Soul Eater NOT!

*Minor spoilers ahead*

What is Soul Eater Not supposed to be? Is it a yuri slice-of-life made to appeal to people unfamiliar with the original Soul Eater, or is it a necessary part of the Soul Eater canon, aimed at those who enjoyed the action and drama of the original series? The answer to that question remains a mystery. I'm not even convinced the author of the manga understands what he's working on.

Soul Eater Not is an exercise in mediocrity. It is a gust of wind with no particular destination. By jumping from genre to genre and trying to appeal to both the slice-of-life crowd ... and fans of the original series, it ends up pleasing neither. The end result is something that, while not offensively dumb, lingers in the mind with no more than passing apathy. I doubt anyone will remember its existence after a year. Even half that time might seem generous.

The first few episodes were promising enough. It didn't seem like it would make any impact in the industry or do anything particularly interesting, but it was fun nonetheless to watch the banter between the innocent protagonist, Tsugumi, and her two companions, Meme (think Yui from K-ON) and Anya (the tsundere ojou-sama). The unique setting of the Soul Eater franchise even gave 'Not' its own distinct identity in the sea of indistinguishable slice-of-life, and hey, it did its job just fine in the moe department. There was no drama, no deep themes or underlying message, and that was OK. For the first half, Soul Eater Not is actually a fairly decent slice-of-life anime.

And then everything turns upside down in the seventh episode. The main three are off shopping, fooling around as they always do, and then from nowhere comes a generic villain who attempts to murder one of the side characters in gory fashion, throat slicing and all. Uhh... all right, then. What's supposed to come as a shock instead brings confusion and frustration. It almost feels as if the script was suddenly hijacked by a different team of writers. There is no consistency, no purpose in this except perhaps for a vague thought of "Well, I guess it's time to add in some drama so Soul Eater fans don't get bored." In reality, all that was accomplished was both sides of the audience being alienated.

The melodrama is guilty of more than just existing. It is terribly written, every scene reeking of some eye-rolling cliché. Even the accident at the end of the seventh episode is written off as inconsequential, the story awkwardly shifting back into yuri comedy just minutes into the next episode. The drama itself is so boring that falling asleep becomes a more exciting prospect, because, hell, how are we supposed to immediately empathise with characters who previously were only used for gags and fanservice? After trudging through the predictable 'one of the main characters is now possessed by evil!' cliché, the final episode treats the viewer with a full dose of stupid: said character comes back to reality with a kiss and the group then defeats the powerful villain (who they do not have the combat ability to even defend themselves against) with the indomitable power of friendship! Please. I want to puke.

Among Not's many issues is its clumsily-written romance. The fourth episode has Tsugumi falling for Akane, one of the few male characters, merely because he threw a few suave words her way. It's never explained whether Akane feels anything for Tsugumi, and of course nothing ever comes of the romance either. It's actually completely forgotten by the next episode. I guess one way of explaining it would be that the manga's later chapters are meant to focus on the two's romance, but even then it shouldn't be completely discarded and brought up again whenever the author feels it's convenient. It's doubly awkward since the author doesn't even know whether he wants to pair Tsugumi with Akane or one of the two girls; it haphazardly alternates between heterosexual romance and yuri. All of it just feels very out-of-place-- a lot like the drama.

On the plus side, there are plenty of cameo appearances with the cast of the main series. They don't add more than a few lines of dialogue here and there, though, so don't expect another adventure with Soul or Death the Kid. I suppose it's always neat to see what they were doing behind the scenes.

With regards to the sound and artwork, Soul Eater Not does not offend the eyes and ears but it never hits any high points, either. It looks okay. It sounds okay. The only issue is that the unique, paint-like art style of the main series is missing here, so those who enjoyed Soul Eater for its visual design will be quite disappointed. The opening theme is pretty nice, though. It's overwhelmingly cute and mirrors the fluffiness of the anime's first half. The OP was almost like a glimmer of hope in the show's unpleasant final episodes.

It's difficult for me to recommend Soul Eater Not because, well... who would I recommend it to in the first place? Soul Eater fans? They will be bored with the yuri of the show's first half. Slice-of-life fans? They will be frustrated with the tiresome melodrama of the second half. Critics? Well, maybe if they enjoy yelling at their monitor.

Soul Eater Not is an anime that doesn't really please anyone. It is not quite awful, but it also exerts no effort to be more than just a passing, colourless breeze. It's the kind of show that comes and goes every single season. It is destined to fade away, lonely and forgotten.

The title "Soul Eater NOT!" should give you a warning if you're coming to this show expecting an action shonen like Soul Eater. It's exactly as it says it is, for the most part, its NOT Soul Eater. But does it NOT being Soul Eater make it automatically bad? Not at all. This is a fun experience and definitely a worthy prequel to Soul Eater, even if its not quite the same.

Story(7)

If you didn't already know, the whole concept of Soul Eater is about these kids that to go a school where they learn to basically fight witches and other evil. Every living person ... has a soul and depending on your connection with your soul, determines how good a fighter you are, essentially. Certain people have the ability to transform into weapons. Other students wield these weapons and they partner up to fight evil.

Where as the original Soul Eater focused on pro students at the school that go on missions and leave the school quite frequently, Soul Eater Not focuses more on the newcomers of the NOT class. The story revolves around 3 cute girls that go to the school. Tsugumi is a weapon. Meme and Anya are misters and they both want to partner up with Tsugumi. The only problem is, you're only supposed to have ONE mister at a time, not two for one weapon. Nonetheless, the group befriend each other and leave that problem for later.

Now most people are very quick to judge this show for its complete change of style, both visually and genre wise. The whole first half of the show if not longer, other than the lore, its essentially nothing like Soul Eater at all and takes on the more "Moe Slice of Life" role similar to shows K-ON! or Yuru Yuri rather than an action show like Soul Eater. The show is even categorized as an Ecchi, though the fanservice here is relatively minimal to non existent at all. The show at first definitely isn't Soul Eater, but again, its not trying to be.

While it is very similar to other Slice of Life Moe shows does that mean its quite as good as them? I'd say no. The slice of life portions here are fine but shows like K-ON handle this genre much better. However, what's here I don't think is bad and I really do appreciate because they help show what Soul Eater didn't: how one BECOMES one of the higher class students and what life is like BEFORE they go out adventuring. In many ways, I feel like this show introduced the whole concept of a series nicely, (though it has some what of my same problems I had with the original where they hardly showed them doing any actual school activities at all.)

Near the end of the series, the story starts to pick up and it feels a lot more like Soul Eater. It transitions a lot more into an action show. Not only that, it also has a few connections to the original series that I think make this a nice prequel overall.

Art(6)

One of the primary knee-jerk reactions to this show was how much the art style had changed from the original show. The original show had a very unique and funky art sort of art style to it. This one, while still remaining somewhat different to a lot of anime, is mostly a very generic, cute art style.

Now many people see this as a negative, and to some degree I agree, but after a while I noticed that the original art style doesn't really suit this type of show, the same way this new one wouldn't suit the original. They're 2 different shows. While the old style was definitely better, this one works for this type of show and it's nice to see something a little different.

Sound(7)

I like the opening and ending while the main BGM wasn't that memorable to me. Voice acting seems solid enough to me and I'm pretty sure most of the characters from the original cast have the same voice actors.

Characters(7)

As for the new characters here, they aren't as good or fleshed out as the ones from the original series, and while many would complain that they're very simple, I still enjoyed them I found them over all to be likable and fun.

As for the returning characters, their cameos are probably a lot of the appeal to fans of the original series, though certain characters get a lot more appearances than others.

