Soul Eater Manga Discussion

[animekritik]

Originally Posted by Freedan

Yeah, considering Maka's being targeted by several of Shibusen's most powerful enemies, they really are taking it easy if there's nobody around to help her out. But at least it gives us the chance to see what a Death Scythe is really capable of. I've always been waiting to see what such a weapon could really do. I can't wait for next chapter now T_T

I agree with everyone's comments here. They should have a couple of people tagging Maka everywhere she goes (maybe without telling her though).

Anyway, the coolest thing for me about this episode was the glimpse of Medusa in her new Arachne hair. Gives me hope she'll be back soon!

ice cream scene was cool too!

[Tsuyoshi]

Originally Posted by animekritik

I agree with everyone's comments here. They should have a couple of people tagging Maka everywhere she goes (maybe without telling her though).

Anyway, the coolest thing for me about this episode was the glimpse of Medusa in her new Arachne hair. Gives me hope she'll be back soon!

ice cream scene was cool too!

I lol'ed when Black*Star gulped the ice cream down in one go!

As cool as Medusa seemed to be, I want to see what Noel is capable of. I'm pretty sure what we saw was just a fraction of his full power.

In any case, I'm going through the whole manga again to refresh my memory, see if I missed anything

[FlareKnight]

I can understand Maka not wanting to be protected to the extreme. But at the very least considering she is a major target there should be minimal steps taken. Could at least make it mandatory that outside she works with another meister/weapon pair. And make sure that pair knows not to leave her alone even if she tells them to. If she wants to complain she can blame having the ability that made her a target.

Anyways a good fight so far. Glad Maka has gotten out of the stupid angel wings phase. Seriously getting killed because she was obsessed with that would have been stupid.

[DragoZERO]

Awesome!

Spoiler for Chapter 64:

Mad funny how she wanted angel wings and all. Screw them, better to be a bad ass and kick some ass too. Once again, I can't wait for next month.

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

I can understand Maka not wanting to be protected to the extreme. But at the very least considering she is a major target there should be minimal steps taken. Could at least make it mandatory that outside she works with another meister/weapon pair. And make sure that pair knows not to leave her alone even if she tells them to. If she wants to complain she can blame having the ability that made her a target.

Spoiler for Chapter 64:

She was together with the other two girls, one being a witch who can heal, so they had adequate protection. They just went back after Maka said it was okay. I don't think everyone knows that Maka is being targeted specifically yet.

[Tsuyoshi]

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

Spoiler for Chapter 64:

She was together with the other two girls, one being a witch who can heal, so they had adequate protection. They just went back after Maka said it was okay. I don't think everyone knows that Maka is being targeted specifically yet.

Spoiler for Chapter 64:

Considering how easily they'd been captured before and changed by that morals machine or whatever it was, I doubt it was really adequate protection, but they were simply the only ones who could survey them while airborne. But you're right in saying not everybody really figured out Maka's being targeted specifically. What I'm wondering is why they're not able to figure it out. For one thing, the news of Maka becoming a Death Scythe technician is gonna spread pretty soon, and Maka's ability to sense Souls from a distance seems commong knowledge. Shinigami explained earlier on in the series that technicians developped the ability to sense souls to counter the Witches' ability to mask their presence using Soul protect. Such a technique is said to be a Witch's Achille's Heel. It should be fairly easy to put two and two together. I suppose Shibusen simply takes everything pretty easy.

[DragoZERO]

Originally Posted by Freedan

Spoiler for Chapter 64:

Considering how easily they'd been captured before and changed by that morals machine or whatever it was, I doubt it was really adequate protection, but they were simply the only ones who could survey them while airborne. But you're right in saying not everybody really figured out Maka's being targeted specifically. What I'm wondering is why they're not able to figure it out. For one thing, the news of Maka becoming a Death Scythe technician is gonna spread pretty soon, and Maka's ability to sense Souls from a distance seems commong knowledge. Shinigami explained earlier on in the series that technicians developped the ability to sense souls to counter the Witches' ability to mask their presence using Soul protect. Such a technique is said to be a Witch's Achille's Heel. It should be fairly easy to put two and two together. I suppose Shibusen simply takes everything pretty easy.

