#ask dwells

I am way too mean to Ohkubo for a lot of things that are me overreacting. 

(That doesn’t include how he handles girls, women, and fanservice, because, LOL, no, that fucker has that criticism coming.)

(Oh, and spoilers below for Soul Eater and Fire Force. And a content warning regarding potentially disablist representations or arguments.)

It is hard for me not to look at how he handled Kid and not think, “You passed up so many storytelling opportunities.” 

Some of this, I think, is just out of his sense of humor, the equivalent of saying, “I could do this kind of story–but it’s funnier if Lord Death just one day made another child out of nowhere and based it off of the guy from 800+ years ago that brought him into existence.” 

There are at least two reasons why that “joke” doesn’t work for me. 

First, if you keep having joke after joke without moments of sentimentality or just honest affection, the jokes drag, and the serious moments fall apart. We are supposed to care about Kid when he sees his father has died. I don’t ignore that, yeah, that moment of Lord Death dying, and Kid learning about it, both land. But I think those moments would land better if you had more there to make us think Kid and Lord Death had a deeper relationship–which is harder when Kid seems like he barely had a childhood. 

(There is a counter-argument that I will address, as all of this does explain how Kid turned out how he did, and how Kid and Lord Death are just not human–but I’ll get to that in a moment.) 

Second, I get little sense Ohkubo knows how to represent varieties of parenting in his story, or a refusal to show them. It’s not as if there aren’t untraditional families in his all of his works–but those are either ones fans read into (Blair as more of a parental figure to Soul and Maka instead of…whatever the hell that last chapter was about) or ones that Ohkubo confirms in the story (Sid took in Black Star) but doesn’t pay off (Has anyone felt any sense of a familial bond from Black Star to Sid? I don’t mean whether Black Star has parental regard for Sid–I mean, has there ever been any sense that Black Star sees Sid as anything other than just another teacher at the DWMA?). 

This isn’t to ignore that there are parents in his works, whether literal (Spirit is a well-developed parent, and I do find Maka’s regard for him to be earned in-story given what was shown to us) or otherwise untraditional (although some of it is either like a “big brother” like Yohei in B Ichi, or just confusing and underdeveloped, like Akitaru’s role towards Shinra in Fire Force). 

This leads to my counter-argument. I am convinced by fans who say, “Kid being introduced so late, and then Fire Force showing his origins in the finale, explains how Kid turned out how he did, and how Lord Death just screwed up as a parent to him and Asura.” Like, Lord Death just makes a child–and skips past baby stage, maybe even preschool stages, so that Kid is formed as more of a little adult rather than an actual baby and an actual child who has to slowly learn about the world and develop mentally and emotionally. Given how Kid behaves in the manga, and how Lord Death regards him, all of this checks out: regardless how much Lord Death did love Kid, and how the story insists he was making him to be his own person, there is still all of this other content that emphasizes that Lord Death saw Kid as his heir, and did handle his creation and development as preparation to be the next shinigami, not to be a human being. 

Which is also part of this counter-argument: if there is any good in Ohkubo’s choices, it lets him show how a shinigami like Lord Death and Kid differ from other people–because Lord Death made choices that a human wouldn’t typically make, and maybe that explains how Kid turned out, both genetically and socially. That being said, while it lets Ohkubo _show_ it, it all still feels half-baked and reliant more on what readers bring into the story than what the creator clearly shows. And I think this all raises really uncomfortable questions (given how Kid has been read as having obsessive compulsion and maybe other mental and behavioral conditions, writing all of that off as “he’s just not human” seems disablist). 

Depends on how we define "cool."

From the beginning of the series, Soul was trying to imitate what he thought was cool. As other bloggers have written, and I have paraphrased here, Soul starts the series thinking "cool guys don't get flustered in front of naked women" when he sees Blair for the first time, and in the manga he feels pressure to flip up Maka's skirt in front of Sid (gross) because Black Star did that to Tsubaki (gross) in order to turn on Sid (REALLY FUCKING GROSS) to get information from him. Soul was trying to put on a persona to make up for insecurities he had, thanks to toxic masculinity, peer pressure, and a desire to be someone different than just Wes's brother--even if those aspects to himself were not authentic or what he actually believed.