Enjoyment(8)

Overall it kind of had a slow start but as a fan of both Soul Eater and Moe Slice of Life I enjoyed this series a decent amount, especially near the end.

Overall(7)

Many people label this show as a shameless attempt to cash in on the moe fanbase. Whether or not that statement is true, I personally still enjoyed this show.

If you're a fan of the original Soul Eater and also like or don't mind a moe slice of life type show, I'd say give it a shot.

However if you're a fan of the original series and are looking for a more action oriented show and can't stand a cute premise like this, this show probably isn't for you.

But also if you haven't seen Soul Eater and are interested in watching it, I think this is a nice way to introduce you to the series as by the end, it does transition into a more action type show and answer a few questions of how things happened in the original series. But again, that's only if you're into a moe type of show as well. If you are only interested in Soul Eater, skip this and just watch that. You won't be missing anything TOO important at all.

Soul Eater was an okay show. Soul Eater NOT!, however, is NOT an okay show at all. Hell, even the title is a good indicator. You see the word NOT? Honestly I see it as a sign. Do NOT watch this show. It's NOT worth your time. It's NOT Soul Eater. Okay, let's just move on to the review.

Story: 5/10
The story is just complete... meh. This girl discovers that she's a weapon, so she goes to this academy so she can sort herself out. She meets some friends and they have adventures together inside of the school.

Okay, that's pretty bland. It pretty much ... leaves you wondering, "Wait, what the hell do they even do in this show then? Is this a slice-of-life?" Yes, it is. You answered your own question. This is a slice-of-life. The setting isn't particularly bad, I'm not biased against the genre, it's just not very good, either. It doesn't really add anything more than what Soul Eater offered. In fact, I think it offers less than before. There is a conflict (and when I say conflict, I don't mean who ends up with the main character), but honestly it's just pushed to the side until the very last episode. It's like they actually want to make the show more boring for the longest time possible.

Art: 7/10
The art is nice. Everything's bright and bubbly; it fits perfectly well with the tone of this show. I preferred the old art style, but this one's still okay with me. I don't really have any complaints.

Sound: 6/10
The soundtrack isn't memorable at all. Really I can only remember the opening, and I don't even like the opening all that much. I guess it serves its purpose, and there weren't really any pieces that stuck out to me, but that's the thing; there are none. There's nothing bad, sure, but nothing good either. The only compliment I can give is that it's not bad.

Character: 3/10
The characters are absolutely the worst part of this show. They're seriously bad. The main character is a clumsy ditz. That's her character. She's just clumsy. She's also the most sensible out of the three main characters, but considering the fact that they're all mental that's really not saying much. Then there's that girl with the big boobs. I can't even remember her name, I think it's Sena, but if you can only remember a character because of her big boobs, that's a big problem. 'Cause, guess what, Sena isn't special either. She's even more clumsy than the main character, and the main character is already pretty freaking clumsy. I think she has short term memory loss too or something. Finally, my least liked character, is that rich snobby girl. Oh yes, the girl that acts like a snob and she's rich. Great. We really needed this type of character. So really, all in all, the characters are boring, there's nothing interesting about them, they're incredibly cliche, there's nothing new that they add to their stereotype, they're just plain bad.

Enjoyment: 3/10
Usually with slice-of-life shows, characters don't matter that much. Sure they might be horrible, but it doesn't matter if what they actually do or say is entertaining. Take for example K-ON. All of the characters in K-ON are trash. They're all boring. But, put them in a funny situation, and suddenly K-ON is somewhat nice. Soul Eater NOT!, however, does not do this. They put them in incredibly boring scenarios, and then you have even more boring characters, and what do you get? An incredibly boring show. Sure, mix in some ecchi now and then. That's really gonna reel me in. I think somehow they predicted that Soul Eater NOT! was going to be a horrible show, so they just said, "**** it, let's just make them lesbians. Who gives a ****!" And now, along with boring characters, they're now presented with more horrible and unfunny jokes. I honestly gave up in the middle of it. And then I went back after I decided that I might as well finish it. Now, I'm not going to say that that was one of the worst decisions of my life, but it was possibly one of the worst decisions of my life.

Overall:3/10
Overall, Soul Eater Not!, like I said, is not worth your time. The story is average at best while adding nothing new, the soundtrack isn't memorable, the characters are absolute trash, and the comedy is nonexistant. I found nothing funny about this show, except for maybe how hilariously bad this show is. No, really; it's that bad. Take a shot for every time one of the main characters start blushing because of some stupid yuri crap and sooner or later you'll end up in the bathroom of a Denny's. The only, and the only, good thing I can say about this show is the art. It's actually somewhat good. Too bad I can't say the same for, hmm I don't know, literally everything else in the show. Please don't watch this show.

Alright so first let me get rid of the fact that this is taking place as a Soul Eater spin-off and that Soul Eater is even apart of the title because honestly, to be fair the title does say "Soul Eater NOT" so the thing you should expect is for it to be NOT soul eater. However I'm not gonna judge it based on that fact, I'm gonna be judging it as an anime as a whole and not some side series to an awesome shounen anime. I'll probably spoil a lot by the way. Grab some popcorn and sit down because I have a ... lot to say.

The Story (2/10) (Prepare for a butt-ton)

So before some of you start trying to point fingers at me, I will say right now that the story for this anime was most unexpected. What I expected from this anime was a sorta action, shounen thing going on except from the perspective of the main characters being female teens, I mean after all, the genre does say action and shounen right, to my surprise the first episode actually made me believe that was going to be true as well however, episode 2 is where it all went downhill. Now I am not a fan of slice of life anime such as K-on or Lucky Star at all, I think they are dreadfully boring and nothing but girls screwing around doing random crap amongst themselves, having real life random conversations. I do believe the point of anime is to escape reality, so when I see an anime taking place in an unrealistically awesome place such as Death Weapon Meister Academy, the last thing you'd expect to see is the main action of the anime being the main characters planting pumpkins, going shopping and getting jobs as being maids at Death Bucks Cafe, a lot of this anime is just of them doing regular girl teenage stuff given the environment around them isn't normal at all, the things they do are just too normal for the setting.

Now unlike Lucky Star and other SOL animes, there is an actual plot in Soul Eater Not however, I wouldn't necessarily call it "Good" in any way due to the fact that the pacing behind this so called "Plot" is god awful, here's my brief summary of the plot pacing: Main girl almost gets killed by witch, goes to get a maid job. Main girl gets attacked by mind controlled man, Fanservicey Physical Exams and Pool Cleaning time! Girl slices her fucking neck open right in front of the main girl, plants pumpkins! I don't think shit like this mixes together at all in my opinion, even when the serious stuff like that does happen, its very brief and barely lasts before going back to the screwing around style, barely any of the story is really explained. It's like just when you think the story is actually about to pick up it slaps a big NOPE in your face.

The last few episodes didn't have much screwing around as it finally started to fully pick up on the background story that the first 9 episodes barely had but there was one problem here, it wasn't the main characters that were involved in the main pick up of the story, it was two side characters that got into the action as the main characters had their own little personal troubles to deal with like Meme being possessed, Anya being escorted back to her home and Tsugumi hurting her leg. Alright so why is the whole show based around these characters then? I know I failed to mention why all them ran into these problems but honestly I don't even care enough to explain. What I will mention though is that near the end, finally Tsugumi and Anya fixed their problems (with the shounen ways of friendship) and now wanna get Meme back from the clutches of the evil antagonist. Oh Yeah! By the way, there's an evil person behind the story, almost forgot. Haha must of not been important enough, maybe if they explained who she was a little better or why she is trying to kill everyone or just something, anything that would make me care to remember at all. The show ends in the most bs and predictable way possible however I won't spoil that much, you'll probably see it coming though.

