Soul Eater NOT!

Soul Eater NOT! Is not a sequel to the original Soul Eater, it is considered a side story with different characters, but the same setting. However, the actions take place before the events in the original series.

In the title - Soul Eater NOT!, NOT stands for Normally Overcome Target, but it might be a wordplay since the anime has almost nothing to do with the serious battles and action of the original.

• STORY
As I said the focus of the story are not the characters from Soul Eater (Maka, Soul, Kid, Death Star, etc.), even though they do make a few appearances ... in the show and Maka certainly has a role in the plot.
The story revolves around three girls entering the NOT class. The focus is put on the things students in DWMA do in their free time – when not in class. It shows a bit more of Death City, the girl dorm and a café in the city. Even though the story is quite more relaxed and slow paced, lack of action is compensated for in the final 2-3 episodes. A witch with strong mind control powers – Shaula Gorgon - makes an appearance and is the main villain in the show. In overall, the show might remind you of the original in its final two or three episodes where an actual fight erupts and important decisions are made.
Basically, the show lacks the action of the original and the focus in on the daily lives of DWMA students.
• CHARACTERS
There are three main characters, all of which are girls. Harudori Tsugumi, a weapon, lacks self confidence and is very indecisive. However Maka manages to encourage her not to give up and defend her friends with all means possible. Anya Hepburn, a meister, actually a princess who came to DWMA to study the life and manners of commoners. Meme Tatane, another meister, who tendst to be very forgetful and clumsy, but in the same time skilled in battles.
The three girls meet on the first day of school and easily become friends. The interesting thing is that we are showed two meisters using one weapon for the first time.
As you can probably tell, there is strong character development for all the girls. They experience a lot together and manage to overcome everything with a lot of effort which certainly helps them evolve.
Two boys from the EAT (especially advanced talents) class take part of the action – Akane Hoshi and Clay Sizemore. They have a few very important tasks to do in the plot.
Also, there appears to be a witch in DWMA, called Kim Diehl(those who have read the Soul Eater might recognize her, since she appeared there and had interactions with Kid). However she is not a spy or anything like that and helps DWMA however she can. She has an interesting personality and tends to take money for everything, which makes her a really fun and enjoyable character to observe.
As I said the main characters from Soul Eater do make an appearance, even though just for a little bit. However, the focus is far away from them. The one thing that disappointed me a lot was that Shinigami-sama never made an appearance in the show. I think it is important to show him at least once since he is the most important character for the entire city, not to mention the school.
• ART
The art of Soul Eater NOT! Has almost nothing to do with the art in the original. However, I found it really enjoyable. Everything was well drawn and animated, attention was paid to every detail. Everything typical for a 2014 anime show. And it is not one of those censured animes, which don’t show blood, there is a normal amount of blood for that kind of a show. For those wondering, the producers of Soul Eater NOT! Include Bones, FUNimatio, TV Tokyo and Square Enix.
MUSIC
The music is also good, for that kind of show. There weren’t many intense moments with tense music, but everything was suitable for the setting. Tense music, however, appeared when necessary.
The opening and ending themes are performed by Haruka Chisuga, Aoi Yuuki, Saori Hayami and Dancing Dolls!!. The music itself is by Yuki Hayashi and Atsami Tachibana.
I usually don’t pay much attention to the opening and ending of an anime after the first episode, so I can’t say much, but I was not annoyed by them at all.

In overall, Soul Eater NOT! Puts the focus on the other side of DWMA, the daily lives of students and the NOT class. If you are looking for a show with a lot of action and intense battles you won’t find it in Soul Eater NOT!. However, the show is interesting and makes the environment around Death City and DWMA more clear.
It is a nice show and a good way to relax and maybe slightly remember about the original Soul Eater.

