Manga Review: Soul Eater by Atsushi Ohkubo
On a very alternate Earth, humanity has several different subspecies that do not exist on ours. The most notable of these are Witches, who have the inherent ability to use magic, and Weapons, humans who can shapeshift into…weapons…that can then be wielded by more standard humans known as Meisters. Meisters and Weapons are trained in Death City, Nevada to be the agents of Shinigami, the god of death.
It seems that Asura, a god of madness, is awakening, and this has started a battle between the witches Medusa and Arachne to control the power of madness, both also fighting the forces of the Death Weapon Meister Academy (DWMA.)
As of #17, Arachne has been destroyed, and the top students of DWMA have become the Spartoi unit. However, a new threat named Noah has appeared and imprisoned Death the Kid (Shinigami’s son) inside the Book of Eibon. Meanwhile, Medusa has been experimenting on her child Crona to increase that one’s power of Black Blood.
After a three-way standoff between Medusa’s witches, the DWMA and Noah’s minions, the Spartoi begin their exploration of their copy of the Book of Eibon in an effort to rescue Death the Kid. But each chapter is a deadly sin, and they may well fall at the first obstacle, Lust.
There some interesting world-building in this series, and some memorable characters. As the cast has expanded, it’s gotten more diverse as well–not all Witches are irredeemably evil, for example.
Like many shounen series, the fanservice can get a little annoying, especially as some of the Witches are given to wearing really dubious outfits. The Lust chapter seems like it’s going to have some fun with this, though, as the characters find their genders swapped.
There was an anime series based on the first half or so of the story.
This is an okay manga, and might be worth looking into.
