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Crona
Voiced by: Maaya Sakamoto (Japanese), Maxey Whitehead (English), Gilberta Crispino (Italian)
Crona is Ragnarok's meister of intentionally unclear gender, and initially worked for Medusa due to being a Tyke-Bomb. Crona is unusual for a meister because they and Ragnarok share the same body, which is a source of Squick for the heroes. Crona alternated between being homicidally insane and fearful when under Medusa, later showing a nicer side when at the DWMA.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: Their hair was pink in the manga but purple in the anime (though there are a few manga illustrations where it's purple, it's usually pink).
- Adaptational Heroism: Due to the anime ending much before the manga and diverging from its storyline, Crona ends firmly on the side of the DWMA by the end of it, rather than going through major Sanity Slippage and fusing with Asura.
- Ambiguous Gender: Crona's gender is unspecified and besides Patty asking once, characters basically ignore it. The author has refused to answer it as well.
- Ambiguous Innocence: In the penultimate chapter, they confessed to Maka to not understand what was wrong with their actions. Which, to be clear, had included killing people and eating their souls and trying to destroy the world. Despite this, they decide to save the world simply to make Maka happy.
- And the Adventure Continues: At the end of the manga, Crona seals Asura and themselves, yet both Crona and Maka both express the belief that they'll meet again. There's no idea given as to how, leaving this the biggest loose end of the manga.
- Anti Anti Christ: Medusa intended for Crona to become the new kishin for the goal of enveloping the world into madness and terror For Science!. they ultimately reject this path in both the anime and the manga, though how they reject it varies between the versions
- Anti-Villain: The Woobie Variety.
- Ax-Crazy: Seems to be this, as of recent manga chapters. Yeah... It's going to take a lot more than a hug to fix them now, Maka.
- Badass Adorable: Admit it — even during their scarier moments, Crona manages to inspire the desire to hug them out of a good portion of the audience.
- Barrier Maiden: Attempts this in the penultimate chapter. Confronting their fear, Crona decides to use Brew to trap Asura on the moon.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Sacrifices themselves because Maka was the very first person to be nice to them and it would mean she would get to live afterwards.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Manages to kill Medusa and beat Noah, but all of two chapters after apparently absorbing Asura he takes over and does the reverse.
- Bloody Murder: Crona can use all their blood as a weapon. Heck, their blood is a weapon!
- Body Horror:
- Taken for granted, but doesn't become fully apparent until chapter 68, when we see that between the corruption of Medusa, Ragnarok, and the Black Clown, their soul has become twisted and deformed almost beyond recognition.
- When Ragnarok was still huge, he always forced his way out fully formed from Crona's back, in a pretty clearly painful way.
- Even chibified Ragnarok managed to make Crona wince a bit while forcing himself out.
- Brown Note: Their poetry is so depressing that it makes ANYONE, even the normally hyperactive Black Star, sulk in a corner wishing they were never born.
- Bully and Wimp Pairing: The wimp to Ragnarok's bully.
- Calling the Old Man Out: After Medusa shows Crona affection for the first time in their life and even apologizes for her cruel treatment, Crona quite epically freaks out and rants about how she made them throw away everything, and how they too was "thrown away," all the while stabbing her to a bloody pulp. And it was all part of Medusa's plan. The anime's version, in which Crona tells Medusa that they are done following her, child or not, is a straighter played example.
- Character Catchphrase:
- "I don't know how to deal with this..." and "My blood is black." The former quickly turns into a Madness Mantra:Crona: Kill you. Kill you. I don't know how to deal with you, so I'll kill you. Kill you. Kill you.
- And from their debut episode: "Those doors only open inward." Maka should've listened to that one...
- "I don't know how to deal with this..." and "My blood is black." The former quickly turns into a Madness Mantra:
- Character Development: Especially in the anime. Going from an insane weapon of Medusa, to the ultimate woobie, to becoming a stronger person and facing Medusa, the person who tormented them all their life, is a hell of an achievement, character-wise.
- Cooldown Hug: Maka first connects with Crona through one, becoming their friend in this way.
- Combat Tentacles: As of Chapter 96, they have Maleficent-esque thorns made of Black Blood that they use like tentacles to attack/defend/look badass.
- Cowardly Lion: Has shown a willingness to stand up to and even nearly die fighting some very threatening enemies in order to help their friends. Like Giriko, Medusa, and even Asura.