Soul Eater Not is more of a prequel to the original Soul Eater than a sequel. The anime may not have much of the original characters of the original, but it still has its own unique characters that make it interesting to watch
Tsugumi- The first main character, discovered she was a weapon so she decided to head to DWMA hoping to control her powers and find love, but instead find two girl partners who both want to be her partner. She is kind of shy, but when it comes to standing up she will have to
Anya- The second main character and one of ... the girls who wants to be partners with Tsugumi. She has a stubborn personality, but actually does like to enjoy things with friends. The reason why she came to DWMA was to look for a commoner partner.
Meme- The third main character and kind of an air head. She doesn't really know why she came to DWMA, but wants to be Tsugumi's partner. She is strong willed when it comes to her friend and will protect them.
The storyline is before Medusa was discovered and Sid became a zombie and there weren't that many conflicts. The artwork is a little different than the original, but if you loved Soul Eater you will enjoy it.

I really loved Soul Eater, so at first I was a bit biased about this anime. I watched in one sitting but I was a bit disappointed by this anime. The plot is overall pretty bad, at first it didn't have much plot. In the last few episodes it threw in a sloppy plot and didn't give any nice twists or excitement.

The characters didn't have any room for development. The main characters formed attachments, but we didn't. there wasn't any firm backstories and I was disappointed with the lack of supporting characters.

As for the sound track I have always loved ... the soul eater sound track, and I found this to be pretty different. The soundtrack doesn't completely suite me tastes, but it was nice and each song played their part well.

I wasn't a huge fan of this anime.

I rarely write reviews on here, but I'm going to now because I think this series gets a bad rap when plenty of people would really enjoy it.

If you love Soul Eater but dislike cute things, sure, it might not be for you. And if you love moe but don't want a bit of a dark side to your shows, you might not like it either. But if you're like me and you love both? You're in for a treat.

Soul Eater NOT! is ADORABLE. But as it turns out, adorable things can be cool too! A lot of SE fans lamented Maka's appearance in this ... series, and I can see how it might be jarring compared to the super-slick style of the original, but I find this style appealing, too. And just because she's gotten a little squishier doesn't mean she can't still kick some ass! The cameos of characters from the main series alone make this series worth it for me.

But what I really love about this series is that it's an honest-to-goodness love triangle between three girls, not to mention the adorable side romance with Kim and and Jacqueline. Sure, there's no kissing, but it's still pretty damn gay, and incredibly sweet.

I won't say the plot and its pacing are perfect, but they're fitting for a Soul Eater side story, and it fills in a lot of blanks from the main series (more information on Sid-sensei, for one). The OP and ED are super cute, although the OST itself isn't nearly as exciting as that of Soul Eater.

So overall, it's not for everyone, but it's definitely for me! And if you like your yuri/moe/slice-of-life with a bit more action, and especially if you like Soul Eater as well, I think you'll enjoy it.

Welcome to Robert's Too Late Reviews where once again this country boy has to be the holdout against his fellows on scoring this particular anime. Its not as bad of a series as many would have you believe; it's just geared towards a different audience. If you are familiar with the original Soul Eater and, like me, have a tolerance for slice of life type shows, then this is exactly what you'll be getting here, slice of life-ish antics set in a slightly brighter colored Soul Eater world. This is a bit of an answer for people who don't care for the battle type shows, ... but are still interested in the Soul Eater lore through friends or family. If Soul Eater was the big brother's 'kapow, bam, bang' version, then NOT is little sister's 'similar stylings and characters with more relationship emphasis and less on the fighting front.' Both shows can work, and in my mind do. Tie up to a hitching post yall, let me explain why this is the case!

Just going to write it out, not bothering with categories this time, see how it flows for us.

A bit of history for ya, I first 'came back' to anime by watching Soul Eater. I just loved it! Maka was my hero and the ass kickings were great to behold. But after I watched Soul Eater and even started on the Fairy Tail series, I also heard about these other great shows, shows like Maria-sama ga Miteru, Aoi Hana, and sadly enough even Strawberry Panic. I quickly found out that action is nice, but I'm more of a character driven fan. I prefer the slice of life comedies and the romances, and didn't need constant fight after fight to hold my interest. In fact, too much fighting tends to make me a bit worn out. Now, Sachiko from Marimite is my queen, I loved Plastic Memories, and Say I Love You, and Your Lie in April makes me fall apart like a baby. I've come to see that I enjoy all kinds of genres but the more 'girlie' type ones fit me best. With this in mind, after several years, I came back to Soul Eater NOT.