Spoiler for Chapter 64:

While they might have been the best protection, they were still something. Plus I think they would be able to signal for help similar to how they did the retreat signal during the BREW arc.

As for the soul perception ability, I don't think the students know that BJ had that specific power, so specific that he is a threat to everyone. And since Kid can perceive souls as well, they won't think anything special of Maka either.

[Tsuyoshi]

Originally Posted by DragoZERO

Spoiler for Chapter 64:

As for the soul perception ability, I don't think the students know that BJ had that specific power, so specific that he is a threat to everyone. And since Kid can perceive souls as well, they won't think anything special of Maka either.

Spoiler for 64:

Yeah, but wasn't that Sid who made the signal? I don't remember that part completely but I remember Sid was the one who gave the signal. I don't know if Maka can do it herself, especially when she's in the middle of a fight. Also, I always saw Maka as someone prideful who would never run from a fight. We saw it when she faced Chrona again in Shibusen, for instance.

I'm not speaking about BJ, but Maka. I'm under the impression that they know Maka is very good at soul sensing, and Shinigami did explain before that it is an effective technique against Witches who are able to hide their soul. They should be able to figure out that Maka would be Shibusen's trump card. As for Kidd, I would've mentioned him too, but Noel's already caught him. I never said Maka's the only one who has the ability, but it's likely she's the only one left in Shibusen who does, aside from maybe Shinigami himself.

[JunkKitty]

The retreat signal in the Brew arc was made by Kim- remember her using Jackie's smoke trail to make a Shini-face in the sky? However, in that situation Shibusen's people were anticipating it and knew what it meant. We don't know how far away this training area is from anyone else.

I didn't think this chapter really deserved the negative pre-raw hype. I figured out why it feels shorter than usual even though it isn't- barring brief flashbacks and a peek at others, this chapter was entirely one single scene. We aren't used to that with SE, most chapters jump around; the few big fight chapters that don't jump around much have more action.

Content-wise,

Spoiler for this chap:

I'm not too concerned about Maka. After we got told earlier in the chapter how Shibusen has to protect Maka at all costs, I fail to see how she'd be out there without someone watching over her even if she doesn't know it and we haven't been shown it. Almost certainly any security watchers will not step in to protect her unless they must because she still needs to experience these fights for her and Soul to become stronger and push their new abilities. Any watchers are there to stop her from dying or getting kidnapped, not her getting into a mess.

Maka probably let Kim leave because Kim isn't that much of a fighter; now that Kim's ability has been exposed it's more important for Kim to stay out of battle so she can help clean up.
Does seem silly for her not to have let Kim carry a warning back but maybe she feared Kim would refuse to leave.

Seems a bit cheap for everyone to have been bumped up in rank at the same time, differences in accomplishments considering. I'm really talking about the second trio; even though they played some good roles in the last arc, it's hard for me to see their achievements as being on par with half of what the main team has gone through. (particularly making a DS)

It's also annoying to see Maka acting silly (it's the sort of thing she'll be embarrassed by later), but I'm glad since her character would be too über if she had done all she just did, then was totally cool and mature about it. She has to have her goofy flaws and it's nice to see she gets over it when she needs to (unlike others). People who hate her would just hate her more for getting too damn perfect all of a sudden.

If it's translated properly the teaser for next chapter promises some nice DS action. Hope it's referring to Soul. And IIRC every time we've seen Maka get batshit serious like she did at the end here, she always does something impressive. We didn't see it when she first faced Chrona or against Mosquito, so I'm interested in seeing what sort of (air-surfboard) stunts Okubo is planning.

[Spongefan1]

What is Gopher, anyway? Is he a meister or a weapon? I can't tell.. Or is he some kind of witch with a creature like Medusa and Arachne? And what is with the ice cream? Give us SOMETHING here, Ohkubo.