That was a lot of typing so I'm hoping you got the main reason of why I think this story sounds like it was made by some 12 year old writing a bad Soul Eater fan-fic.

The Art (6/10)
I'm not gonna say the art is necessarily bad or anything but I'm not gonna say that I liked it. Personally I didn't like it because it made all the soul eater original series characters look like tools but I'll be lying if I said it didn't look polished and clean. Some awkward animation quirks here and there, action scenes really aren't the best either but I wouldn't write it off as "bad"

The sound (8/10)
The first time I heard that damn opening I just couldn't stop listening to it xD I found it very catchy. The ending theme wasn't my cup of tea but overall the soundtracks in the actual show were nice and fit the moods of the situations. The JP voice actors were also very good at portraying the voices of the characters, especially Anya, they got the snobby rich girl voice right.

The Characters (1/10)
Two words, One dimensional. One dimensional characters can be described as characters that have a set personality trait and right from episode 1 you can see that they set up these personality traits like they stamped it on their fucking foreheads. You got your nice but insecure girl Tsugumi. You got your busty air headed girl Meme and you got your snobby tsundere rich girl Anya. Character development is near non-existent, these personality traits stick throughout the entire show. Hell a side character named Kim got more character development then any of the main characters and even that was scarce. I can maybe see some people enjoying the personalities they have but I am not one of those people.

Enjoyment (2/10)
Did I enjoy Soul Eater Not? Yes I did! I enjoyed the parts that didn't include the main characters. I enjoyed the parts that included these two guy side characters and the soul eater main series characters. However since the amount of screen time these characters got ranged around 15 minutes in this entire 12 episodes series, that is not a good thing. To sum it up, I barely enjoyed Soul Eater Not. I didn't like the main characters at all and I didn't like the way they portrayed the show. It was boring. I found myself drifting off while watching it very often.

Overall (3/10)
You could say I rated this show based on personal preference of anime. If you prefer the kind of anime where there are girls screwing and around doing shit all then by all means I recommend it. If you're like me and don't wanna watch a show that includes girls fooling around, doing barely anything in a place called Death Weapon Meister Acedemy, which by the way I don't think I saw in any point of this anime of them actually training as weapons and meisters but correct me if I'm wrong, then I do not recommend this show as it will just make you love and miss the original Soul Eater series even more (that is if you watched it). Remember though, this is just my opinion and if you disagree that's perfectly okay. Sorta. I mean seriously in any aspect I look at this show I can't call it good. I can't call it good for being a slice of life anime but then again I never liked Slice of Life animes in this style however all I do know about a lot of Slice of Life fans is that they like it for its cute style, well frankly I didn't find it all that cute so I'm gonna throw that out there. I can't call it good for being a action/shounen/supernatural anime because it barely had any of that, maybe the shounen part. For the comedy part well, I didn't find it that funny, only part that made me giggle were the flat chested jokes they were throwing at Tsugumi. Overall 3/10 and I still think I'm being generous about giving it this score.

Sitting down every Tuesday to watch this felt like a chore, I thought about dropping this anime numerous times but as I did with K-on, I kept pushing through. Bored out of my mind, I finished. This will most likely be the last Slice of Life anime I watch (In the K-on style at least). Huh, funny. I keep calling it a Slice of Life yet it's not even listed as it's genre. Something must be wrong. Whelp that's my first review done, this was probably written poorly so hopefully I won't have to come across something like this show that I'll have the urge to review.

The original Soul Eater series was a shounen battle romp done right. It was zany, high-energy, and alternatingly funny and adrenaline pumping. It had a distinctive, colorful, and lively art-style that would make Tim Burton jealous, and an off-beat sensibility that separated it from most other shounen. It was a show that bled attitude; simultaneously unique and recognizable as a shounen title. The show is considered a classic of the late 2000’s in some circles, and rightfully so. In stark contrast is its spin-off, Soul Eater NOT, a show that falls firmly into the conventions of its genre; in this case, slice-of-life anime (for the ... most part). Well, that’s not entirely true, some of the magic that made the original such a blast is still there. However, it doesn’t shine through nearly enough to overcome the decidedly over-treaded tropes that dominate the show. This is perhaps why Soul Eater NOT feels so lukewarm, and why it will likely be a disappointment fans of the original.

The show isn’t bad for what it is trying to do, and certainly has some nifty things to offer. This spin-off takes place sometime before the main story, so some of the fun comes from seeing the original cast pop up and get a little insight on a few of them. We get to see Liz and Patty’s edges soften as they go from hardened street thugs to the quirky sisters we know from the original Soul Eater series. It’s also neat to see the beginning of Kim and Jacqueline’s partnership, and why Sid is a zombie. However, the most important bit of information that the show offers is that not all the students in Death Weapon Meister Academy are badass fighters. Some weapons and meisters are just learning how to control their powers so they can live normal lives, these students are put into the NOT class.

Some such students are the three heroines of the show: Tsugumi, Meme, and Anya. They’re a rather odd trio in that Tsugumi is the only weapon of the three, while Meme and Anya are both meisters. Since partnerships usually consists of only one meister, though it can have multiple weapons, it’s up to Tsugumi to choose who her partner will be. Of course, with Tsugumi being the archetypical nice yet indecisive heroine that she is, this is one of the central plot-lines of the show. Much of the show’s duration is spent with the trio getting into misadventures and deepening their friendship, with appearances and cameos from the original cast sprinkled in. Needless to say, this means the show is largely light-hearted fair, with tons of silly shenanigans and a lot of quaint scenes of cute girls doing cute things, though of course it has some dramatic moments mixed in. Being set in as zany a place as DWMA, there is no shortage of strange situations for the girls to encounter or colorful personalities for them to meet. It’s light and comfortable and has a quaint charm to it, unfortunately, it also greatly lacks inspiration. Tsugumi, Meme, and Anya are ultimately too plain of protagonists. They don’t have the extremely distinctive quirks and personalities of the original’s cast; it often feels like someone grabbed the protagonists of generic School Comedy A, and dropped them into the Soul Eater universe. The humor can often also come across as uninspired, not necessarily unfunny, but just too commonplace in slice-of-life anime. The material has a feeling of being done before multiple times, which diminishes the show’s charm. It dilutes the twisted weirdness that made Soul Eater so appealing to begin with, watering it down into something inferior. At times, it honestly feels like a waste of the setting.

Of course, this belonging to the franchise that it does, there is a plotline that involves fighting and nefarious schemes, lurking beneath the slice-of-life antics. Citizens of Death City are going on sprees of violence, under the control of a witch. Sid and other DWMA staff are trying to find the witch causing these attacks before things get worse, and while Tsugumi and her friends are blissfully unaware of the unseen threat, they soon find themselves right in the middle of it all. In stark contrast to the fluffiness of most of the show’s material, this plotline is ominous and creepy. The tonal shift is honestly rather jarring, especially when an episode which is mostly contains light-hearted shenanigans has an eerie scene that has a threat written in what can only be assumed to be blood end the episode off. It doesn’t gel well with the rest of the show’s content because tonally it is on the opposite side of the spectrum. Which is sort of a shame, because the best part of the show is this darker plotline. Shaula, the younger sister of Medusa and Arachne from the first Soul Eater series, is a menacing presence. She lurks around in the shadows, plotting chaos and murder, so gleeful in her evil that it’s almost infectious. The show always gets more interesting whenever she makes an appearance to disrupt the typical slice-of-life fluff, and it’s her villainy that provides the show with its most striking and memorable moment: a day at the market that takes horrific turn. It also puts Tsugumi and her friends through an emotional wringer, giving their relationship some much needed conflict. Unfortunately, the show never strikes a balance to make the tones fit together, and it culminates in a less than spectacular final battle, at least for this franchise.

On the technical side of things, Soul Eater NOT is also a step down from the original series, but it’s still a good looking show for the most part. Character designs are cutesier than before, which is certain to rub some fans the wrong way. However, the world retains the off-kilter and colorful outlandishness that makes it standout as unique, creepy laughing sun and all. The animation concerning characters’ body language and behavior is pretty solid, however, action sequences are spotty. Some fights look good, some look average, and some look genuinely bad. Even at their best, the action sequences here never reach the exhilaration and excitement of those of the first series. The music is pleasant, fits the show tonally in both its silly and serious moments, and is used accordingly. However, it is just not a soundtrack that will be memorable or that supports the content in an exceptional way. It does its job, and little more than that.

I’ve compared Soul Eater NOT to its predecessor quite a bit in this review. While that might not be completely fair, as a show should be judged by its own merits, it isn’t without justification. The sad fact of the matter is that NOT suffers from the same stigma most spin-offs do, it doesn’t live up to the expectations set by the original; both in content and quality. When a show uses the name of a franchise, viewers will have set expectations, fair or not. It’s only when a spin-off adds something substantial or improves upon the material that fans will react positively to it; those kind of spin-offs are a rarity. Unfortunately, Soul Eater NOT is not amongst those rare exceptions. It has problems even when it is not being compared to the original, and ultimately doesn’t add anything of great substance to the much beloved series.

The title of the series speaks for itself. For starters, this is definitely NOT Soul Eater. If fans were eager to wait for a long anticipated Soul Eater sequel or remake, then look elsewhere. It just seems that Bones didn’t decide to do such a project and instead focused on this alternate spinoff, with characters from the original series making cameos but is, and will NOT be a Soul Eater continuation from the same author. Still, this show has its own ways to shine and that’s NOT an understatement.

Despite being a spinoff, the show still takes place in the same universal setting and that’s the ... influential academy of DWMA. One might also label this as a prequel though since many of the events happens before the original series. It could be beneficial to watch original Soul Eater series to familiarize yourself with some of the cameo characters. However, it is not imperative. In fact, this show focuses on a trio of girls that chronicles their daily lives in a strange yet innovative world of spiritual power.

Starting with 14-years old Tsugumi Harudori, we quickly find out in the beginning that she is not a normal girl. After a certain incident involving her realizing the essence of her being as a weapon, she goes to Death Weapon Meister Academy (DWMA) as part of the NOT (Normally Overcome Target) class to discover her potential. The catch is that she is still a beginner and a newbie at the academy, until she meets fellow students Meme Tatane and Anya Hepburn. It’s from here that the trio forges a powerful friendship that tells the story of this show. For Tsugumi though, she is an average girl with average skills. Her ability to turn into a weapon (halberd) may seem admirable but takes effort to pull through. The first episode depicts her transformation the first time as she embraces her destiny. But really, she is just a normal girl with normal traits. Unlike her two other friends, her skills lacks in comparison.

Enter Meme and Anya, the other two protagonists. Although existing as polar opposites, they possesses skills that makes Tsugumi in awe whenever they display their abilities. Meme, a bubbly girl with a short-term memory, is shown as a girl that cares about her friends. And despite being well endowed and sometimes spacing out during class, her athleticism is a testament that people admire. On the other hand, we have Anya, an elegant girl with a more egoistic nature who often choses to refer others as “commoners”. Her encounter with Tsugumi sticks out as a fascination because she seems Tsugumi as the ultimate commoner. But despite her haughty, tsundere tendencies, and cold behavior towards other people, it’s easy to see that she truly wants to become friends with others. She also shows an antithesis of the classic princess-type character for her boldness to explore; in fact one of her reasons to enroll at DWMA for discovery and learning. Further evidence of her boldness involves her tactics to take risks such as her fight with Tsugumi as a weapon against a fellow student and later on against a real threat. Maybe the trio don’t possesses much in common (hell, even the hair color serves as a gimmick) but they share a bond of unique friendship, forged by their connections.

The show might have a different cast of main characters but other members from the original Soul Eater does make cameos. Some in fact plays more important roles such as Maka, Soul Evans, and Sid. Other characters such as Black Star, the Liz sisters, and Death the Kid serves more as guidance and progress with the story to evolve. However, this doesn’t work out right for this show on some occasions. This is because the show has a taste of slice of life where some episodes stands out to depict every day events and experiences. And despite the show taking place in a fantasy world, the realism can be related for characters such as Liz and Patty for their pasts. Also, one prominent feature involves Tsugumi as we witness her growth. There’s a contrast between this show and the original Soul Eater in terms of motivations. From the original series, Maka (the main character) already has a dream and what she wanted to be when she grew up similar to most characters. Here, we have Tsugumi, an average girl with potential but yet doesn’t entirely know what to do with it. Throughout the series, she develops more confidence as result of the time she spent with her friends. Yet on various occasions, she still doesn’t stand out too much especially during dire situations when standing beside Meme and Anya. From some points, her progress can feel sappy in a ride that feels off balance, especially compared to its parent series. But do note that the show does have its more grim moments later on involving a dangerous antagonist with a taste for experiments.

To get full enjoyment from this show is to appreciate the relationship dynamics between the characters. Supporting character also get their own spotlights such as Kim and Jackie, the Liz sisters, among others. Their relationship may differ a bit from our main trio but their purpose remains the same – to illustrate the nature of characters and how they can build connections with one off another. Otherwise, some nature of the characters can feel a bit of prejudice when the term ‘witch’ is used. This is evidenced with Kim’s presence in the show as she feels a weight of stress but yet is able to maintain her cherry self. On the other hand though is a weakness in characterization especially with development. Most characters suffers from this either in a lack of background depth or change. To cut to the chase, the show doesn’t do well when it tries to focus itself with character development.

Judging from a standalone point, the show has its many similarities and differences. The similarity involves perhaps the mechanics explained in the beginning such as the NOT and EAT classes. Other terms such as meister, witch, and traitors also become terms with established usages. Classes are taught at the academy in a similar fashion to the original series by experienced instructors. On the other hand, differences expands more than just the style of the story. The comedy is instead influenced by the characters’ gags and gimmicks. On several occasions, the show can even feel like watching a typical ‘cute girls doing cute things’ with its aesthetics. Here, it’s also expanded by the cutesy relationships, fashionable maid outfits, and occasional fan service. As opposed to a full all out on shounen story, we get a borderline slice of life tale chronicling a trio of cute girls. On the other hand, the story can seem rushed, blend, and feel crammed together at once.

It’s not about recreating the Soul Eater atmosphere again, but the show’s artwork can come as a hit or miss in this category. The standard character designs achieves its purpose to make the girls look adorable and innocent to match their persona. Similarly, the background and fantasy like aura gives off a familiar vibe from Soul Eater. DWMA is designed to give fans that sense of nostalgia along with idyllic dose of its energy. But for what’s worth, it doesn’t feel serious on most occasions. There is enough action on occasions to bring back the Soul Eater shounen feeling. The bad news? Well, it would be the quality. Bones really dropped the ball with its production here as the action feels lifeless and dull. In the beginning though, it had consistency but later on is out of pace. Long story, short: it isn’t a battle shonen anymore so don’t expect high level action. Also expect some edgy fan service on occasions because like mentioned before, the show has a much lighter mood so expect much more goofy moments.

Soundtrack functions as a device to supplement the Soul Eater NOT atmosphere. On most occasions, it is lighthearted with a good complimentary measure. The way is executed has a good balance with its slice of life mood and more ominous scenarios. The OP and ED song has eccentric energy to itself with some catchy dancing sequences. But to top it off are the character voice mannerisms. Character tones have a general yet admirable attribute to them to provide their roles. Anya, for instance, can speak in both a haughty yet caring voice. Other characters, in particular witches, speaks with a noticeable baleful voice to contrast the mood of the story. What you see is what you get though as the show has a clear goal in mind. The soundtrack and voice department achieved that.

This show might NOT be what the original series offered but it can still be a fun little ride of academic adventure. The trio of our main characters lacks purpose but builds on their connections to forge and tell stories. It is the charming relationships between the characters that paints this show as more than just a SOL ride. But if you’re looking forward to a hardcore story or expansion of what Soul Eater had presented, then it’s the wrong place. The comedy may seem also seem mindless at times but its gimmicks can be attractive when it stands out on its own. It may not be a masterpiece of the coming ages from the Soul Eater world but neither is it gagantous.

First off, I'm not a reviewer.

This named prequel of the critically acclaimed "Soul Eater" has got me cringing and shuffling my hair, even more so than Eureka Seven's Pocket Full Rainbow movie. It surprised me that it did. Those who've read the manga and/or watched the anime series may have mixed feelings or downright hate it or love it, god knows why.

Story, 3: The story had a lot of potential, but it really didn't go into much context at all. The witch comes in to destroy all of DWMA but her motives are devoid and unoriginal. It's just looking for blood and gore for ... her entertainment with no background or so to back up why to even say how she came to be who she was. The supporting characters are really weak as they feel like they're just there to set up things for the MC until she realizes the situation not until the second to last episode. Yes, throughout the show the MC who is the weapon, I don't remember their name, that's how bad it is, goes on with her slice of life show and while she yearns to become stronger she doesn't really go through much of a training sequence or desire a goal when it's clear that would've made her motive at DWMA much more stronger than the friendship stuff she would've had with it. For the most part, the main cast just strolls around and have fun and then get a friendship boost for the last level....I'll leave the rest to you.

Art, 7: The art isn't really anything original or unique to say. It's similar to almost every anime in the last few years and present. Although it is quite refined and I haven't seen any derpy faces which kind of shows the studio gave the art a lot of time and effort.

Sound, 5: You know actually, I was so appalled by the characters every dialogue the sound I couldn't hear at all. Although I did like the opening song it was decent.

Character, 1: There is no character. They are a mixture of cliche, generic stereotypes as if they were just created like the Power Puff Girls. The MC strives for nothing. She knows nothing like Jon Snow knows nothing yet he is COOL and does something like a badass. Here the MC, weapon girl, does not do anything. She doesn't even try to realize the situation in DWMA nor cares about anyone else other than her friends. Who cares about fodder. The other two MC, the meisters, are yet again a generic princess who knows martial arts but is useless most of the time until the plot calls for it. The forgetful girl with big boobs and the idiot among them although the weapon girl is also an idiot. if you think about it they are nothing but fan service and I'm okay with fan service but not the way it's presented here. As for the rest, the original cast I was glad to see but they don't represent them as good as the original series even though this is a prequel. I don't believe they were that bland. Everyone else is just used a tool to set everything up.

Enjoyment, 1: If I cringed and shuffled my hair while moving around weirdly on my chair because of how bad and annoying this show was I'd be either crazy or this show is actually that appalling. There were moments that made me blush a little but it only lasted less than a second. It doesn't have any measure of excitement and the battle animations were terrible.

Overall, 1: This show is the worst show I've ever seen earning itself a 1/10. This show literally SLAPS you in the face if you enjoyed the Soul Eater Manga or anime this show detriments everything the world and character of Soul Eater once was. It tried to give a different take but the way it presented slice of life with some action was god awfully bad. The final fight literally yelled "PLOT". Don't joke with me, I love slice of life and if you do too this show does not live up to the Soul Eater series let alone it's own genre. It is NOT worth anyone's time yet already many people watched it or is watching it. I just felt like slapping whoever wrote this. The characters are literally a combination of only cliche and generic things. They don't have a taste of originality like Death the Kid's obsession with symmetry. Now that's called character. And for those rating this show above average should write their own stories and see to themselves they could write an even story just as bad as this or better. The show's main point...there was not point. It's your usual friendship stuff. The art and stuff was like I was watching any other anime that looked just like it. The conflicts within this story will kill your hype for expectations for the moment because it is a mind manipulation show. And that is my review without talking crap and spoiling anything. Although I actually did talk crap only.

Then again I'm not a reviewer.

Soul Eater NOT! is difficult to judge because it's hard to pick what standards to judge it from, as well as what demographic it is trying to accommodate. If you come in looking for a slice-of-life anime, the steep, intermittent changes in tone and the general story-arch may be jarring for many. If you are coming in for a story-driven action-fest akin to the original series, this show will disappoint with its sparse and short actions sequences and how few episodes are actually driving the story forward. This show also assumes you have seen the original series, else many of the unique concepts behind the ... canon as well as back stories and cameos from the original story will be lost to the viewer.

Story:

The first half or so of Soul Eater NOT is very episodic with little overarching story to speak of, instead using the time to introduce the characters as they go about their first semester at DWMA. The last six episodes is when the story starts kicking it in to gear, but up through the end I found it somewhat shallow, both in complexity and scale. The anime does offer up some quite entertaining moments, whether its humorous or unsettlingly dark and unexpected, but these are relatively few and far between. Overall, it is a very "the power of friendship" kind of story, so be aware.

Art:

There isn't a lot to say about the art except that it was "okay." As a slice of life the colorful and somewhat simplistic nature of the bulk of the animation holds up fine, but the few action sequences were largely hit-or-miss; some scenes were relatively fluid and enjoyable, while others were completely lacking.

Sound:

Again, the sound was okay for the purposes. The voice-acting was decent enough, as I didn't find myself cringing at any particular characters when they spoke. The music was forgettable however; literally I can't remember any of the songs besides the opening...

Characters:

In terms of the three main characters, their personalities and motivations are pretty generic; you can pretty much pin them to a T from the first episode or two. You have the main girl who wants to get stronger to protect her friends, one who lived her child-hood in high class and wanted to escape it, and the overly enthusiastic, dim-witted one. Not much else to say.

The supporting cast is where I believe much of the show's entertainment lies, as long as you are familiar with the original series. Many recognizable faces are present in one way or another, and it was actually very interesting seeing their stories expanded upon from before the events of Soul Eater without any major discrepancies of the overall canon. I feel that I would have enjoyed the show much more if it gave more focus to this pre-story in terms of these recurring characters. There are a few characters, however, that I feel are not given proper justice and/or inconsistent if you are familiar with the original canon.

Enjoyment:

As I stated before, most of my enjoyment came from the expanded narrative around the supporting cast. I didn't find the show overly bad in any way, but as I am confessedly not a huge fan of the slice-of-life genre, those who are fans may get more out of it than I did. Although I still find the action-side of it lacking, if you are a fan of both genres and aren't afraid of switching between them in the same continuity, I would say go ahead and give it a whirl.

This show definitely does not deserve a 9, but I really enjoyed it so that's what I gave it! (Haters to the left)

STORY:
Anyways this story centers around Tsugumi Harudori, a 14 year old girl who has found out only recently that she is a weapon. So she goes to the DWMA to learn how to control her newly found power and fight. A very similar story to the actual Soul Eater anime but revolving around the NOT class instead of the EAT class. (Hence the name, Soul Eater NOT)

CHARACTERS:
The characters in this show were okay. None particularly stood out to me even though I enjoyed ... them. The characters I did like however were mainly ones from the original anime like Kid, Maka, Soul, ect. One thing I really loved about this anime though is that they went into the background of a lot of minor characters from Soul Eater. I loved learning about Kim and Jacqueline and how they became partners. Also the fact that Kim is a witch was really interesting because they never mentioned anything about it in Soul Eater.

ART:
Gorgeous. This is one of the prettiest art styles I've ever seen. I feel like it fit the tone of this show better than the other animation for Soul Eater (don't get me wrong, I love Soul Eater's animation too) would have.

SOUND:
Meh. It was alright. Nothing really stood out to me. I did enjoy the opening though.

ENJOYMENT OVERALL:
Definitely not worth a 9, but I enjoyed it so I keeping it a 9. I'd say only watch this if you're a major fan of the actual anime and are very forgiving XD

Let me get this straight, the reason why I watched this show is to actually view the old characters one last time *cries*. The fact that I miss Death the Kid, Black Star, Maka Albarn, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, Patty and Liz Thompson, and of course, Soul E. Evans (I'll have you know I placed those names without consulting google and other websites. I memorized them!), immediately I was in cloud nine after receiving a notice that the spin-off of Soul Eater will be released. I actually kind of expected that Not! will not satisfy me but I didn't expect it to disappoint me this much.

The story ... is labeled as decent for score but for me it's unsatisfactory. You want the idea of having a dark and action-packed show like Soul Eater, instead you get a flow of story about teenage girls who can't solve their problems in getting a partner. It is a slice of life rendition of Soul Eater. It shows the everyday life of students INSIDE DWMA. Their lives are different from the former gang, it's less complicated and duller. Their singing is excruciating and this show cannot be K-On. Dear Bones, you cannot be Kyoto Animation! Not ever! The cuteness, plot holes, fillers, and unhelpful shits in the story made me regret watching this show.

The art is lazy and pathetic. I get the idea of how the characters are younger and cuter but, COME ON!! There is no reason to make the art look so, sluggish and shitty! I do not like how the characters looked like mashed paintings or abstract figures! Have you seen that fight with Eternal Feather? (reference: Youtube) It was the saddest animation I have ever seen in my entire life. It looked like 15 year old kids could do that fighting scene. Setting the fighting scenes aside (which is I think only 3 or 4 scenes), I see how uncomfortable it is to watch huge breasts floating all over my eyes. The only thing that I loved was Shaula's hair and Sid's younger face (which is a bit hot).

The sound was okay but not good enough, sorry.

The characters were the worst. the way Atsushi Okubo created them were not what I hoped he'd do. I hate their personalities and their corny and cheesy moments just made me puked. The MC which I don't remember her name anymore was really plain. She has two ponytails which made her look more childish and useless. She also makes this idiotic catchphrases that makes my eyes twitch and for some reason they laugh for the heck of it. The other, with the huge boobs were drastically made for fanservice. She has a short term memory which I guess is not original and I hate how she flirts like a yuri character. The commoner lover which I can remember her name is I think, Anya? She has this uncontrollable personality, the tsundere type. I personally hate most tsunderes. They blush all the time trying to make characters worry and all and they think they're so cute but they actually have a dysfunctional and suckish personality. I'm sorry but this dumb trio is nothing like the group I loved from the first season. Stein, the old characters, and the coffee manager were the only characters that were less disappointing.

I didn't enjoy it, I regret watching it.

I think you guys need to see this first before watching the original Soul Eater to compare the beauty of Soul Eater and the wickedness of this poorly-animated show. I just wanted to see that original characters one last time *sobs mathematically* but I never would've guessed that this show would be a rip-off.
#lame
#iknowthisisnttwitter
#idontcare
#thisanimeisbullshit

I cannot guys, I just can't. I'm just thankful that this became possible because in that way I can see the characters again. So I guess this is goodbye, Soul Eater? *cries so hard that it breaks everything in its path*

 Soul Eater is one of my favorite shounen series of all time. Ever since my first viewing, the show has been a strong favorite of mine due to its compelling and humorous character cast. Fantastic world-building, atmospheric visuals, kickass and a well-thorough out plot. Sure, the cheesy ending and a couple of unresolved plot threads have much to be desired, but I was still satisfied with what I watched.
When I heard that Soul Eater was getting a new anime in 2014 I was hyped as I watched to see Maka and her crew kicking ass and taking souls again, adapting the rest of the ... manga arcs starting from The Clown Arc onwards but instead, we got Soul Eater NOT! The worst anime done by Studio Bones as well as the worst slice of life anime ever produced.

Now I don't have anything against a slice of life anime I fact like a slice of life anime. Some of my favorite slice of life anime are K-On, A Place Further than the Universe and Mitsubishi Colors and Strawberry Marshmallow. Soul Eater Not! is not bad because it's a slice of life Soul Eater Not is bad because it's a bad slice of life. Everything that Soul Eater Not! It has been done better every other slice of life you can think of.
Not only that, but the show somehow managed to screw up the most basic elements of this genre I have ever seen since the days of Lucky Star. The first episode of Soul Eater Not is a prime example of how to not start a slice of life series. From the first minute, we barely know a thing about the locations that the girls are living. I understand you want to get these girls to Death City as quickly as possible, but we can at least get some context to all this.

The one thing I forgot to mention at the beginning of this review was that Soul Eater Not is the prequel to Soul Eater. You would think that the show would at least showcase Maka and Soul in their early days at Death City as inexperienced students but for some stupid reason, the show not only calls Maka and Soul senior students even though the early portion of the original series they didn't know how to resonate soul's let alone fight as a pair together. Continuity What's that?
When this amateur hour crap heap is not screwing up the continuity of the series it's being a tedious slog filled with meanless dialogue and cheap moe pandering.
There's no character progression, no stakes, no themes, no purpose, artistic values. No point. By the time the show decided to have a plot around the final stretch, I stopped giving a rats ass because not only the show but the failed misery of being a competent slice of life but the show simply failed to entertain. 
The climax if you call it that is about some gibberish garbage about the three girls resonating their souls together to defeat light novel villain 349 (I know the show is based on the manga but the writing is so bad it was honestly hard not to compare it to villains from shitty light novel adaptations) with the power of friendship, magic, and happiness.

Now we have the worst aspect of Soul Eater Not the characters. Calling them characters is a compliment or even a stretch.
They may not be the worst character cast I have ever seen in anime but they are certainly the worst characters I have seen in a slice of anime.

Let's begin with this Maka Wannabe Tsugumi.
I hated her, I really do. Not only was she an atrociously written lead but she's also an insufferable dumbass. I have nothing more else to say except that she awful and she makes Takami from Fire Force look like a competent character and she was the worst character in that show.

Next, we have big boob lady aka Anya. She's awful and somehow even worse than Tsugumi. Being a more insufferable dumbass aside, she is an utter jerk to people. I get that she's meant to be the rich girl out of the three, but she doesn't have to be an insufferable jerk to people. I apologise for reusing the word insufferable a lot but that's why she is, let alone this shell of a character cast.

It's honestly hard to call Meme a character because she isn't really. Despite being less annoying than the other two, she's somehow the least character out of three. She's an empty husk and a total plot device for the show's garbage writing.
She has no personality, we barely learn jack shit about her before the reveal that she has lost her memories. The supporting characters are just like the main characters themselves boring, annoying and atrociously written. They have no personality to speak of, they are extremely unlikable to the core and most importantly there are just plot devices that exist to either shamelessly pander to the lowest common denominator or to move the plot along.
Not even cameo appearances of Maka, Death the Kid and Black Star can save this shell of a character cast.

