorous and a serious one. It usually worked fine, but once in a while it jarred me.

Plot: 4/10

While, I applaud Soul Eater for its distinctive art style and tone, the story trapped itself between humor and (attempts at) philosophy and ended up falling short of both. It couldn’t decide if the reader should take it seriously and transitioned from ridiculous panels to long spouts about insanity and madness—which I found about as compelling as watching paint dry. This is a real shame, because I usually enjoy a good philosophical meander.

The plot did move smoothly from A to Z without any hard to swallow plot jumps, but some fights dragged on for volumes. I quickly lost interest in an enemy who revealed a 7th or 8th form. It made Aizen (from Bleach, for those who don’t know) look as if he didn’t have too many final-final-final forms. Several antagonists in Soul Eater pulled this “my true form!” nonsense out. Oh, and the bad guys never die. I swear our heroes have to fight them 3+ times each throughout the manga.

Not only were the battles with the same opponents seemingly endless, but I never felt any tension during them. Relatively sure the characters wouldn’t die (good and bad), nothing seemed to be at stake, which made the battles feel a little pointless.

Uninvested in the characters or plot, the story often seemed to drag and frequently bored me. In the end, though, a lot of unexplained story elements came together nicely.

Nothing about the plot is particularly fantastic, mind-blowing, unique, or interesting. But, aside from the never-ending fights, it’s pretty average and moved at a solid pace.

Art: 7/10

The story had a sort of quirky-cool style that fit surprisingly well with the story’s main antagonist: madness. The art added to the feel of Soul Eater, and, I think, helped it stand out from other shounen. Soul Eater’s bold, Halloweenish style benefited the story’s humor as well. While I found the anime humorous, not even “the test” chapter made me laugh while reading the manga (and I loved that in the anime).

The lines were clean. The fights were (usually) easy to follow. Most panels were simplistic with an occasional “text panel” (what I call panels that have only text and no image). Some, though, were detailed.

The angles were pretty normal. I don’t remember it doing anything above and beyond to increase the story’s meaning. Same thing goes for the paneling. Of course it had some clever layouts, but, generally speaking, the angle of the panel and paneling itself did not add to the story. One chapter focusing on Crona was a big expectation to this. Stylistically, I thought it was the best chapter in the series.

The story did make great use of black and white, using black to help indicate madness and create some intense panels.

Female representation: 1/10

I’ve actually had people complain about this category before, but, if you aren’t interested, don’t read it. If I find the males of a series overtly sexualized and poorly written plot tools who serve solely as “dream boys” for girls, I’ll be sure to mention it.

In the anime, the first episodes were grating, but after those only certain scenes irritated me (like a cat fight between two basically naked women). I could swallow the ecchi fan service for the most part. It was nudity, but it didn’t make rape jokes funny or needlessly sexualize young girls. It had big boobs, short skirts, and accidental (and sometimes intentional) pervert scenes, but that’s typical for shounen. It was more of an eye roll than an issue.

But let’s get to the manga, which is a whole new story.

First, sexual assault was comedic. From boob grabbing to skirt lifting, Soul Eater frequently promoted rape culture through humor. I shouldn’t have to explain why that’s problematic.

Copious scenes unnecessarily took place in the shower to “cleverly” showcase naked girls. Females, especially villains, often wore outfits that sexualized the body and sometimes emphasized certain parts of it, which I found disturbing, unnecessary, and distracting. One villain continuously taunted her opponent, saying lovely lines like, “don’t imagine my naked body” and “I bet you want to touch my naked body”. If you can’t see through this thinly veiled plot device to entice young boys, than you probably enjoyed this manga more than I did.

Fan service aside, gender representation was far from equal. Aside from one female villain, the girls usually had less power than the boys. For example, Maka, the protagonist, was far behind the power level of her male counterparts. Some girls had power, and lots of girls were weapons, but that didn’t really resolve the issue.

What about Tsubaki!? Well, frankly, her abilities as a weapon did not factor into a fight nearly as much as Black Star’s skills and capabilities.

It is worth noting that, without the fan service issues, I probably wouldn’t complained too much about this. Shounen typically feature boys who are more powerful than girls.

And yet . . . when the characters were in “weapon form”, the manga showed their faces instead of a talking weapon. But the girls were always naked in this state, though the boys wore clothes. That was so obviously sexist it’s laughable.

