Soul Eater Not!

[Kraco]

"Soul Eater Not! is a side-story to the main series, focusing on a freshman halberd named Tsugumi Harudori, who befriends two other meisters, Meme Tatane and Anya Hepburn. All three take part in the NOT (Normally Overcome Target) class at DWMA and learn to control their powers in order to overcome their difficulties to have a normal life, as opposed to the battle-oriented EAT (Especially Advanced Talent) class taken by Maka, Soul, and their companions." -Wikipedia

Genres: Action, comedy, supernatural, school life, shounen
Links: AniDB | ANN | Official
Download: Episode 1 - HS







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One of the shows I was looking forward to. This won't be as good as the main story, or at least the manga and the portion of the anime that followed the manga, but this will still be a treat for a big Soul Eater fan such as myself. The occasional cameos of the old characters really boost the eps as well. Of course I enjoyed watching this in an animated form, like any manga. Just seeing the ridiculous sun again was so nice. The original story had some weight with the madness and heavy fighting I don't expect in this story, at least not nearly to the same degree, but there ought to be some.

Both shows are by Bones, but this felt graphically slightly different. I don't think that will really matter since the emphasis in this one isn't on asskicking. Production values were quite average, but it should work with the story.

I'll definitely keep watching.

[Ryllharu]

After a while, I was enjoying Soul Eater Not more than I was Soul Eater. It's pretty simple to see why, Soul Eater got caught up in its own seriousness and forgot to be fun.

The other downside was that a number of characters were only introduced after things got serious, so this will allow us to see a little bit of the other Meisters (Ox, Kim, Kilik) in a more relaxed setting that they didn't get in the parent story. The best parts of Soul Eater were always the less heavy portions of the story: BlackStar being a dumbass, Excalibur, Kid being a neurotic mess, and Maka and Soul bickering with her father or Blair.

Soul Eater Not even dives right away into ruining Tsugumi's dream of being fought over by meisters...so she gets two girls instead. Or the fact that the other weapon is real proud of himself at his transformation ability, but has to be grabbed by the back of his still human head.

Even the characters are fun. Tsugumi is supernaturally average, Anya is obsessed with getting into contact with commoners, and Meme is the airhead moron who is stupid enough to forget her own name. I suspect that Anya is quite a bit more weak willed that she appears from her backfired nonchalance tsundere tears, and Meme is probably not nearly as incapable as she seems. Tsugumi, being supernaturally average, is likely the moderating force, dragged into others' idiotic adventures.

Sure, the art is more doughy, but the stakes are pretty low here, that much is obvious.

[DarthEnderX]

I hope this gets cool eventually.

Soul Eater did get oppressively grim, but I hope this hits some kind of happy medium and isn't just some kind of yuri love triangle story.

It's weird, I think they've explained more about what Weapons are in one episode of this than Soul Eater did in it's entire series.


What does "gagantous" mean?

[Ryllharu]

Gagantous is a synonym for "gao", "uguu", and "Nyoro~n" but with more shock than disappointment.

From the reaction on the other character's faces, it's complete fabrication.

[Archangel]

This looked TERRIBLE! The story, characters and setting was already inferior but i thought they'd at least try to get the animation style from the previous show, this could NOT look more run of the mill average if it tried.

Maybe my expectations were just silly but i'm so disappointed it's not even funny.

[DarthEnderX]

It's true that Maka's little weapon demonstration was animated at, like, a fraction of the level it was in, say, the first episode of the original series.

It was just some DBZ blurry movement shit.

[Archangel]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?featur...lxY6_3yo#t=276

This fight scene alone was on the higher level than the whole episode combined, i was hoping for but a sliver of this but there was none.

[Ryllharu]

It looks just like the manga, so I don't know what you're complaining about.

Right there in the title, Not Soul Eater. The manga has minimal if any backgrounds (unlike Soul Eater), has doughy faces, and less well-defined lines. That said, even the later Soul Eater manga isn't that much above. Same questionably defined faces, everything sort of

What's different? The atmosphere. Maka permanently scowling, Soul going crazy, etc. Here, those same characters are happy.

Not to mention that they're both written and drawn by the exact same person. He got lazier as time went on.

[Xelbair]

As ark said on IRC - it looks like K-ONified Soul Eater... i'll give it few eps to prove me wrong.

[shinta|hikari]

What's wrong with something being K-ONified? Cute is justice.

[DarthEnderX]

What's wrong with something being K-ONified?

Nothing if that's your thing. It's just nothing I'd ever watch.

If it's just taking Soul Eater and dialing back some of the darker elements, that's fine. If it's essentially a completely different genre that just happens to be set in the same universe, I don't really see the point. You might as well have just made a new series.

