Changes made to Review for Soul Eater Complete Series (Episodes 1-51)

Revision 4

Created on Tuesday, 31st December 2019, 17:16
Change Submitted by Stuart McLean

List of Changes:

Change #1 - ly stylizsed look
Change #2 - <newline><newline>

Revision 3

Created on Tuesday, 31st December 2019, 17:16
Change Submitted by Stuart McLean

List of Changes:

Change #1 - up. Despite what the naysayers would have us believe, we really<newline>do live in great times for collecting physical media. I can clearly recall the days<newline>when Manga entertainment would ration their releases to a mere three episodes<newline>of a series per DVD and release them in tedious instalments that demanded patience<newline>and lots of cash to enjoy. Now entire series are released in a single set. Luckily<newline>for me, our in-house anime expert, Jitendar Canth, has already viewed and<newline>reviewed ‘Soul Eater’ on Blu-Ray [url="https://www.myreviewer.com/Blu-ray/167003/Soul-Eater-Complete-Series-Collection/167125/Review-by-Jitendar-Canth"]here[/url],<newline> so he passed on the Manga Entertainment<newline>UK complete series release to me for fresh assessment – all 51 episodes.<newline><newline>‘Soul Eater’ is a weird one for me. At first, I wasn’t convinced<newline>that its hyper-stylised, gothic street-punk look, with smiling moons in the sky<newline>and skeletons that make He-Man’s Skeletor look positively sophisticated, were<newline>going to work. But once you get past that, and into the series, it all comes<newline>together as a very pleasing approach. Its distinctive look was very much part<newline>of Ōkubo’s original manga, but has been brought to life by Bones, a studio<newline>renowned for its edgy approach to anime. So think dark and gothic but with goofy<newline>comic book humour and you’ll get the idea. In any case, the series came hot on<newline>the heels of Bones shows like ‘Fullmetal Alchemist’ so you know you’re in for a<newline>treat.<newline><newline>Now over a decade old, the series was a great success when<newline>initially released and, having now watched the entire series, it’s easy to<newline>understand why.<newline><newline>Very few TV shows could completely take you from one from of<newline>reality into a new one as successfully as this series. Before long, you’ll<newline>think there’s nothing odd about a world where people are born with the ability<newline>to transform their fighting partners into an intelligent weapon, like a magical<newline>sword. These ‘meisters’ are trained at a school (run by Lord Death, AKA Shigami,<newline>and named ‘Death City’s Death Weapon Meister Academy’) where they learn to<newline>consume corrupted souls and take out witches. You may even accept without question,<newline>as I did, the idea that, when a student has consumed 99 souls, and one witch’s<newline>soul, they get to become one of Lord Death’s personal weapons (a ‘Death Scythe’)<newline>which is a great honour. Confused? Watch it and you won’t be. I promise. <newline><newline>The series starts by introducing its main protagonists;<newline>namely three sets of student partners. There’s cute Maka Albarn and her scythe<newline>partner, the street-cool ‘Soul Eater’ who make a formidable pair when they<newline>fight together and stop arguing. Then there’s the incredibly big-headed assassin,<newline>Black Star and his incredibly patient partner, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa who just<newline>sighs every tme Blackstar proclaim himself to be the greatest, which he does<newline>with alarming regularity throughout the show. And finally, there’s Lord Death’s<newline>(AKA Shinigami) own son, Death the Kid, and his perfectly matched pistol<newline>partners, Liz and Patty Thompson who provide much of the shows humour in so<newline>much as he cannot stand anything that doesn’t appear to be visually balanced<newline>(hence the twins as weapons). He would (literally) rather die than lose visual symmetry.<newline><newline>Once the characters are properly established, with some basic<newline>training by way of illustration, the epic story begins (we’re talking several<newline>episodes in by this time). ‘Soul Eater’ is another in a long-line of so-called<newline>Shonen anime which takes place over an extended period of time, and is somewhat<newline>epic in its proportions. However, although the series is a giant, ever onward narrative<newline>of sorts, it is by no means hard work and each episode can be enjoyed, to a<newline>large extent, in its own right. As they do such a great job of setting up the<newline>general conceit, it’s a fun and, to a large extent, unchallenging watch.