We have another great addition to female representation problems: Blair. She served as nothing more than someone to strip down and treat the males to a little fan service (not that all men even want that. I know a guy who watched Soul Eater and found Blair annoying and unnecessary). She sexually assaulted a character constantly, pushing her impossibly large boobs into his face. Unamusingly, this also promoted rape culture (this time girls assaulting boys). She’s not the first cat-girl in a manga, though, and I’m sure she’s not the last.

I could go on, but I’ve hit the major points. If you’re into that stuff, go for it. That’s why it’s there, after all. If you like having female character with substance and something more to them than their bodies, which are constantly being displayed or touched to create jokes and “bleeding noses”, I suggest you find another series to read.

At the very least, the main protagonist, Maka, was not overly sexualized. While she fought in a skirt (always humorous and unbelievably stupid), she didn’t suffer many up-skirt shots or clothing damage. The females also had as much character development as the boys, which is to say very little.

The manga did offer a variety of female personalities and even one major female villain. But the endless ecchi fan service and rape culture promotion sort of nullify that.

Overall: 3/10

I obviously did not enjoy this series. Why did I read it all? I heard the ending was better than the anime’s and wanted to find out. I'd take a crappy ending over the horrible female representation, snooze-worthy battles, long rambles about madness, and lost humor any day. Reading it probably wasn’t worth all the frustration and boredom I felt.

I don’t recommend it.

I first started reading Soul Eater because my friend recommended it to me, saying it's "the lovechild of Bleach and Naruto." Which is pretty true, this manga is overall very very epic.

Art:
I think art is not as pretty as some of my favorite series (ie. Hikaru no Go) but it's not horrible and it's actually quite likeable. The style changes very slightly while in a different dimension and reflects some of the actions in the plot which I found very awesome. Also, it's not difficult to see what's going on in each panel like in some dramatic action series (ie. 07 Ghosts, I need to ... reread the chapter at least three times to figure out what exactly is going on). Overall, the art is great, this should get a full score but I'm just really picky and dislike the way how some of the eyes (MAKA) are draw. 9/10

Story:
Soul Eater isn't exactly your typical story, which is why I absolutely adore the manga. The main characters don't always win, the plot twists are awesome, and the concept of soul partners as weapons, although not exactly unique, works very well with the story. There's a mix of humor, action, and plot and there isn't really any super long fights that drag on for 20 chapters or something. I really wish I could fully express the awesomeness of Soul Eater's plot, but I really just can't. 10/10

Characters:
A lot of the characters are very amusing, they each have their own flaws (ie: Kid's Obssessive Compulsive Disorder) and are all pretty eccentric which gives me endless amounts of lulz. The character development isn't that obvious (or maybe I just suck at noticing it) but it is noticible and it makes me smile. Kinda.
The relationships between the characters are one of the manga's strong points as well. The characters alone are great, the character interactions are...well... *____________* (This is me being speechless in awe)
And Medusa is a pretty bad-a** villian. 10/10

Enjoyment:
Soul Eater is very enjoying for all the reasons above. I read all the chapters in one sitting because I absolutely fell in love with the characters and the plot. It's all really engaging, there's constantly new things in each chapter so it's never really dull. 10/10

This was great. It's a twister of action, comedy, and incredible neuroticism. The characters act together in great tandem, the subject starts out quite fun and dives into serious territory. It is very classic in many senses, but the twist is in its neuroticism. This manga really pulls the reader in.

If you are looking for something interesting + you are a Shounen fan and by accident read one chapter of soul eater be 100% sure you are going to get hooked!! But……
Our protagonist name‘s is “Evans soul eater”, and the story is not completely about him it’s a story about him and his friends hunting souls and witches.
Be aware that Evans is not your dominant main character it is more like the author just named the Manga because he likes soul eater‘s name which I found a little bit annoying because other characters is as strong as soul sometimes even stronger! ... Good point is all of them get their fair amount of development.
Action is a little bit vague in some fighting scenes but art work is so perfect to the point that it will make your eyes fully satisfied and no character looks like another one nor geometric distortion in different angles does exist.
And for the story it is pretty good for a Shounen Manga but of course you have to close your mind about many things like where is death city‘s location on the map ? Also why does the story lack romance although the students work as pairs? why does “name” trying to f***k the world that badly ???????? why does the moon have a face? Why does it laugh like a foxy lady? and the most important quiz :
In this Manga are we on earth ? mars ? Egypt? Where????????????? ans : most likely it is alternative world shit.
Note: although Ecchi is tagged it appears in the first chapters subtly and then
slowly disappears .
Personally I enjoyed this Manga , you can say 71% because of plot flows and the story is kind of got rushed in the end.
I recommend this work if you are looking for something interesting including action ,characters growth and supernatural, but be sure to read it twice a week because of the dense content caused by it‘s monthly serialization ,so it‘s difficult and boring for one go readers.

