[[quoteright:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/senotgirls03_5816.gif]]
[[caption-width-right:330:Our heroines[[note]]Clockwise from the left: Anya, Meme and Tsugumi[[/note]]]]

''Soul Eater Not!'' is a manga from Atsushi Ohkubo, the same {{mangaka}} who did the original ''Manga/SoulEater'', and is set in the same universe. In fact it's something of a prequel that takes place a year before the start of the main series, though focuses on different characters with certain characters from the original series making cameos, or even playing a significant role. The manga originally ran in ''Monthly Shonen Gangan'' from 2011 to 2014. It was picked up for an English release by Creator/YenPress, which includes both the collected volumes and a serial release in their online magazine [=YenPlus=] which was simultaneous with the Japanese release.

14-year old Tsugumi Harudori is a new student entering Death Weapon Meister Academy as part of the NOT (Normally Overcome Target) class. She is a Weapon, but is unable to control her transforming just yet which has lead her to be a little more than anxious about this opportunity. After some encouragement from a girl named [[Manga/SoulEater Maka]], however, Tsugumi attempts to face her first year in [=DWMA=] with high hopes. She soon meets and befriends two Meisters, [[TheOjou Anya Hepburn]] and [[TheDitz Meme Tatane]], who are adamant in staying by Tsugumi's side and making her their weapon partner no matter what.

''Soul Eater Not!'' borders on being a SliceOfLife manga, with most chapters focusing on the relationship between the main characters and their lives as DWMA students. The series also expands on certain aspects of the DWMA that were not properly explained in the main series, such as the school's uniform system or how students are ranked and assigned. It is notably much LighterAndSofter than its predecessor, but there are moments when the story will stray into rather ominous territory.

An anime adaptation by [[Creator/StudioBones BONES]] started airing on April 8th, 2014. Like its predecessor, it was also picked up and dubbed by ''Creator/{{Funimation}}.''
----
!!This manga contains the following tropes:

