Soul Eater

[Munsu]

Even though I never read the manga anywhere this far, it still makes me sad to hear the show isn't following it anymore. It inevitably makes me think this is inferior already.

Lol, I hate it when that happens, especially in shounen series... it's like shounen type of anime don't know how to make something anime original good. So that one is let known that something is no longer following the manga in this genre is a huge blow.

The discussion for the series has been quite bad for the last couple of episodes. Glad to see that Medusa is still around (fucking spoiled me some), she's awesome.

[Kraco]

Why exactly is Stein so relaxed in Medusa's company now that he's mad? Is it because he really likes Medusa and so being mad, that is, having no mental restrictions, he enjoys her company? In reality becoming mad wouldn't make anybody switch sides or anything like that. I guess there really was much truth in the talk back then about Stein and Medusa making a jolly good pair.

[Archangel]

Now that he's completely cracked up i'm guessing he's enjoying the madness high

I think that has more to do with him being relaxed more than Medusa's company

[Kraco]

Private Investigator Death the Kid:

Episode 43 - Tsubaki-Hatsuyuki

[Nadouku]

It was good to see Black Star go and kick some ass again with Tsubaki. Maka seems calm even though she doesn't even know where she's going, evidented by her blush and calm tone when Soul told her to stop and think about where to go.

[SPOILER]When Kidd got the "last" demonic tool and destroyed the two clown guards, I think that the voice that came from the red clown was Eibon himself, since he did create the tools and placed guards for them when he vanished from the face of the world. He also leaves Kidd with the question, "What will you do when you've obtained them all?"[/SPOILER]

I have to agree with Kidd, though. On what motives does Shibusen have when they manage to collect almost all of the demonic tools? Use it for the good of Shibusen? That's pretty hard to believe in, since Shibusen seems just as corrupt as Arachnophobia.

[Kraco]

What bothers me is the artificial building of some sort of corruption in Shibusen. Kid keeps repeating it and then we have all the theatrics involved in making a deal with Medusa... But that's pretty much all we have. Corruption would indicate internal deviation from the original plan, and I don't see anything contradicting that plan so far. If there's corruption, then it's just a conflict between the ideals of people who don't know all the facts and the reality nobody knows but Shinigami and maybe BJ. If Shinigami has dropped his original ideas, then maybe there really is corruption, but not otherwise.

Well, it was a good episode, even though I'm feeling the series is already hurrying towards some sort of an end now that the limit of episodes is near. That would only mean less character development in favour of developing the plot. I guess Black Star is suffering from that already, not so much the others yet, but honestly it wouldn't surprise me all that much if Soul's black blood would play no role anymore. I hope that's a premature prediction, though.

Edit: Added a bit of clarity.

[narutosharingan]

I don't necessarily think there's any corruption, but Shinigami certainly has a plan for those demonic tools. Kid doesn't understand because he doesn't know what Shinigami has planned, which is making him doubt the reason for obtaining them.

[Buffalobiian]

I agree with Kraco on this. Though I don't know when this show diverged from the manga, or how it does it, but if kind of feels like something filler writer would do. Adding things in that really doesn't go anywhere, and gets resolved by something really simple (like an explanation?). Considering all the things that's happened (secret only Staff know about, and the willingness of the people to know to help, and how it's all meant to help fix this "Kishin" problem), I'm going to throw a hypothesis in there that these tools will somehow uproot Shinigami's soul and let him go mobile again.

The actual episode had some pretty good battle scenes too. Kid's was entertaining, and they managed to throw in his symmetry weakness in as well. Patty and her twisted ways never gets old neither

I think that voice is Eibon too, and from his warning, he doesn't seem that evil person, despite creating "demonic" tools. (What evil person warns people destruction will come if not used properly?!)

Finally, Soul Eater EDs just keep getting better and better.

[Buffalobiian]

Soul Eater - 44 by Hatsuyuki Fansub & Tsubaki Fansubs

[Kraco]

A pretty intensive episode, but based on this Crona will surely never amount to anything. But on the other hand, she was never anything but a research item and a cheap tool to Medusa, so I guess it makes sense. She was never supposed to be a fighter. Quite a lousily devised attack plan by those two in any case.

Soul is a funny fellow: Even though they retreated from the main battle, he still remained in the scythe form, forcing Maka to carry him around. Surely the dude could have run on his own...

I wonder if Black Star will get any development anymore. I have a feeling the anime cut that one short immediately after he let himself get beaten by Kid. Possibly he will face one or two enemies still, with no big deal, but it's kind of a letdown, considering how Black Star and Tsubaki are my favorite characters. I guess I'll need to restart reading the manga.

[Buffalobiian]

Yeah, intensive as it was, Crona was frustrating to watch. I was expecting some solid resolve and a "I will not be your bitch anymore!" attitude, but she was still stuck with her half-assed determination. At least Mary knows what she's doing, but it doesn't look like she'll want to hurt Stein, even if she was a match for him. I'm also hoping they'll follow through with Mary's special ability that activates when she makes contact with you, rather than simply slipping it in to sound cool.