Soul Eater is unique in its own way and it propels you into this bizzare and crazy world which is super cool and unique. One of the things I like about said universe would be the moon that looks like its on cocaine and the sun which pretty much looks like my idiot friend. Weird.

The main factor this manga is dragged down is the storyline. The beginning was great but as the story progressed it gets complicating and if you miss one part, you'd have to go back and read it from the beginning again and that sucks. It was also lacking in many parts ... which I wished could be fixed.

The plus side to the story is the characters. Each one of them has one or many unique characteristic that is original and not cliché. It was these characters that gave me the willpower and bravery to finish the manga.

The artwork would be at an average. Nothing too special about it. And it is boring and stoic at certain parts.

The enjoyment factor is there but it is kinda foggy as the manga tends to get boring at certain parts. The comedy factor seems stale as it is brought down by the even stale plot. Considering it being a shounen manga, the violence count is pretty low.

6/10.

Soul Eater is one of the best comics I have ever read. Before I read it, I thought it was stupid because of the title 'Soul Eater'. What, does some guy eat souls?
Then I decied to read it and its action, humor really packs a punch! I recommened anyone abd everyone to read at least the first chapter and you too will be hooked on some Soul Eater.
Another thing that I love the most is that all the main charactors, not only are they strong, they all have problems too. It can either make them or break them. Don't know what I mean? Read ... the freakin' comic and see!

The theme of Soul Eater is development. Throughout the manga everything gets more developed.

Story: In the beginning you would think it would start out as getting 99 Kishin or Afreet egg souls and one Witch soul would be the end of it. The answer is no. The story develops into it's own unique way adding humor along with it. There are multiple plot twists also that you will not see coming. More sub plots come in the mix but gets balanced out and fits in the main plot nicely. Still going on today, the story still holds on strong.

Art: Once again very developed. A ... perfect example is the design of Soul. In the beginning Soul's design looked immature, young, and second rate. Today, Soul's design comes out more mature, suave, and more eye catching. Atsushi Ohkubo does know how to physically mature the characters and make them a little older as time goes by. The art is very unique with unusual designs and disturbingly awesome scenes that glue your eyes to the page. Expressions of the characters are also very believable and realistic. It's not the same repetitive expressions you would see in Naruto. In short the art is top notch.

Character: This is where the manga excels in the most. Every single character is unique with their own different personalities, designs, and expressions. Most of the characters also feel very realistic for Anime standards. A great example is Maka Albarn who's personality is described as a stubborn bookworm who sometimes can act unknowingly immature and bratty but in the end, she manages to bring her cool up again and kick a**. She is a very well done character who many girls her age could relate to including myself. Other characters that you would normally not take seriously also like Black Star, Ox, or Kid have very fleshed out development and can bring out a more serious side to them. To tell you the truth, there is not a single character I hate. All of them are likable including Medusa who plays one of the best villains ever spawned in an manga. I promise that more than one character will satisfy you.

Enjoyment: What can I say? It's a very well developed manga that keeps me entertained to this day! So far everything is very well paced and there is always a highlight at each chapter. Today, I collect the manga volumes in Japanese and re read them in the fluent language. It's that good. I recommend Soul Eater to anyone who likes a fast paced, action packed, dramatic, and hilarious manga with TONS of very fleshed out characters and a well developed plot.

I started reading soul eater after watching the brilliant anime. The anime ending was a bit of a disappointment, so I started reading the manga where the anime left it.

After reading the manga only one word springs to mind: EPIC! This is why...

Story 10/10

From reading the first chapters you probably think the story's going to a based around the characters collecting 99 evil souls and 1 witches soul. However, the plot turns out to be much more interesting with various twist's and shocked to keep you excited about this manga. Throughout the story there is a great balance between Action and comedy. Overall much more ... solid then the amines.

Art 10/10

An amazing thing about Soul Eater is its art. The drawing have an unique Gothic style with detail which is pleasing to the eye. The fight scenes are drawn superbly which adds the the intense feel.

Characters 10/10

This is the best thing about Soul Eater. All of the characters, good or evil, are awesome (Yes... even Excalibur) They all have there own ticks to make you fall in love with them.

Enjoyment 10/10

Soul Eater will always get you excited about the next chapter with its intense build up and action will make you beg for more. You'll love this manga.

