marcellX
Since: Feb, 2011
05/11/2013 00:00:00
On the contrary I feel it was still the same. Blackstar vs Kid was more talking about madness, etc. than an actual fight, and their fight with Noah was more about Kid's rings and their implications. Given that the series is ending you can't expect the same level of mystery, unless it risks becoming Lost . I will agree that the battle against Asura has been less dark and macabre that it should be.
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Great, but Losing quality - Contains SPOILER
Soul Eater begins in a unique Burtones-que setting of a School led by the Grim Reaper where students hunts down (and eat) the soul of people falling into Madness. Composed of a cast of seven main character, each with his own quirks and dynamics, in particular girl genius Maka with cool slacker Soul, whose depth and uniqueness gives one of the more original pair since the Elric Brothers. Many other character appear and are very fleshed out and whose design is very striking, from their classmates to their teacher, all belonging to the DWMA, a school tied with misteries from the 12th century, as subtly foreshadowed
Soul Eater, alas, at first was nothing more but a shameless Fanservice fest who had the luck to Grow The Beard at the appearence of the first main antagonist, Medusa. From then on, the series was rather clever, the character have unique relationships (most hilariously the supporting like Kilik and Ox, or some subtle touches with mains like Liz and Soul), the villain become unique and creepy (from cheesmasters like the Gorgon sister to Asura's creepiness) and atmosphere which were a perfect mix between a Lovecraft story and anine, the fanservice toned down and the unique background allowing it to mix both history or mythology or things entirely original, the fist two actual arcs of Soul Eater are a must read to everyone.
However, from the Rescue Kid arc, the story loses tension, mostly because the villains become more one-dimensional (Noah is a primary example) and the series, rather than getting geared towards fear and mistery, becomes more centered towards action. Because of this, the effectively good parts come mostly from the first arc (again, Medusa and her child) and the resulting reveal lose some of their impact because of how hastily they are thrown. As the final battle near, it's a shame to see Asura be nothing but a very powerful monster rather than the embodiement of Terror as had lived up until the final battle, a power everyone seeks, dreads and is in the end consumed. In the end all is being boiled down to a fight and, frankly enough, a rather underwhelming one, especially if measured to other mangas, a shame because at first there was a lot of psychological insight even during these battles both for heroes and villains, giving them a rather quick paced character development.
Still a must read, 7.8/10