With Art from the duplicitous iniquitous @blackbloodteeth who just like me likes to grab Soul and wring him out like a kitchen towel. Find the ART HEEEEREEE
More art TBA!
Thank you @resbangmod for organising resbang this year!
Maka thinks she’s been sneaky about it, but Soul has noticed the sudden influx in spicy books she’s been reading. Her sudden nervousness as he walks into the room in the middle of her reading a particularly risqué scene. So he decided to do a little research and read them himself without her knowing. And man, has it payed off.
Maka thinks she’s been sneaky about it, but Soul has noticed the sudden influx in spicy books she’s been reading. Her sudden nervousness as he walks into the room in the middle of her reading a particularly risqué scene. So he decided to do a little research and read them himself without her knowing. And man, has it payed off.
Finally, my other Resbang is out! Don't think I have much to say that I haven't already said in the author's notes, so I'll just thank my artists @worldismyne and @pymthefrog once again for their stellar work on their art for this!
You can read it here on AO3!
Rating: Teen and Up Audiences (No Warnings Apply)
Characters: Soul Eater Evans
Tags: Soul Eater Resonance Bang, Homelessness, Starvation, Isolation, Self-Deprecation, lack of self-worth, But in spite of everything..., ...it's still you., Variantverse
Summary: The year is 2022.
Soul Eater has been officially outlawed.
Chaos ensues as the government continues to deny his existence.
May Death have mercy upon our Souls.
Words: 10, 294
Alrighty, in Part One I covered Black Star's childhood and his arc in part one (so roughly volume 1-14)
This is where we run into an issue with SE, that being SE NOT. All criticism of NOT aside, it's first chapter was released in 2011. Volume 15 of SE was released in 2009, with it's cover being the last to have the old art style before the pastel cover era. The art style also drastically shifts from Ch 61 to Ch 62, and ironically, how Black Star's hair is drawn is the major tell.
It's the first chapter where Black Star's hair starts to look soft and looses the sharp edges. These chapters were initially published in 2010, so I think it's safe to say this was when he started working on NOT. NOT has a softer/brighter art style and it was clear Ohkubo was getting bored of SE and it's halloween aesthetic. Thus, he was working on two serially updating manga at the same time.
This arc also his more biblically focused than prior arcs (taking place in the book of the seven deadly sins) a theme that shows up more heavily in Fire Force. Which around volume 20/21, the art style shifting again, this time more toward FF with more defined cheeks and a variety of shapes in the eyes.
I think this is a major reason why the back half of the manga feels rushed. SE was the money maker and Ohkubo was itching to do something new. Novelty and the 'rule of cool' are major factors in his creative process, and SE definitely suffers from that lack of focus. The biggest symptom being Black Star and Kid's arcs being cut down combined into one story line.
THE TIME SKIP
The other reason I bring all of this up is Ch 62 opens with a time skip, but because of the art style shift, it's hard to tell how long it's been since Kid was kidnapped. This point alone is debated often among fans.
It was a short enough time for Black Star to still be injured and requiring healing. So it's probably closer to weeks rather than months/years.
Ch 61 closed on a cliffhanger of Black Star and co being in an elite DWMA group formed to chase after Kid, with Ch 62 reestablishing where all the characters are.
Paralleling Ch 1, Maka and Soul have their last soul, for real this time. The Thompsons have been training solo, reestablishing that before kid they were a tough as nails team.
Black Star is now taking care of Angela. She's brought along to his training matches and seems interested in watching him. It is also brought up him not wanting to let go of Mifune's memory could be interfering with Kim's healing magic (put a pin in this). Multiple sessions have not done anything abt the gash (not a scar yet, it's still open at this point)
Note compared to previous duels, in the duel with Patty, Black Star seems overly worried about the safety of the person he's fighting. Now that he's killed someone, though still overconfident, he seems worried he might go overboard on accident and hurt someone more than necessary. So we're getting some hints that his next focus is more about control, rather than being the strongest.
His training with Stein echoes this, exploring ways he can use his power without over exerting himself like he was after fighting Mifune. (Yay for Stein, he's been trying to teach Black Star this all damn series) During their first fight, Stein used a technique that blocked wavelength based attacks by adjusting his wavelength, I'm curious if that's also something Black Star was trying to learn here.
The other thing that gets brought up is that Black Star has been spying on the teachers to keep tabs on the situation with Kid. So after fighting for Angela to stay at the school and Kid going missing on a mission, he's less trusting of the adults in the room now.
Liz and Tsubaki talk abt how Maka's not acting like herself. Unlike during the group resonance arc, Black Star trusts Maka will figure things out on her own. Liz refers to it as 'burnout syndrome' but Black Star doesn't seem to agree that Maka's at her limit just yet (later proved to be true during the fight with Gopher)
I'd like to point out that we don't know who else Liz is referring to as suffering from burnout. It could be either herself or other people on the team, she seems to think people in general are pushing themselves too hard to get ready to go after Kid. Another element that suggests it hasn't been that long since Kid went missing.
