The first thing that hooked me wasn’t even the story — it was the vibe. The jagged moon grinning in the sky, the twisted architecture, the way every frame seemed to pulse with this eerie, playful energy. It was weird, but in a way that made me want to lean in closer, like the world itself was daring me to keep watching.
However, once I got into it, it wasn’t the monsters or the fight scenes - which were insane and rapturous - that made an impression on me, but rather the characters. I did not realize that I would relate with them in that manner.
Take Maka and Soul. On the face of it, it is an archetypal pairing, the upright, somewhat relentless girl and the carefree, “too cool to care" male. However, as I began to spend more time with them, the more I began to notice the cracks, the insecurities that made them real. That need of Maka to be strong like her mother and unlike her father, that conflict of not wanting to repeat the mistakes of the people you are born to, I felt that was deep. And Soul, in his cool falsework to hide his fears and doubts? That struck me in a manner that I was not anticipating. The fact that the two of them were working out the method of not only fighting as a pair, but the way of trusting each other, seemed more human than anything in the show.
Next we have Black☆Star - loud, reckless, over-the-top. I laughed at him more than I can even remember but there were times when the bravado broke and I could see the kid inside who only wanted to show himself. Those episodes made me tender to him. And Death the Kid, the dandy of symmetry? It began with a joke, nearly a gimmick, but as the story went on I realized that it was more than a joke, but rather a part of his makeup, his worry, his attempt to cope with a hectic world.
And I can’t talk about Soul Eater without mentioning Crona. God, Crona. That character broke me. The way their pain, their abuse, their desperate uncertainty about how to exist in the world was woven into every scene… I don’t think I’ve ever seen loneliness and fear depicted in such a raw, vulnerable way in anime. There were moments with Crona where I had to just pause, sit with the ache, and remind myself it was only a show — because it didn’t feel like only a show.
Balance was also a distinctive feature of Soul Eater. One minute I would be laughing, as in, literally, belly-laughing, at some stupid joke, most often at the antics of Black☆Star or the nonsense of Excalibur. Then without warning the note would change, and before my eyes would be a battle in which the cards were on bone-deep, or a character confronting his darkness. The whiplash must have been shaggy, but it must have worked. It sweetened the laugh and darkened the darkness.
There were gut-punches, too. It hits me if I see characters corrupt, betray or even simply the burden of their own decisions. Yet what held me down was the theme behind it all that it is not so much about not being afraid but about fighting despite being scared. The message was running through all these character arc lines and that is what remained in me even after the show was over.
When I finally worked my way through Soul Eater, I was not left with the recollection of flashy fights and cool aesthetics. I was left with this weird sort of warm ache--the one you have when you parted with friends who altered you a little. It was not flawless and at the end I felt questions and even frustration. But the journey? The jokes, the belly hits, the silence of the moments of closeness? That is what made it memorable.
Soul Eater is not a cool shohen with a creepy aspect. It is about discovering your role in the hectic world, about affiliation, about confronting insanity in yourself and yourself as much as it is in the monsters. And that is why it is still in my head, years later- like that smiling moon in the sky- impossible to forget having seen it.
Thumbnail is designed by me on pixelLab and other images are screenshot from the movie
