Soul Eater - Anime General Discussion thread

[Iloxus]

That is correct, atleast for the anime....

[ZippyDSM]

Originally Posted by Iloxus

That is correct, atleast for the anime....

last ep 46 Hatsuyuki Fansub & Tsubaki Fansubs called the normal attack which hunter "demon hunter"....

That was a flub in translation right? I am confused a bit..

[Iloxus]

The attack in episode 46 was actually the DEMON HUNTER. It is possible it didn´t look like it, but it´s supposed to be this attack.

[ZippyDSM]

Originally Posted by Iloxus

The attack in episode 46 was actually the DEMON HUNTER. It is possible it didn´t look like it, but it´s supposed to be this attack.

Ah dose the manga do this as well? Or are the attacks specific in both form/visual and function?

From what I am seen soul wave forms can be generated without a clear visual form, if so it would make sense that a power move could look the same.

[lmd_84]

They look different in both versions. Demon Hunter is not only bigger than Witch Hunter, it's also less of a crescent-moon shape. It also works rather differently in the manga to how its used in the anime (no evil-destroying abilities, no special inheritance (yet...) and more explicitly linked to insanity), where it's so far more a powerful version of Witch Hunter than anything else. Soul and Maka actually call it a "Witch Hunter's Witch Hunter" when they come up with the idea in one chapter.

[ZippyDSM]

Originally Posted by lmd_84

They look different in both versions. Demon Hunter is not only bigger than Witch Hunter, it's also less of a crescent-moon shape. It also works rather differently in the manga to how its used in the anime (no evil-destroying abilities, no special inheritance (yet...) and more explicitly linked to insanity), where it's so far more a powerful version of Witch Hunter than anything else. Soul and Maka actually call it a "Witch Hunter's Witch Hunter" when they come up with the idea in one chapter.

I believe it(demon hunter) takes the form of a malformed axe like weapon, where as witch hunter is more a malformed scyth .

Ah ok so they are rushing and we have filler content mixed with the original fiction.

a hunter for the hunter or a attack that can even slay hunter, Oohhh the manga seems to be well thought out I will have to pick it up.

[animekritik]

I just realized Black Star's voice actor is, well, a voice actress?! I'm clueless, huh..

[lmd_84]

I wouldn't have thought it either, except perhaps for his quieter moments, until I read it online. Also, I've read the Soul Eater entries on your blog. Some very nice, thought-provoking stuff on there, especially on 'madness'. I liked it.

[animekritik]

Originally Posted by lmd_84

I wouldn't have thought it either, except perhaps for his quieter moments, until I read it online. Also, I've read the Soul Eater entries on your blog. Some very nice, thought-provoking stuff on there, especially on 'madness'. I liked it.

thanx. it is a thought-provoking show..plus it rocks too..

[ChibiGoku]

Well, looking at TV Tokyo's website, they added a certain show that's going to replace Soul Eater.

I... just don't know.

[Reincarnated]

you mean 'THAT' will replace SE?? What...the...

[Sno-Oki]

I am in complete and utter shock...please tell me this isn't true...

[solomon]

Dora does skew lower but in all honesty Soul Eater in Japan is at about the upper level of the nick or cartoon network age bracket so don't wig out too much.

Been a while scince I posted, hmmm. Over all decent, i mean it's a shonen so theres not much more to say. I think the show lost a little luster in direction/animation as of late, and I can only imagine what fun the guys would have had animating the MANGA story but oh well....

Here's hoping we get an excellently animated action scene or two in before we go in a few weeks.

[libba]

I have a question guys. There is quite a lot of talk (here and in some reviews) that the characters of Soul Eater are like archetypes of typical anime characters. I see how Black*Star fits this theory, Stein too, I think, Liz & Patti to some extent, Tsubaki maybe. But what about Maka and Kid? What archetypes do they present? Kid I just have no idea about, I haven't seen anyone like him. Maka maybe reminds me of Chidori Kaname from Full Metal Panic a bit, being both responsible and kinda mature but also prone to emotional outbursts (and hitting her partner over the head heehee), but it's just a resemblance, not enough to form an archetype. But then, I can't say I've watched a lot of anime\read tons of manga yet. Enlighten me please?

[solomon]

Soul Eater's writing is trite and unoriginal. Still FUN sure, but characters are not very deep at all. They are all archetypes in the grand scheme of literature, too shallow to be anything else.