Also, I agree with everyone else, this chapter was too short. Ugh, the first like 15 pages were completely pointless, and the lack of pedo-fodder seriously took away from the enjoyment in this chapter. At least if they had that I could have been like, "Well, that was kind of boring, but at least there's fanservice. :D" SAD FACE. Now the next chapter is going to be battle focused probably, but hopefully we'll get some pages of something important (eg. Kid, Medusa, Crona, Noah, etc.) and it better be more than 31 pages that's for sure. :/

[Tsuyoshi]

Originally Posted by JunkKitty

The retreat signal in the Brew arc was made by Kim- remember her using Jackie's smoke trail to make a Shini-face in the sky? However, in that situation Shibusen's people were anticipating it and knew what it meant. We don't know how far away this training area is from anyone else.

I didn't think this chapter really deserved the negative pre-raw hype. I figured out why it feels shorter than usual even though it isn't- barring brief flashbacks and a peek at others, this chapter was entirely one single scene. We aren't used to that with SE, most chapters jump around; the few big fight chapters that don't jump around much have more action.

Yeah, this chapter did feel a lot shorter than usual, but I suppose it was to be expected considering this is the prelude to a really fearsome battle. As for the brew arc, I stand corrected. Thanks for the info there! I agree with what you said that the situation was different. Shibusen was expecting a retreat. This situation is different. I doubt Maka can make such a signal, nor do I believe she would even if she could. I don't see her as the type to just run away from a fight.

Originally Posted by JunkKitty

Spoiler for this chap:

I'm not too concerned about Maka. After we got told earlier in the chapter how Shibusen has to protect Maka at all costs, I fail to see how she'd be out there without someone watching over her even if she doesn't know it and we haven't been shown it. Almost certainly any security watchers will not step in to protect her unless they must because she still needs to experience these fights for her and Soul to become stronger and push their new abilities. Any watchers are there to stop her from dying or getting kidnapped, not her getting into a mess.

Maka probably let Kim leave because Kim isn't that much of a fighter; now that Kim's ability has been exposed it's more important for Kim to stay out of battle so she can help clean up.
Does seem silly for her not to have let Kim carry a warning back but maybe she feared Kim would refuse to leave.

Seems a bit cheap for everyone to have been bumped up in rank at the same time, differences in accomplishments considering. I'm really talking about the second trio; even though they played some good roles in the last arc, it's hard for me to see their achievements as being on par with half of what the main team has gone through. (particularly making a DS)

It's also annoying to see Maka acting silly (it's the sort of thing she'll be embarrassed by later), but I'm glad since her character would be too über if she had done all she just did, then was totally cool and mature about it. She has to have her goofy flaws and it's nice to see she gets over it when she needs to (unlike others). People who hate her would just hate her more for getting too damn perfect all of a sudden.

If it's translated properly the teaser for next chapter promises some nice DS action. Hope it's referring to Soul. And IIRC every time we've seen Maka get batshit serious like she did at the end here, she always does something impressive. We didn't see it when she first faced Chrona or against Mosquito, so I'm interested in seeing what sort of (air-surfboard) stunts Okubo is planning.

Spoiler for 64:

You're probably right about the security around Maka. They're probably just there to stop her from getting into a situation where she can't get out of by herself or to stop her from getting kidnapped the way Kidd was. And I think you're spot on in saying that Maka let Kim and leave. She wouldn't be much help in a fight considering she's much better at healing. But I doubt Maka let her leave fearing Kim wouldn't want to leave if she were involved in the fight. Kim can create the warning signal after all, so it wouldn't actually be very difficult to warn Shibusen of danger. Gopher may have actually been waiting for the chance of Maka being alone to arise.

[Sno-Oki]

Originally Posted by Spongefan1

What is Gopher, anyway? Is he a meister or a weapon? I can't tell.. Or is he some kind of witch with a creature like Medusa and Arachne? And what is with the ice cream? Give us SOMETHING here, Ohkubo.

