Manga Adaptation by Bones
Simulcast on Funimation

Recap

Generic moe girls invade the otherwise stylish and unique world of Soul Eater. Yaaay….

Marlin’s Verdict: Standing on the Shoulders of Giants to Look at the Ground.

There are two ways to do a spin-off series. Either you keep cameos to a rare treat, something the viewer won’t see coming, or you continuously shove them in your face so that your audience keeps remembering how much better the original was. True to its title, Soul Eater this is not. Instead, it is like someone decided to take a clip from random parts of the original cast’s lives. What’s the point in even having this story be about new characters if you just flaunt the old ones in everyone’s face to begin with? The short fight scene was at least competently shot, but the goofy nature of it somewhat diminished its impact. Considering how prominently the three girls are portrayed hanging out, something tells me this show will be more cutesy hijinks than any substantial action. All it really does is make me miss Soul Eater. While the ending was a mess, it was still a highly enjoyable shounen show with a fantastic style and a great ensemble cast. Who knows, maybe this will make enough money for Bones to finally make Soul Eater: Brotherhood or something.

Lifesong’s Verdict: Not Soul Eater

I’m so clever. This show is more of a slice of life in the same spot as Soul Eater than anything, but I find I am okay with that. I read a bit of the manga when it first started up and thought it was boring. The characters eccentric personalities are far more pronounced in the anime and as a result they are amusing to watch. The first episode is cameo central and that is a large part of the fun. By the end of the episode I felt like the 3 main girls had given me enough of a reason to watch more. I don’t expect too much from this show, but I’m having fun so far.

Aqua’s Verdict: Eats Your Soul

Soul Eater Not is not Soul Eater, in case you couldn’t tell from the title, but it’s not a whole lot of something else either. For a show that is supposed to focus on daily lives and procedures in Death City, it sure loves to dumb the original show’s signature southern gothic setting down to the point of it being unrecognizable. Gone are the sharp contrasts and twisted, cartoony details, and gone are the slightly sketchy, noodly character designs, cast out in favour of a generic moe art style from the J.C. Staff school of not giving a sod. Tinkly piano music and electropop replace the bizarrely endearing genre mish-mash of a soundtrack the original boasted, and if you think you’ll see some of Soul Eater‘s slapstick humour here, you’ll be sorely disappointed by the utterly rib-tickling thigh-slappers Tsugumi and her friends have on offer. Creative directing? Nope, male gaze. Quirky characters? Nope, stereotypes. Stunning action sequences? Nope, that’s asking too much. Aided once again by anime’s complete inability to write dialogue as if actual people would be saying it — think such Shakespearian witticisms as “am I at an age where I can laugh at the slightest thing?” and “Commoner-sized mammaries… Commaries!” — Soul Eater Not is a decidedly boring affair to sit through, and one that no quantity of cameos can save. Sure, Soul Eater Not is not Soul Eater, but even if Soul Eater Not was not called Soul Eater Not and had a plot, it’d still be a lot of snot.