Soul Eater

*This article refers to the manga and anime created by Atsushi Okubo. For its prequel, see* Soul Eater NOT!

*See also: [[Soul Eater Wiki]]*

*Soul Eater* is a manga written and illustrated by Atsushi Ōkubo from 2003 to 2013, published by Square Enix. A total of 25 volumes were released. It was licensed for North American English-language distribution by Yen Press. It was adapted as an anime by Studio BONES in 2007, which was licensed for North American English-language distribution by Funimation.

## Manga

*Soul Eater* began as three separate one-shots serialized between June 24, 2003 and November 26, 2003 across two manga magazines published by Square Enix: first in the summer 2003 special edition of *Gangan Powered*, followed by the autumn 2003 special edition of the same magazine, and finally in *Gangan Wing*. The manga started regular serialization in Square Enix's *Monthly Shōnen Gangan* manga magazine on May 12, 2004. The first bound volume was released by Square Enix under their *Gangan Comics* imprint on June 22, 2004 in Japan, and as of August 12, 2013, all twenty-five volumes have been released in Japan. The manga has been licensed by Yen Press for distribution in English in North America. The manga was initially serialized in Yen Press' *Yen Plus* anthology magazine, the first issue of which went on sale on July 29, 2008. The first English volume of the manga was sold in October 2009.

The one hundred thirteenth and final chapter of the manga was released in Japan on August 12, 2013. It was collected as part of the twenty-fifth and final volume, released in Japan on December 12, 2013.

## Anime

A 51-episode anime adaptation was directed by Takuya Igarashi, and produced by Bones, Aniplex, Dentsu, Media Factory, and TV Tokyo.

The anime's scenario writer, Akatsuki Yamatoya, adapted the story from Okubo's original concept. Character design was headed by Yoshiyuki Ito, with overall art direction by Norifumi Nakamura. The anime's conceptual design was done by Shinji Aramaki. *Soul Eater* is Bones' third anime series to run with at least 50 episodes, after 2003's *Fullmetal Alchemist* and 2005's *Eureka Seven*.

Episodes began airing on April 7, 2008, on TV Tokyo, with two animated specials on May 29 and June 1, 2008.The episodes also aired at later dates on TV Aichi, TV Hokkaido, TV Osaka, TV Setouchi, and TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting Co. The anime aired in both evening and late night screenings, the latter known under a separate title as *Soul Eater Late Show*, which included original content including new opening and closing sequences, new bumpers, and new next episode previews.

In the United States, the anime was licensed by Template:Animanga, which released the series in four half-season DVD box sets starting with the first volume in February 2010. On November 20, 2012, the Complete Series dub with all 51 Episodes WAS Released on DVD in the United States. A Blu Ray set was also released. On March 16, 2015, Funimation announced that a new Blu Ray Premium Edition with a 64-page full-color artbook would be released on June 30, 2015, the same day when Funimation Would release Limited Edition Blu Ray set of *Soul Eater NOT!* All 51 subtitled Episodes Are available on Funimation's website, Along with the first Twenty-six Episodes Dubbed in English.

## Characters

### Maka Albarn

Voiced by: Junko Takeuchi (drama CD), Chiaki Omigawa (anime), Laura Bailey (English)

Maka Albarn (マカ・アルバーン Maka Arubān?) is one of the main protagonists of Soul Eater. She is a young but dedicated student who takes after her mother, another prodigious meister. However, her relationship with her father Spirit is strained due to his constant flirtations with women, leading her parents to divorce. As such, Maka is obsessed with turning her weapon partner, Soul Eater, into a death scythe that will surpass her father. She collaborates well with Soul in battle, but sometimes gets frustrated at him when he does something foolish. When in danger, however, Maka does everything she can to keep Soul out of harm's way.

The anime depicts Maka as the most mature and casual character out of the main protagonists. She is brave, strong-willed, hard working, humble, kind, and determined to do what is right, but hates injustice and can lose control of her emotions when her friends are in danger. She also at times tends to get annoyed with Soul due to his laid back personality, but they are still good friends at heart. She differs from most main protagonists in anime in that she has the characteristics most male main protagonists have, but is a female.

