Fools!

A couple weeks ago, before school started, I decided to try to start watching anime again. While I haven’t started anything recently, I did manage to power through an anime I’ve been meaning to watch thanks to the godlike powers of Netflix: Soul Eater. Don’t worry, the English Dub is good! I’m starting to really appreciate Funimation and the effort they put into making English dubs great. Anyway, onto the review!

Background: Fool!

This is pretty straightforward – there’s an academy run by Death to help prevent evil (known as Kishin) from coming to the world. To do this, a human Meister and their weapon partner (a human that can transform into a weapon) must collect 99 Kishin Eggs (souls that are on the verge of becoming a Kishin soul), and 1 Witch Soul. Only then may that weapon become a Death Scythe and allow Death himself to use them.

Maka and her weapon, Soul, are two such students of the academy, and are very close to turning Soul into a Death Scythe.

Animation/Art: Fool!

The animation is very Halloween, and I liked that about the show since it ties in so well with the theme and characters. I never once saw a reduction in quality, and the battle scenes are very well-done. I think my favorite art aspects of the show are the sun and the moon, which are shown as being living things (they even have the moon bleed when there’s death, which I think is really awesome). There’s a very surreal look to it all, and I kind of wish I had watched it near the end of October.

Music: Fool!

The music was…OK. There’s one opening theme and two ending themes I really enjoyed, and during the show the battle music and other music was just OK. Nothing really stood out and really caught me.

Plot Direction: Fool!

The plot, while looking very simple at first, soon grows very complex, and I liked that it never jumped too far whenever it decided to. And most of the direction of the plot stems from the characters themselves, which is always a big plus in my book. The only iffy part to me is the ending, where they suddenly pull out all this plot-changing stuff that was never really touched on in the series. And, in the end, they do nothing to help the characters achieve their goals.

Character: Fool!

I really enjoyed most of the characters in Soul Eater. Many of the characters (Maka, Soul, Dr. Stein, Crona, Death the Kid, to name a few) all grow and change. Some stay the same, but are understandable (Liz, Patty, Death, Spirit). And then there’s Excalibur, the worst character to exist since Ryou in Clannad. Most of the characters are great. They all change, some of them who don’t facilitate the change in others well, and with so many characters in the series, it’s really quite impressive they were able to pull off the amount of change they did without leaving anyone out. I was a little disappointed with Black Star, but he does change, even if it’s miniscule.

Did I mention Excalibur is bad? I hate him. Although, I have to say, they got the perfect voice actor for him.

Animation/Art: 9/10

Music: 5/10

Plot Direction: 7/10

Character: 9/10

Final Score: 7/10

Just sayi-(Fool!).