Reviews Manga / Soul Eater

What is this? I don't even...

What's it look like?

Why are my eye's bleeding?

Maybe it's because you're allergic to facts.

^ I'd say the guy is allergic to fiction. I mean, this series obviously isn't about being historically accurate.

I can't tell if this review is a joke or not.

@ Fillerdude- Then why would they bother using historical figures? If they don't care about being historically accurate, why bother using history at all? They could have made up more characters to fill in for Al Capone and others.

@ Silver2195- I was bored. It kinda is. I was just thinking about what I was seeing, that's all.

Why is this flagged? XD

Who said they are using historical figures? There's squillions of characters who use well know real life, mythological and classical literature characters as a namesake without being related to them....

Dr. Frankenstein isn't a villain (as you'd know if you'd seen the episode that introduced him, which is odd given you seem to be commenting on characters that don't appear until much later....). And he doesn't appear until several episodes after 2....

Also, isn't this the kind of thing that goes on IJBM or WMG rather than a review?

@Bisected - Al Capone. -.- Dr. Franketnstein was a villain at some point, wasn't he?

The other one, maybe. But I'm just pointing stuff out that people would already know if they just googled every now and then.

I believe I included Real Life characters in that list of namesakes. It's a series where the personification of death has his own settlement in the desert and people can turn into weapons. I doubt it's supposed to be set in the "real world". The point is that they're clearly not supposed to be the actual characters they're named after (After all Dr. Stein has Franken as his first name and Stein as a surname).

And Stein was introduced as a villain (but turned out to be a teacher acting as one in the very same episode). He was subject to More Than Mind Control but so were several characters, particularly in the manga.

@Bisected8- If its not set in the "real world" then what about all of the pop culture references? What about the Egyptian pyramids and references to Anubis and the Pharaohs? And if they are merely "based" off of them, then there is a lack of originality there. =/

We have a trope for that. Besides, the pyramids look nothing like the real ones. You may as well argue it's unoriginal because they use chairs for seating.

@Bisected8- But the references to Egypt and Anubis in general though. That might be a case of (I'm new to TV Tropes, so this link thing might not work) did not do the research. All they seem to do was take pieces and parts of the characters of mythology/classic literature and tweak them slightly. Really? They couldn't do any better than that?

I just realized that this review called Mary Shelly's book Frankenstein's Monster.

I reiterate my previous statment regarding seating.

Is it wrong to make references to legend and myths? Nearly all fiction today makes references to myths in someway. These are not the same people(real or not) from those stories/history, they just have their names. Besides, isn't this supposed to be a review? Why is it that most of the reviews on this site are just complaints? Isn't that what the It Just Bugs Me Page is for?

Because if you do it in Just Bugs Me then people will bitch it's supposed to be about Fridge Logic and tell you to make a review.

@ Mrin Nothing is completely original anyway, and disregarding originality there's still the more important factor of execution.

@ Fillerdude ... It's execution is shit anyways. And yeah, nothing is 100% original anymore, but if they were going to rip off of other works and history...they should at LEAST make the effort to be remotely accurate in their portrayal, no?

@Bisected8 - Okay, so for your example, you're saying that they're unoriginal for using chairs for sitting. You missed my point in this one. They are misusing facts. They are sitting on the TV and watching the couch.

Nope. They should make the effort to be entertaining and interesting. Accuracy is an optional luxury.

They're not using historical figures in this show. They're using the twisted spirits of fictional characters, like Arsene Lupin, the Flying Dutchman, and the Fisher King, beings sufficiently alive in the public consciousness to develop some measure of autonomy. This show's Capone is more likely to be a warped, mangled amalgamation of the Al Capone of The Untouchables, Night's Dawn, and a billion other different works of fiction than a reflection of the real-life character. Plus, y'know, he's a diminutive, shark-toothed evil spirit, not a flesh-and-blood gangster.

... On second thoughts, you seem to have zero grasp of the meaning of references and in-jokes in fiction, so I'm not sure why (a) you're even on a site cataloguing shared tropes in fictional works, or (b), why I'm bothering to try to explain things to you. Sayonara.

This is either a very elaborate troll, in which case, successful troll is successful, or someone who simply who can't stand works of fiction "deviating" from the "facts". With quite a bit of emphasis on the word fiction. If so, then why the hell are you here, on TV Tropes?