This is NOT (har har) the original Soul Eater by any means. In the original, we dealt with powerful students that made a real difference in the world in their tackling on evil witches. The NOT class is basically the 'average kids' who, while some can become weapons, are NOT fit for frontline battles with Maka and Blackstar and crew. They still have to learn to survive with their condition and how to best use their weapon and miester abilities, but they are not warriors at heart. They are the regular kids.

So instead of getting a story of ever escalating power while facing ever more dangerous enemies, we instead get a story of three girls, two meisters and one weapon, who can't seem to come to a decision on which meister is going to be the weapon's permanent partner. In that, we have many of the usual slice of life, relationship based, events occur, just as getting a job, learning to be room mates together, dealing with scary older girls, and admittedly there is a little Soul Eater to be had in NOT's story. A witch does show up, there's a bit of fighting, and there's some tense moments, but overall, we're talking less about Lord Death (he never even appears) and his gang of elite soldiers, and more about the bully girl and the continuous agony of who is going to be Tsumugi's permanent partner.

But just because this isn't a story about the Kishin and life and death, there's still plenty of drama to be had in regards to the slice of life stylings. There are all kinds of jealousy and interpersonal issues for them to overcome as they move forward in their respective relationships. It breaks down to basically three: the princess Anya who is too embarrassed to truly tell the weapon Tsugumi she wants to be her only partner, and Meme (mai mai, not internet meme) who naturally hits it off with Tsugumi and also wants to be her full time partner. As the three work through the series trying to come to an understanding, a witch crops up, wrecks house a little bit, but is defeated by the power of friendship between the three girls themselves. I mean this much more literally than it sounds. Maka isn't up there throwing down a Witch Hunter Soul Resonance on the baddie, the three NOT girls pull together and win through the power of friendship. It is a total changing of gears from the original Soul Eater, but if the name, Soul Eater NOT!, didn't give that away, I can't really help ya.

Having moved from action based shows, which I still enjoy, but learning to enjoy the more character based and relationship based dramas has lead me to really enjoy both aspects of the Soul Eater franchise. And if you are looking for cameos, then they are there a-plenty. Before we're more than 10 minutes in, Maka appears, Soul with her not soon after, and Blackstar and Tsubasi as well. Death the Kid, Patty and Liz also show, in fact Patty and Liz have more than cameos, more like minor character roles. It was amazing to see them pop up again and again, and for the most part the voices are even correct, especially Liz, Death the Kid, and Sid. Speaking of Sid, we even learn more about his death as was revealed in the first Soul Eater series! It's a bit of a shocker.

While the witch at the end is bad news, she's pretty easily defeated, overall, compared to say that spider witch in the main series. The interesting thing is that Tsugumi after having defeated her, gains her soul, but does not eat it, handing it off to another student in the EAT class (Maka and crew's level at school, basically) whereas Soul would have just munched it down. Maybe it's because of their classification as NOT students, I dunno.

There's a lot of nostalgia in the air in this one as familiar sights, and sounds, come from all around. Some of it hits, some misses, but even with the huge shift from constant battle first series to SoL second, the feeling of Death City is still pretty solid. The laughing sun and moon even make their appearances, much to my delight.

Maka and Soul and them are exceptional students, forced to contend with the most serious issues facing the DWMA. Tsugumi, Anya, and Meme are not, they are just regular students trying to learn to control their powers enough to live a normal life. Come at this series expecting Maka caliber power levels, and you will be disappointed. Be ready for the regular kids in this one.

One main complaint character wise I would make is Patty: In the original Soul Eater she was tough when needed, but a bit of an airhead at any other time. In this one, which is set before they partner with Death the Kid, she's downright mean. I know they had a hard row growing up on the streets, but her innocent, slightly doofus demeanor is gone and she's just straight up a bully. Didn't like that bout her. Liz fits, but Patty was the nice one.

