And so it begins
The Prologues arc is the first story arc of Soul Eater. This arc focuses on and introducing some of the DWMA's most skilled Meisters and Demon Weapons within the Especially Advantaged Talent Class."The Prologue Arc" contains examples of:
- Back from the Dead: Blair comes back to life quickly even after having her soul eaten because all cats have 9 souls, so she had some souls to spare.
- Bait-and-Switch Character Intro: All three of the main meister-weapon groups are introduced like this in their Debut Queue episodes/chapters.
- The title character, Soul, is the biggest example of it. He's initially introduced as a somewhat shallow young man who insults his partner and talks a lot about being a "cool" guy. It reaches a head a little later when, frustrated at his inability to defeat the not actually a witch Blair, he very despicably and cruelly gives up and switches sides to be with Blair instead of Maka, even dropping Maka in a trash bin and insulting her, saying "anyone would choose someone with a body like Blair's over you and your flat chest." After Maka calls him out for being a bastard, he reveals it was actually just a deception to get Blair to drop her guard and set her up for the kill. After all, cool guys don't cheat on their partners.
- Black☆Star very quietly and skillfully infiltrates the hideout of the Al Capone gang during the middle of a dinner celebration, and gets the drop on them with effortless ease... but instead of quietly assassinating the villains, he gives a boisterous speech about how awesome he is and then declares that his job is done, right before being chased off by gunfire. He then shows no remorse for it when his weapon partner, Tsubaki, calls him out on it, saying that he was the biggest star in the room. This establishes him as the Brilliant, but Lazy, Small Name, Big Ego, Highly-Visible Ninja. It's further established at the end of the episode, when he challenges the samurai Mifune and despite having trouble at first (specifically because of his flaws) manages to get serious and effortlessly win with a single move, showing that he really is as powerful and skilled as he claims he is... when he can manage to get his act together.
- Death the Kid's introduction has him chase down a fleeing villain and corner him, only to get side-tracked because Liz and Patty messed up their Ass Kicking Pose, allowing the villain to escape and establishing his Obsessively Organized tendencies. He gets another one later in the same episode when he finds himself unable to attack the evil super-mummy hiding inside a perfectly symmetrical sarcophagus, and is nearly killed before the mummy itself appears in all its asymmetrical Body Horror glory, at which point Kid declares that it makes him feel "violently ill" and utterly destroys it... and the pyramid they're in too.
- Bait the Dog: Inverted with Soul and Maka's introduction. After several unsuccessful attempts at killing Blair, Soul finally gives into her Duel of Seduction, drops Maka into a dumpster, and insults her when she asks why, causing her to break down in tears. Then, just when the audience is set to hate him forever...Maka: Hey, Soul. You said that all women make wild assumptions without reasoning first, right? That's what you said? Well, what reason do men have for cheating? It's not fair!Soul: Heh... how am I supposed to know? I can't answer that. [Arm transforms into a scythe, trapping Blair inside the curve of the blade.] After all, cool men don't cheat on their partners, do they?
- Cats Are Magic: The witch turns out not to be a real witch at all and is really just a cat with a ridiculous amount magical power
- Cats Have Nine Lives: In the series all cats have nine souls
- Cute Witch: Angela is an innocent young child witch.
- Establishing Character Moment: The first trio of episodes has these for the main characters, while also establishing the main flaws in the partnerships:
- Maka and Soul Eater are introduced fighting and defeating a kishin egg, demonstrating they're capable students. Only afterwards do they start arguing.
- Black☆Star is first shown in the darkness reciting the Assassin's code... and promptly jumping on his targets' dinner table and announcing that he's going to "ASSASSINATE YOU ALL!". With Tsubaki as a microphone.
- Death the Kid enters the story apparently having no trouble hunting down a monster he's cornered in an alley. Then he's distracted by his partners slightly inaccurate "Super Sentai" Stance...and gets so upset he fails to notice his target is running away.
- Evil Is Not a Toy: The necromancer witch Samantha learns this the hard way when she resurrects the pharaoh, who then proceeds to devour her body and soul, leaving just her hand.
- Helping Hands: the witch necromancer Samantha, all that's left of her by the time Liz and Paty find her is her still wriggling hand after the rest of her got eaten by the pharaoh.
- Helping Would Be Kill Stealing: In the first episode, Maka and Soul are having trouble defeating Blair. Lord Death tells Spirit that he could defeat the magical cat "with a single reaper chop!" but that wouldn't help Maka and Soul develop as meister and weapon.
- Ironic Echo: "The shape and form don't really matter, huh soul?"
- Laser-Guided Karma: some fans think that because we never found out why Soul and Maka were after Blair's soul for any other reason than just being a witch, (which they need to make soul a death scythe), that they had the loss and restart coming to them for acting so impulsively
- Necromancer: The Witch Samantha is this for Kid's debut story
- Nepharious Pharaoh: Witch Necromancer Samantha tries to summon Wrath of the Pharaoh, a malevolent spirit residing in the Pyramid of Anubis. The sarcophagus of the Pharaoh is perfectly symmetrical, making it impossible for the symmetry-obsessed Kid to destroy it. Then the Pharaoh steps out of the sarcophagus to give the final strike, and he is revealed to be horribly asymmetrical. Cue Kid's Berserk Button hitting the floor.
- Papa Wolf: Death Scythe shows he ultimately is this, willing to threaten Soul Eater if he even thinks of touching his daughter Maka, then gets offended when he says he wouldn't go for a "flat-chested girl" like her. When she looks like she might die against Blair, his first instinct is to go save her, but Death reminds him that this is her test, not his.
- Skewed Priorities:
- Black Star: He can't focus on his missions and cares more about bragging about what a star he is and how big he is than about collecting souls
- Death the Kid: He can't focus his missions if symmetry is involved for either being too perfect to destroy (like the pharaoh) or if he must be doing or even thinking he did something asymmetrical (like his art at home leaning to the right) or if someone else if off balance (like Liz and Patty, both their actions and behaviors "even your boobs are asymmetrical")
- Stealth Pun: In Episode 3, when Death the Kid is seeking souls for Patty and Liz, Lord Death tells him about a witch who's ressurecting mummies in the Tomb of Anubis. She uses her mummies to collect human souls, which she uses to make more mummies. There's even a bit of a graphic showing how five mummies create two mummies each, who create two each, who create two each... she's running something of a Pyramid Scheme.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Maka and her father Death Scythe, also Kid and his father Lord Death
- Why We Can't Have Nice Things: In his debut episode, Kid ends up destroying a pyramid.
- Would Not Hurt A Child: both Mifune and Black Star. This is why Mifune is guarding the witch Angela as she is still too young to even use her magic to defend herself and Black Star ultimately can't bring himself to kill her, even if she does act like a brat to him for trying to hurt Mifune.
- Your Answer to Everything: Maka says this to Soul about him using brute force