Because she has strong morals and a good sense of justice, she hates seeing her father cheating on women, and tends to be annoyed with Black Star at times due to his arrogant and self-absorbed personality. There are times when she gets ticked off, she does a "Maka Chop," which is when she takes a hardback book and slams it down onto that persons head. Usually her fathers, Black Star, or Soul. In the anime, Maka was the only one who could defeat Asura, who was on the verge of destroying the world. Soul, Black Star, Death the Kid, their partners and Lord Death all failed to defeat him, but Maka defeated him all by herself because of her bravery. She confused Asura by proving to him she would never give up despite that she was weaker than him and all her friends were defeated, which made him doubt himself and confused him, allowing Maka to punch him while he was distracted with all her force and defeat him.

In the anime, Maka's kindness and compassion shows often with Crona. She recognizes him as being misunderstood and mistreated. She wants to be his friend to help him because he's been alone his whole life. She puts herself at risk of losing her sanity to help him and temporarily gives herself to the black blood in order to better understand him. Despite the others seeing him as an enemy because he is helping Medusa, she feels he is only helping Medusa because he has nothing else and is simply confused and misguided. She easily forgives him when discovering he was helping Medusa and spying on the academy, feeling Medusa had manipulated him into it. She loses control for the first time and violently kills Medusa with an Anti-Magic wavelength when Medusa almost kills Crona after he pushes Maka out of the way to save her.

Early in the story, Soul is infected with black blood during their first battle against Crona, which causes Maka to become infected as well, risking her going insane under the black blood's influence. She later gains some control over the black blood by developing a soul wavelength inherited from her mother called the Anti-Magic Wavelength, which helps her resist the effects of insanity. She is also adept at a skill called Soul Perception, which allows her to detect the souls of other people and measure their strengths, and is later able to detect the souls of witches even when they use their magic to disguise their souls as ordinary human ones. After turning Soul into a death scythe, Maka gains the ability to combine the power of her uniquely shaped soul, called a Grigori soul, with Soul's and grow angelic wings on Soul's weapon form, enabling her to fly. Maka can fully synchronize with Spirit due to their bond as father and daughter.

In the anime adaptation, Maka is shown to have demon weapon powers inherited from her father and mother, allowing her to conjure blades from her body while she is unconscious.

### Soul Eater

Voiced by: Sōichirō Hoshi (drama CD), Kōki Uchiyama (anime), Micah Solusod (English)

Soul Evans (ソウル・エヴァンス Sōru Evansu?), nicknamed Soul Eater (ソウル・イーター Sōru Ītā?), is a demon scythe and the partner of Maka Albarn, and the main male protagonist. His weapon form has a red- and-black blade and an eye near its heel which expresses his emotions. He has a laid-back and nonchalant personality and tries to maintain a "cool" attitude, but often ends up embarrassing himself instead. He tends to bicker with Maka over unimportant things from time to time, but is fiercely loyal to her and has more than once displayed his will to die for his friends' safety. After he is slashed in the chest by Ragnarok and infected with the Demon Sword's blood he fights to resist the madness-inducing effects of black blood, which is portrayed by the little demon who appears within his subconscious.

As a member of a renowned family of musicians, Soul is a talented pianist, but uses his discovery of his weapon powers as an excuse to break ties from the family tradition and pursue the goal of becoming the most powerful death scythe ever. He dislikes being compared to his older brother Wes, a famous violinist, and is often reluctant to play music for other people. He can use this talent when resonating his soul wavelength with others, playing the piano within his soul to drastically enhance their power.[ch. 36] He manages to become a Death Scythe after defeating Arachne with Maka and eating her soul, gaining the ability to use sound waves and sabotage enemies with his "Soul Hack" attack. In the aftermath of Asura's defeat, overcoming his fear of using Black Blood, Soul becomes partnered to Death the Kid after he officially became the new Grim Reaper. Due to Kid's agreement with the witches to make no more death scythes, Soul became known as 'The Last Death Scythe'.