Your point regarding Soul is indeed a funny one. I can't think of a reason other than:

a) Both running together in black would look even funnier/bad.
b) Featuring Soul as a Scythe directs our focus on Maka, her expressions and her thoughts.

We still haven't seen Mifune yet, so there's still room for a final Black Star showdown. If it follows standard anime plots, he'll show how he's tapped into Tsubaki's powers by using an awesome move, while Mifune goes down saying something about "children are like that".

Rather, after the last episode, I'm thinking Kidd's the one who'll get no more action or any real story for the rest of the series. The only thing he can really "develop" is to get over his OCD, which would honestly make him a boring marksman. Maybe he'll have some sort of enlightening discussion with Shinigami when he gets back, but I'm not expecting too much action from him.

If Justin takes off his headphones, his fight might actually get interesting. It's still (sort of) cool to watch though.

[Kraco]

I'm not really that interested in regular Black Star fights. The developing, and cut short, madness aspect was so interesting it really make this series shine for me. I have seen people call Tsubaki a boring character, and while she isn't on her own any bright star, the fact this series is all about pairs, a weapon and a master, is what makes her interesting for me. I have really liked the interaction between those two, and the things they haven't said aloud but have let understood nonetheless, like during the demon blade arc, and how well they understand each other.

So, I'm infinitely sad the series ends so soon and any further interaction between those two will probably be nothing extraordinary. We won't be seeing how far Tsubaki would have followed Black Star down the path to madness, or whether she would have reacted soon to try to save him. Honestly, the fact there is that pair made Black Star's budding madness far more interesting to me than Stein's.

[Xelbair]

And i had hopes for a Death the Kid action here. Interesting episode but what sane person would charge into enemy's lair without plan or resolve to fight? And indeed Black Star's madness was really interesting - i hoped to see him more than Maka(which annoys me deeply).

Overall: good ep, but i really need to read the manga now.

[David75]

Well, the thing that's interresting about Black Star/Tsubaki is when they get to the uber level. They approached it only once, but BS feared the darkness to come... Tsubaki is probably the strongest weapon we've seen yet.

Soul isn't that strong, maybe even weak. But with Maka he's sometimes able to control black blood's power and get back. There's that Hax move they've yet to master too.

Other than that, I've loved Medusa from the first time I've seen her. She's the only character I root for, eventhough I know she can't win in the end.

[Kraco]

They approached it only once, but BS feared the darkness to come...

What incident are you specifically referring to?

[Buffalobiian]

Are you talking about the time when Black Star saw a Stag as he meditated with Demon Blade?

[Nadouku]

Even with Marie's help, Crona can't come to a strong conclusion for more determination, since her resolve was already weakened in the past and slowly began to repair itself before crumbling again by Medusa's hand. I thought it was interesting to see Medusa cuddle herself against Stein while pissing Marie off even more. Overall, good episode.

[David75]

What incident are you specifically referring to?

Are you talking about the time when Black Star saw a Stag as he meditated with Demon Blade?

Ep 33 beetween 4'20" and 6'01" roughly

BS is in fey blade mode, concentrating because he wants to know more about another spirit there is when in fey blade, seeking for more power. While he's in "Tsubaki's inner world" he meets some kind of monster spirit with which he talks about his seek for power. That spirit tells him it is of a ogre.
At that moment Black Star suddenly gets out of synch and it seems his body is at a limit.

For some reason, I think he desynched because he feared something.

[Kraco]

I wonder what sub of that ep you watched. I have actually watched that particular episode about five times, it being my most favorite episode of the whole series so far. However, the lats time was the AllHailExcalibur release, and honestly their translation differed from the one I had before so much that some scenes looked quite different - in a good way. That particular scene was one of them.

The spirit asks Black Star why he seeks power, and BS answers (like he always does) that it's in order to surpass God. The spirit answers that while BS speaks of God, he himself has a face of a demon (Black Star's most demonic face is shown at that point). And then Black Star is pretty much kicked out of the sword's soul world.

As a translation that's quite an opposite to the old shittier sub I had, and made 500% more sense, so I opt to believe this sub instead of the older ones. In short, the spirit might not have been satisfied with Black Star's answer, as honest as it was, or it decided to have Black Star prove his worth. Who knows. But as things are going in this series, I fear we will never find out, or it'll be a very unsatisfying anime original solution.

So, I don't think Black Star feared anything.

[David75]

Yup, subs were are to find for 30 to 34 eps I remember. It may well be that BS isn't fit to use the uber mode yet. Or that mode could kill him as a one time use for the end battle for example.
That would give meaning to the "I want to surpass God" line, he'll be able to, but only once and will consume himself doing so. Very much in line with stories of the same kind. But since it's me guessing, it's me puting my ideas in line, scenarist may think of something else.