I’ve really wanted to start a series of posts about why I love various anime/manga and how they relate to my experiences, so I figured I would start with my favorite.
I’m going to explain the 3 main reasons I love Soul Eater. WARNING: Lots of potential spoilers for the anime and manga.
The concept of souls as portrayed in Soul Eater reflects very much how I perceive souls in real life, in a very forward and creative way. The idea of souls being good or bad, resonating, maybe not the eating souls part. I love the concept of “A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body”. That was a mantra that got me through a rough spot in my life, which was conveniently around the time a started watching Soul Eater.
2. Character Relationships
The dynamics between the characters are beautiful. I love the way that Soul and Maka treat each other. I am a die hard SoMa fan, but even if I wasn’t I am still charmed by their friendship. They bicker nonstop but would do anything for each other. I’m going to stop here on this point for now, because I will touch on this much more in point number 3.
One of the dynamics that I loved, but was also hurt by the most was that of Black*Star and Kid. Black*Star’s jealousy or need to surpass kid struck a chord in me. When I was in college I had a friend who achieved everything I wanted to and I was terribly jealous. We were always interested in the same positions and accomplishments and I always took second place to her, but she was still one of my best friends who helped me and inspired me to the ends of the world. So seeing the dynamic of two friends who cared about each other but still had that underlying jealously-and got through it had a special place in my heart.
I loved that the character relationships branched out and were widespread. It wasn’t just meister and weapon scenes. You got to see Tsubaki talk to Maka about Black*Star, Black*Star and Kid go after Excalibur. Maka and Kid bond over seeing a monkey soul. They were truly a group of friends and it was portrayed super well for such a (relatively) short series.
Warning: This section is going to be a lot of my theories. You may not agree with them, that is okay. I just want to share my thoughts. <3
Okay where to begin? This really is the big reason that this show holds a special place in my heart. I love the character of Soul Evans. As far as I am concerned, the show and manga revolve around him and his character development in a way that allows him to be the thing that ties it all together without being the focus the whole time (less is more sometimes).
In the beginning Soul is a goofball. He jokes around, makes fun of Maka, and looks like a guy who is trying too hard to be cool. He makes it clear that it is a weapons job to protect the meister and he does that. He saves Maka from Chrona’s attack and I feel like that lead to a change in his character that followed. He was still goofy, he made jokes about Maka still and they still bickered. But he never showed a sign of regret, because he didn’t regret it.
Throughout the anime and manga, he changes. He goes from being confrontational and bickering and poking fun at things. To being serious when everything around them got serious as well. He starts to stay back and observe and allow Maka to solve her own problems unless he felt she actually needed him to step in. When Sid told Maka about Chrona, Soul overheard it but didn’t say anything until it was effecting her ability to make decisions.
Maka is obviously a main character on her own. but a lot of things she did went back to Soul. Soul at one points says that becoming partners with Maka was the start of his courage and it is represented by the song he played when they first met.
Soul can relate to Chrona and I find that fascinating. After the battle between Chrona and Maka during the Kishin revival, Soul makes a comment about how even he can understand the fear of getting close to people. When I watch Maka help Chrona get comfortable at the DWMA I can imagine that she had the same effect on Soul when he first started at the DWMA although their situations were obviously very different and Soul would’ve been too stubborn to show how nervous he was.
SoMa. Need I say more? The dynamic between Soul and Maka gives my chills. In my favorite non-anime show (Bones) one of the characters says “What you two have, is why people draw breath” (paraphrase) and that is how I feel about Soul and Maka. I want friendships and a relationship where we can bicker 24/7 but then turn around and be there for each other on a more personal level in an instant and Soul and Maka have that. They fight and complain but they help each other the second they need to. Soul gets Maka out of a book, supports her on her adventures, and lets her be the strong independent woman she wants to be - but will call her our in an instant if she is being stubborn. While Maka stands by Soul throughout all of his flaws and insults and is true family to him. I could go on about them for hours.
Soul’s music gets me every time. I am a musician, and had stopped playing for a few months after college. Then I watched Soul Eater and was like “I need to play again, now”. The fact that Soul introduced himself to Maka with a piece of music is phenomenal and beautiful and everything right with the world. The way he uses his music throughout the show in fascinating and beautiful. I love in the mange when he tells Maka that there is madness in his piano and that “In madness there is a strength that fascinates people”. I love that Maka studied music just because she wanted to understand Soul on that level. I love it all. I’ve started writing a piece I would like to someday use as a “self introduction” because of Soul and the way he did with Maka.
I could go on for days about Soul. Without a doubt. I have so much more to say. But my dog is asleep on my lap and it getting annoyed with me typing so much. So alas, I will end it here.
Basically my point here is just to explain why I love Soul Eater so much in a brief fashion. If you have any comments or questions about any of my Soul Eater thoughts or theories just message me or comment on here. I am always up for talking about Soul Eater. And I can’t wait to type out my next post on Why I Love a specific anime(: