SOUL EATER MANGA REVIEW

Soul Eater is one of my favorite animes, and one of the few that I prefer to watch in dub version. I wanted to rewatch the anime series, but I've already done that, twice, and the ending is vastly different from the manga. When I starting reading, I was shocked...

What stood out to me was the fan-service... It's more explicit than the anime, which shocked me, even though I saw the ecchi tag... Although it's heavy during the first few chapters (I think they included all that to draw male readers), it mellows out as the story continues, thank goodness. I don't think the story needed this fan-service because the action is so awesome that boys won't care if they see breasts or not.

The manga is more action-packed than the anime; although it's in black and white, it's punchier than the colorful anime. Thick, bold, confident, noisy, and dark black lines. Not only does the art have contrast, but it also has beautiful movement and flow. At first. I was also taken aback by the character design. I thought it looked weird because it looked nothing like the anime, and the proportions were off: the eyes were too far apart, and the head looked like someone sat on it. As the story developed, the characters started to look more like the anime.

Speaking of the characters, I love them. The characters and their abilities were what drew me to the story. The premise of the story is: in the world, there are meisters (weapon wielders) and humans that transform into weapons that fight the evil that threatens the balance of the world. When I simplify it like that, it sounds generic, but it's anything but. The array of weapons makes the story exciting: genie, lamp/torch, scythes, swords, guns, spears, pots, guillotines, cannons, etc. There's a special academy created by the Shinigami, Lord Death, which trains these children in combat; after a weapon collects 99 Kishin souls and 1 witch soul, they become a death scythe, whether you are a scythe or not. 

You know what's better than great characters? Great characters that are friends. There is an advanced class in the school, which includes Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Death the Kid, Patti, Liz, etc. The people who I have listed are the main characters of the story; most of the fight scenes include them because they are the next and stronger generation. I've always felt ambivalent towards Maka, don't really care for her. My favorite character is Death the Kid because his fixation with symmetry is amusing, and his fight scenes are a joy to see because he's such a strong character. As his name suggests, he is Lord Death's son, which explains why he's so strong. The manga goes more in-depth with his heritage and his father's past, which cleared up many questions I had in the anime.

One character that I wasn't a fan of because I found them obnoxious became one of my favorite characters. This character's range of moves in combat rivals the diversity of weapons in the show. Sure, Maka has advanced moves, but can she use different weapons, and excel in hand to hand combat? It's fun watching Black Star fight because of his constantly-developing arsenal. Not only is he fun to watch, but he also has the most growth throughout the series. He becomes a mature god of war and battle. I'm also a big fan of Black Star and Death the Kid's rivalry/friendship because their relationship has propelled them into being better people and stronger fighters. I honestly think this friendship is better than Black Star and Soul's friendship, even though it birthed one of my favorite scenes. 

This story never slows down with its high-energy fight scenes, evil plans, and powerful villains. If you enjoyed the show like I did, you should DEFINITELY read the manga because it covers so much more, and deviates pretty drastically. It was a joy revisiting this world, and I'm sure you'll enjoy it just as much as I have.