Soul Eater (ソウルイーター, Sōru Ītā?) is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Atsushi Okubo. The manga is published by Square Enix and was first released as three separate one-shots serialized in two Gangan Powered special editions and one Gangan Wing issue between June 24 and November 26, 2003. The manga started regular serialization in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan manga magazine on May 12, 2004. The first bound volume was released by Square Enix under their Gangan Comics imprint on June 22, 2004 in Japan, and as of September 2009, fifteen volumes have been released. The manga has been licensed for distribution in North America by Yen Press. The English translated version of Soul Eater is serialized in Yen Press' Yen Plus manga anthology magazine starting on July 29, 2008, and the first manga volume will be released on October 31, 2009.
A single drama CD was produced on August 31, 2005 which came bundled with an art book. An anime adaptation produced by Bones first aired on TV Tokyo in Japan on April 7, 2008, and contained 51 episodes; Funimation licensed the anime series for North American distribution. An action-adventure video game by Square Enix for theWii was released in September 2008, and an action video game for the Nintendo DS was released in October 2008. Another action game was released in January 2009 on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable .
Set at the "Death Weapon Meister Academy," the series revolves around three teams consisting of a weapon meister and (at least one) human weapon. Trying to make the latter a "Death Scythe" and thus fit for use by the academy's headmaster, Shinigami, they must collect the souls of ninety-nine evil humans and one witch, in that order or they will have to restart all over again.
Plot
In Soul Eater, meister (職人, shokunin?) Maka Albarn and her weapon partner Soul Eater are students at the Death Weapon Meister Academy (死神武器職人専門学校, Shinigami Buki Shokunin Senmon Gakkō?), or DWMA (死武専, Shibusen?) for short, located in the fictional Death City,[1] in Nevada, United States. The school has many other students including Black Star with his weapon partner Tsubaki, and Death the Kid with his twin weapon partners Liz and Patti. The school is run by Shinigami, Death himself, as a training facility for weapons and the human wielders of those weapons, the meisters.[1] Maka's goal, along the other meisters, is to have their weapons defeat and absorb the souls of ninety-nine evil humans and one witch, which will dramatically increase the power of the given weapon and thus be capable of being used by shinigami; these weapons are called Death Scythes.[1] In the universe of Soul Eater, witches are powerful beings and the natural enemies of DWMA, as almost all of them have a destructive nature and almost all desire anarchy and chaos.
At the start of Soul Eater, Maka and Soul encounter the meister Crona and Crona's weapon Ragnarok; Crona is being forced to attack non-evil humans by Crona's mother and witch Medusa. Medusa eventually recruits the witches Eruka and Mizune, along with the immortal werewolf Free. Medusa and her cohorts attack DWMA on the eve of the festival to commemorate the establishment of DWMA. Medusa's goal is to revive the first "kishin" (鬼神?), an evil demon god that nearly destroyed everything by plunging the world into madness, named Asura who was sealed beneath the DWMA by Shinigami. Medusa's group successfully revives Asura, though Medusa is seemingly killed in the process.
As Asura escapes the DWMA, the world is plunged into chaos and insanity, and because of this, Medusa's older sister Arachne comes out of hiding after 800 years. Arachne reforms her organization Arachnophobia, which poses itself as a serious threat to the DWMA; Arachne is joined closely by her demon butler Mosquito and demon weapon Giriko. The DWMA calls in the Death Scythes Justin Law, Yumi Azusa, and Marie Mjölnir to aide in the fight against Arachnophobia. During this time, Medusa is proven to be alive and possesses a young girl named Rachel. Maka and the other students are progressively getting stronger as they train and participate in various battles. Medusa makes a truce with the DWMA for a time so together they can annihilate the threat of Arachnophobia. Once Arachne is killed by Maka, Medusa betrays the DWMA and takes possession of Arachne's previously discarded body, regaining her lost strength. Following Arachne's defeat, Maka finally succeeds in making Soul into a Death Scythe.
During the infiltration of castle Baba Yaga, Death the Kid is captured by an enemy posing as the former meister Eibon named Noah. Shortly after this incident, the meister unit Spartoi is formed at the DWMA to take down Noah, consisting of the five most talented meisters in the school.