### Black Star

Voiced by: Yumiko Kobayashi (Japanese), Brittney Karbowski (English)

Black Star (ブラック☆スター Burakku Sutā?, stylized as "Black☆Star") is a ninja assassin and the meister of Tsubaki. He is exceedingly arrogant and loud-mouthed for an assassin, preferring to make a flashy entrance rather than sneaking up on his opponents, and tries to upstage anyone who gains more attention than he does.[ch. 0b] He frequently calls himself a "big" man destined to surpass God, thus driving himself to his physical limits and making him one of the most athletic students at DWMA. He made it a personal goal to defeat Kid in battle since Kid is a 'death god'. He is a skilled combatant even when unarmed, using a skill that allows him to increase his own soul wavelength and channel it through physical attacks.[ch. 2] He is one of the last remaining survivors of the Star Clan, a family of ninja assassins who slaughtered others for wealth until they were wiped out by DWMA, which took him in as an infant. He is oppressed by anyone who recognizes the clan's symbol, a star-shaped tattoo on his shoulder.[ch. 7] Due to his obsession with power and to the fact that the Star Clan was wiped out because they started to consume souls, some believe he will eventually descend down the path towards becoming a kishin like his father White Star.[ch. 39] But, in the final battle with Minfune, he chooses not the path of the Demon, but not the Warrior. He chooses the path of his own. Black Star, in his introductory chapter, is shown to have an attraction to Tsubaki, as he tried twice to peep on her while bathing; the feeling seems mutual as in the Lust chapter of Eibon's book, Tsubaki takes a form similar to Black Star when everyone's gender is switched.
In the anime, Black Star tends to have differences with both Maka and Kid. Maka had a hard time completing Soul Resonance with him because he was so arrogant and self-centered during Stein's training to make him, Maka, and Kid a team. Maka even punched him out of frustration towards his insults at her of her being weaker than him. Kid sometimes got into physical fights with Black Star, such as when Black Star would mess up 'perfect' symmetrical objects.

### Tsubaki Nakatsukasa

Voiced by: Mamiko Noto (drama CD), Kaori Nazuka (anime), Monica Rial (English)

Tsubaki Nakatsukasa (中務 椿 Nakatsukasa Tsubaki?) is the weapon partner of Black Star, classified as a "shadow weapon" who has the power to transform into a variety of ninja weapons including a kusarigama, a shuriken, a ninjatō, and a smoke bomb.[ch. 0b] She is gentle, quiet, friendly, and easygoing, and provides a soothing influence among her friends whenever they argue. She is also very patient and tolerant of others, which allows her to put up with Black Star's constant arrogance and showboating, and serves as a highly collaborative partner in battle.[ch. 2] Her multiple weapon forms are part of a tradition passed down by her family, descended from the first demon weapons created by Arachne. She later acquires her most powerful form, the Uncanny Sword (also known as the Enchanted Sword) after absorbing the soul of her corrupted brother Masamune.[ch. 8] She primarily takes the form of a black katana in this form, but is eventually able to transform it into other weapons as she ordinarily does.

### Death the Kid

Voiced by: Takako Honda (drama CD),[2] Mamoru Miyano (anime),ep. 2 Todd Haberkorn (English)ep. 2
Death the Kid (デス・ザ・キッド Desu za Kiddo?), called Kid (キッド Kiddo?) for short, is the son of Lord Death and was created from a part of the Grim Reaper's being like his older brother Asura. However, lacking his father's aspect of fear and starting out as a child, Kid grows and developed his own personality.[ch. 72] His status as a Grim Reaper grants him formidable godlike powers such as invincibility to a point. However, as an inheritor of Death's Madness of Order, Kid suffers from a crippling obsessive-compulsive disorder for symmetry in everyday life. As a result, he breaks down upon seeing anything off even by the slightest measurement, which hinders him in his daily life and in battle.[ch. 0c] This mindset results in him becoming the meister of the Thompson Sisters after seeing their matching weapon forms as a means to preserve his personal symmetry, but unable to fight using one of them while the other is missing.[ch. 13] He can also summon a flying skateboard called Beelzebub as both transportation and a weapon. Because of his status as Grim Reaper and a polished meister, Kid is not required to collect souls or attend DWMA, but he does so anyway to create custom weapons suited to his desires.[ch. 0c]
Kid's most distinguishing feature is the set of three white lines on the left side of his hair called the Lines of Sanzu, which plagues him at times due to their asymmetry. However, the Lines of Sanzu are revealed to be symbol of his status as a Grim Reaper and their eventual connection would awaken his full power, which is to turn his weapons into a single arm cannon. Later in the story, learning of his origins and that he was born flawed and as a child so not to end up like Asura. It seems that Kid initially feared becoming a greater threat than his brother if he unlocked his full potential. But after Maka reminds him that he has a kind and trusting heart, understanding his father's true power in the process, Kid connects the Sanzu Lines and assumes his true form. Thus, killing his father, Lord Death, because only one 'Death' can exist at a time.

### Liz and Patty Thompson

Liz: Voiced by: Yūko Kaida (drama CD),[2] Akeno Watanabe (anime),ep. 2 Jamie Marchi (English)ep. 2

Patty: Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro (drama CD), Narumi Takahira (anime),ep. 2 Cherami Leigh (English)ep. 2

Elizabeth Thompson (エリザベス・トンプソン Erizabesu Tonpuson?) and her younger sister Patricia Thompson (パトリシア・トンプソン Patorishia Tonpuson?)—nicknamed Liz (リズ Rizu?) and Patty (パティ Pati?), respectively—are the weapon partners of Death the Kid. Liz is a cynical but mature, smart and resourceful young woman who always finds Kid's perfectionist attitude annoying, and is also sometimes very cowardly and has a fear of ghosts and anything that could be titled "creepy". Patty is an extremely childish girl who may not be too intelligent, but is able to maintain a cheerful attitude in any situation and usually has bouts of psychotic rage to motivate her partners. They both take the form of semi-automatic pistols that compress Kid's soul wavelength and fire it in the form of energy bullets that range in strength from destructive blasts to painful yet non-wound-inducing shots. Both sisters are able to act as meisters whenever Kid is absent. As infants, they were abandoned on the streets of Brooklyn and survived by mugging passersby. They originally join Kid to exploit his wealth and authority as a Grim Reaper, but grow closer to Kid over time and outgrow their greed.

## *Soul Eater NOT*

*Main article: Soul Eater NOT!*

A five-volume, 42-chapter prequel manga to *Soul Eater*, titled *Soul Eater NOT!*, was written by Atushi Okubo, released by Square Enix, and licensed for North American English-language release by Yen Press. It was adapted into a 12-episode anime by Studio Bones and licensed for North American English-language release by Funimation.

## Art Style Evolution

Atsushi Ōkubo's original style of art initially closely resembled the style he used for *B. Ichi*. This style differed significantly from what would be used in the anime adaption of *Soul Eater*. Over time, Ōkubo's manga changed to more closely resemble the anime's portrayal, especially evident in the changes to Maka Albarn's design. One significant difference is how the noses are drawn: in the Manga, they appear as small dots or lines, whereas in the anime, they appear like slanted oval shape, in order to show the shadow from under the nose.

## References

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7. ↑ "Two *Soul Eater* Anime Specials to Air in Japan." *Anime News Network*. 17 May 2008. Accessed 17 May 2008. [1]
8. ↑ Template:Citeweb
9. ↑ Template:Citeweb

## External links

* Soul Eater Wiki
* Anime official website Template:Icon
* *Soul Eater* at **TV Tokyo** Template:Icon
* *Soul Eater* at **FUNimation** Template:Icon
* Template:Ann