FINDING CHRONA
Black Star is tasked with finding Medusa and remarks it's odd Maka wasn't sent on the mission instead because...
A) Maka has soul perception and a fancy death scythe
B) Maka's had a vested interest in finding Chrona
Again we see Black Star questioning the adults in charge. Tsubaki tries to rationalize the decisions being made, but she goes unheeded. Black Star also, interestingly enough, brings up on sight to Chrona that acting the way they are would make Maka cry and he's pissed about this. He calls what they did a betrayal of Maka's trust. I think his refusal to forgive Chrona is what ruins Tsubaki's attempts at negotiations.
He puts into practice the things he learned with Stein in Ch 63, dodging more, saving his energy, and lessening physical contact when using a soul menace attack. The dude is finally listening to people who try to teach him.
I do think it's important Black Star be the one to confront Chrona at this moment. Since Chrona says they are alone, and that's why they had to do what they did, and Black Star doesn't buy it. He immediately rejects that as an excuse, since he also grew up alone. If Chrona really needs someone other than Medusa to rely on they could rely on him (or Maka). Chrona rejects this.
Shit hits the fan, and Black Star uses the confusion to capture a witch.
Then, he uses that as an excuse to bust in on a private meeting the adults are having with other captured witches. Dude knew this was going on, because he's been listening to what they've been planning as far as Kid's rescue goes this whole time. Bro serious brought in the thing that tipped the scale into going into the book of Eibon, it's Eruka's spell that does the trick.
SALVAGE
I'm going to skim through a lot of this arc, just because the first 5 chaps are gags, with the 6th focusing on Maka and Soul. Once they get to Greed, Goop convinces Kid to let Black Star into the inbetween where they are to test out his new powers. Like, Black Star says he wants the power to bring back Kid, but the book several times says that he's the only one allowed through because he was invited.
It's hardly character driven, and I can feel the hand of the author trying to make it so Black Star and Kid can have their third 1 v 1 battle to fulfil the rules of threes (with the past two battles being a draw, and in Kid's favor respectively). Also adds to the contrived concept that Kid would invite him in as an equal at this point, as far as the story is concerned, he wiped the floor with Black Star and then Black Star got mortally wounded fighting someone else. He wasn't a threat to pre-madness Kid.
But, we gotta rush through this, have one line from Black Star that he thought of their last fight as a wakeup call, and double down on this new characterization that Black Star is no longer clamoring for power/ego/recognition, but the one who keeps other powerful people in check.
Ch 77 parallels the confrontation with Chrona, with Kid saying that Black Star is 'too big', a roadblock to whipping out the world into nothingness. Which is an elevated reaction to how messed up the situation outside of the book has become and the hopelessness of never being able to fix it.
Black Star is sucked into madness, denouncing any deeper motivations other than the strength to take down a foe. It's unbridled optimism against nihilism. With Kid arguing things are too messed up to be fixed and Black Star refusing to believe anything is impossible, that there are things worth fighting for. That Kid's humanity, his imperfections, are what make him admirable.
Black Star survives combat, but they appear evenly matched. A lot of harmony, symmetry and balance references are thrown around. The power Black Star seeks is the ability to build a better world. It's building off of his initial goal of restoration and redemption. Everything can be made better with enough willpower.
After this we're immediately launched into more combat scenes with no down time for the characters to unpack anything from the book of Eibon. This is what leads me to believe that Ohkubo considers Black Star's second arc finished at this point.
Black Star does not show up in Vol 20, he goes on a short mission in Ch 88 with Maka, a fun little nod that all of them are hunting the White Whale from Moby Dick and foreshadowing that Asura's on the moon (madness is 'thicker' the higher up they go) and then it's straight into...
THE WAR ON THE MOON
When I said there was less downtime compared to arc one, I wasn't kidding. We're in the finale of the manga already. Everyone argues about what to do about Chrona and Maka stumbles into finding where Asura is instead.
In Ch 90, the kids are asked to write wills with Black Star saying he doesn't want to think about that or force his way onto the Asura mission. "We just gotta tackle the mission we've been given." I think this is supposed to show him making good on his promise to support Kid's decision, but it's clunky and sandwiched in between two major plot beats where he wouldn't say that. It's an odd choice.
There are also a lot of brief scenes touching on what was brought up post time skip and go hand in hand with him taking care of Angela. LD and his old rulings are wrong, and they're the ones who should be calling the shots now that things have changed. At which point, they abandon the DWMA uniform for their own person/modified uniforms and decide they should actually go to the moon.
The B-team legit just, walks off after this.
Black Star and Maka are just... physically trying to get themselves to the moon without a ship. They do this for 3 chapters while other stuff is happening (like Kid's trial against the witches)
There's just a lot of missed opportunities, with the main cast being separated and present for blips, just to say what they're doing next. From these we can glean Black Star's listening to people more and trying to strategize, but it's brief single lines and widely spaced out.