The anime series deviates from the manga considerably after episode thirty-five. After giving the DWMA information on Arachnophobia, Medusa takes advantage of Stein's increasing madness to lure him away with her. Crona and Marie decide to search for Medusa and bring back Stein. Medusa is defeated by Maka's demon hunter attack after Crona is nearly killed. Stein goes back to the DWMA having overcome the madness within himself. Shinigami and Asura resume their fight, which results in Shinigami's defeat when Asura threatens Kid's life. Asura eats Arachne's soul, and is confronted by Kid, Black Star and Maka. In the final battle, the three defeat Asura and the world returns to normal.
A single drama CD was produced on August 31, 2005 which came bundled with an art book. An anime adaptation produced by Bones first aired on TV Tokyo in Japan on April 7, 2008, and contained 51 episodes; Funimation licensed the anime series for North American distribution. An action-adventure video game by Square Enix for the
Set at the "Death Weapon Meister Academy," the series revolves around three teams consisting of a weapon meister and (at least one) human weapon. Trying to make the latter a "Death Scythe" and thus fit for use by the academy's headmaster, Shinigami, they must collect the souls of ninety-nine evil humans and one witch, in that order or they will have to restart all over again.
Plot
In Soul Eater, meister (職人, shokunin?) Maka Albarn and her weapon partner Soul Eater are students at the Death Weapon Meister Academy (死神武器職人専門学校, Shinigami Buki Shokunin Senmon Gakkō?), or DWMA (死武専, Shibusen?) for short, located in the fictional Death City,[1] in Nevada, United States. The school has many other students including Black Star with his weapon partner Tsubaki, and Death the Kid with his twin weapon partners Liz and Patti. The school is run by Shinigami, Death himself, as a training facility for weapons and the human wielders of those weapons, the meisters.[1] Maka's goal, along the other meisters, is to have their weapons defeat and absorb the souls of ninety-nine evil humans and one witch, which will dramatically increase the power of the given weapon and thus be capable of being used by shinigami; these weapons are called Death Scythes.[1] In the universe of Soul Eater, witches are powerful beings and the natural enemies of DWMA, as almost all of them have a destructive nature and almost all desire anarchy and chaos.
At the start of Soul Eater, Maka and Soul encounter the meister Crona and Crona's weapon Ragnarok; Crona is being forced to attack non-evil humans by Crona's mother and witch Medusa. Medusa eventually recruits the witches Eruka and Mizune, along with the immortal werewolf Free. Medusa and her cohorts attack DWMA on the eve of the festival to commemorate the establishment of DWMA. Medusa's goal is to revive the first "kishin" (鬼神?), an evil demon god that nearly destroyed everything by plunging the world into madness, named Asura who was sealed beneath the DWMA by Shinigami. Medusa's group successfully revives Asura, though Medusa is seemingly killed in the process.
As Asura escapes the DWMA, the world is plunged into chaos and insanity, and because of this, Medusa's older sister Arachne comes out of hiding after 800 years. Arachne reforms her organization Arachnophobia, which poses itself as a serious threat to the DWMA; Arachne is joined closely by her demon butler Mosquito and demon weapon Giriko. The DWMA calls in the Death Scythes Justin Law, Yumi Azusa, and Marie Mjölnir to aide in the fight against Arachnophobia. During this time, Medusa is proven to be alive and possesses a young girl named Rachel. Maka and the other students are progressively getting stronger as they train and participate in various battles. Medusa makes a truce with the DWMA for a time so together they can annihilate the threat of Arachnophobia. Once Arachne is killed by Maka, Medusa betrays the DWMA and takes possession of Arachne's previously discarded body, regaining her lost strength. Following Arachne's defeat, Maka finally succeeds in making Soul into a Death Scythe.
During the infiltration of castle Baba Yaga, Death the Kid is captured by an enemy posing as the former meister Eibon named Noah. Shortly after this incident, the meister unit Spartoi is formed at the DWMA to take down Noah, consisting of the five most talented meisters in the school.
The anime series deviates from the manga considerably after episode thirty-five. After giving the DWMA information on Arachnophobia, Medusa takes advantage of Stein's increasing madness to lure him away with her. Crona and Marie decide to search for Medusa and bring back Stein. Medusa is defeated by Maka's demon hunter attack after Crona is nearly killed. Stein goes back to the DWMA having overcome the madness within himself. Shinigami and Asura resume their fight, which results in Shinigami's defeat when Asura threatens Kid's life. Asura eats Arachne's soul, and is confronted by Kid, Black Star and Maka. In the final battle, the three defeat Asura and the world returns to normal.