The visuals are mediocre at best. While the background scenery is vibrant and colourful, the character designs mainly the old cast and overall art direction was lacklustre. The animation is choppy, stiff and lacks any sort of fight choreography. Honestly what the hell was the animation staff of bones thinking when making this. It just feels so cheap and half-fast.

When I review an anime I usually try to listen to the soundtrack alongside the spoken dialogue. I wanted to hear the music composer's talent while watching any given series as I believe that even the most poorly written show would have a good soundtrack that makes the crappy experience tolerable. This is not the case in Soul Eater Not.
The soundtrack for Soul Eater Not is not only uninspired but it feels so cheap. If you have listened to any generic soundtrack of any generic slice of life then you have heard the Soul Eater Not!. Generic upbeat, vocal and cheerful track pieces play all over the place without any meaning, tension or substance, making the already tedious show even more tedious to watch.
The opening and ending themes while catchy and well-composed they don't save the series from being total shit.
Finally, we have the Funimation English dub and it's just as good as the original series. The English cast once again did a great job with the roles that were given. Laura Bailey Maka is still my Laura Bailey, Brittney Karbowski Black Star is still my Black Star and Micah Solusod Soul Evans is still my Soul Evans. The actors for the new characters were also very good. Even though I utterly despise the three main girls, I feel like the actors did their best to make these characters work even if the writing is poorly written tripe. 

This show is awful. If you're someone that likes this series then I am glad you enjoyed it but man did I hated it from beginning to end. I have never seen a franchise that I love to go out of its way to be so boring and incompetent. The plot even for a slice of life standards is horribly written, the characters have a personality of potatoes. The production visuals range from mediocre to awful and the soundtrack is uninspired. If you want to watch a good slice of life watch K-On, Lucky Star or A Place Further than the Universe.
Avoid this pathetic excuse of a spinoff and never look back.

I feel kind of bad writing this review, and I usually hate people who are just bagging on shows because they are soooooo far off the original and all that jazz, but I feel like I should tell that this show was HORRIBLE!!!!

- STORY - 4 - The story was half decent, but I still didn't really like it. It was too bland for my liking.

- ART - 10 - I may hate this anime, but it has some pretty amazing art.

- SOUND - 10 - I LOVE Monochrome, it's first opening, and the rest of the music that goes along with ... this anime. If only it were in another, better opening... ^o^

- CHARACTER - 6 - The characters are all... decent... if you ask me. None stand out at all, and I don't particularly like them.

- ENJOYMENT - 2 - Usually I try to finish an anime, and if I don't, it's because it's really that terrible, or it is taking too long to finish (cough* ONE PIECE*) I really could only watch 5 episodes, and I had to drag myself to do so. I hated almost every last second (except the parts with Maka and Soul ^w^) I just don't think any other anime is this terrible... -_-

- OVERALL - 1 - Again, it was a pain to watch and I will never try again. If you want a good show like this, with school, meisters, and kids who turn into weapons with drama and hilarious comedy that will make you laugh to tears, watch SOUL EATER!!! IT is the best anime.

Soul Eater NOT is the prequel to the Soul Eater series. Although, the only likenesses they share is their name and characters.Those who have not read the manga may be in for a bit of a surprise, Soul Eater NOT is a slice of life and lacks much of the action and suspense Soul Eater has. But, what it does is give the audience a great background into the events that transpired before the start of Soul Eater.

Art: 7/10 The artwork in Soul Eater NOT was the only letdown for me. The art is quite different from Soul Eater's. To make the show fit the ... slice of life genre the producers made all the characters more "cutesy". I personally would have rather seen it with the original artwork, but whatever.

Character 8/10: The characters are showcased well, and some background information is provided to make the characters seem less shallow. I enjoy the interpersonal conflict that persist throughout the show on who Tsugumi will choose as her partner.

Overall I rate it an 8/10. I feel this is fair because, for a slice of life anime, it has its fairly dramatic moments, coupled with other conflicts. I think if you have seen Soul Eater and are a fan, this would be worth your while. NOT really gives good insight into the protagonist from both shows and what led up to the events in Soul Eater. I would not suggest you watch this before watching the original Soul Eater or it will be very hard to follow and you will have very little enjoyment from it. Gagantous!

Let's see..
Soul Eater w̶a̶s̶ is a great anime that makes anime development grow better.
Then this anime is the spin-off of that one. I gotta say it's refreshing to see more (previous main char) back to action, even tho not really great as the prev and less appearance. But yeah let's not talk about the past, the past are past we can't change what had happened. Back, this anime makes a lot of person vomit, what?! you jokes? no, all my roomates vomit while watch this anime, especially ep 3 if you don't know, watch this anime it's great to watch. Really really worth your time, ... yeah the time of the dead waiting for the apocalypse. (Your Ghost Time haunting people) Back back back..
Wait- i didn't tell you anything good about this yet? here,
this anime soundtrack is cute af. Yeah i even download and buy it online with my friend's card, but in the end i gave the digital ost to him.
Next up is the colors, graphics, all cute, i like it especially the battle parts and the mixed color hair the use All Cute.

So in the end this anime is about CGDCT , Cute Girls Doing Cute Things.
If you had enough with the cliche anime then this one is the cliche also, with much much cuteness, unfortunately not overload.

Definitely a good watch. But, if you are expecting the non-stop action and fights that the OG series has, then you will be let down. It definitely moves at a much slower pace as well.

Learning that there is indeed an "EAT" class and a "NOT" class, depending on an individuals power and will to fight and the differences between the two, was enlightening. The story centers around the three MC's, all female students in the "NOT" class, and it goes through out their stay at the DWMA as they try to cope with their abilities while trying to still live a regular, normal life ... w/o all the fighting that the students in the "EAT" class are preparing for. You learn about the daily routines of the students, and the hardships that accompany them as they try to hone their abilities. Being able to see this secondary path the students can take at the DWMA was a great concept. The series definitely focuses on friendship, which the OG series does as well, but in a less coarse way unlike the OG. At times this series does slow to a snail's pace in terms of the plot. But, if you stick with it, it does pick up in intensity towards the latter part of the series. All of this is done in a very cutesy way. Almost too cutesy at times. (Lol)

You also get to meet a good amount of the original characters as well, as they make sporadic appearances throughout this series. It was very awesome to see them all in the "early' years at the DWMA, and how their roles took shape. You also get a good amount of background on them through this series, which answered a fair amount of questions that I had after finishing the OG series.

The characters are developed very well. You learn almost everything you need to know about the characters in a timely manner, and the relationships between characters are developed very smoothly. The flash backs and back story is all well placed, eliminating a lot of the possible confusion that could've come about if it wasn't.

The art style/ animation used is very good. Very consistent with what you'd come to expect for a Soul Eater series. Same with the music. Each character has unique physical traits, and definitely all are unique.

Overall, the series provides a good amount of enjoyment. It is a worthy prequel to the OG series, and provides you with some great background. They did a great job in connecting the two series, while not taking away from the originality of this current series.

I was ready to write off this show after 3 episodes. It was clearly Soul Eater NOT!. However, I got bored one day and gave the rest of the show a chance and I'm glad I did. The show picks up around episode 4 and is actually relatively decent.

Given the first 3 episodes you expect this to be a slice of life anime, set in the Soul Eater universe. However, you do eventually get actual plot points, and some interesting things do start to happen. Slowly it starts becoming more and more similar to the original.