However, Maka is a nice refresing change from the normal shonen protag. She does every thing by the numbers according to the story, but she's not some hot headed young buck out to conquer the world (ie NOT BLACK STAR).

She's a studious lanky bookworm who still kicks ass. Fun and unique compared the other shonen protags.

Kid is too, they honestly needed to more with him. Essentially a preppy intellegent OCD'er who happens to be a grim reaper in training. They could have done more with him. He has probably the best gags in the show. (Mamoru Miyano RULES as him, it's my favorite role he has played)

Still they all are decent to watch as a team

[ZippyDSM]

Originally Posted by solomon

Soul Eater's writing is trite and unoriginal. Still FUN sure, but characters are not very deep at all. They are all archetypes in the grand scheme of literature, too shallow to be anything else.

However, Maka is a nice refresing change from the normal shonen protag. She does every thing by the numbers according to the story, but she's not some hot headed young buck out to conquer the world (ie NOT BLACK STAR).

She's a studious lanky bookworm who still kicks ass. Fun and unique compared the other shonen protags.

Kid is too, they honestly needed to more with him. Essentially a preppy intellegent OCD'er who happens to be a grim reaper in training. They could have done more with him. He has probably the best gags in the show. (Mamoru Miyano RULES as him, it's my favorite role he has played)

Still they all are decent to watch as a team

*Bad* (naruto filler)>Deltora quest>Beet exlioin>Soul eater>Beet>(Naruto at best)>Bleach>DGM(due to balanced writing) *good*

SE has a good plot but dose not maintain itself well story wise like the new Slayers series to much wittless humor not enough drama and fun SE aint all bad, there are better and worst shows out there.

[Kotobasuu]

Originally Posted by solomon

Kid is too, they honestly needed to more with him.

amen to that.

The show has gone downhill from the past dozen episodes, but i still enjoy watching it because i love the characters and love seeing them interact. Aka even if the plot sucked or the story was going nowhere, I'd still watch it because i have an attachment with all of the main characters, even Black Star despite him being my least favorite.

[solomon]

Originally Posted by ZippyDSM

*Bad* (naruto filler)>Deltora quest>Beet exlioin>Soul eater>Beet>(Naruto at best)>Bleach>DGM(due to balanced writing) *good*

SE has a good plot but dose not maintain itself well story wise like the new Slayers series to much wittless humor not enough drama and fun SE aint all bad, there are better and worst shows out there.

Interesting scale. I just am a real picky eater I guess. SE anime kinda lost steam in the last 4th (Arachnophobia and Medusa are more interesting in the manga), but it has no real loose ends so in that case it is sucessful.

[Sol Falling]

Originally Posted by solomon

Soul Eater's writing is trite and unoriginal. Still FUN sure, but characters are not very deep at all. They are all archetypes in the grand scheme of literature, too shallow to be anything else.

However, Maka is a nice refresing change from the normal shonen protag. She does every thing by the numbers according to the story, but she's not some hot headed young buck out to conquer the world (ie NOT BLACK STAR).

She's a studious lanky bookworm who still kicks ass. Fun and unique compared the other shonen protags.

Kid is too, they honestly needed to more with him. Essentially a preppy intellegent OCD'er who happens to be a grim reaper in training. They could have done more with him. He has probably the best gags in the show. (Mamoru Miyano RULES as him, it's my favorite role he has played)

Still they all are decent to watch as a team

Okay so I had this pretty long thing typed out about how I think Soul Eater has a pretty great plot and pacing, but then I remembered you guys were talking about characters. So now I'm basically going to react against the way you seem to have equated depth with originality.

First, a correction on the word 'archetype'. The way you talk about shallowness (and try to summarize characters in as few words as possible) makes me think you are talking about stereotypes, not archetypes. An archetype is a recurring character (element, really) which adds depth by virtue of their history (as a symbol). A stereotype would be the sort of character which has no depth besides its resemblance to another character. So your comments about shallowness really would not have any place in this discussion, if only it didn't seem that the original poster (who brought up this topic) were under this misconception him/herself.

But as for the shallowness itself. Frankly, I disagree. Now I will admit, quite a few characters in Soul Eater are shallow. Shinigami, for one, whose main trait (and gag) is his frivolity. Maka's dad, who is a womanizing pervert. Patty, too, whose main ability seems to be to giggle (amusingly) retardedly. But Kidd too (ohmigosh, one of your 'originals', right?!?!), who seems almost to be entirely defined by his (unjustified) obssession with symmetry (probably, as you noted, for humour purposes--that's shallow humour, though, btw--note, I am not saying that it isn't funny).