I know that someone suggested on livejournal that Gopher may be one of the worms-turned-human. I think it's certainly possible- does anyone else?

[I'monaboat]

What is a worm in the first place?

[Sno-Oki]

Remember Noah's black worm things? Back in the Baba Yaga arc?

[BadtheGuy]

Off topic- Is Mosquito of the same clan as Free? I'm pretty sure it was never hinted at in the manga... but some seem to believe it.

[Spongefan1]

Okay, wait, I believe this technically counts as pedo-fodder so Ohkubo shall be slightly forgiven.

[quigonkenny]

I don't think anyone has noted this yet, but maybe I missed it.

I'm sure we've all noticed by now how, any time a weapon is in weapon form, when we see them in their inner soul-to-soul communications to their meister it's as a naked Barbie/Ken doll. No clothes, no nipplage on the lady weapons, etc... The only slight difference to that we've seen is that Tsubaki, since absorbing her brother, will get the black swirly pattern on her body when using his sword form, but I think that really relates more to him than anything else.

But what does that have to do with this chapter? Lots. See, Soul is now clothed. Not just in flashback, but in situations where he is in obvious black-background weapon form communication. White shirt, loose black tie. Same as in the flashback conversation with Spirit. At first I though it was just a "oh, he's a Death Scythe, now, so that must be it, but no, all the other Death Scythes have been "naked" in communication as well (witness Spirit/Stein, Azusa/Sid, Marie/Stein).

So... Sign of something new? Ohkubo making a mistake?

[Tsuyoshi]

Originally Posted by quigonkenny

I don't think anyone has noted this yet, but maybe I missed it.

I'm sure we've all noticed by now how, any time a weapon is in weapon form, when we see them in their inner soul-to-soul communications to their meister it's as a naked Barbie/Ken doll. No clothes, no nipplage on the lady weapons, etc... The only slight difference to that we've seen is that Tsubaki, since absorbing her brother, will get the black swirly pattern on her body when using his sword form, but I think that really relates more to him than anything else.

But what does that have to do with this chapter? Lots. See, Soul is now clothed. Not just in flashback, but in situations where he is in obvious black-background weapon form communication. White shirt, loose black tie. Same as in the flashback conversation with Spirit. At first I though it was just a "oh, he's a Death Scythe, now, so that must be it, but no, all the other Death Scythes have been "naked" in communication as well (witness Spirit/Stein, Azusa/Sid, Marie/Stein).

So... Sign of something new? Ohkubo making a mistake?

I've noticed it as well. It's most likely a mistake. One could say that it's because of the black blood, but when Maka and Soul fought Chrona, Soul was also naked back then, so it's most likely a mistake. I think Ohkubo made the same mistake a few times before as well where Soul kept his clothes on while the others didn't, such as in the Brew arc. I know for sure that Ford took his clothes off in his weapon form, but Soul didn't.

[Orangejellosphere]

I think that can be dismissed as relatively minor.

Spoiler for Chapter 64:

I'm not terribly upset about having a shorter, more focused chapter. Sure, it would've been cool to see more, but I'm not complaining. I must confess, I don't look at Noah as a pedophile. More like a really interesting avaricious badass. At least he got a panel and was mentioned. I really want to know how Gopher's um... dedication came to be. For now I say the idea of him being created in some way by Noah sounds cool.

[wandering-dreamer]

I thought it might be the influence of the black blood myself but if that's the case where is the pinstriped jacket?

[Kirvee]

@Sno: I....don't remember that.....

And if it was true, wow, then Noah really is a sick pedo, XD.

@Sponge: Now that I look closer at that panel, yes, yes it does count as pedo-fodder, XD.

@Everyone else:

Soul having his clothes on in weapon form is most likely a mistake on Ohkubo's part. Though how come no one has wondered why weapons become naked in soul-view when they're in weapon form in the first place?

Or has that already been pondered and I'm just late to the party? XD.