[Buffalobiian]

I'm slightly disappointed. As per an above comment, I thought this would be more "cool", but a lower-key version of Soul Eater. I'll see how things go, but I sure hope the lore and everything works its way into the story. I'll admit that I didn't read Kraco's description before I watched the the first ep though.

I can sort of get why weapons would want to go to the academy to just live with their powers, but what point is there for the non-combative Meisters?

[DarthEnderX]

Oh god, I didn't read that description either. That sounds terrible.

I think it's a red herring though. Like that's what they're there for, but "things don't always go the way you planned". I mean, it looks like there's what looks to be a scorpion-themed witch in the intro, so there has to be some kind of conflict. Unless the witch just comes to school to spread mean rumors and steal boyfriends.

I can sort of get why weapons would want to go to the academy to just live with their powers, but what point is there for the non-combative Meisters?

I didn't even know Maesters HAD powers without their weapons except for Black Star(from a clan of magic ninjas) and Kid(not human), so what are they learning to control exactly?

[Ryllharu]

Aren't all Meisters training for combat? They might just suck, and not get sent on many missions where they're more likely to die.

Don't forget that the entire purpose of the Academy is to create Death Scythes. The Meisters help the weapons obtain 99 or 100 souls and 1 witch's soul to become a weapon suitable for Death himself to use.

Who has been a "non-combat" Meister in the original series? Everyone fought, even Kim.

[Kraco]

I didn't even know Maesters HAD powers without their weapons except for Black Star(from a clan of magic ninjas) and Kid(not human), so what are they learning to control exactly?

Yeah, the original Soul Eater never really got into the whole meister thing. We know only a bunch of meisters who had anything special going for them: Black Star (basically a fighting machine who could beat unarmed all the other student meister+weapon teams, aside from Kid), Maka (unprecedented soul sensitivity), Stein (could alter his own soul wavelength to match anything), the internal affairs dude (same as Maka). Well, naturally Asura wasn't quite normal, either. And Sid was a fricking zombie.

All in all I think the meisters aren't normal either. There are some very basic requirements for a meister. Back when, in ep 5, the students went to "attack" Stein, we learned the meister pumps his soul wavelength into the weapon. It was compared to an electric guitar and an amplifier. Later we also learned the meister and weapon must match, otherwise it's hopeless (like Black Star and Soul). Furthermore, they must match really well for the resonance and the higher techniques. The group resonance is also up to the meisters.

So, no, I don't think just anybody could become a meister.

[DarthEnderX]

I just wish the series would take the time to explain it.

I wouldn't have even thought Maka was innately supernatural in any way, as all her abilities seem to just come from excessive talent, study, and training. Soul Eater is like if Hermoine was the star of the Harry Potter series.

[Kraco]

I just wish the series would take the time to explain it.

I wouldn't have even thought Maka was innately supernatural in any way, as all her abilities seem to just come from excessive talent, study, and training. Soul Eater is like if Hermoine was the star of the Harry Potter series.

It's a pity the anime chose an original ending. The characters kept developing very nicely and grandly all the way till the end. There would have been some really nice fights to see animated as well. May the Death God curse all anime original endings and feed their souls to the Death Scythe!

[DarthEnderX]

It's a pity the anime chose an original ending. The characters kept developing very nicely and grandly all the way till the end. There would have been some really nice fights to see animated as well. May the Death God curse all anime original endings and feed their souls to the Death Scythe!

Yeah, now that the manga has ended, I would have expected them to just redo the original series like they did with FMA.

[Buffalobiian]

It's not that meisters don't have any powers, but that they should be able to live with their powers without going to some "how to live with yourself but not become a fighter" class. Until they show me that the princess unconsciously pumps her soul into everything she touches, ends up breaking stuff and therefore needs this class to get on with life.. they're just add-ons because the equivalently weak death-scythes need someone to work with.

@Ryll: according to the description, NOT is for those who need this training to live with their powers, not to fight.

Oh, talking about the princess I found it hilarious that she slapped both the meister and the weapon's face. xD

[Kraco]

@Ryll: according to the description, NOT is for those who need this training to live with their powers, not to fight.

I very much doubt that's the whole true. The description might be interpreted that way, but let's not forget that half of the people there turn into weapons literally and the other half are inborn fighters able to manifest spiritual powers most useful in fighting and hunting witches and other aberrations. And above all, the academy is for human weapons and weapon technicians. I'd say this NOT class is the reservist class while the EAT class is for those in more active duty.

For such people to live with their powers means to know how to use them in combat, plain and simple.