So, if we mean "cool" as "doing what other people expect you to do to fit in," Soul failed at being cool. But if we mean "cool" as just someone with a flexible personality, relaxed, and able to either keep up with trends or be a trendsetter...Soul is still kind of not cool.

I mean, he is flexible enough to work with Maka--but we see how both of them are so stubborn that it takes Tsubaki, the calmest person we know in the series, to yell at them over their arguments on London Bridge. He's not that relaxed, given how panicky he gets over Blair, how he says in Soul Eater NOT that he is scared of Lord Death, and Anya in NOT even calls him out as a poser for just imitating coolness by trying to copy other people's styles.

Well, yeah, the first Soul Eater anime was visually appealing and dynamic--but it's debatable whether we can say the same about Soul Eater NOT, given what looked like visual shortcuts due to budget rather than purposeful choices (see the Maka versus Eternal Feather fight and how cheap it looks with the smudges).

In terms of visuals for the first Soul Eater anime, I don't have a ton of complaints: the colors popped, the animation was fluid, character designs were actually an improvement upon anything Ohkubo has done with them from Chapter 0 to the present day, and the backgrounds and settings looked good. Even the CGI on the DWMA and the Sun looked suitable alongside the 2D animation.

A few days ago, I saw someone write how, even if we got another Soul Eater anime, it just wouldn't look the same thanks to where the industry is in terms of what techniques, technology, budget, and schedule they use for producing series. I have to agree. I am nostalgic about years ago when I would go frame-by-frame through an episode in PhotoShop to make screen captures and GIFs, appreciating even the texture I saw--or imagined I saw--on the image. I used to get close to that when looking at My Hero Academia, but a lot of current animation just doesn't have that same style. It's probably nostalgia talking, however, because there is still a high quality to that current art.

I could spend a long time talking about how adaptation differences between the manga and the anime, as well as the original Japanese audio and the localized North American English audio, didn't suit all of my tastes.

For example, we lost a lot when the Baba Yaga arc of the manga added so much more information about Arachnophobia that we didn't get in the anime, which rushed to tie Arachne's plan to Asura's presence to wrap up both stories in what may be a less than satisfactory way. (I could say a lot more about how I think Arachnophobia was wasted in both the anime and the manga, especially how Arachne was wasted in the anime. But at least the manga showed the technology and schemes Arachnophobia had.)

And of course we can discuss how the "punch of courage" ending has its flaws--but I think a lot of my criticisms towards it have become less intense, if only because I find how the manga ended and what Fire Force did to be more infuriating.

I think the change that the English dub made that has me the most perplexed and maybe a bit annoyed is the "once you go Black Star, you don't go back" line. I will need to check the original Japanese audio to see whether there was a similar gag used in that moment. But I thought the choice of joke was cringey, not only for what felt like superficial use of Black vernacular but also kind of a weird way to spin a sex joke.

I can’t respond to this without ripping off of fanfics I have read (and forgotten the titles and authors) and headcanon I have seen (and forgot those writers, too): 

Crona living with Maka, Soul, and Blair 

Maka eventually realizing she can turn into a weapon--and whatever comes of that, whether pleasant and good (she becomes an even better fighter) or sad (she’s no longer Soul’s partner)

As for a “mostly peaceful world”: I mean, Asura is neutralized for now, Arachnophobia is dispersed, but Medusa may come back. And even before Asura and Arachnophobia, there were still evil humans that Lord Death had on his kill list, so I expect the DWMA will still have targets for the kids to assassinate. (...What a cheery story >_>; )

(That we have to call him “Tsubaki’s brother” shows how limited an impact he really had on the plot, doesn’t it?)

