http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Manga/SoulEater

"A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body."

Advertisement:

Soul Eater is a Shōnen manga by Atsushi Ohkubo which was serialized in Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 2004 to 2013, with a total of 113 chapters. It received a 51 episode anime by Studio Bones in 2008. As of January 2011, Monthly Shonen Gangan has run a prequel/Spin-Off titled Soul Eater Not! by the same mangaka, running alongside the original series while covering and expanding on events prior to the original story.

In the world of Soul Eater, a human soul that falls to corruption has a chance of transforming into a "Demon Egg", which in turn has a chance of hatching into the ultimate avatar of madness.

To stop this from happening, Death himself has set up the Death Weapon Meister Academy in Death City, Nevada. The DWMA trains warriors ("Meisters") and Weapons (humans who can shapeshift into weapons) to fight and retrieve the evil souls before they become Demon Eggs. A Meister and Weapon who manage to collect 99 corrupt souls and one Witch soul receive the highest honor: the Weapon becomes one of the Death Scythes, servitors of Death himself.

Advertisement:

The main characters include:

Maka Albarn and her scythe, Soul Eater (just call him Soul). She's a raging workaholic, he's a slacker, but they make a great team. They almost made Soul into a Death Scythe at the beginning of the series, but failed on a technicality and have to start over.

and her scythe, (just call him Soul). She's a raging workaholic, he's a slacker, but they make a great team. They almost made Soul into a Death Scythe at the beginning of the series, but failed on a technicality and have to start over. Black☆Star and his Morph Weapon Tsubaki : Black☆Star is a would-be master assassin who has trouble reconciling the concepts of "stealth" and "shouting about how awesome you are". His partner Tsubaki is an incredibly patient and capable Weapon who can transform into multiple ninja weapons, from a chain-scythe to a smoke bomb.

and his Morph Weapon : Black☆Star is a would-be master assassin who has trouble reconciling the concepts of "stealth" and "shouting about how awesome you are". His partner Tsubaki is an incredibly patient and capable Weapon who can transform into multiple ninja weapons, from a chain-scythe to a smoke bomb. Death the Kid and his twin-pistols the Thompson Sisters: Son of Death himself, whose incredible natural power is offset by his extreme Super OCD, being absolutely obsessed with symmetry. The Thompson Sisters serve as his weapons: Liz is the older and more cynical sister, while Patty is younger and goofier.

Advertisement:

The series is basically what happens when the plots of Shaman King and Harry Potter are pulsed together in a blender, Studio BONES is put in charge of the animation, and what appears to be the world's craziest graffiti artist and world's biggest Tim Burton fan is hired as animation director. It should be noted that, since the manga was still being published monthly when the anime aired, the anime starts to deviate from the source manga after about the first third of the series and pretty much creates its own climax and ending.

The anime was acquired by Funimation, with tantalizing previews on their website. All of the episodes are viewable on their video portal (which is only viewable... In America...and Canada) and their YouTube channel. The series used to air on US television on Toonami on Saturday nights at 1:30 AM Eastern.

See also Elemental Gelade, a similar concept with a more futuristic sci-fi bent. Shaman King shares lots of similarities with this series — a partner as a weapon, characters design, etc. See also Tweeny Witches and Little Witch Academia, two anime series about witches with a similar art style, premise, and themes.

See also Fire Force, another series made by Ohkubo.

It's worth noting that the "Book of Eibon" is a reference to H. P. Lovecraft. The author being a fan would give a new perspective on the series' focus on madness, power, and godhood, especially portraying madness as something akin to an infectious disease.

Not to be confused with another Soul Eater, nor the literal kind.

Now with a Recap page here.

Warning: The following tropes are from the anime and manga. Be VERY careful with spoiler text.

open/close all folders

A-L

M-Z

"Would you like to fall into the madness?"