<newline><newline>Condensing 50+ episodes into a short, meaningful narrative<newline>summary, without spoilers, was never going to be easy. But as I know some folk<newline>will want a good idea of what to expect before shelling out on the set, here<newline>goes. <newline><newline>Maka Albarn and Soul Eater, her giant scythe weapon, thought<newline>eating the perquisite 99 souls would be simple (and based on early evidence, it<newline>should be) but consuming a single witche’s soul is proving more complex. After<newline>a few botched attempts by the team (including one by Black Star which he<newline>abandons when realising the witch is a mere child, and another aboard a ghost<newline>ship). When they accept a mission which takes them to Italy, they find<newline>themselves caught up with the diabolical plans of a witch called Medusa. She is<newline>trying to revive an evil being (the Kishin) that became an insane demon after<newline>devouring the soul of innocent humans.<newline><newline>This involves battling Medusa’s child, Crona Gorgon, a<newline>stangely lacklustre individual with enormous powers, but a rather melancholy<newline>outlook. She has all the traits of an abused child (well, her mum is an evil<newline>uncaring witch after all) and has never experienced any form of friendship. Crona<newline>is a meister to the demon sword, Ragnarok, a mighty weapon despite its meister’s<newline>feeble appearance.<newline><newline>When Maka and Soul return to Death City, they’re teamed up<newline>with the exuberant Black Star and Death the Kid, along with their weapons, to fight<newline>the evil Medusa and her evil plans. They are accompanied by one of their tutors;<newline>the laid-back, chain smoking Franken Stein (yeah – we get it) who gets as<newline>involved as the team in the initial battles.<newline><newline>Despite their best efforts, Medusa's group successfully<newline>revives Asura, who leaves to spread chaos around the world after a brief battle<newline>with Shinigami (Lord Death). Medusa is seemingly killed by Maka and Franken<newline>Stein, while Crona surrenders and actually enrols at the school, becoming<newline>friends of sorts with Maka.<newline><newline>As a result of Asura's spreading madness, Medusa's sister<newline>Arachne comes out of hiding and reforms her organization, Arachnophobia, which<newline>poses a serious threat to the team. Shinigami calls in death scythes from<newline>around the world to aid in the fight against Arachnophobia.<newline><newline>Medusa reappears with her soul possessing the body of a<newline>young girl, and forms a truce with the school so they can annihilate<newline>Arachnophobia together. The DWMA students and Medusa's entourage infiltrate<newline>Arachnophobia's headquarters, where Maka kills Arachne, only for Medusa to<newline>betray them. She then possesses<newline>Arachne's body, and brainwashes poor Crona into rejoining her.<newline><newline>Meanwhile, Death the Kid is captured by Noah, an artificial<newline>construct created from the Book of Eibon. Maka uses Arachne's soul to turn Soul<newline>Eater into a death scythe and the duo become part of the newly formed meister<newline>unit (Spartoi) along with their friends, who rescue Death the Kid and defeat<newline>Noah.<newline><newline>Crona resurfaces in a city in Russia and sets about destroying<newline>it, before being provoked by Medusa into killing her and getting taken by<newline>insanity. Maka is ordered by Shinigami to hunt down Crona and while searching<newline>for her, she unwittingly detects Asura's location on the moon – a weird,<newline>stylised cartoonish thing that has been there since the start of the series. The<newline>school launches an attack on to defeat Asura, aided by the witches after Death<newline>the Kid convinces them to establish a temporary alliance.<newline><newline>There is a nice resolution to all this mayhem (which I won’t<newline>add here as it may spoil things too much) but a lot of loose ends get tied<newline>together and, despite some sadness along the way, to a large degree it’s a satisfying<newline>happy ending, befitting the length of time it takes to get there.