From what I remember, there are just two instances where Masamune has any impact on the entire Soul Eater series: the arc with his fatal fight against Tsubaki, and the Baba Yaga Castle arc where we see how his death affects both Tsubaki and Black Star. And that’s really not enough. 

I’m not going to act like this should be the totality of Tsubaki’s characterization, constantly going back to her brother’s death as influencing every decision or thought she has. But as someone who is still not getting over the death of a close family member, I’m not going to act like that death is not something that stays with you forever–it’s just the intensity of that feeling and whether you notice it at any given time. 

(We could debate whether Masamune counts as a “close family member” to Tsubaki when I just said he has only two moments of impact on the entire story. But that’s a flaw of Soul Eater overall: for all of the correct decisions to not let stuff like Maka’s mother overshadow the entire plot, at the same time not even showing Maka’s mother throughout any of Soul Eater was a mistake, and just this absence of Tsubaki’s family throughout the story, not just Masamune but also her father and her unseen mother, is such a weird exclusion.)

I understand that stopping the plot for another arc around Tsubaki may not have worked with pacing: Soul Eater is largely focused on the progression of Maka (and to some extent Soul), Kid, Black Star, and Crona, with all other characters mostly satellites around those four in service to developing them. And that sucks for Tsubaki, when so much of her development does feel like it’s to help Black Star’s progression. It definitely works: Masamune is that grim example of what Black Star could have become. But it is an opportunity that the plot progression hindered. 

So, ideally, if the manga’s plot couldn’t do it, then you just needed an off-shoot to give us that story about Masamune. Light novels are always an option. If you had a bigger budget, there could have been a film, an OVA, a stage play, a plot for a video game. But that would depend on a story that makes Masamune’s presence necessary, and I don’t know what that could be. (If it was me, it would be a story showing just what exactly Tsubaki’s mother was up to that she wasn’t home for her and Black Star’s visit–maybe a flashback arc that could show more about her along with Masamune so we get a sense of how he turned out how he did, and maybe a bit more how Tsubaki turned out how she did. I did just say that sometimes characters are used to develop other characters, so I don’t mind using Masamune to help develop more about Tsubaki.) 

But to answer your question: it’s hard for me to think about Masamune as a character, when there is not much to that character beyond what he contributed to the plot. He has suffered from feeling overshadowed and unappreciated, giving into his dark side, so all of that makes him a foil to Black Star, an idea of what he could have become. He’s pretty much the opposite of Tsubaki, in terms of goals, personality, and appearance, so he reinforces how kind and supportive she is, as well as her resilience to take on family responsibilities and the Uncanny Sword in ways that he could not. 

And yes, we needed more about the effect his death had on Tsubaki. She literally incorporated his soul into her, as one of the souls she “ate” on her way to turn into a Death Scythe–and it just doesn’t come up aside from these two moments, key moments to be sure, but small in number and overshadowed by bigger moments for Black Star and other characters. Like, think what her experience could also tell us about the typical weapon’s experience. You just consumed a soul: what is that like? We know the Will of the Nakatsukasa persists in Tsubaki because she took on Masamune’s soul–but is there anything left of him, at all, in that soul? Any memories or emotions? I’m not saying it has to be like that, as you can have a death that has some finality where there is nothing of Masamune that is coming back, leaving Tsubaki with that grief, best encapsulated by that scene of her crying and cradling his soul in her arms. But it is just weird to not get a bit more about him, if just in service of Tsubaki. 

Maybe some of what I'm going to list out of bitterness, as a lot of headcanon or hopes for what could one day be explained is getting contradicted by any interpretations that Fire Force suddenly explains Soul Eater stuff. So, I'm going to do my best to not just say "this gap may be filled in by Fire Force for some readers," as that'll become some real tiresome whining on my part.