The only section I'm keeping for this particular review: Best Girl: Meme because she's so airheaded and because of the super awesome drunken (sleeping?) boxing. That or Eternal Feather because she's so sweet and has such a bad thing done to her. Naw, Meme for sure, sleeping kung fu and huge knockers are always a winning combo!

If you can handle shows that aren't about violence and fighting and battles and don't mind the slice of life genre or the shows based on growing of relationships instead of martial prowess, you might find Soul Eater NOT a worthy addition to the Soul Eater line. I say give it a try for sure!

this was not worth watching. to be honest I only watched it to see Soul and Maka again. its art was very different from SE which left me feel disappointed. It does give the show a new perspective and we see the beginning of Liz and Patty's story in a way. Yes this review is short, but the anime wasn't a show stopper............ Sorry but its true

today, I will start my review on this anime.
story(3)
when I first heard of this, I imagined a little girl named tsugumi starting her day at shibusen. but when I watched this, I wasn't too amused. I didn't like it because it was too boring for me and I became unamused.
sound(5)
wouldn't say I liked it, but the voices and the music weren't as bad. I don't like it that much cause it's just that I don't.
art(4)
the art style is okay. but i'd prefer if it were like the original soul eater. the animation isn't too bad.
character(2)
I don't like some of the characters. tsugumi is annoying, but ... I like meme and anya. other characters aren't too good.
enjoyment(1)
I can't enjoy it cause maybe it's too feminine for me or I just don't like it.
overall(1)
yeah, nothing is really good to me about this anime. I'd like it if it had more action and more comedy. yeah, sorry.
well, that's the end of my review.
hope you enjoyed!

Have you ever been so confused by something that you’re almost rendered speechless by it? The kind of reaction where you’re so dumbfounded by a choice made, so utterly perplexed at the thought process that’s gone into a decision, that all you can do is raise your hands in surrender and mouth “Why?” over and over again in hopes that some all-seeing god will provide you an answer for the impossible puzzle you’re faced with? Because that was my reaction pretty much throughout the entirety of Soul Eater NOT, the prequel spin-off to Soul Eater. Every single choice that went into this side story baffles ... me so completely than in lieu of a more traditional review, I am forced to collect my thoughts in the form of an imagined dialogue between two Studio Bones executives as they come to the conclusions that birthed this mystifyingly wrong-headed experiment. Maybe I can make some sense of it that way. Probably not, though.

Executive A: Hey, so Soul Eater’s been out for like five years and it’s got a pretty good fanbase. What say we put out some sort of spinoff to keep the brand name strong?

Executive B: That sounds like a very good idea. So, what kind of spinoff? A sequel could be a good idea, you get to see the characters you love a bit more grown up and going on to new challenges.

A: No, a prequel makes far more sense. We get to explore the world more fully and talk about all those ancillary environmental details that were only in the background before. Like, we can explore the city more fully!

B: You sure? It feels like we’re missing a lot of opportunities that way, considering how well-formed the world and characters already were at the start of Soul Eater. Our audience already knows the layout well enough, we don’t need to get stuck in pedantic detail-mongering. Also, if it’s a prequel, we don’t get to use Crona, a.k.a. the best character in the show by far.

A: That’s okay, we’ll just make up some original characters and tell a completely new story with them! And the main cast can act as cameos so they don’t wear out their welcome.

B: I... feel like that could still work as a sequel, but okay. Prequel it is. So, who are our new characters?

A: Well, they’re a trio of cute girls. Tsumugi, the lead, says “Gagantous!” a lot. Meme forgets literally everything. Anya is a spoiled rich girl obsesses with commoner stuff.

B: Okay, what else?

A: That’s it. That’s the extent of their characters.

B: What? Why? They’re all so thinly sketched, defined by cheap gimmicks rather than goals and personalities people can get attached to. How is our audience supposed to care about them when there’s nothing to care about?

A: Because they’re in a lesbian love triangle.

B: ...really? So we’re going the yuri route?

A: Yeah, I was thinking it should be a yuri slice-of-life. Maybe get a little action-y and classic Soul Eater for the climax, but this should be its own thing. Also, we’ll see Jacqueline and Kim from the original show, and they’ll be gay for each other too.