- Covert Pervert: Apparently not getting motherly attention from Medusa eventually leaves Crona with some kind of boob fixation, which eventually manifests in the main cast, and eventually the majority of the DWMA, catching the "Madness of Boobs" after Crona seals Asura away and making the other characters more perverted for a while.
- Creepy Blue Eyes: They switch between pale blue and black, usually the former when they're going batshit.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Try everything before befriending Maka.
- Dark Magical Girl: Gender-neutral example. Crona is a lonely, tormented soul who deep down wants to make real connections with other human beings while being manipulated and tormented by their evil mother, Medusa. Depending on the continuity, Crona either earns their happy ending and is able to forge those bonds with the other DWMA members, or falls to their mother's manipulations and becomes a much larger threat that nonetheless saves the world because of their bond with Maka.
- Despair Event Horizon: When Maka first visits Crona's Mental World, Crona's shadow is having a conversation with its source. Crona's shadow asks its source a total of forty-two questions before withering and disappearing in despair because Crona has passed on answering every single onenote . Crona's shadow is ultimately restored when Maka befriends Crona and is seen holding hands with Maka's shadow.
- Disappeared Dad: According
to the author, when asked about who Crona's father is, he is "A man without a name", which shows that Crona does indeed have a father, at least. - The Dragon: To Medusa before betraying her, twice.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: In the anime they deal with massive guilt from betraying their friends after pulling a Heel–Face Turn. Later they fight against Medusa and nearly die saving Maka in an attempt to make up for their misdeeds. Makes you real grateful for Gecko Endings.
- The Eeyore: Given their upbringing, it's understandable.
- Exotic Eye Designs: Their iris and pupils sometimes are replaced by spiraling thorns, especially after absorbing Asura.
- Expository Pronoun: Crona uses the pronoun "boku" (a pronoun primarily used by young boys, but it's not uncommon for girls to use it as well) to refer to themself. In their case, this serves to make it even harder to tell if they're a boy or a girl.
- Expy: Crona bears a strong resemblance to Emine, the main antagonist of Ohkubo's first manga B.Ichi.
- Foil: You know how Maka and Soul have a deep and affectionate relationship and defeat their enemies with weaponized friendship? Crona's relationship with Ragnarok is about as far as one could go in the other direction. Their relationship with Medusa makes a second contrast, with them desperately seeking approval from their Jerkass mother. Also Crona is Maka's rival and after their Heel–Face Turn becomes extremely attached to her.
- Forgiveness: A major part of Crona's storyline in either version becomes seeking forgiveness for betraying their friends. While Maka is quick to forgive any misdeeds, others require more convincing. Marie, in the anime says that she'll be unable to forgive them until they rescue Stein (which she later regrets saying). The manga has Crona explicitly state that their action in letting themselves be imprisoned alongside Asura is an attempt to "put burdens on [their] heart" in order to return.
- Friendless Background: Had never even been shown kindness until Maka befriends them, prompting a Heel–Face Turn.
- Guinea Pig Family: Medusa's.
- Hartman Hips: Not helping the "what gender is Crona anyway" discussions at all.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door: Ultimately does a full heel->face->heel->face turn in both the manga and anime, albeit in incredibly different ways.
- Heroic Sacrifice: In the penultimate chapter, they overcome the Madness long enough to use Brew to seal the Kishin away. While still inside the Kishin. The anime moment of jumping in front of Medusa's vector arrow to save Maka, while getting hit themself also counts.
- Humanoid Abomination:
- Has been gradually edging closer to this as the Black Blood nears completion.
- Later, they officially become this when they absorb Asura.
- I Will Wait for You: Indicates this to Maka when she asks them to wait for her to return to them.
- Irony: Voluntarily lets themself be trapped in a ball of mad blood, knowingly suffering a similar fate to what they inflicted on a city full of people.
- "It" Is Dehumanizing: While everyone else in the English dub uses "he" for Crona for simplicity (and acknowledge they actually don't know), Medusa, who's the one person who would actually know which one to use, uses either "my child" or, more disturbingly, "it". This says a lot and also counts as a
Woolseyism. - Like Brother and Sister: Their relationship with Maka (if any potential signs of romance are in fact meant to be interpreted platonically).