I'm also going to avoid bringing up stuff that I think never needed an answer (and Fire Force just insists on trying to over-answer for no good reason): "Why are the Sun and the Moon like that?" They just are. "How can madness exist like this?!" It just does. "How are Jack the Ripper, Al Capone, Rasputin, and maybe even JFK now all alive contemporaneously to Maka and company?!" They just are. This is not our world, this is not our timeline--it's theirs. "How can Stein survive with a screw through his head?" I don't know--how come Soul isn't dead after Maka clubbed him in the head that many times?

Wes Evans, Soul's parents, and Soul's grandmother: If they are just there for character motivation for Soul, fine, but it's weird to bring them all up but not pay that off. Wes isn't there at the DWMA when Soul is honored as the last Death Scythe? Soul Eater NOT had an as-of-yet Japanese-exclusive extra volume, which featured a side-story where Anya mentions Soul and Wes once performed for her mother and father--why not tap into more of that family history? (I could also bring up Tsubaki's mom, Liz and Patty's mom, Kilik's home country, but you get the point--these are details that could be expanded upon but aren't. Plus, it's messed up for NOT to just say "Kilik's home country" rather than, you know, actually confirming it.)

Who were all of Lord Death's initial warriors? Again, Fire Force may give this answer to people, but it feels like the story in Soul Eater ran out before it got to delve into this part.

On a related note, though, diving into the personalities of the Death Scythes and their meisters, Dengu and J'inn, is a massive missed opportunity.

And of course, Maka's mother. Maybe you could get away with not showing her or really giving her much personality--we know she's away, we don't need a strong reason for her being away when we already see Maka can handle herself (and, in the anime, the postcards keep coming in), and avoiding Spirit is a fine enough reason for her to not be seen. Or she has been there all along but never in an actual chapter--that can work, too. But it seems like such a middle finger to readers to never do anything with her, even at the end of the series, or in NOT, or the NOT special volume, or much of anything in the anime. And to potentially pay that off in Fire Force--if she magically shows up in the final chapter--is such a cynical cash-grab to get more readers into a series that is ending anyway.

Arachne creating weapons like the Nakasukasa. That sounds like there could be a story there.

What exactly did the Star Clan do that was so bad? I'm not saying we need justification for Lord Death putting them on his kill list, when being assassins can see like reason enough. But we saw Akane and debatably Ao in NOT having some familial ties to the Star Clan, yet they didn't get in trouble like Black Star's family. (This one is probably the detail that pisses me off the most about Fire Force: "Let's take Rekka, who at this point was assumed to be only an Easter Egg referencing Black Star's design and motif, and instead, if we interpret this manga as a prequel, strongly imply he goes on to be progenitor for the entire Star Clan!" ...No. Rekka is a child-abusing dick--don't make this guy anyone's ancestor. I know that one's ancestry doesn't define you, which is Black Star's entire storyline--but if the Star Clan is already bad enough, we don't need to make them any worse by associating them with some asshole who Shinra should have left dead.)

How else has Lord Death's presence shaped international policies? This isn't me starting this up--Ohkubo started this when he had NOT reveal that Japan's prime minister is required to be a graduate from the DWMA. So, how else did Lord Death shape global politics? How and where are Death Scythes placed? Do Death Scythes have someone filling in for them when they travel back to Death City?

Speaking of which, does Azusa have a meister at all when she's not working on DWMA missions? She was wielded by Sid and Kilik--but who else tends to wield her when she's not assigned to whichever meister is available at the time?

And on the topic of international politics, anything more we should learn about Anya's home country?

What are witch family structures like? Kim seems to know witches by name, she still traveled back to witch meetings (with Jackie), but she also wanted to avoid witches as her magic didn't match with their chaos magic. Does Kim have parents?

How exactly do souls works, and how are zombies created? This is a cheat, after I already said, "I don't care how the Sun and the Moon and time work in this series--I just like what I like!" But Sid's creation, and how some bodies disappear after their souls are taken out, is enough of a biological question, especially when that opens the door for potentially more zombies showing up--but never actually showing up.