B: Huh. Well, that’s definitely a risk. Our audience is used to the shonen action spectacle stuff, they might not like such a vast departure. But hey, if we pull it off well enough, might make for a nice change of pace! What kinds of cool things will out characters do?

A: Work at a cafe.

B: You’re shitting me.

A: Nope.

B: That’s, like, the laziest possible thing they could do.

A: But maid uniforms!

B: Who cares about maid uniforms? Soul Eater isn’t a fanservice vehicle. I mean, there was a little of it in the early parts, but we made a conscious effort to tone that stuff down to avoid alienating a broader audience, remember?

A: Listen, audiences want to be pandered to. So in this spin-off, not only will there be maid uniforms, there’ll be plenty of panty shots too! And the girls won’t be able to stop talking about each other’s boobs! That’s what everyone wants!

B: No, it isn’t! That spits in the face of the admirable restraint we showed making Soul Eater! Is that the only reason you want it to be yuri, so you can contrive excuses for the girls to get all touchy-feely with each other for dudes to drool over?

A: Yup! What, you thought we were actually gonna try to get some good, honest LGBT representation in there?

B: Kind of, yeah!

A: Well, you’re wrong. We want the dudes who think lesbian action is hot to enjoy this, but still imagine making it with them. That’s why we’ll make all the ecchi feel as contrived un-genuine as possible so they aren’t scared off thinking these girls might legitimately not be available to them. Also, we’ll half-heartedly pretend Tsugumi’s got a crush on a dude for a bit just for backup.

B: That feels so disrespectful in every conceivable sense. And stupid. You think people are gonna enjoy such half-hearted measures?

A: But wait! There’s more!

B: Oh god, what now?

A: We’ll also animate this entire show in the most boring, pedestrian way possible with shitty, generic backgrounds and plasticky, sub-Love Live faces. No crative cinematography or editing, just bland and vapid static shots over bland and vapid locations and dialogue.

B: Oh, FUCK that! No! That’s enough! That is the stupidest idea I ever heard! Soul Eater was such a great show because of how stylish it was! It had a unique and expressive aesthetic that was full personality and creativity! Every shot had something interesting happening! Every visual choice was carefully made to make every single moment stick out in your mind! It had some of the most consistently engaging, kinetic visual storytelling ever, even outside of the action scenes! Replacing all that with shitty, sub-basement moe aesthetics completely destroys the core appeal of the show we’re supposed to be honoring here!

A: But moe is very in now! That experimental, creative stuff is all passe. Everyone will love it!

B: No. No one will love it. Yuri fans will hate that it doesn’t commit to the yuri, slice of life fans will hate that there isn’t any creativity in the scenarios, Soul Eater fans will hate how different it feels from the show they’ve come to love, and casual anime watchers who stumble across it will hate how lazily put together it is. Soul Eater managed to appeal to pretty much everyone. The spin-off you’re describing appeals to NO ONE.

A: You sure? Because I already got funding approved for it and we’ve started production.

B: HOW?!?!?!

A: Hey, calm down. Tell you what, since you’ve got so many opinions on it, I’ll at least let you name it. That can be your contribution.

B: *long, beleaguered sigh* Okay, fine. I guess we’re doing this. But mark my words, this is going to be a massive flop that everyone should stay away from. And to make sure the audience knows what to expect, we’re gonna call it Soul Eater NOT, because they should NOT watch it.

A: Wow, that’s a little mean, don’t you think?

B: Trust me, they’ll thank us for warning them.


Yeah, that’s how I imagine it went down. It’s the only way I can make sense of how wrong-headed this entire production was. Soul Eater NOT fails as yuri, it fails as slice-of-life, it fails as a Soul Eater property, and it fails on its own merits by being lifeless, inert, and vapid every step of the way. Don’t bother watching it; it’s not worth it, even for the irony. Now to watch Soul Eater episode 21 to wash the taste out of my mouth.

Contains minor character arc spoilers. But you'd probably see them coming, this isn't an M. Night Shyamalan-style anime.

