Animation Quality: 9
Well I have to say Soul Eater did quite a nice job in this area. Through the series it really did look nice and they managed to make the fights look good. Whether it was the Demon Hunter or the Fey Blade mode the attacks really came to life. Thus it was quite satisfying to watch the battles no matter how the story was actually going. Thought they also managed to make insanity pretty creepy so really have no complaints on this.
Voice Actors: 9
Thought that overall the voices fit. There weren't voices that made me want to shut the episodes down for. Maka was the real question in the first episode. But as the series continued she got into it and it sounded fine at the end. All the other characters seemed to fit when listening to them. Manged to make you believe they were in these situations.
Adaptation from Manga: 5.5
It's a tough one since I liked how they transfered things from the beginning. Since I had to watch this series as soon as possible using the manga chapters to translate was useful. But after a certain point it became clear they were no longer following it closely and that method was no longer possible. The score is going to suffer when they stop adapting from the manga. They did use little pieces here and there but it was a pretty loose adaptation after a certain point. It's too bad the series wasn't started a season later then it could have concluded at a good point in the manga.
It's just too bad that they ended up going anime original. When it was clear that's what was happening I couldn't help read a little bit and see how much better it was than the original material
. I do wonder why they bothered to introduce characters like Kim and Ox if they were going to drop them after the battle to acquire BREW. They could have just skipped their scenes and replaced them with generic shibusen people and it wouldn't have mattered.
The real crime here is with the final battles. Because they didn't develop characters enough they couldn't have the same quality. I mean Black Star vs. Mifune round 3 was just sad. If they just skipped the Excalibur stuff they could have fit that development in and at least made a good fight. What was with that red blade power up anyways?
This is just where they dropped the ball. Maybe it would have been better to have less episodes and conclude earlier. At least then they would have left themselves open to a sequel down the road. Instead they try to conclude everything and it doesn't go that well. Now they'll have to pull a FMA2 if they ever want to continue. Either that or make an OVA so they can at least show the good fights.
Soundtrack: 9
Like the animation I can't complain about the music. The moment that stands out the most was the rematch between Black Star and Mifune. Using what would be the second OP there made the fight truly an epic affair. But overall I really enjoyed the soundtracks. They managed to make the situations feel more right. I can't really think of times when the music hurt a scene so that's more than worth giving a good mark for.
Enjoyment: 7.5
This really is a show where you can break enjoyment into two parts. The first half or so was great and felt really solid. But since the ending just didn't sit right with me it hurt the enjoyment near the end. Once you start getting mech battles in Soul Eater you know it's hitting a new low. Still overall the series was pretty enjoyable to watch. The characters were growing and you were getting to see changes in them along the way. It wasn't just powering up, but understanding them better. I found that to be something really enjoyable to watch.
The stuff near the ending was less fun to watch. I mean the punch of courage and Maka being a far more useful weapon than Soul as examples. It just didn't feel like they had any good ideas. So I stand a little in the middle ground for enjoyment. I either really enjoyed the episodes or was shaking my head.
Emotional Involvement: 8.5
I think the show did a good job making some characters ones you could care about. Could personally get behind Tsubaki and Black Star because I understood where they were coming from. Those were two characters whose pasts were brought forward and I got attached to them. Even if some characters weren't that well developed you could still care about them.
Final Thoughts:
This was a good show that had some great potential. It started off well and carried its momentum for quite some time. It's just that the show stumbled near the end and crawled across the finish line. Not finishing strongly is what I'll regret the most about the show. Will just have to remember the good times and know this was a good show. I'm grateful for it being made since I got some great characters to like.
In the end this show could really use an OVA or something down the road. After catching up with the manga there are just things I'd love to see animated. So I'll give a score of 7 to balance out the good and the average.
7/10