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Soul Eater Vol. 1

Soul Eater Vol. 1

Written by Ross Locksley on 17 Jun 2010


Distributor Manga Entertainment • Certificate 15 • Price £24.99


Maka is a student at Death Weapon Meister Academy, an elite school for those wishing to become agents of Death himself, ridding the world of corrupted and dangerous souls. Partnered with the self-styled ladies man and all around cool guy Soul, the series starts with Maka on the verge of graduation - 99 corrupted souls in the bag, and only a Witches soul to complete her training.

And that's when she meets Blair, a hot young Witch who is more than meets the eye.

Sadly things don't go well and it's not long before Maka is back on the bottom rung of the training ladder and re-enrolled at the Academy. Joining her are fellow students Black Star (of monstrous and ill-deserved ego) and Death the Kid, the son of Death himself and obsessive compulsive in regards to Symmatery.

And if you think the kids are nuts, wait until you meet the faculty!

Soul Eater is that rare commodity among anime - something at once unique and genuinely amusing, the superb off-kilter visual style augmented by a genuinely bizarre and oft-times slapstick sensibility that works wonders in this context.

That's not to say that Soul Eater doesn't have it's drama. When dealing with life and death it's hard not get a little heated, and here the series delivers in spades. With each of the main characters paired with a weapon (or weapons in the case of Death the Kid) of enormous destructive power, it's not long before we're involved in some truly epic battles, with big stakes to play for. The introduction of the Medusa arc is particularly powerful, and should keep the juices flowing nicely for action-junkies.

So far as the technical details go, direction is excellent and mimics the edgy style of the manga very well. The dub won't be to everyone's taste, but the subtitles are there for those that want them.

Overall we have an excellent package that should do well for Manga Entertainment - it has plenty of gothic overtones, action, humour and partial nudity, so fans of Bleach or Naruto would do well to check out this fantastic new addition to the UK anime scene.


Extras:

Some trailers and special animation (The Soul Eater Late Show) augment the usual sub/dub options.


8
Though the best is yet to come, this is a great start to a strong series.

Ross Locksley
About Ross Locksley

Ross founded the UK Anime Network waaay back in 1995 and works in and around the anime world in his spare time.


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