THE DARKSIDE OF THE MOON (Chrona)
We finally get to circle back to an earlier character moment. The fact that Black Star thinks Maka has to be the one to deal with Chrona. Given how Maka's reacted to abandonment and the divorce throughout the manga, it makes sense why he'd think this is something Maka needs to do.
He's okay with someone else taking the spotlight if that's what's best for the people involved (echoing how he let Tsubaki handle Masamune)
It's paired with a moment of Maka realizing how often Black Star has been there to protect her throughout the entire series. It ties a neat bow on her earlier frustration with not understanding him, she gets it now. (also I find it funny his whole beef with Chrona stems with how it affected Maka, not him or even the DWMA as a whole)
It's nice that a lot of Black Star's second arc is mostly about him doing things for other people: Kid, Maka and Angela in the background. (It kills me Tsubaki is left out of this, but she spends so much of the back half of the manga in weapon form commentating on what's going on, it's so sad). There's more emphasis on him shielding other people in group fight scenes and listening to other people's ideas. We have growth.
THE DARKSIDE OF THE MOON (Asura)
Alright, circling back to a point I made in Part 1, Black Star wants to redeem the reputation of the demon sword. It is not lost on me, that the move he makes to try to kill Asura with, is an infinity blade style technique (reminiscent of Mifune) and named after Tsubaki's brother. He really tried to do something here, bringing up the guilt he had over failing to stop Asura's revival and that this would fix everything.
He fails, but the multiple swords follow him around for the rest of the fight.
He argues with Asura that humans aren't weak, that he's not trusting blindly anymore, and that he's trying to lift the regrets of those who came before him.
And here's where we're going to pull out that pin.
Kim's healing spells not working when Black Star feels they shouldn't. Resisting Chrona's screech beta. Repelling the madness from the Book of Eibon. Dude is resistant to wavelength techniques now. Something that had previously been a weakness (a dull spiritual sense and not gelling with other souls) is now a strength he can use, regardless of how powerful the person using it is.
On the 3rd time trying to save Maka this fight, Black Star's left arm gets pulverized and his spine is shattered. He tells Tsubaki sheer muscle and willpower is what keeps him standing at this point.
He and Kid hold Asura back while Maka goes in after Chrona. When they realize Asura's trying to seal all of them inside, Black Star attacks Asura one last time. Rule of threes again, the one time he strikes Asura to protect someone else, he succeeds. (Bonus points for it being the Mifune/Masamune swords that save people)
With Kid's help they keep Maka away from the black blood sealing up the moon.
EPILOGUE
Hear me out.
Minus all the moon is a boob stuff, there is something here.
Black Star continues to train everyday, but this time it's framed as a positive thing, as is the inhuman like abilities he's mastered. He's no longer being compared to a murderer/demon, but the likes of Kid, like he always wanted. He also gets to be happy about this, instead of bitterly pushing boulders up hill.
He hasn't lost who he was in this quest to become stronger. Angela is with him still, this time training alongside him, and I do believe this is kinda a way of healing his inner child. Like he projected onto Angela a lot, and here she is bad a magic, and he's not looking down on her or saying it's impossible to be better at it. All he does is say he has to be a better person for her. Wish we got more of this tbh.
I'm guessing Kim healed him, since he's walking around in the final pages. However, with him learning to levitate, there are many fan theories that part of his training was learning to walk again with the help of Kim or Stein.
He also finally has fans requesting duels from him (instead of him chasing people down, like at the beginning of the series). Some of them even have arm bands similar to what he and Tsubaki wear.
CONCLUSION
There are so many holes in Black Star's second arc where things happen off screen, or are summarized. That leaves a lot of holes for fanon to continue the development in a variety of directions. Arc two leaves the door open for a softer/mature Black Star in later years.
Based on what is shown on screen, I do feel that he's trying to make a better effort to be empathetic of others, supporting other people when it's their turn in the spotlight. His relationships with Maka and Kid have softened considerably, though he's still used as a comic relief character in scenarios. If he got it 100% right after a few weeks/months, it would feel too OOC.
His second arc is considerably weakened by not exploring his relationship with Angela, outside of dragging her to training sessions. The fact Tsubaki doesn't get a follow up arc when the two people she's killed now are people she knew and tried to help change before their executions leaves her completely stagnant for the rest of the manga. We only really see Black Star on missions, or getting back from missions, unlike before where there were tests and training exercises.
With less team missions: he, Kid and Maka also have less time to interact with each other. There are no new conflicts they have to solve together, it's straight to Asura and Chrona.
This arc, I believe, is where anime only and manga only fans stop seeing eye to eye on who Black Star is. And even manga fans argue on how much Black Star's bragging is cope versus genuinely believing his own hype. It is in these blank spaces that fanfic takes his character and runs in two different directions.
A) Black Star never changes
B) Black Star continues in the direction arc 2 sets him on, but never fully delivered.
I prescribe to option B. Most 14-15 year olds will do cringe things and be over confident. Pop that into madness war-zone territory, and ye, things are going to get a little "I'm going to live forever". The important thing to keep in mind, is in the epilogue, he's requesting accountability. He wants to keep getting better.
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