There are cases when the story is interesting, but the ending spoils it all. Or when the music is better than all the other aspects. Or when a famous anime director you were having high hopes for does not prove to be as good.
All of it does not have anything to do with 'Soul Eater'. This is a story of coolness.
story
What is the usual result of making an anime based on an ongoing manga which is not going to end any time soon? A poor ending of the anime. The directors either try to follow the manga as long as possible and then suddenly turn everything upside down, or create their own version of 'how it was' and fail to present anything edible credible.
Imagine my surprise when all plot twists in the anime turned out to be interconnected and by the final episode they all came to one single ending with no plot holes or mistakes in the narration. Moreover, even though the story was far shorter 'twas interesting enough.
And now let's forget all the difficult words and phrases I used.
...
This is a true 'shounen' piece, showing examples of brave warriors fighting with evil who know no fear. Oops! They do. In fact, this is the main attraction of the story. You don't have to fight with no fear. You have to have the courage to fight your fear.
In the middle of the series I told +Арагорн Араторнович - tell me my dear friend, why anime is considered to be bad for young people when such pieces like 'Soul Eater' promote friendship, trust and loyalty.
It's the kind of anime series where moments like this remind you that this is 100 times more important than any series created exclusively for entertainment.
Still, SE tries to be something out of the box and overcome the walls created by the 'shounen' genre.
It's not without fanservice, though. Both for guys and for girls.
The characters are abundant, and everyone could find one to relate to, one to respect or admire. Or more than one. Or relate and admire at the same time. Because it's like the first time I felt understood the character's feeling SO deeply.
Like, have you ever seen a God of Death who is like
It's not without fanservice, though. Both for guys and for girls.
And despite tons of blood spilled, it is an extremely kind shounen. Because everyone is doing his best to protect his friends, and to protect the whole world. Because even though they explain that they simply want to be cool, or to be greater than god, or to maintain the order, in the end they all fight for peace.
...
......
And still, the biggest merit of this series is...
The humour. The wonderful Japanese humour that rather than simply making you laugh, makes you stare at the screen and say WHA????
Or a singing Legendary Sword whose favourite phrase is
The level of madness in the series reminded me of King of Bandit Jing. I've never ever seen such crazy ideas, be it the story or the design.
music
Welcome my new record-breaker. The playlist I created out of Soul Eater OST, character songs, opening and ending themes lasted for 6.5 weeks. If there were cases when I listened to an anime OST for so long, it's not hard to count them with one hand.
Taku Iwasaki is a genius in OST-composing. Different bands who lent their hand to creating the album gave the OST an original hip-hop feeling. The tracks just didn't fade away with time. 6 weeks in a row they were inspiring me, or better to say - weren't letting me go.
voicing
I've heard Omigawa in a different anime. Her voice made me want to switch it off. I heard Uchiyama in a different anime. His voice impressed me so much I decided to keep my eye on him.
And it doesn't matter here at all. The seiyuus did such a great job I must confess the manga would not be that interesting at all if I didn't read the characters' lines with their respective seiyuus voices.
Welcome the other heroes - Kobayashi Yumiko, Nazuka Kaori, Miyano Mamoru, Takahira Narumi, Watanabe Akeno, Koyama Rikiya, Sakamoto Maaya, Ookawa Tooru, Kuwashima Houko and Neya Michiko, Uchida Yuya, and of course - mr. Koyasu. And many many others. It's not that they simply did their job. They made the black-and-white world of the manga colourful to the fullest.
graphics
I must confess, even the original manga did not look as attractive as the anime in some moments. Maybe that was because the anime was created when the manga was already moving towards its middle, and the anime designers took a bold step to creating a fuller, 'spaced' variation on what they saw in the earlier chapters comparing them to the later chapters.
conclusion
If I had to explain what SE is in one sentence, I think I could use this stop-frame.
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