- Like a Son to Me: (Though the 'son' part is up for debate) Seems to have this relationship with Marie, who has been a bit of a Parental Substitute for them, being the most motherly towards Crona out of all her students (given that they are the closest thing she has to children, acting as a Team Mom), not showing as much kindness and friendliness to any other character in the series. This gets tested in the anime, when Crona's betrayal is revealed, she has a hard time forgiving them, saying she would only do so when Stein was returned from Medusa's control and madness. she later regretted saying this, as Crona was severely injured as a result of the battle with her, but Stein reassures her that Crona will forgive her, cementing the bond between them
- Look What I Can Do Now!: As of Chapter 96, they can easily defeat Black Star, the DWMA's strongest student. This is noted by both Ox and Maka.
- Lovecraftian Superpower: They can weaponize the body horror monstrosity that lives in their blood.
- Love Redeems: Of a friendship variety. Makas kindness is the reason they wanted to make a Heel–Face Turn and join the DWMA. This is why they stop Asura and seal him away on the moon with themselves, not to save the world, just Maka
- My Master, Right or Wrong: They seem to have this relationship with Medusa.Crona: She said it was OK to eat the human souls. I don't see what was wrong with it if she said it was OK.
- Nice Guy: Shown to be rather kindhearted, if nervous when not under Medusa's influence.
- Nervous Wreck: Thanks to being raised to become a new Kishin by Medusa. They're even quite jittery when they're Axe-Crazy.
- Noodle People: While all of the characters are drawn to look rather skinny, they're the most obvious example. And it gets worse as they edge closer to insanity...
- Only One Name: Oddly, the character is only referred to as "Crona", never "Crona Gorgon".
- Parental Abandonment: Why any Soul Eater fan who looks beyond Medusa's Magnificent Bastard status wants to strangle her for being a grievously bad mother.
- Pronoun Trouble: Since Japanese doesn't have to use gendered pronouns, none of the characters use one for Crona for the sake of Ambiguous Gender issues. This plagued Funimation for the dub. Despite going with male pronouns for simplicity*, some of the English actors and the dub director still refer to Crona as "him/her". The manga's English translation initially went with he/him as well, but in later reprints Crona is referred to as they/them instead.
- Redemption Equals Affliction: Lets themself become trapped in a ball of mad blood alongside Asura in order to stop him for an unknown period of time. Could also be interpreted as Redemption Equals Death (or eternal imprisonment), depending on whether you believe Maka eventually frees them.
- Rose-Haired Sweetie: Averted in the beginning, but played straight later on.
- Sanity Slippage: Medusa's gamut of experiments on Crona is solely intended to induce this on them. It worked.
- Self-Made Orphan: And Medusa gives every indication that this is what she wanted.
- She's a Man in Japan: Crona's gender is completely ambiguous in the Japanese version. The official English translations of both the anime and the manga minimize gendered terminology (for instance, Medusa only calls Crona her "child", never "son/daughter", while Marie calls Crona "a good kid"), but still use male pronouns. Reprints of the manga were changed to use exclusively they/them pronouns for Crona.
- Shrinking Violet: Kind of a gloomy/creepy version, but still fits.
- Sixth Ranger: When they're a Face.
- Sixth Ranger Traitor: When going back to Medusa before killing her.
- Spared by the Adaptation: While ending the manga imprisoned on the moon to stop Asura, the Anime's Gecko Ending has Crona end living happily at the DWMA with their friends after turning against Medusa.
- Stronger Than They Look: Crona's a spindly little twig, but having the Black Blood harden in their vessels means they can deceptively sustain a lot of punishment. Bladed weapons in particularly barely break their skin.
- Talkative Loon: Normally very quiet, but turns into one of these when under Medusa's influence.Crona: Oh, okay! You're saying I can kill the girl? I didn't realize that...maybe I can play with her hair first, just for a little while. Hey, everyone! These doors open inward! THEY ONLY OPEN ONE WAY!
- Of course, once in a while there is useful information in Crona's rants. Maka and Soul would have done well to pay attention to, "These doors open inward," because while trying to escape from Crona, they tried to open them outward, which didn't work.
- Taking the Bullet: They take a Vector Arrow for Maka, saving her life while nearly dying themselves.
- Third Eye: Gains one while powering up to seal Asura.
- Tyke-Bomb: Raised seemingly from birth to make a new Kishin. Unlike most examples, Medusa really didn't have a clear use for a Kishin, she just wanted to see if she could make one.
- "Well Done, Son" Guy: This, plus fear, binds Crona to Medusa. They free themself from this by killing her, but then suffers extreme guilt over killing the only bond they ever had, it doesn't help that Spirit rubs his bond with Maka is their face.