Overall 10/10

As you can tell by this review I really like this manga and will follow it till the end. Try reading it, I guarantee you will love it!

Oh. My. God. I love this series. Maybe it's only my opinion, but this series has everything: characters, intense plot twists, action and comedy. I personally think they kinda messed up the anime adaptation.
Let's talk about the main characters (spoiler freely): creativity gets some extra points. There are about three main characters, but Maka Albarn takes the spotlight, in a good way. They tell every detail from their personality to fears and relationships, but still make enough time for action and epic battles. Almost every character is at least okay. 25 volumes isn't too much, but is just enough for good plot movement and little ... side stories at the end of the manga (I read the physical copies, so...)

IF YOU DON'T LIKE SPOILERS, STOP HERE!
So, I just had to clear my mind about the difference between the manga and the anime. I watched the whole anime just to see DTK to turn into an evil character for a few chapters, but in the anime, it didn't happen! I was so disappointed and almost ended that there. No, actually I watched it to the end. The manga's final battle was also so much more epic. So please, read this manga!

For the past few months, ever since I finished jujutsu kaisen, I've felt this almost pit in my heart. I haven't found a manga I truly truly enjoy. Nothing has hit. NOTHING. Everything feels like just going through the motiions. My girlfriend has reccomended Soul eater to me for a while and I decided to give it a 3rd try (once anime, once manga, third time also manga) each previous time I've tried reading this series I couldn't stand it, it was all just BAD, the fanservice the fanservice and the FUCKING FANSERVICE, I hated it. But since I love her I kept going, and ... thank god I did, The Baba Yaga castle arc is one of the best arcs in anime and manga for me. Black star is so fucking cool I can't even HANDLE IT. Im so glad I pushed through because I read almost all this manga in 2 days.

This is a battle manga but I suppose this isn't your standard one, although I'm in no position to say such because I don't read much of this genre but I have seen a lot of battle anime.

One-on-one battles or "you go ahead first, leave this area to me" types are very few in this manga, even if we consider a meister and a weapon as only one. Fights with the enemy are usually done in teams even if there is only one to fight. The usual "I'll beat the shit out of you til you come to your senses" is also nil or maybe ... not very emphasized at all. Mostly, it's either the dark character comes to his senses himself or the he beats the shit out of the cocky bastard who was supposed to beat the hell out of him. Supposedly big and established master villains also get beaten quite anticlimactically (e.g. Justin Law, Medusa, Noah). And then villains who came out of nowhere become the opponents in the ultimate battle. "What a waste of story!" is what I can't help but think.

Speaking of wasted stories, whatever happened to Maka's mom? How did Black*Star came out of his demon path? Why did Justin Law betray? What became of Patty's training? The manga wasn't meant to be a drama in the first place so I force myself to understand. I tried to understand when BJ was killed just like that, no further stories, no drama, but it happened again and again. So much opportunities for back-stories are put to waste.

Considering what's all been said, the art ain't bad. It was actually amazing, sometimes it simply makes up for the half-baked story. The setting, props, and costume were so creative. And what never ceases to amaze me was the character traits that were fully-expressed. Soul was super cool and he looked like it every time. Well, I suppose except for those times where he's gone bad but after all that, he comes out way cooler than before. The same is true for self-absorbed Black*Star! Even his name has something to do with his personality. Perfect characters! If only they were backed up by much more nosy stories, this manga could have scored a lot higher.

I have to give this manga a 10 despite its many, many flaws because I was so completely captivated by it that it would be dishonest to give it anything less.

This series is just so enjoyable. The world feels as if it is breathing. Every character is perfectly developed just a bit more than someone of their importance in a different series would be, and it makes the story feel completely alive.

I almost never reread or rewatch anything. At a minimum, I read this series over four times while it was still coming out monthly because I wanted to be sure I remembered everything ... about what was going on. I never felt that it had gotten old. It covered so many emotions that when I read or watched other things I was constantly comparing them to Soul Eater.

The story follows Maka Albarn, one of the most irritating and hate-worthy protagonists I've seen. And the series (the manga, not the anime) handles her extremely well. In the wake of her parents' divorce due to her father's repeated infidelity, Maka comes to the conclusion that all men are untrustworthy and should die. This is complicated by her relationship with Soul Eater, a boy who turns into a scythe, whom she fights alongside and must trust with her life daily.

Soul himself is an expertly crafted character, a former member of a high-class musical family who was forced to leave after finding out he had weapon blood. He is so conflicted by his past and future that he changes his name in an attempt to declare separation from his past as a pianist, but music still seems to follow him everywhere. What Soul really needs is a hug, but instead he is faced with hostility by Maka, the person he is now sworn to protect.