But Black Star, honestly, is not shallow. Neither is Tsubaki. And probably not Stein. The thing is Black Star, no matter how much he may superficially resemble Naruto (not a shallow character either btw, if not particularly likeable), has received some background along with his character. Some justification for why he is the way he is, and more importantly--some development. Black Star may be loud and annoying, but that's because he wants to be judged for his personality, not his familial background (that's about as far as the similarities to Naruto extend). Black Star may want to attain absolute power, but that's because he wants to reject other people, not force them to acknowledge him. And Black Star may have a demon inside, but it is something he is tempted by in his quest for power, not something he wants to reject or control. And through his interactions with Mifune, Masamune, and Tsubaki's family, Black Star learns that being a 'Big Guy' means being someone who can do big things, not just beat everybody to a pulp. That's a lot of character work for someone who's just a 'Naruto clone', and Tsubaki's development is no less present (or poignant). Maka and Soul are also presented with a fair amount of background and empathetic intention, but not with as much success as Tsubaki and Black Star (in my opinion). As for the 'probably' I threw out with Stein, that's because despite him falling so much into the 'Mad Scientist' archetype (that's actually archetype, this time), he shows a remarkable amount of constraint and willingness to be bound by the rules of society. Regardless, my point is that Soul Eater's writing isn't really shallow from any angle (at least in terms of the manga, though the character analysis applies fairly evenly on both sides, and that is what we are discussing here).

[ZippyDSM]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

Okay so I had this pretty long thing typed out about how I think Soul Eater has a pretty great plot and pacing, but then I remembered you guys were talking about characters. So now I'm basically going to react against the way you seem to have equated depth with originality.

First, a correction on the word 'archetype'. The way you talk about shallowness (and try to summarize characters in as few words as possible) makes me think you are talking about stereotypes, not archetypes. An archetype is a recurring character (element, really) which adds depth by virtue of their history (as a symbol). A stereotype would be the sort of character which has no depth besides its resemblance to another character. So your comments about shallowness really would not have any place in this discussion, if only it didn't seem that the original poster (who brought up this topic) were under this misconception him/herself.

But as for the shallowness itself. Frankly, I disagree. Now I will admit, quite a few characters in Soul Eater are shallow. Shinigami, for one, whose main trait (and gag) is his frivolity. Maka's dad, who is a womanizing pervert. Patty, too, whose main ability seems to be to giggle (amusingly) retardedly. But Kidd too (ohmigosh, one of your 'originals', right?!?!), who seems almost to be entirely defined by his (unjustified) obssession with symmetry (probably, as you noted, for humour purposes--that's shallow humour, though, btw--note, I am not saying that it isn't funny).

But Black Star, honestly, is not shallow. Neither is Tsubaki. And probably not Stein. The thing is Black Star, no matter how much he may superficially resemble Naruto (not a shallow character either btw, if not particularly likeable), has received some background along with his character. Some justification for why he is the way he is, and more importantly--some development. Black Star may be loud and annoying, but that's because he wants to be judged for his personality, not his familial background (that's about as far as the similarities to Naruto extend). Black Star may want to attain absolute power, but that's because he wants to reject other people, not force them to acknowledge him. And Black Star may have a demon inside, but it is something he is tempted by in his quest for power, not something he wants to reject or control. And through his interactions with Mifune, Masamune, and Tsubaki's family, Black Star learns that being a 'Big Guy' means being someone who can do big things, not just beat everybody to a pulp. That's a lot of character work for someone who's just a 'Naruto clone', and Tsubaki's development is no less present (or poignant). Maka and Soul are also presented with a fair amount of background and empathetic intention, but not with as much success as Tsubaki and Black Star (in my opinion). As for the 'probably' I threw out with Stein, that's because despite him falling so much into the 'Mad Scientist' archetype (that's actually archetype, this time), he shows a remarkable amount of constraint and willingness to be bound by the rules of society. Regardless, my point is that Soul Eater's writing isn't really shallow from any angle (at least in terms of the manga, though the character analysis applies fairly evenly on both sides, and that is what we are discussing here).

We are discussing the anime not the manga.