Soul Eater Not! - Episode 1 Discussion / Poll

[Triple_R]

Soul Eater has a very good interesting world. It's definitely worth exploring further in a slower-paced work that doesn't have to worry so much about keeping the main action going strong.

Plus, this type of story has great charm, in my view. Seeing well-established dynamic characters through the eyes of a relatively normal person can be pretty fun and effective.

The only thing is that I used to perceive Soul Eater-world as this world that was pretty radically different from the real world. I mean, it struck me as a fantasy-world, especially given that freakish smiling/laughing sun. But the world here seems mostly normal, actually, and that I have mixed feelings about.


Still, this was a very sweet first episode. Admittedly, part of my fondness for it is how it appeals to the yuri fan in me - Girl expects to be center of a het love triangle and ends up in a yuri one instead.

I also like how the main character is a weapon. I think seeing a story told primarily from a weapon's perspective could make for an interesting change given that Maka was kind of the main character in Soul Eater, and she's a meister.

[ACertainStark]

oh, I'm glad the music seems just as good.

[Rethice]

This spinoff is proof that the world is a much prettier place through the eyes of a lesbian.

[Sol Falling]

I pretty much stopped following the sidestory manga after awhile thanks to its terrible scanlations, but have actually had up to ch. 15 of the licensed release sitting on my bookshelf for a couple months now. I was planning to finish a reread of the original series (which I also bought) before jumping into the side series, but haven't had much time lately (18 volumes is a lot :P); just as well that an anime has started airing so I can catch up with the series.

I have to say that yeah, the yuri-tease and SoL antics are a large part of why I'm looking forward to this adaptation. The original series really is a great and unconventional shounen though. Ookubo Atsushi's art in particular is something which can only be called abso-fucking-lutely amazing. I would definitely recommend new viewers of this adaptation to try out the first series (starting with the anime up to, yeah, ep. 37 followed by the manga due to anime-original material; although the anime doesn't diverge that much until ep. 46 so it might be worth watching up to there due to some great animation). Actually, not to harp too much on my buyfagging, but I even picked up Ookubo's artbook which Yen Press put out so yeah, I have to say that the art (after Ookubo matured his style) is definitely one of the things which makes Soul Eater a foremost shounen series.

Anyway, as for NOT's first episode, I have to admit that its initial plainness/normality was pretty jarring, lol; almost played like a psyche-out, haha. Although the artstyle change is also somewhat notable I'm gonna hold back on calling it 'sterile' though since as the episode went on they did start to bring back some of Soul Eater's classic stylisms. Aside from that, I have to say that yeah, I'm excited about the voice actors. I caught a ti-ny hint of Aoi Yuuki's voice in Meme so it's really pleasing to learn that she's in this cast, and Tsugumi's new seiyuu feel is pleasingly reminiscent of Omigawa Chiaki's status back with the first series as Maka Albarn. In a season of what I would consider a relatively high number of hard-hitting/hype-worthy anime, this show still seems like it will be one of my highlights of the week.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Sol Falling

I would definitely recommend new viewers of this adaptation to try out the first series (starting with the anime up to, yeah, ep. 37 followed by the manga due to anime-original material; although the anime doesn't diverge that much until ep. 46 so it might be worth watching up to there due to some great animation).

Well, over the last two days I have just read the Soul Eater manga from start to finish. It's pretty good, although shonen battles aren't really my thing. The characters are strong enough to carry the story. I'm particularly fond of Maka, but I figured I would be going in. All the kids get some strong character development.

Anyway, I noticed Tsugumi actually got a one-panel appearance in chapter 99, when folks are talking about the origin of the weapons. Just a background picture of children who were born as weapons, but it's unquestionably her.

I have to say I can't picture Tsugumi ever eating souls. As a girl who thought she was an ordinary human until just recently, it just seems to me she would find the idea disturbing.

[Clarste]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

I have to say I can't picture Tsugumi ever eating souls. As a girl who thought she was an ordinary human until just recently, it just seems to me she would find the idea disturbing.

I think the idea is disturbing, and the original series portrayed it as morally ambiguous (even though the anime tried to tone it down by claiming that the villains weren't human).

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Clarste

I think the idea is disturbing, and the original series portrayed it as morally ambiguous (even though the anime tried to tone it down by claiming that the villains weren't human).

Technically they were only supposed to do it to people who had themselves been eating the souls of innocents, so there was no question about how evil the targets were, but yeah, it still had some rather dark overtones to it. The kids didn't question it because they'd been taught most of their lives that it was the right thing to do, and their authority came from the "god" of their world.

Taking witches' souls is rather a good bit worse, especially once you find out that there was no proof at all that any particular witch had to be evil.

My point, however, is that I just can't see Tsugumi as being willing to do such a thing. It's probably just as well that she's not suited for the advanced class, nor aiming to become a death scythe.

[Clarste]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

Technically they were only supposed to do it to people who had themselves been eating the souls of innocents, so there was no question about how evil the targets were, but yeah, it still had some rather dark overtones to it. The kids didn't question it because they'd been taught most of their lives that it was the right thing to do, and their authority came from the "god" of their world.

Taking witches' souls is rather a good bit worse, especially once you find out that there was no proof at all that any particular witch had to be evil.

My point, however, is that I just can't see Tsugumi as being willing to do such a thing. It's probably just as well that she's not suited for the advanced class, nor aiming to become a death scythe.