The emotional core of the series is the relationship between these two characters. Many coming-of-age stories deal with the protagonist learning independence, but Soul Eater takes the opposite path and tells a tale of learning to trust. This theme of love and teamwork is present in every single character and interaction in the series.

And these other characters are just as enjoyable, and in many cases more so, including a hotheaded boy raised with Maka who wants to gain enough fighting skill to surpass God, a young prince so concerned with doing well in his role that he develops obsessive-compulsive disorder, a mad scientist teacher who fears his impending insanity may one day harm his students, a warrior woman conflicted in whether to continue fighting or settle down and get married, and a father who seeks only his daughter's forgiveness.

The art style starts out, frankly, terrible, but just like Maka's character, it improves exponentially over the course of the series.

The humor is top notch. The reason I'm writing this review so many years later is that I remembered a joke in chapter ~104 or so the other day and I busted out laughing all over again. (For those of you who have read it, it's where Kid tells a certain council about what happened to him in the girls' shower.)

The ending is, not gonna lie, iffy, but I didn't think it was bad. The reason so many people hate it is that the last chapter is like a 6/10 when you've been conditioned to expect a consistent 9.5/10 every chapter. Regardless, everyone, no matter how minor, makes at least 90% progress towards their goals, and you can easily see where everyone is going. The epilogue is a little ambiguous, but it's certainly not criminal and it didn't affect my enjoyment of the series as a whole.

All around, from me it gets a definite 10/10.

This is my first time doing review, my english is not that good, but I will give my best


Story
I give 5/10 for many reasons. This is shonen, shonen doesn't lean on story that much, there are some that really have great stories, but Soul Eater is really bad to read if you like complicated, well-explained stories with a lot of intersting and unexpected things that can happen. Soul Eater is predictable, boring and even stupid at some point, where you can tell what will happen next. It folllows the life of few teenagers, special teenagers with super-soul powers that study at "Shibusen" - ... Training facility for human wielders of soul weapons, the Meisters.Meisters have Demon weapon companion which has both a Weapon and human form. In this school they are trained to fight bad spirits and prevent the rebirth of Kishin - Evil demon god that in the past, almost destroyed the world.
Those teenagers evolve as the story goes on, they get stronger, weaker at some point(just like in every shonen), their ups and downs are really well represented.
First few chapters are more like comedy, without some serious things and they are just for fun and good laugh, but as the story goes on, the atmosphere in the whole manga changes into something more darker, mysterious and it gets more interesting. However, that "interesting" doesn't last long because you get used to it and it gets predictable, boring(that's the case for me).

Art
I give 9/10 for art. It is unique, it has that childish-style that suits the story.That childish-style can turn out to be really creepy at some moments. I personally like this kind of art, it has that funny touch to it that makes you want to read more and it magnifies the whole world of Soul Eater.

Characters
Very good, 8/10. If you neglect the story, characters alone are pretty well-made and they have strong personalities, that depth in them that makes them really likeable. As I said, they have their ups and downs in manga, downs where they like ask themselves:" Am I strong enough, am I good enough for this?" - that can get boring, but its shonen so you get used to it.


Enjoyment.
Fair enough, 6/10. If you are new to manga, you probbably won't like this at the begining and you may drop it, the same thing goes for those called pro-manga readers that are used to high-level quality manga. I personally enjoyed manga the most at the begining

Overall
6/10 , it is good, but not that good. I recomend you to watch the anime first, so you can get that vibe of manga afterwards(or first 25-26 episodes)

I really loved this series from the start, and now, it is my favorite manga, even though it is not the best [ for me]


Plot
The plot is very good. It started with the separate introductions of the main characters which I found unique as compared to the introduction of other mangas. The twists of the plot is also good, the way on how the plot is moving, and so on.

Art
I find Soul Eater's art to be the coolest; it has a unique "aura" in it. The art style brought the feeling of insanity and madness, especially on the characters faces, the background, and the effects. ... It is easy to understand, even though it has a lot of action in it.

Character
The characters in soul eater is unique. It doesn't follow the usual "weak" major character then that character becomes the strongest. The "very" main pair (Soul and Maka) isn't even the strongest one in the main trio, but they have abilities that the strongest ones doesn't have. Their personalities added color to the series. It is just good.

Enjoyment
Even though Soul Eater focuses on madness, it still offers humor and comedy to us. Characters like Black Star, Kid, and Spirit made this possible. Because of the "comedy side" of this, series, it doesn't bore me.