What was Ragnarok before he was melted down? We know he assumed a weapon form, we know he became Crona’s blood, but how does he relate to the Black Blood in general?

What was the other form of the Mizune Sisters? Medusa killed off one sister before we saw how her combination with her other sisters may have created a form other than the ones we saw during the Kishin revival or elsewhere in the manga.

It’s not as if Fire Force doesn’t cross my mind a lot, long after it concluded–but it is weird how it doesn’t seem as impactful, at least to me. I don’t see it having the kind of impact I thought it would have on the Soul Eater fandom: maybe I’m looking in the wrong places, but it never seems like as much an overlap. Maybe that’ll change when the Fire Force anime wraps up and suddenly we see Fire Force all over the Soul Eater fandom–but it just seems like, after everything has simmered down, it didn’t do much. 

That being said, I still do not want to watch the anime, at all–but from what clips I’ve seen, muted, just looking at the animation…I’m ambivalent. Before, of what little I saw of the series, I didn’t like it. I can’t objectively call the animation bad, but I didn’t think it matched the tone or were the most effective choices. The animation on Shinra descending between Rekka and Tamaki, for example, is so drawn out that I just don’t get that visual choice. 

And when I did see any of the anime, I didn’t think the color scheme was appealing. Some of this owes to how unfortunate Fire Force is coming off of Soul Eater: Soul Eater got to be this eclectic world where anything can happen, so the color schemes and outfits can be anything–whereas Fire Force, for good reasons (a military-style set of characters) is limited to just uniforms all the sae and dull in variation, and for befuddling reasons (as a prequel, we’re stuck having the series look like this so that we understand what has changed once we learn what it is a prequel to). 

That being said, it looks like the second season got better with lighting and color choices. If it was me, I would have made this Fire Force post-apocalyptic world look different: why is the sky so bright and blue if things are so awful, why does the fire just look so dull in color scheme, why is it things only really pop in the colors once it is sunset or dusk? 

(This could turn into a long “my life story” post, so I’ll try to keep this brief.)

I didn’t get into the fandom until early 2013, when Soul Eater premiered on Toonami. And it just so happened that the manga ended in Japan later that same year. I dropped out of the fandom a bit from 2016 to now due to various factors (work, health, family), so I am going to be ignorant about a lot of the shifts and changes between then.

With all of that in mind, I can bullet point an incomplete list of why I think the fandom is, well, not smaller or inactive (I think it is still large and still active), but is definitely quieter than before:

Soul Eater isn’t airing on cable TV or elsewhere on a consistent basis. Yes, you can stream it any time, but that’s not the same as having new premieres gathering an audience to watch together at the same time. (See also Number 6 below for the same reason: if you have to hunt online for something, I think it’s harder for people to get into it.)

Chapter 113 soured people like me, and I think opened up comparisons to flaws in how the anime wrapped up, too.

NOT and Fire Force have not been the kind of follow-ups that embody what made Soul Eater work so well in visual style, themes, and message (NOT lacked the gothic style and powerful message; Fire Force is repeating the Chapter 113 problems of losing focus on what message it had), so at least for me I don’t see the fandom latching onto those series in the same way and thereby keeping Soul Eater popular.

With Soul Eater in the hands of SquareEnix and Yen Press, there are fewer opportunities in the United States to cross-promote it with Kodansha for Fire Force. (That’s not a problem for Funimation, as they license the anime for both Soul Eater and Fire Force, but I haven’t seen that overlap in their marketing, so maybe that’s a problem where BONES and David Pro can’t coordinate the same way.)

Other manga, anime, and other media will come along to give us what Soul Eater gave us, only better or at least newer, in terms of what we got out of Soul Eater: having a lead protagonist who is a girl (Maka), having trans or agender representation (Crona), having stunning animation, a gothic look, and a good soundtrack. We’ve had Gravity Falls, The Owl House, Little Witch Academia, and a load of other series that I think tap into similar but different approaches so that the spirit of the show continues in newer and, in some cases, more popular content.