The "villains ate innocent souls" was something the anime added. Originally they were just people on Death's "evil" List.

But yeah, Tsugumi has no motivation to do anything like that.

[Mr. DJ]

Not sure if I'm a fan of the animation style change. For established characters, Maka and Black Star look weird. The rest is easy enough to bypass since the rest of the cast will be new.

As I didn't read many chapters and barely remember what I read, I was wondering when this story took place since Sid isn't a zombie and Medusa is the school nurse. I guess them establishing Maka and Soul as seniors threw me off a bit.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Clarste

The "villains ate innocent souls" was something the anime added. Originally they were just people on Death's "evil" List.

Was it? I must have seen that in the TVTropes entry and gotten it mixed up in my mind, then.

I guess them establishing Maka and Soul as seniors threw me off a bit.

I suspect DWMA doesn't separate students into grades by age like your average school, since they're teaching completely different things. Anyone who isn't in the NOT class would be Tsugumi's sempai simply because they've been at the school longer and have more experience. In the original Soul Eater Maka was 14, and Tsugumi says she's 14 now, so it's possible that Tsugumi is actually older than Maka, but at this school that sort of thing isn't what matters as much as your level of skill and experience.

[Clarste]

Originally Posted by Random Wanderer

I suspect DWMA doesn't separate students into grades by age like your average school, since they're teaching completely different things. Anyone who isn't in the NOT class would be Tsugumi's sempai simply because they've been at the school longer and have more experience. In the original Soul Eater Maka was 14, and Tsugumi says she's 14 now, so it's possible that Tsugumi is actually older than Maka, but at this school that sort of thing isn't what matters as much as your level of skill and experience.

This is correct. According to a recent tweet by the author, Tsugumi is confirmed as older than Maka.

If you think about it it's just logical. Tsugumi was sent to DWMA immediately after she discovered she was a weapon. It's not like that can only happen to 14 year olds. Tsubaki is clearly older than the rest of the Soul Eater cast (same with Liz) but they're in the same grade.

[risingstar3110]

Yes!!! A slice-of-life in-universe of a shounen battle anime.

They really should do this more often


PS: and i do miss Black Star

[Pocari_Sweat]

The first reaction I got was laughing my ass when I saw Maka's new chipmunk face. In fact all of the main characters got the chipmunk treatment. I had to check to see if it wasn't Kyoani doing the production and no, it's still Bones, the creators of the first Soul Eater series.

Well I guess they gotta cash in the Soul Eater franchise somehow considering the first season didn't do that well. Won't be watching this until "credible sources" tell me it's going to be more than yuri/cute girls doing cute things pandering which to be frank at this point is not looking likely. Though I did quite like the cameos! How long and how often can they do those however is another question.

[White Manju Bun]

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

With the first episode supposedly coming today, here is a characters/seiyuus page, with images of twelve characters and their seiyuus, and a bit of info about each seiyuu.

Akane is TakaSakuu. Im in.

[Sackett]

After watching the whole episode I got to say this is style compared to the original is totally the viewpoint of a 14 year old girl in love with love.

Maka is everything that Tsugumi wants to be, so of course Maka is cutified.

Black Star looks even more muscular and noticeably taller, while Tsubaki... well lets just say her outfit is exaggerated to draw even more attention to her chest then in the original. Fits perfectly with the viewpoint of a flat chested girl looking for a good-hearted bad boy love interest.

The interesting one I thought was Soul. Unlike all the other characters, I thought Soul looked worse in this style. Shorter then the original, sunken eyes like an irritable punk who's been smoking too much crack. Maybe Tsugumi is jealous of him?

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

The first reaction I got was laughing my ass when I saw Maka's new chipmunk face. In fact all of the main characters got the chipmunk treatment. I had to check to see if it wasn't Kyoani doing the production and no, it's still Bones, the creators of the first Soul Eater series.

Well I guess they gotta cash in the Soul Eater franchise somehow considering the first season didn't do that well. Won't be watching this until "credible sources" tell me it's going to be more than yuri/cute girls doing cute things pandering which to be frank at this point is not looking likely. Though I did quite like the cameos! How long and how often can they do those however is another question.

Spoiler for Vague answer, not much of a spoiler, but spoiled just in case:

Umm... it has plenty of cute girls doing cute things, but it does have quite a bit of world building, and the occasional foray into sub-plots of the original that took place off-screen in the original series.

[Random Wanderer]

Originally Posted by Sackett

The interesting one I thought was Soul. Unlike all the other characters, I thought Soul looked worse in this style. Shorter then the original, sunken eyes like an irritable punk who's been smoking too much crack. Maybe Tsugumi is jealous of him?

Soul did appear pretty punkish and bad-tempered in the beginning of the Soul Eater manga... although your idea of jealousy isn't too far-fetched either. He does get to be the weapon and partner of Tsugumi's hero, after all.

[Gohan78]

Originally Posted by Sackett

The interesting one I thought was Soul. Unlike all the other characters, I thought Soul looked worse in this style. Shorter then the original, sunken eyes like an irritable punk who's been smoking too much crack. Maybe Tsugumi is jealous of him?

I also noticed that Soul didn't speak a word. Maybe they couldn't afford his seiyuu?

[Clarste]

Wrong thread?

[jedinat]

Originally Posted by Clarste

Wrong thread?

lol, yeah.