Overall
Soul Eater is one of the best mangas that I've ever read. I just wish that there will be a remake of the anime, such that the anime will follow the original plot.

Originally I started by watching Soul Eater, but I kept hearing the manga was a lot better and handled character development better so I decided to try it?

Story - It's quite typical, just a "let's save the world" kind of show. It's not deep or very unique or anything. But it's interesting and enjoyable. I loved a lot of the character arcs and there were so many moments which were just epic. I usually only watch anime because I don't get as much excitement from looking at a bunch of pictures but the manga was really compelling and left me on the edge of ... my seat (most of the time literally)

Art - Character designs are pretty good, they're not way too complicated where I have to read it ten times to figure out what's going on, and they're not oversimplistic and ugly either. well i never cared that much about the art style anyway but the character designs are nice and cool soo 9?

Character - That was definitely the biggest enjoyment point for me. I loved Black Star and Death the Kid's development, and Stein was definitely interesting as well. There were so many times where I was just amazed at how much they'd grown or every level of their character I'd never noticed before. Although some people might find Maka talking about how she's not good enough etc. annoying, I'm quite okay with that. Learning more about Soul, Liz and Patty was also really interesting, even if they weren't really explored. I loved watching the relationship between each weapon-meister pair and I really ended up caring for the characters no matter what role they played. That said, although I think Black Star's character development was definitely well done, Tsubaki had like...one arc that explored her character and then they forgot about her for the duration of the show.

Enjoyment - I loved it. It's still one of my favourites. Even with all its flaws it's really gripping and makes you feel connected with the characters and feel for them.

Overall - It's not everyone's cup of tea, but it was an exciting and fun read.

Let me start by saying that SOUL EATER has a very special place in my dear old heart. I've worked very hard to learn Japanese as a second language, and after years of work I can proudly say that I'm fluent. I would not be quite where I am right now without this anime and the manga. It was my first experience diving straight into a work of fiction in full Japanese, no translations, no help. Just me and the raw language practice. With that said, I've reread Soul Eater with a more matured taste and I've decided to drop this review, more for my ... own personal reasons than anything else.

SOUL EATER is easily one of the most frustrating things I've read to date.

There are plenty of moments where the series hits amazing strides with its characters, where I absolutely loved certain fights and couldn't get enough of the spectacular art direction and atmosphere of the series.

There are also plenty of moments where the series will live in my nightmares forever with incredibly dated jokes, blatant short serving of certain characters and the putrid stain of fan service that everyone and their mother knows about.

SUPER AWESOME THINGS ABOUT SOUL EATER:

The elephant in the room: Ohkubo's art direction. I can't get enough of it! From chapter 1 his manga bursts with creative energy and flavor. It only gets better as his art evolves into a clean, aesthetically pleasing master class of character design, world building and direction. Everything about this series' art screams eccentric and I am 1000% here for it.

The characters (for the most part) are great. They actually like each other, their chemistry is unmatched by similar shonen series and almost all of their actions are driven by compassion, growth and understanding, even if it gets cliche at points. Each dynamic is genuinely a blast to read. Watching Maka grow into an S - Tier Meister is awesome. She takes down some of the baddest villains in the series and each time she does it's a wave of dopamine. Her accomplishments are earned. All of this is backed by support from the other two male leads, Blackstar and Death The Kid, who mature in their own awesome ways. Even side characters have depth to them. You're getting an insane cast that you'll have a hard time forgetting.

The plot is pretty great. Ohkubo does an awesome job of unraveling his super creative world along with the plot. The main cast travels all kinds of places, meeting some excellent side characters as well. Each arc flows very nicely into the next, and each arc also takes time to flesh out the characters involved. The plot moves from A - B very smoothly and there aren't any major plot holes as far as I'm concerned.

The fights are genuinely some of the best I've ever seen. This series has fights that are dramatic, epic, jawdropping even. I legitimately cried at certain points. Characters die, sh!t hits the fan and all you can do is strap in for the insane ride that takes place. The fights are also aided by the fact that characters turn into weapons. Each fight gives an insane amount of room for character development and team work as different meisters and weapons team up on each side. Not a spoiler, but the 3rd fight between two characters from volumes 13 - 14 is legitimately the best fight I have ever seen in a shonen series. The fights are also aided by the insanely dynamic and expressive art. If you're giving this manga a try, you're doing it for the awesome fights.