- When She Smiles: They get one in the middle of the series.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Could be the trope definition.
Joe Buttataki
Joe Buttataki
Voiced by: Atsushi Ono (Japanese), Jason Douglas (English)
Referred to as "Mole Hunter" Joe Buttataki, Joe is an ally of Shibusen and ex-boyfriend of Marie Mjolnir. Due to the anime's Gecko Ending that split off after his introductory chapter, Joe plays a different role in it. In the anime, Joe was one of Shibusen's most talented scientists and engineers, and Shinigami pulls him back to Death City to help work on a black ops project involving BREW. With the exception of his irrational love of coffee, little else of the character's background was kept from the manga.
- Dub Name Change: Renamed "Beater Joe" in the Italian manga in order to keep the initials and make the wordplay clearer.
- He Knows Too Much: Justin does this pre-emptively, killing him off so he can't find out he's the mole. Conveniently for Medusa, this also happened right before he could tell anyone he detected her team (as well as three other witches) through their soul protect.
- Living Lie Detector: He can use his especially strong Soul Perception this way, which is the main reason he's the "mole hunter".
- Mr. Fixit: In the anime.
- Must Have Caffeine: The first instance of this sets up a piece of hilarious Japanese wordplay.
- The Plot Reaper: His Soul Perception became so strong he would have immediately discovered Medusa and probably would have found Asura long before Maka did. If he managed to live, that basically would have drastically altered the events of every story arc from then on.
- Sacrificial Lamb: For the Arachnophobia/Baba Yaga's Castle arc of the manga.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Since his role in the anime is different (he's hired to help fix up the Brew machine) and Justin doesn't give into the madness and turn evil. He lives through the entirety of the anime.
Enrique
Enrique
Tezca Tlipoca's Meister. He's an ape. An ape that wears clothes, sneakers, and a baseball cap. Mm-hmm.- Boisterous Bruiser: It's difficult to tell, but Enrique is apparently quite the comedian, as his introduction had him delivering lengthy jokes (and sending Tezcatlipoca into hysterics) while Medusa was attacking him. He's also not above having a laugh at his Weapon's expense. At the same time, he's a Death Scythe meister, and will presumably end you.
- Improbable Weapon User: Fights wearing Tezcatlipoca, the Demon Mirror, on his ankle.
- The Unintelligible: He's incapable of saying anything but variations of "Gau," which is partly why he didn't show up at the initial Death Scythe convention.
- Intelligible Unintelligible: Although strangely, Tezca has no problems understanding him.
Fyodor
Fyodor
Tsar Pushka's Meister.- Dance Battler: Specifically, cossack dancing.
- Improbable Weapon User: Pushka himself appears to be a giant iron ball on a stick; Fyodor fights by attaching the stick to one leg and launching the ball with the other.
- Meaningful Name: His name references Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, who in real life commissioned the Tsar Pushka (which shares its name with Fyodor's Death Scythe).
Hemming
Hemming
One of Ahab's annual meisters, and a hunter of madness-inducing sky whales.- Meaningful Name: His name comes from American author Ernest Hemingway, who was also a hunter (and perhaps more relevant, wrote The Old Man and the Sea).
- Student–Master Team: With Ahab.
- Young Gun: Who rides a literal "Old Gun."
Zubaidah
Zubaidah
Djinn Galland's meister.- Meaningful Name: Her name is most-likely a nod to Zubaidah bint Ja'far, the Abbasid princess who is featured heavily in One Thousand and One Nights.
Alexander
Alexander
Ding Dinga's meister.- Calling Your Attacks: "RAINBOOOW!"
- Facial Markings: A large white spot on his face.
Hiro
Hiro
Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Z Charles Bolton (English), Daniele Raffaeli (Italian)
The most incompetent Meister at DWMA. Bullied and used by just about everyone at the school due to his doormat personality. He finds out about the legend of Excalibur, and becomes the only person since perhaps King Arthur to put up with the supremely annoying holy sword. In fact, he enjoys Excalibur's 1000 tenets, and becomes Excalibur's happy and devoted Meister. For about a day, that is.
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: After he gets Excalibur and thereby becomes the strongest student in the school, he immediately starts abusing his powers to beat up everyone who used to pick on him, teleport into the girls' shower, flip skirts...