Plot: Slow to get started, but ultimately its ... fine.
Characters: We get to see some of the original cast, and they are fine (mostly due to nostaglia) I never really warmed to the new characters).

Overall: Not fantastic and strictly worse than the original, but not a complete waste of your time either.

Soul Eater NOT is NOT good and it is NOT a good spin-off to Soul Eater.


This is one of those things where you watch it for hints of already established characters but you end up watching a sorta yuri anime.


Now myanimelist.net says I need to write a longer review but there isn't much else to say unless I waste more time than I already have dissecting this non-expanding Facade.

...

I just read some reviews with the plan to counteract them but I ended up noticing the same arguments I made being used (also I wasn't standing out with my jab at the NOT title)

I have a strong suspicion that I'll ruffle a few feathers when I say that I prefer this short moe spin-off of Soul Eater over the original Soul Eater anime, but I don't feel that that stance is at all unjustified. This review's going to be pretty comparative, as the original series has flaws that, when viewed alongside the spin-off, throw Soul Eater NOT's strong points into sharp relief.

The big issue with Soul Eater that marks it as a resoundingly average anime series is its delusions of grandeur, its utter conviction that it has coherent context and engaging subtext. In reality, Soul Eater lacks either. ... It adopts the persona of a broody shounen that uses a madcap style in order to contrast over-the-top comedy with darker storytelling, but that's all pretentious because it makes no effort to effectively deconstruct the majority of its characters and link them to any overt underlying message. The result feels moody without justification, like it wants to be taken seriously despite the fact that it isn't actually saying anything (in a sense, the anime equivalent of Tim Burton's more recent films). The majority of the characters (with the obvious exceptions of Black Star, Crona and Stein) feel more like archetypes or cardboard cutouts than realistic or relatable individuals.

(Before we continue, I would like to assure you that this applies to the anime and not to the manga, which I found to be fairly enjoyable by comparison and much more competently written).

That's Soul Eater, but what about NOT, the actual focus of this review. It's a weird little series this: smaller in both scale and length, but a lot deeper and much more impactful. It asserts both subtext and context in a manner that the original lacked, and does so without adopting a needlessly pretentious tone tailored to disguise the flatness of the overall experience. Soul Eater NOT is actually good. It's undeniably fanservice for viewers of the original, but it's a good kind of fanservice that adds more to existing plot threads and builds upon the established universe. It explores backstories not seen in SE and outlines aspects of the established setting in greater detail, helping to construct a world that feels much more vivid and engaging. In exploring the pasts of original characters, it fleshes them out further and makes them infinitely more memorable. Rare appearances from the main teams of SE are welcome, particularly in Maka's case because she actually has a role in our protagonist's development. Still fanservice in the end, but not JUST fanservice.

NOT also manages to establish a clear subtext and overarching message about the importance of hard work, friendship and determination (cheesy stuff, but nonetheless effective for it). It does this through actual characterisation that links in strongly to the themes, as well as an appropriate balance of upbeat humour and long-term suspense. Some may find Tsugumi's concerns about her physical fitness much more trivial than the concerns of the protagonists of the original, but given the predominantly teenage audience this is a much more relatable character trait. The protagonists are all endearingly quirky without being archetypes of quirkiness. We come to enjoy the fun times that we spend with them, and we find ourselves concerned for their well-being when danger arises, and thanks to our emotional investment in not just their existence but their own personal struggles, the essential message shines even stronger. The protagonists are relatable; because of that, we worry when things go wrong and we are relieved when they go well. That is the essence of emotional response to film.

Let's step away from the positive for now and think about the negatives a little, for Soul Eater NOT is far from perfect. I suppose animation is the big one: we're lucky enough to have been born in a decade where high-quality animation is the norm, and so it stands out when a show hasn't received a good treatment. The aesthetic itself isn't bad and the character designs complement the upbeat tone well. The issue is that NOT"s movements are very clunky; character models are inconsistent and at worst can seem blocky and ugly. The problems show the most in the fight scenes, when the actual detailed movements don't feel as smooth as they potentially could've been and the camera stays very fixed, detracting somewhat from the sense of spectacle that would otherwise enhance the cinematic experience. One suspects that Soul Eater NOT didn't get the budget it really deserved.

At other times, some of the characters do end up feeling like they're left by the wayside a bit. Our protagonists - Tsugumi, Anya and Meme - are fleshed out fairly well, but the series does have a bad habit of establishing characters who have only brief roles and treating them as if they are significant. The villain is your average "embodiment of evil", the bread-and-butter of the Soul Eater animated universe. The story actually does give some engaging backstory to characters that the original series forgot to explore (which is nice), and these characters do end up having strong overarching presences, but one does wonder whether they should've simply been explored in depth as part of the original itself (though obviously, this isn't NOT's issue).

To finalise:
+Simple but effective overarching themes.
+Strong development in core characters, who are all relatable and endearing.
+Builds upon the established context and creates a more vividly real setting.
+A much more appropriate tone than the original.
+NOT actually incorporates the first major protagonist death in the animated franchise.
-Mediocre animation.
-Arbitrary side characters.

All-in-all, Soul Eater NOT is good. It deserves your time if you've seen the original series, but don't bother to power your way through the original simply for NOT's sake. It doesn't have a standalone existence, but is a much stronger contribution to the franchise than its big brother.

At first, I was very excited that Soul Eater franchise continued. I thought it'd be a prequel to Soul Eater and its main characters. I understand the title says "Not", but I thought ir be each weapon and meistsers background stories. Instead, it follows a group of three freshmen students at Death Academy, totally new to the Soul Eater story. Fighting is literally nonexistent in the story. There's more unnecessary ecchi, and the animations have changed to fit a seeming younger audience. The main characters of Soul Eater (Maka, Soul, Blackstar, etc.) show up like once. They also have been "cute-sified". The fighting animation seemed ... slow and laggy compared to the original Soul Eater. Overall, Soul Eatee Not is more of an extra thing. So if you're a huge Soul Eater fan, don't watch it because it's unrelated and disappointing.

The main problem I have with this show isn't that it's a slice of life Yuri show. In fact, if that's what it was I probably wouldn't even be bothering to write this review. It wouldn't be worth it.
What makes me angry about this show is that it's a spin-off of one of my favorite shows of all time, and it manages to COLOSSALLY SCREW EVERYTHING UP!

Story/Character: The story is meh. It gets okay near the end once the actually pretty cool and menacing villain shows up. And at least some things got decent explanation. My main problem with the characters though is ... that they are not the main characters from the original show. The protagonist is basically a Maka fangirl, blushing and stuttering whenever she's around (the original cast does show up, but only every now and then and only in cameos, except the Thomson sisters, who are BARISTAS AT A CAFE). Meme is basically just an idiot with short-term memory loss. And even characters from the original show are not as interesting or compelling as they used to be. And many events that are obviously supposed to have some kind of emotional impact have none because the original show exists. The only half-decent new characters are, in my opinion, the villain and Anya. At least Anya is semi-consistent and actually seems to have reasons for her actions. And the villain is a total discount Medusa, but Medusa was an AWESOME villain, so... if it ain't broke, don't fix it?

Art/Sound: The op is catchy. The rest of it is entirely forgettable. The art is probably the best part of the show. It's definitely cute and appealing and actually conforms more to how the characters look in the manga than the original show. This makes me hate how the original cast looks. I love the art of the original show. And it bugged me. Though the new characters are cute. And for a show like this, having cute characters is a must. Therefore I can say that the show delivers there.

This show sucks. It has no real target audience. And it sucks. If you're a fan of the original, give it a shot, but you'll probably hate it. If you didn't like the original, don't bother.