THINGS THAT AREN'T SO AWESOME ABOUT SOUL EATER:

This series started in 2003, and ended in 2013. It's a 20 year old series at this point, and it shows. SOUL EATER ages like milk in some parts.

The second elephant in the room: The actually horrible fanservice. Oh my goodness. I don't think I've had the displeasure of seeing such intrusive, obstructive fan service in a series. And don't worry, it happens to both genders. No matter what chapter you're reading, you're sure to find the blatant objectification of some character just around the corner, boys included. Soul "Eater" Evans gets sexually assaulted by the end of the first volume. There are panty shots in the same chapter. It's gross!

Chances are people aren't coming to SOUL EATER for this stuff. They're coming for all the other awesome stuff mentioned above.

I mean, if we're being serious, there are parts of SOUL EATER that make certain harem anime look like Fullmetal Alchemist.

The characters, especially the female characters *sigh* are overwhelmed by these nasty bits. They absolutely derail a scene and overwhelm a character. Like, you can be reading a normal conversation, and then boom, there's a giant butt in your face. It's just straight up disturbing at some points. Soul Eater likes to do what a lot of other manga from this point in time liked doing, and that's making SA a joke. It's not a joke, it's traumatizing for everyone affected. Please don't play it off as a joke, because it's NOT FUNNY.

And to be clear, there's a massive differences between characters who are sexy, and whatever the hell this is. Characters who are confident in their sexuality and like being sexy are cool. When there are subtle sexy elements between two CONSENTING PEOPLE OF AGE, it's genuinely great. This is not that. It's overwhelming, immature, always out of place, and just overall distasteful. There's never a single point in the manga where it's good. I know that I never got ANY sexual gratification from it.

To be fair, I understand why it's there, especially for a series that's this old. 12 year old Timmy sees some boobs, his monkey brain goes ooh ooh aah aah and he buys the first volume of SOUL EATER for this reason. It sells copies in the short term. We know that sex sells. However it damages the reputation of this manga in the long run, and means that every time I want to recommend this manga for all of the awesome stuff mentioned previously, I have to put up this extra notice that, if you can't stomach or put up with this stuff (and trust me, it tested my patience plenty) don't bother picking it up.

Other than that there are still some dated views on gender roles and stuff that seep into the series; while Maka is a pretty great main lead, and the female cast *when they aren't put into this sh!t* is generally great, it just shows that Ohkubo writes his female characters with his foot in his mouth sometimes.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON SOUL EATER.

I mean, listen. Upon rereading this series, I've picked up some MASSIVE flaws more acutely than last time. It only makes me appreciate what's done SUPER well in this series even more. I still love (most) of SOUL EATER. It's undoubtedly influenced my taste in art, atmosphere and character design in a manga, and I'll keep it those things in mind when looking for more mature series to read.

My enjoyment is still a net positive, and I'd say that if you're into all of the awesome stuff I've mentioned, I'd give it a shot. This manga scratches a certain itch that I can't describe. If you're not into scratching that itch, and all of the not so awesome stuff really irks you like it irks me, don't bother, and pick a series that's a bit more tasteful in execution.

*as an extra note, Atsushi Ohkubo has cosigned and recognized up and comer URANA KEI as his prodige. All I can say about URANA KEI is that her art is 10 times as dynamic and she has a potential heater on her hands with GACHI AKUTA. If you're like me and you want to get into a SOUL EATER-esc series without the baggage definitely giver her awesome work a try.

I really liked this manga from the start, its setting, humor, and characters are all unique and fun. The ambiance, character designs, and characters' personalities are all pretty cartoonish and the manga didn't take itself too seriously at the start, so I figured that I could ignore some bad choices, but it didn't live up to its potential in the long run.

Some characters might be annoying but they're fun to watch and sympathetic, it's a shame that by the end of the manga few mather and their development seems a little limited for the number of chapters we got to do something more with them. ... A lot of the adult characters aren't that interesting or likable, but the kids are. I liked Crona's character arc, it made sense, but Medusa's motives in all of this didn't.

The fanservice is kind of annoying, especially that one moment where an underage girl's ass is front and center of a panel for an absurd reason. Blair was just there to be sexy and provocative and didn't contribute anything to the story (unless you count that one time she seduced a succubus.)

The humor is hands down the best part of this story, it's one of the funniest manga I've read, but that doesn't last much, as the story becomes more serious and plot-focused and some of the original wackiness is lost. I didn't initially have a problem with this change, as the Arachne arc is good enough on its own, and I would say it is the peak of Soul Eater. After that, the new antagonists introduced are underwhelming and uninteresting, the story seems to gradually lose focus, and the plot conveniences and power-ups become more prevalent.

