Ask John: What’s John’s Opinion of Soul Eater?

Question:
what is your opinion of Soul Eater? Is that series over at 51 episodes?

Answer:
Soul Eater is a tough call. The series is produced by Bones. Bones did conclude the Fullmetal Alchemist television series in 51 episodes despite the original manga series continuing. Likewise, the Soul Eater manga series is still ongoing, and may continue long after its TV anime adaptation ends. Considering the present story development of the Soul Eater television series, I think it is possible that the series can successfully conclude in its planned 51 episodes. However, since Soul Eater is a popular shonen series, it could also just as easily be extended beyond its originally announced 51 episodes. The most probable development, though, is a replication of Fullmetal Alchemist anime franchise – an initial television series followed by a second TV series some time later.

I, personally, have a conflicted response to the Soul Eater anime series. I adore creator Atsushi Okubo’s unique gothic aesthetics and his very cinematic depictions of action scenes. I also think that Soul Eater has a strong sense of character design, with characters that are immediately recognizable and memorable. However, I also have a clear impression that the Soul Eater narrative suffers from the same sort of weakness that affects Kouta Hirano’s Hellsing manga series, namely the inexperience of the manga writer. Unlike Kouta Hirano, who made his independent publishing debut with Hellsing, Atsushi Okubo created the four volume B-ichi manga series prior to Soul Eater. But Soul Eater is Okubo’s first major hit, and his longest manga story. And its development, at least in its anime incarnation, lacks strong narrative cohesion, possibly as a result of Okubo having numerous ideas and wanting to get them all out without fully exploring or developing them in sequence.

The Soul Eater series begins with Maka and Soul, and Black Star and Tsubaki seeking to collect souls in order to evolve their weapons. However, this story thread is cast aside quickly, without a second thought. The Witch Blair is introduced, then just as quickly almost entirely ignored. Similarly, later in the series Justin is introduced then summarily ignored for a number of episodes. An initial antagonist is introduced along with the revival of the tremendously evil “kishin,” then the kishin is conveniently removed from the story and the initial antagonist is replaced by a second, more threatening antagonist. But then, as though struck by a sudden inspiration, the narrative unexpectedly places the onus back on the original antagonist. Meanwhile, the anime series also includes, so far, two side-story episodes featuring the weapon Excalibur. These tangential episodes feel very much like “filler” episodes designed to fill in a week’s broadcast slot and allow the animation staff to catch up to schedule on work on future series episodes. Except the “Excalibur” episodes are entirely original animation. If they were summary episodes consisting of largely stock footage from earlier episodes, they could serve as quick, easily produced “filler” episodes. But since these episodes are entirely new animation, they require as much time and effort to produce as any core plot advancing episodes do, which renders them especially tangential and seemingly pointless.

While in summary it may sound as though the Soul Eater story develops in a linear manner predictable of shonen adventure anime, in effect the Soul Eater anime distinctly feels as though its plot twists are frequently last minute decisions, and the entire narrative feels made up as it goes along rather than cohesively planned in advance in order to build momentum toward a singular theme and climax.

Furthermore, I’ve personally been a bit disappointed by the uneven strength of the anime series’ action sequences. The anime begins exceptionally by launching with one of the series’ most amazingly animated and choreographed fight scenes. But while the series includes plenty of action, especially impressive action sequences only appear sporadically, particularly in episodes 8, 24, 27, 34 and 36.

The Soul Eater anime is undoubtedly good, and it deserves its popularity. However, the anime series obviously has the potential to rise above merely being good, to being great. But the anime feels, too often, like its not fully implementing its potential. I like the Soul Eater anime series, but when much of the show doesn’t live up to the exciting and atmospheric tone introduced by the first episode’s introductory action sequence, it’s evident that the show falls short of what it ideally could be.