Anime Review: Soul Eater

Residing at the very top of Death City, Shibusen is a school training warriors to protect the world from evil spirits, monsters and the darkness in peoples' hearts. Run by the oddly goofy Grim Reaper, Shibusen trains meisters and weapons to work together to keep the world safe. So our story begins with three teams; obnoxious ninja Black Star and incredibly patient Tsubaki, the Reaper's neurotic son Death the Kid and the twin pistols Liz and Patti Thompson, and hardworking Maka Albarn and her scythe partner with attitude, Soul "Eater" Evans. Having fallen on hard times, the group work together to become the best that they can be, but all is not as peachy as it seems in Shibusen, and a sinister plot from a malevolent witch may lead to the release of something terrible...

When I was but a kid, about 15-16 years old, I was browsing Youtube when I came across a strange video; scenes from an anime called Soul Eater arranged as a music video to Marilyn Manson's version of This is Halloween. Initially I was freaked out, but over time I found myself coming back to this video again and again, partly because it was (and still is) completely awesome, and partly because I found myself strangely drawn to this series. It looked exciting. It looked spooky. It looked seriously creative and fun. So, eventually, I decided to check it out.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how I found myself watching my first ever anime.

Of course I've seen an awful lot since then, and when I finally decided to come back to this show I wasn't actually expecting it to be that good, mainly because in these few years I've discovered that the shounen genre really doesn't interest me that much. I was expecting to watch a 'good' series with a couple of funny lines and cool scenes. Nothing less, but definitely nothing more.

On the contrary, this series is not only far better than I every remember it being, but it may just be the prime example of what makes a good shounen. So what does make a good shounen? Well, because I'm a massive nerd, I've narrowed it down to three particular things.

Firstly, the show needs to have its own unique style. This can involve anything from art style, music, theme, brand of humour or character our story; just anything that you can look at and immediately place as that show. Some shounen do this better than others; shows like One Piece or Magi will immediately grab your attention, whereas others like Blue Exorcist or (dare I say it) Naruto or Bleach are a bit more reserved. Soul Eater definitely has its own style, and it exploits the hell out of it; the animation is really nice and smooth over a delightfully gothic art style and a gorgeous colour palette. The designs for every character and every monster are unique; the whole setting just screams Halloween. The music stands out a bit less; it serves its purpose well, but what really stand out are the opening and ending themes. All of them. They are fantastic.

Secondly, a good shounen needs a developed, balanced cast. This is probably the trickiest to get right, and it's where Soul Eater does fall flat a bit. For most standalone shows I would say that every character is equally important, but in the particular case of shounen it's not that simple. Shounens follow a story arc, taking our characters from humble beginnings to the final showdown at the end, and in a general shounen you will have a loooot of characters. In this case, you need to prioritise, and the best shows follow the rule that the more inherantly interesting a character is, the less development they need.

Here's a question; in the first Harry Potter film, who do you think is the most interesting character? Not necessarily your favourite, but the one you want to find out the most about? I would hazard a guess that it's not one of the main three; with many other students, teachers and random creatures, there are so many more interesting people to follow than the three we get stuck with. But that's why it works; you follow the people who don't seem interesting, and then the stories they go through are what make them interesting.

Soul Eater seems to understand this, as nearly all our leads are great. Soul and Maka are great characters with a wonderful dynamic, particularly Soul, who slowly gets rid of his rebellious streak to unveal a far more mellow, and dare I say it jazzy, soul beneath. Black Star flip-flops between being unbearably annoying and one of the most watchable people in the series (and on a side note, the two part Fey Blade story may be my favourite moment in the show). The only slightly weak link is Kid, partly because he doesn't seem to get that much to do, and partly because his symmetry neurosis can be a tad one-note. But he still has his moments.

As for the side characters, I love these guys. The other students, meisters and the teachers, including ones introduced later in the story, are so much fun to watch, even though they never reveal too much about any of them. Particular mention should go to Stein, the strongest meister with a screw in his head whose brilliance is countered by his hidden desire for chaos, and Crona, who is both tragic and adorable at the same time.

Having said that this is the place where the anime falters a tad, and that's mainly due to the villains. Well, half the villains. During the first half we have Medusa, who is without a doubt one of the best and most competant villains I've seen in any show. Along with her henchmen (who are also wonderful to watch), she pretty much carries the entire first half of the story, kickstarts the plot and sets everything into motion throughout the whole series. But then during the second half we have another witch and another group of villains who are just nowhere near as interesting. And the thing is, they don't even need to be there. There's nothing any of them do that couldn't have been done by one of the pre-established villains, and their inclusion takes away screentime from other minor characters. We could have learnt more about the witches themselves, or some of the teachers, or the Reaper or the other students. There's a side character called Kilik who fights using twin gauntlets who are actually earth shamans called Fire and Thunder who use their powers through capoeira. That is awesome, and yet we see so little of him. I'm aware the manga goes far deeper into the story and characters but I feel they could have adapted what they had a bit more cleanly into the 51 episode running time.

There's a lot more I could say about the problems of the series, from deus ex machinas spilling out the drain to an annoying focus on macguffin hunts to side characters being dropped to bizarre tonal shifts to an ending so insane and contrived that you could literally pull it out of a Digimon series. But I won't, because it doesn't matter. Because there's one more aspect to good shounen, and to Soul Eater in particular; it's fun. It's just so much fun. So many shounen take themselves so seriously and try so hard to be dark and edgy that when you come across one which just wants to take you for a ride, it's so refreshing. That's not to say that Soul Eater is never serious; there are some seriously heavy episodes, like the aforementioned Fey Blade, and some genuinely creepy moments as well. But there's still an undercurrent of humour and adventure which makes the whole thing enjoyable, and makes the darker and more serious moments stand out all the more. And the great thing is neither side is better than the other; I was just as hooked watching the ghost ship and Crona's story as I was watching the Reaper fight for the first time as I was watching every single moment with Excalibur (FOOLS!).

Soul Eater is not the greatest show in the world. Far from it. But it knows exactly what it is and it doesn't hide it in the slightest. It's creative, it's awesome, it's spooky, it's hilarious, its action-packed, it's tragic, it's pure simple fun; it's Soul Eater. It holds a place in my heart as the series that got me into anime to begin with, and having watched it again, I don't think I could have picked a better series to do so.

My score: 8/10