The next arc is just about our main characters visiting different realms based on each sin without much stakes at all. It tries to go back to the feeling of the first volumes but it ends up falling short, it's not as well done. It would be much more interesting if they had to fight actual antagonists for each realm, as Kid's well-being depends on his friends making it on time to save him. I don't know why the mangaka decided to take this situation in a more comedic way, discarding the potential for tension and conflict. (SPOILER: Also, all Kid needs to not be consumed by madness is for Black Star to kick his ass, and now he can control madness???)

The last arc is the worst of them all, I had to skim through it to finish this series.
t becomes so bad that by the end we have a looong battle against annoying foes where nobody knows how to win despite what had been previously presented. I was so tired of that perverted clown that just talked about how sexy she was all the time. Frankie's problem with madness comes back, but it's been so long since we last saw him that the development of this conflict feels disjointed and unearned. I might be the only one complaining about this, but Maka's conflict with her dad is never resolved despite there being enough foundation to give their relationship some conclusion.

I wanted more character development, more bonding moments between the main gang, better-written fights, more interesting antagonists whose motives make sense, and a better final arc. This could've been one of the best shonen manga out there, it had a lot of appeal and charm to it but ended up getting lost somewhere in the middle. I'd recommend reading until the Arachne arc, even if Crona's story stays inconcluse at this point.

As you can see, I've already made a review on Soul Eater before; however, its beauty wasn't enough to make a very simple review. Now, I decided to edit my whole review and sum up the awesomeness of this manga.

Okay, I'll admit.. I have watched the anime before the manga and believe me, the anime reaaalllly disappointed me and my expectations but the manga made me more satisfied.

First, the story is really something I haven't witnessed in ages. I mean, I've seen superpowers, magical cards, animals flying out of balls, and so many animes with detailed and exceptional stories but this one is just ... bizarre and magnificent. (the story line might be a spoiler so be cautious) I've never seen a character convert itself to a weapon and that's just UNBELIEVABLE and an unspoken imagination that not even a person could explain. It's pretty great of you ask me even as a girl, I can say that the idea is just pure genius. Exaggerated or not, I'm really honest. Comedy is absolutely present in this manga. From the smiling idiot characters to the weirdest jokes and it has full of farce scenes(a type of comedy also called slapstick). No drama just fun and that's why I loved this one. You see when I was all depressed, this manga made me happy so Atsushi Okubo pretty much saved my damn life. The fighting scenes were extremely intimidating. Everything was like the real thing and the villains really had this power to make the story more lively and full of suspense.

Second, art is old and awkward in the first chapters but in the later ones, they become enthusiastic and made me more excited to read. The gothic theme has a never ending Halloween effect for me. It looked more professional and the characters became more and more attractive than ever. I may be a bit overacting about the art but it's true, it's the best one yet.

Third, The characters were really artistic from the looks to the personality.
Soul Eater Evans - the title wasn't meant for him, it's only his name. Soul is a cool guy who acts like a yankee or something like a gangster. Then there is an evil side to him like bullying his partner, Maka Albarn and can't help but be involve in different fights with his friend, Black Star. Although, there is also a good side about him which is a very protective partner who can sacrifice his own life just to make his partner live. I don't know if he's selfish but he's pretty much a good person for me.
Maka Albarn - A bookworm, partner of Soul Evans and I'm not sure if she's in love with him. She is a very serious person and always makes plans before doing anything. She is also a critical thinker. She has a cute side when she makes friends despite her serious side.
Well those are two of the main characters in Soul Eater. The rest, you can just know if you read the manga.

Fourth, I enjoyed the whole thing even the ending. I loved it and still cry about it until now because I don't think my OTP will ever be together. Other pairings did become canon. The happy ending could be considered as rushed but for a manga to end at 2013 well that isn't a surprise 'cause it took about 6 or more years to finish 100 plus chapters. Maybe Atsushi can't put more villains but hey it was a very entertaining manga.

Overall, I feel pain because it ended. It kind of feel like stopping a 10 year relationship. Like breaking up with your beloved boyfriend or lost a dog or had a dead family member. What can I say? I had a connection with the story, the characters, the moments, and the Soul eater memories. They all completed my life as a teenager. But it will still remain in my heart forever. Besides, Soul Eater Not! is not finished yet, I have a chance to take a good look at something that became part of my precious life. As a fan, and a noble family member of Soul Eater, I want you to read the manga... I promise that you won't be disappointed. Unless you're a girl or something.