<newline><newline>As the show progresses, and we get to know the characters<newline>better, it’s really easy to warm to them all, despite their flaws. Maka seems<newline>the least ‘together’ but shows herself to be determined and courageous; Soul is<newline>supposedly cool and aloof but is actually incredibly loyal; Black Star is an<newline>incorrigible show-off but this is explained away by his tutor as a coping<newline>mechanism to overcome his own fears; Death the Kid is just quirky as hell with<newline>his obsession with symmetry and his two pistol packing mamas are hilarious in<newline>their complete disregard for danger.<newline><newline>In fact every character in the show has depth and humour,<newline>including all the peripheral ones, like the mighty sword Excalibur who turns<newline>out to be an annoying dwarf that is actually quite a pain to be with, really<newline>puncturing the usual pomposity of such epic tales. It’s a lot of fun.<newline><newline>The whole look and sound of ‘Soul Eater’ is very stylised<newline>and unique, albeit within the usual accepted tropes of manga and anime.<newline><newline>It has a very funky soundtrack, composed by Taku Iwasaki.<newline>Most notable is the theme for Soul (the coolest character in the series) ‘So<newline>Scandalous’ or ‘Psychedelic Souljam’. The title themes (which change for part<newline>two) are a little more rock oriented and will get under your skin, and into your<newline>dreams, as they always seem to – for me anyway.<newline><newline>You get two language options; the original Japanese with<newline>subs and an English dub. I opted for the latter which was really top-notch. All<newline>audio, unlike the previous DVD releases, is lossless so sound quality is top<newline>notch.<newline><newline>The series comes with, not only the two series in a single<newline>set (The ‘Meister’ and ‘Weapon’ collections) but a few worthwhile extra<newline>features too. There are a handful of audio commentaries; featuring the US voice<newline>director, Zach Bolton, as well two members of the US voice cast, including Laura<newline>Bailey (Maka), Micah Solusod (Soul), Vic Mignogna (Death Scythe), Chuck Huber<newline>(Frankie Stein) Luci Christian (Medusa), Cherami Leigh (Patty), Todd Haberkorn<newline>(Death the Kid) and Jamie Marchi (Liz). They’re OK if you really want to hear<newline>how much the US cast enjoyed doing it (and how much they want to do any future<newline>work) but not particularly insightful. I only partly listened to most of them.<newline><newline>Also included are most of the ‘Soul Eater Late Show’<newline>segments which are mini-trailers, often highlighting the more risqué elements<newline>of each episode, and each lasting for 90 seconds. Viewed in one chunk (well, two<newline>actually as 25 can be found on one disc and a further 23 on another) they can<newline>get a little tedious, but they work just fine at the end of each episode. The<newline>extras are rounded off with the usual mix of trailers and textless openers and<newline>closers.<newline><newline>Although the series is a decade old, and was clearly never<newline>produced in HD, the quality on the discs is surprisingly pleasing – especially with<newline>9 episodes or so crammed on to each disc. Clearly up-scaled, it has been<newline>masterfully done with very few signs of digital blocking. Well, none actually. <newline><newline>‘Soul Eater’ is a damn fine series. Far from becoming tedious,<newline>its 51 short episodes will keep you entertained from the first taste to the<newline>very last drop. Its unique, highly stylized look just adds to the series’<newline>personality and wit. A series well worth picking up.<newline><newline><newline>

Revision 2

Created on Tuesday, 31st December 2019, 17:14
Change Submitted by Stuart McLean

List of Changes:

Change #1 - is ~~top notch~~excellent.<newline><newline>[
Change #2 - <newline><newline>

Revision 1

Created on Tuesday, 31st December 2019, 17:11
Change Submitted by Stuart McLean

List of Changes:

Change #1 - u from one froorm of reality
Change #2 - tar and his ~~incredibl~~very patient pa
Change #3 - anime which takes place over an e
Change #4 - rrative ~~of sorts~~, it is
Change #5 - ningful ~~narrative~~ summary,
Change #6 - e goes.<newline><newline>Maka Alb
Change #7 - ght eating the perrequisite 99 souls
Change #8 - pts by the team (including one by
Change #9 - a ghost ship). When they
Change #10 - arance.<newline><newline>When Mak
Change #11 - Medusa and her ~~evil~~horrible plans. They are
Change #12 - forms her organizsation, Arachnoph
Change #13 - <newline><newline>

Initial Version

Created on Tuesday, 31st December 2019, 17:06
First Submitted by Stuart McLean