- Back for the Finale: He makes a cameo in the last chapter during Kid's inauguration; appropriately enough it's of someone backing up into his face without noticing him.
- Badass Boast: "When all is said and done, the three of you will be nothing more than a footnote in the legend of the Holy Sword, Excalibur."
- Berserk Button: People who sneeze repeatedly. "They might as well just die." It's what finally causes him to get fed up with Excalibur.
- Beware the Nice Ones: In this case, Beware of the Ones You Bully. Hiro gets back at everyone with a vengeance.
- Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Sure, he's an ass while he has Excalibur, but that's probably months of pent-up anger being unleashed.
- Butt-Monkey: Everybody (Including Death in the narration) regards him as the biggest failure in the academy.
- Creator Cameo: In the English dub, he's voiced by the ADR director.
- Deadly Dodging: He was briefly dodging Sid's storm of knives while attempting to act on the 1,000 tenets.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Hiro is a Pretty Boy who dresses flamboyantly and shows off some skin so others will think he's sexy, but nobody in the school actually cares—as far as his classmate's are concerned, he's just a dweeb.
- Extreme Doormat: Weaponized—him being such a doormat is what lets him put up with Excalibur and all one-thousand of Excalibur's rules. Of course, once he gets Excalibur he stops being a doormat to anyone else.
- Flash Step: Armed with Excalibur, he can use his Wings of Light to move at the speed of light. He can also just plain teleport, as well.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic. Docile, misused, alone.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: It's entirely possible that Hiro was the first one in hundreds of years to wield Excalibur - and he certainly would of been the greatest Meister at the Academy, of all time, had he managed to put up with Excalibur's constant sneezing. Considering the very short time that he had Excalibur, Hiro's greatest achievement will likely fade into the dust. After all, he's not mentioned again in the series beyond his feature chapter.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat: With the power of Excalibur in tow, Hiro is just as loud and flamboyant as Black*Star, which really comes out during the three-on-one fight between Hiro and his classmates.
- Having a Blast: Nobody is sure what his "Hero the Atomic" is, exactly, but it involves explosions.
- Lethal Joke Character: A non-video game example. Hiro's hardly cut out for the DWMA life, but he's the only one who could put up with Excalibur's personality for an extended period of time, and boy, does he put that power to good use in his day in the limelight.
- Loser Archetype: Hiro is a Pretty Boy and The Fashionista, but he has the misfortunes of both attending a school where nobody cares about those things and having no talent in a fight (which is what the DWMA specializes in). His classmates use him as an Extreme Doormat accordingly.
- Meaningful Name: After he gets Excalibur, he certainly seems to think so. "My name means 'the courageous one'! Hero the Brave!"note Lampshaded by Maka in that for someone with his name, he is a bit ordinary.
- Minor Flaw, Major Breakup: He basically disowns Excalibur over a sneezing fit.
- Mr. Fanservice: Hiro is a Pretty Boy who wears flashy and revealing clothes. In-Universe, however, nobody cares, alas.
- Power Perversion Potential: Uses Excalibur's powers to slip into the girls' dressing room. He later uses it to flip the skirts of some girls who used him as an Extreme Doormat.
- Punny Name: Hiro is one sidestep away from "hero".
- Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: After obtaining Excalibur for a weapon, Hiro immediately starts taking revenge on his classmates, in particular creeping on the girls by barging into their showers and flipping their skirts. When the girls protest this to Mr. Sid, the zombie teacher responds that, unfortunately, Hiro's ability to wield Excalibur makes him so valuable to the DWMA that they were actually considering giving him a superior rank—according to Sid, the girls' only recourse is to get tougher.
- Super Loser: Hiro is a Loser Archetype who spends his days getting kicked around by almost everyone in the school (Black*Star practices chokeholds on him), and the instant he gets the power of Excalibur, he proceeds to use them to creep on the girls and be a colossal dweeb in the middle of his fight.
- Super Weapon, Average Joe: With Excalibur, he is able to kick the asses of three of the strongest meisters, but he has no skills and is useless otherwise.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Completely averted during his time with Excalibur. He enjoys working with the sword.
- Took a Level in Badass: His power ascends to great heights when he wields Excalibur, along with his attitude.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Obtaining the power of Excalibur gives Hiro the ability to revenge himself on everyone, an opportunity he seizes immediately. Soul lampshades it.
- Who's Laughing Now?: After being used as an Extreme Doormat by his classmates, Hiro uses Excalibur to get some payback.