One theme that stands out from this anime is "normalcy". This anime makes the otherwise hyper-violent, zany world of Soul Eater and makes the world, the art, the characters, the base concepts seem completely "normal". This is a lighthearted anime that's great for burning 4 hours.

Story (7): "Normal". Very. We see very low-stakes situations that feed a minor inter-personal conflict between our main trio, eventually leading up to a final confrontation and resolution that takes place alongside a final boss-battle. At least stuff happens in some sort of ... arc, they're not just sitting around talking about boys. Or bread. A lot of slice-of-life shows fail to deliver a narrative arc. This one's not terrible.

Art (7): The art was technically competent and totally "normal". Nothing unusual in the art at all, nothing experimental. The stitched-up zig-zags from Soul Eater are gone, replaced with "normal" looking buildings. Even the cartoonish-looking school is drawn through normal eyes, as if the viewer/narrator has not witnessed the raw insanity that is present in this world.

There were no weird shot compositions, or at least none that stand out in my mind. The animation was decent, I didn't notice any significantly stuttering areas. The action scenes MAY have had some stutter due to the inherently non-action focus of the anime, but I wasn't overly aware of it. The quality was consistently "good". The "outside" backgrounds were a typical school-esque design, and the inside of the main trio's room was well detailed. As the seasons change, the trio puts decorations on their walls and desks that let you know they are way too excited about Halloween.

The character designs were unique within this series. The world's amazing lack of dress code means that each member of the trio is able to be fully expressed artistically in the day-to-day interactions, as opposed to the mere "accessorizing" that a lot of slice-of-life anime characters seem to do.

Sound (7): I'm not particularly familiar with voice-actors or bands. I can't speak to the particular voice-actors' histories, or the particular bands' histories in relation to their work here or anything along those lines.

What I can say is this: The opening and ending songs fit with the overall theme, opening on an upbeat number about... something. It wasn't subtitled. The ending was a slower that closed down the show well, singing about friendship and togetherness, people being there for each other. I don't think either song was incredibly memorable or inspirational, but they fit the theme.

The character's voices fit similarly well, and there were no oddities in the voice portrayal of the character that would either hint that there was more to their character than their face value or hint that the VA simply didn't understand the character.

Character (9): Each member of the main trio is appropriately unique, and the side characters are fairly fleshed out. Characters that appear here from Soul Eater reprise their roles and typical interactions, with one exception. Liz and Patty differ quite notably from their main-line selves, but their role given here fits into the story without any oddities.

Of the main trio, we see all of them develop somewhat over the course of the series. It's not a particularly huge development arc in each case, but one can't expect too much from a fluffy show like this with only 12 episodes to work with.

We're introduced to our main, Tsugumi, a "weapon", who discovers her powers after putting her spear-leg through a kitchen cabinet. She reacts to this as most normal people would, and after she goes to the school, she reacts to the school situations as most people would. She's not "cowardly" by any stretch of the imagination, and after a confrontation with some baddies, she worries about her inability to act. At the end of the series, she comes into her own, obtains her resolve and picks her meister.

The other two members of her trio face minor troubles, one having to face her royal identity head-on and make her own choices instead of being sheltered, and the other having to face her own inability to remember even the most recent thing she's done. They also have to face off against each other, as they both want Tsugumi as their own weapon.

Our main villain is villain-ey enough for an SOL anime that happens to have a violent conflict sub-plot mixed in at the end. The only motivation this character could realistically need is given to us all throughout the show. "Shibusen and witches are natural enemies." She doesn't see much of an arc, she's merely there to drive the interpersonal conflict in the trio to an accelerated conclusion. It works, I guess, but in the end, it serves to remind us that this IS Soul Eater's world, where violent conflict between these two groups is "normal", one side doesn't really need a valid reason to hate the other, that's just how it's always been.

Enjoyment (10): Yeah. I liked it. I marathon'd it in the middle of a school week. It's a light, fluffy anime that delivers a dose of everyday life into the insane world of Soul Eater. I saw this 4 years after I saw the original Soul Eater, so I wasn't expecting a whole lot of Soul Eater in this anime. If you expect an explicit prequel to Soul Eater that matches in tone and themes, then you'll likely hate this anime.

