Soul Eater
Maka is a weapon meister, determined to turn her partner, a living scythe named Soul Eater, into a powerful death scythe – the ultimate weapon of Death himself! Charged with the task of collecting and devouring the tainted souls of ninety-nine humans and one witch, Maka and her fellow meisters strive to master their weapons as they face off against the bizarre and dangerous minions of the underworld. But the meisters’ own personal quirks may prove a bigger obstacle than any sultry enchantress!
Warning: This post is going to consist of me geeking out. If you are too lame to deal with it, I suggest you move on to the next post. Are we ready? I go into ultimate nerd mode in 3…2…1. I’m going to break the mold, and talk about a manga for Spooktacular October! For all of you cool kids who don’t know what a manga is, it’s basically a Japanese comic. They’re pretty legit; I recommend you check them out. For this creepy month I’ve decided to review one of my favorites, Soul Eater.
This manga is about seven characters (three groups) in their quest to rid the world of madness. Each of these groups attends Shibusen, a school created by Shinigami-sama- a man with incredible power – to rid the world of madness. The school is specifically for meisters and weapons. I can practically hear all of your cries of confusion. Let me explain, in this world there are people who are weapons, yes, weapons. They can turn into weapons and are wielded by meisters. Each meister has a weapon and they go out and kick butt.
The three groups this story follows are: Maaka (meister) and Soul (weapon), Black Star (meister) and Tsubaki (weapon), Kid (meister), Patty (weapon), and Kim (weapon). Each of these groups has their own specific goals. Maaka’s goal is to turn Soul into a death scythe- a weapon so powerful they can be used by Shinigami-sama himself. Black star’s goal is to surpass god, and Kid doesn’t necessarily have a goal. Being the son of Shinigami-sama has its perks, incredible power being one of them. But when a man named Kishin –the main source of madness- is released from his eternal slumber; their dreams are going to have to be put on hold. But they can accomplish their dreams and save the world at the same time… right?
I started off by watching the anime for Soul Eater. For all you noobs out there, let me explain what anime is. It’s basically a Japanese cartoon, and normally when a manga is popular enough, they get an anime. As I was saying, I started off by watching the anime to this manga. I really liked it, except for the end. It was really weird and pretty anti-climactic. For all of you out there considering watching it, let me save you the trouble, Maaka defeats the Kishin with a punch of courage… not even kidding you. It’s pretty lame, I know.
However, this isn’t so in the manga. In fact, the manga (unlike the anime) hasn’t even finished yet. It comes out with a chapter every month, so the anime ended up passing it and making up it’s own ending. This is typical in the manga/anime world. However, if you want to watch the anime, I’m not stopping you. * Cough * but the manga is way better * cough *. Excuse me I had something in my throat. Oh yeah, it was the truth!
Moving on from my lame joke, I do have a disclaimer. There is a fair amount of swearing, a scantily clad “witch”, a creepy moon, freaky sun, and some blood. But if you don’t mind all that, then you’re good to go!
My recipe:
This is going to be a little different and kinda strange since it’s a manga.
- Take a creative story line, and douse it in some action.
- Put in a cup and a half of jokes
- A splash of suspense
- Roll it into some badassness
- Oh, and while you’re at it throw in some good art.
- After you’ve done that, bake it for a freaking month (grr!). All that’s left to do is enjoy!
I highly recommend this manga to anyone who wants to read something awesome that comes complete with pretty pictures. It’s funny, cool, clever, cool, well thought out, and did I mention cool? I eagerly await the next chapter, which just recently came out! Score!
Guest Review by Kristin.