* AcademyOfAdventure: As with the original series, the DWMA is all about this, albeit in NOT it is a lot more toned down since the main characters are part of a class that is not meant to prepare them for the difficult combat that the original Soul Eater characters do.
* ActionDressRip: When fighting a BrainwashedAndCrazy [[spoiler:Meme]], Anya rips off the bottom two-thirds of her dress, to improve her range of motion.
* AdaptationExpansion: The anime keeps the important moments from the manga, but overall the pacing, and the order and length of certain events is different. This allows the inclusion of new scenes that never even happened in the manga, but nonetheless help to try and give more personality to the characters, and to even show how certain events occurred in a little more detail.
* AllThereInTheManual: This actually is the manual for Soul Eater as we learn far more about how life goes for regular students such as dorm rules, money management, why some kids wear uniforms and others don't, and several other things that help to flesh out the world of the original Soul Eater.
* [[BlondBrunetteRedhead Blond Brunette Light-Brunette]]: Anya, Tsugumi, and Meme.
* CallForward: Sid hits Maka with a book ("Sid Chop") in chapter 4, to which she returns the favor later in the original manga.
* TheCameo: Several of the main cast of ''Manga/SoulEater'' show up this way, given that it's a {{spinoff}}[=/=]{{prequel}} type thing of the series. For instance, Kilik can be seen on a poster. Black Star also makes a quick cameo in the first chapter, giving Tsugumi a good first impression of what life at the academy is like by punching a guy right in his face and then asking her if she wanted his autograph.
** In Chapter 3, Medusa, who is still undercover as the school's nurse, is seen entering and making an order at the cafe where Tsugumi and co. work at.
** Soul makes a few random appearances, usually when Maka is also there, but he also had a chance to talk to Anya when she accused him of being a "fake" when he tried acting cool.
** Death the Kid makes a quick cameo in a chapter that focuses on Liz and Patty, and is quick to confuse Tsugumi when he fixes her pigtails, laments their symmetry, and then just leaves.
** Justin Law and Tezca Tlipoca both briefly appear in chapter 13, seen in the basement of the DWMA. They attempt to help the girls when they're lost, but only proceed to frighten them and cause them to run away.
* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Despite being a prequel, Jackie. She was primarily a SatelliteCharacter, who's only purpose in Manga/SoulEater was to be Kim's partner. As a result, she had little screen time and was always presented as TheStoic in comparison to Kim. In NOT, she's given a more open personality, is shown to be a good student who always follows the rules, and is even heavily implied to have feelings for Kim. All three points were never even hinted at in the original Manga/SoulEater.
** It can also be argued that this happened to Kim as well. While she was never a NiceGirl there's nothing in Manga/SoulEater that hinted that before her supposed CharacterDevelopment, she was the JerkWithAHeartOfGold Tomboy seen in NOT.
* CerebusRetcon: Sid's death, which was even passed off in the original series as a joke. When we're finally ''shown'' how it happened, it's not in the least funny.
* ContinuityNod: In chapter 7, one of the students in the EAT class was mentioned to have completed a 100-meter dash in just under six seconds, something Black Star was mentioned to have done in ''Soul Eater'' shortly before the Baba Yaga's Castle arc.
* CoolSword: Subverted with a weapon shown in the first chapter, who turns into a head with a dinky little blade sticking out of the top.
** He is shown in a later chapter to have improved on his transformation...Sort of...
* CrashIntoHello: Meme and Tsugumi's first meeting combines this with FunbagAirbag.
* CurbStompBattle: Anya and Tsugumi versus Raid and Hao (the big guy and the guy who can't change his head) only takes three panels.
* CuteWitch: Shaula Gorgon is somewhere between this and HotWitch (her sisters Medusa and Arachne are full-on HotWitch).
* ExoticEyeDesigns: Loads!
** Shaula sports Yin-Yang mandalas which no one seems to notice.
** MindControlEyes - Anyone who falls under Shaula's mind control.
** [[spoiler:Akane has star pupils, since he trained with the Star Clan.]]
** [[spoiler:Meme has similar but noticeably different eyes from the other victims as Shaula's mind control on her was stronger.]]
* EyesAlwaysShut: Misery, the dorm manager, albeit with less wisdom than usual.
* FirstEpisodeTwist: [[spoiler: Tsugumi transforms into a halberd, and is in a LoveTriangle between Meme and Anya.]]
* FreudianTrio: Id - [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Meme]]; Ego - [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Tsugumi]]; Superego - [[DefrostingIceQueen Anya]].
* FunbagAirbag: This is how Tsugumi first meets Meme.
* GeckoEnding: An odd example; the author did help with the ending of the anime and some sections of Shaula's scheme are expanded upon, ending with a final battle between the protagonists and Shaula. But the manga was still going at the time when the anime finished up and the end battle in the manga is a bit more different.
* IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight: In the last episode of the anime, [[spoiler:Meme is under the control of Shaula Gorgon, and Anya and Tsugumi have to rescue her by fighting her.]]
* ImagineSpot: Tsugumi claims she's surrounded by {{pretty boy}}s at the academy, but she snaps out of her thoughts once she sees Black☆Star punching a guy in the face.
* InLoveWithLove: According to Tsugumi, anyway.
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: In the anime, we actually get to see how Sid dies]]. It was PlayedForLaughs in the original series, but the actual circumstances are [[HarsherInHindsight considerably less funny.]]
* LateArrivalSpoiler: This series doesn't even try to hide that [[spoiler: Kim is actually a witch]]. For some people who haven't finished the manga, and certainly for anime-only watchers, it may leave them scratching their heads and going, "Huh?"
%%* LighterAndSofter
* LovableSexManiac: Even without appearing yet, [[BumblingDad Spirit]] still manages to sleaze his way into the story, by being the reason behind the cafe's... ''flattering'' waitress uniforms.
* LoveDodecahedron: Not really in place, but invoked when Clay tries to distract Tsugumi from a sensitive subject by coming up with a rather ''[[http://i585.photobucket.com/albums/ss298/thatother1dude/Nothappening.png interesting]]'' view on the cast's relations to each other.
-->'''Tsugumi:''' Wow... when did we turn into such a... soap opera?
* LoveTriangle: Tsugumi had a desired ImagineSpot of being in a sort of "threesome" with two boys vying for her as their weapon, but it didn't quite go as planned, as Meme and Anya want Tsugumi to be ''their'' partner.
* LowerDeckEpisode: Try a Lower Deck ''Series''. In the grand scheme of things, the main characters are just minor students at the school and showing life at DWMA outside of witch and kishin hunting with occasional run ins with the cast of the first series.
* MoodDissonance: Anya tends to look pleased while saying seemingly insulting things and annoyed while saying seemingly approving things due to her inability to be honest about what she likes.
* NonstandardCharacterDesign: Maka when she shows up in this series keeps her look from the original series which draws her without any visible pupils, which makes her stick out like a sore thumb next to the other characters. This is a lot less pronounced in the anime adaptation.
* NotWhatItLooksLike: Anya wakes up one morning to find Meme in bed with Tsugumi, who is tied up with rope, all for totally non-sexual reasons. She of course assumes something kinky was going on.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: It's specified that many DWMA students may choose (or unwillingly receive) a nickname that's treated as their actual name. One particularly unlucky student had Kim submit a request in her name to call her "[[EmbarrassingNickname Eternal Feather]]". It's even hinted that Soul Eater himself did this.
* PowerIncontinence: A major reason why NOT classes are required for all weapons--without training, weapons may suddenly undergo a PartialTransformation, making them a danger to others even if they're not trying to use their power. It's even shown in the first episode of the anime that this happening at home is how Tsugumi discovered she was a weapon in the first place.
* {{Prequel}}: Not immediately spelled out, but Sid isn't a zombie yet, Medusa is still a nurse, the Thompson sisters still act like gangster bullies, and Kim and Jacqueline hadn't become partners by the first time we see them. Officially, it takes place, at most, a year before the start of Soul Eater.
* SchoolUniformsAreTheNewBlack: Discussed as The Academy has many school uniforms - female students can even choose between sweaters and sailor-style - and casual clothes are fine too.
* ShoutOut: Misery-san, looks like [[{{Literature/Misery}} Annie Wilkes]] and is a huge fan of a novel, similar to how Annie was. Of course, it's not a surprise that Ohkubo is a Creator/StephenKing fan.
** Check out the bottom left of page 181 - Where's Wally? Oh, wait, there he is.
** Stein pulls a prank that involve a head coming off a fake body then crawling away like the monster in ''Film/TheThing1982'', except instead of growing legs it moved around with PrehensileHair. The girls even mention the movie when they see it.
* ShroudedInMyth: "The Witch of the Dorm." Is it the psychotic housemistress Misery? The enigmatic and rude fortune teller Kana? It's actually the relatively normal [[spoiler: Kim Diehl, who saves Tsugumi from Misery and then demands her week's allowance as payment. 'Course, this is before we learn she's an actual witch...]]
** [[spoiler:Also Harudori saw a {{Tanuki}} statue and it immediately reminded her of Kim, whose AnimalMotif is said animal.]]
* {{Spinoff}}: Of ''Manga/SoulEater''.
* TwelveEpisodeAnime: Its animated adaptation had less episodes then the main series.
* TitleDrop[=/=]FunWithAcronyms: 4 chapters in we find out "NOT" is the abbreviation for "[[GratuitousEnglish Normally Overcome Target]]", the name of the class taken by the majority of the students who aren't actively fighting. The EAT, or "Especially Advantaged Talent" class are the ones actively out in the field fighting evil.
* {{Verbal Tic}}: ''Gagantous!!''
----