US Distributor: Funimation
Production Studio: Bones
Was this provided by the publisher? Yes
More Info: Anime News Network
When Soul Eater hit the airwaves in 2007, it was seen as a perfect storm of strong characters and a rich world, brought to life by a slick visual style. The series spawned countless fans, who hungered for more after its 51-episode run ended in 2009. Soul Eater Not! offers fans a chance to return to Death Weapon Meister Academy for one more adventure, with a new cast and direction.
Soul Eater Not! is a slice-of-life series that revolves around Tsugumi Harudori, a middle school girl who learns that she, through some miracle of nature (or hatred from an uncaring god), is able to turn into a weapon. One thing leads to another, and Tsugumi finds herself staring down a new life at Death Weapon Meister Academy (DWMA). Her classmates are strange, her housemates are quirky, and her roommates are a regular odd couple of a ditzy amnesiac and a spoiled princess. The odds are tough, but Tsugumi must find a way to thrive in this strange new place, while still keeping up with her studies!
In many ways, Soul Eater Not! can be described as “My First Soul Eater.” It strays from the adventure roots of its predecessor, to create a more welcoming environment that expands on the franchise’s core concepts.
And, for the most part, it works well. The slice-of-light elements are genuinely enjoyable, with a delightfully cutesy charm and a playful sense of humor. Tsugumi’s experiences at DWMA, from a part-time job at Deathbucks Coffee, to run-ins with the deranged house mistress are genuinely entertaining, and offer plenty of room for the cast to grow and evolve.
A secondary storyline, which sees the more capable class students tracking a witch, runs parallel to the core plot. These segments are well-paced, and offer a chance for franchise favorites like Soul and Maka to really show their stuff. These sections come at the cost of character development, though, and generally assume that viewers know the players as things unfold.
The series makes a valiant attempt to bring these two threads together for its climactic final moments, but ultimately falls flat. The two stories prove to be far too different to really mesh together, leading to an ending that feels more like a compromise than a real resolution. Events unfold clumsily, and many elements feel like they’ve been wedged in to fill some checklist requirement than to serve the series as a whole.
Still, while the plot does run out of steam, the cast manages to keep things afloat. Tsugumi is the notable standout, playing the role of the strange person in a strange land. She, like the viewer, is a strange person in a strange land, struggling to cope with the countless new faces and experiences lain before her. Though fellow stars Meme and Anya don’t get the same drastic sense of growth, their evolution presents itself well.
Secondary characters, like Kim Diehl and the delinquent duo of Patty and Liz, are treated with a surprising amount of care, with plenty of room to grow. Backstories are woven beautifully into the narrative, and motivations are made clear without becoming an annoyance.
In this light, it’s unfortunate that series antagonist Shaula seemed to regress over the course of the series. She initially presents herself to the viewer as a mysterious, though clearly malevolent force. This quickly turns into a cartoonish super-villainy that utterly destroys the mystique and appeal of Shaula’s character, to the point that her final appearance is more groan-worthy than dire.
Visually, Soul Eater Not! fails to up to expectations. While the character designs are generally appealing, they lack a real visual “punch.” Backgrounds are nondescript, every-day locations like classrooms, city streets, and the Deathbucks coffee shop that fail to really sell the show’s over-the-top setting.
More egregious, though, are the various animation inconsistencies. There are numerous cases in which characters go off-model, with Anya being the absolute worst case. Her face regularly settles into an odd expression in which her eyes are set far apart, and her mouth settles into a mindless half-frown.
The show’s numerous battle scenes are a treat, though, with slick animation and fantastic choreography that pull the viewer into the action. The action is fast and furious, and the segments are genuinely fun to watch.
Soul Eater Not! manages to entertain, despite the numerous shortcomings. The colorful cast and playful sense of humor help to breathe new life into a world that’s been well-traveled in the past. While it’s far from required watching, there are certainly worse ways to spend a night on the couch.