This is besides the fact that Soul Eater clearly isn't intending these to be the same characters from the things that it references. Nor is it intending to be historically accurate. They're simply little jokes and plays on the namesake in question. Did the fact that one of the first named characters in the series is named Jack the Ripper, yet is an incoherent, barely human monster in contrast to the original mass murderer not tip you off?

@Mrin Then why not freakin' tell me why the execution was shit? Surely you can do that. No matter how hard you press your issue on the character names and historical accuracy crap not one person here is going to buy it because to us, it's not a problem.

So if you intend on insisting your point that this series is shit, then better try some other arguments, because what you've said so far means jack to us.

Your first issue is a legit knitpick. But then body, mind, and soul, are considered separate in this series even if they are also considered connected. So the soul can apply to different things than the body, even if having a sound soul and having a sound body are connected. Heck, even if Soul was wrong when he said that, he can be wrong. No one in the series ever says that Soul is omniscient. Maybe he didn't understand the whole body, mind, soul thing?

And after that, everything in this "review" just gets silly. Ookubo wrote the whole thing loaded with tons of references to pop culture and history, and created his own world in which things work the way he wants them to. Death the Kid is named after, and uses guns like, Billy The Kid. Mifune is based off of the popular swordsman archetype, with a twist. A kishin egg was named after Jack the Ripper. Stein is his own character, based loosely off of the whole pop culture around Frankenstein and his monster. The Al Capone was a parody mishmash of old style gangsters. There is an entire race of human weapons. There is a flying skateboard. There are demons all over the place. Death lives in the desert and runs a school.

In other words, you really, REALLY, aren't "informing" anyone of anything. We all know that Al Capone wasn't killed by a swordsman. Neither Frankenstein nor his monster taught at a school. Everyone IS in America but in Ookubo's America. There can be as many pandas as he wants there to be because the whole universe of Soul Eater is Like Reality Unless Noted.

As for Spirit's resembling some character from D. Gray Man, that is not a problem so much as it is an interesting observation. In any case, the similarities are mostly superficial. They are still very different characters. And they are disliked by their respective teenage individuals very different reasons anyway.

As for the hair styles...that is just a very stupid thing to point out. You see, Rika's hair style is known as a Hime Cut. A million characters. HAVE. THAT. HAIRSTYLE. So, why are you even pointing it out? Just go add Angela to the Hime Cut trope page (assuming she isn't already there) and be done with it. As for Mifune, his hair doesn't really look that much like Takano's to me. And, even if it did, it's just a stock hairstyle.

Really, this is just a bunch of random observations. You don't even say whether or not you like the anime. How does any of it even constitute as a review?

I don't see why you're looking for realism in a Shounen series in the first place. They aren't exactly known for it.

Without a doubt the single worst review on this entire site.

Since it's established in cannon that students at the DWMA can change their name when they enter the school, it's entirely possible that Franken Stein simply chose to name himself after the doctor from Mary Shelley's novel, rather than being the original Dr. Frankenstein himself.

Also, there's a subtle difference between Soul's comment on form and Maka's introduction. In the phrase "A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body," the term "sound body" more accurately refers to the need for a healthy lifestyle. This is why Stein repeats the mantra right before wondering "Should I quit smoking?" in episode 28. For an example the consequences of having an unsound mind in an unsound body, see Giriko in manga chapter 77. This is different from Soul's comment that the form or appearance of the meister isn't what makes a good partner. The point is that being attractive or unattractive isn't as important as he previously claimed.

I think you mean "without a doubt the single best review on the entire site." :-)

Wait so you're telling me that the americans dind't come to japan early and retreated after being defeated in a game of baseball? that Britain didn't invade Japan by 1962 for it's resouces? that Bruce Lee wasn't killed to be turned into a zombie? That Kawakami Gensai didn't stay alive decades after the end of the bakumatsu? that what I saw on Houshin engi wasn't the completely acurate history of china?

This isn't a real review. It's just nitpicking.

What is this I don't even...

1) body=/= form. A sound body just means that you are in (relatively) good physical condition, whereas form refers to the particular appearance. For example, both Maka (short, skinny, flat) and Blair's human form (taller, more shapely, Gag Boobs) have sound bodies. They just have very different forms. 2) The names are references, not stating that they are those people. As for why the use of historical figures, in most cases the names are people that your audience may have heard of. All you have to do is say "Jack the Ripper" and everyone knows this guy is a serial killer and bad news. If I just referred to a made up character Bob, the audience then needs to be told that Bob is a bad guy and did thus-and-such to deserve punishment.