One point I'd like to properly make: This anime showed me that weapons are people, too. Soul Eater FAILED to establish that in any way, shape or form for me. Soul Eater's characters are so incredibly zany, we see them mostly in weapon form (as it is an action show), and we very rarely see them doing normal, "boring" human things that it's easy to miss out on significant aspects of the weapons as human characters. Conversely, Tsugumi's default is her human form, and we see her interacting with people in human ways and not in combat situations. We see her react to stressful situations as most people would as well, lending some credibility to her character as a human in a very human-focused show.

This show will be pretty memorable for me, not for the story, but for the characters and the alternate-take on an already very memorable show.

Overall (8): It's not too bad, just don't go into it expecting Soul Eater. It's only 4 hours, and there are certainly worse anime you could drop 4 hours on.

I came already expecting it to not be like Soul Eater then it brings characters from Soul Eater in this anime THAT ITSELF P*SSED ME OFF
So a girl finally becomes a weapon goes to school with the rest , meets two girls seperately ones a Tsundere who ill act like a b**ch and the other barely even knew the MC but wanted to be her partner anyways.
Here comes the complaints and spoilers

SOO SHE CANT DECIDE WHO TO CHOOSE BETWEEN? F**KING TWILIGHT ALL OVER AGAIN (Never watched it) Anyways I thought that might be nice knowing its anume "it cant possibly be like twilight
WROOOOOONG!!! Because she ... never could choose I created sooo many conflicts it felt like twilight cause it was a rip off twilight
ANYWAYS
After realizing what NOT truly meant I HAD to change my expectations
I expected there to be awesome fights knowing she had 2 partners NOPE!!!
NOT THE CASE, shes still useless.

I liked the yuri (One of the only things that kept me watching)
and the reoccurring characters (The other only thing)
I knew not to expect much sooo I gave it a 4 maybe 5 then I realize the yuri was a plus for me so I added one more (shame on me)

Ok, so I know alot of people have already ripped on this anime but I just wanted to add my thoughts on it. Yes Soul Eater NOT! is just a horrible anime- even looking at the anime by itself without treating it like a spin off this anime is just horrible (not the worst I have seen but still bad).
It is scraping the bottom of fanservice- with cute girls doing cute things for whatever reason (if you are into that stuff watch any Kyoto animation's anime you will probably have a better time)
I can't even tell what the demographic for this girls? (but the ... the number of fanservice shots and everything most girls will be turned away from), guys? (to cutsey), old soul eater fans?( to cutesey!, no action!, with almost NOTHING having to do with what made the original soul eater great)
It's like a shallow shell of a cutesey slice of life anime TRYING to disguise itself as a action anime? Relying heavily on cameos of the original cast.
Story: 2
Ok it starts off interesting as our main character suddenly finds out she's a weapon- interesting as in the original Soul Eater we mostly see the mesiters side of what's going on. It then takes a nose dive as the anime tries to take itself serious without really building on anything but relies heavily on fanservice, and character cameos. The only time I thought the story was going to go anywhere was with the eternal father episode but that whole thing gets dropped like a sack of potatoes.
Also...it seems like the story was thought up with no real ending in mind. I mean the main girl is going to have to pick one partner at the end of it.

Art: 5
Nothing special. There are bits of pieces were the animation shined but overall the animation looks very average.

Sound: 3
The music is either trying to be cutsey or not noticeable at all. Although the sound effect and background noise is ok. Nothing special

Character: 1
VERY BAD. They are just one note characters with no taste. The anime just throws you these character without building any relationship or reason I should care. Do they have goals? Hobbies? Why are they at this school? What was there homelife like? (The closest we get is the fact that the rick girl lives with a rich family and that's it.)
I admit we do get some inner turmoil about the main girl who is a weapon- doubting herself, her powers, even who she should be partners with and questioning if she should have come to this school. Which is good but...we never really go deep into it with all this build up amounting to nothing.....getting no resolution.

Enjoyment: 2
I can't help comparing this to the original Soul Eater- which it pails in comparing in EVERY SINGLE WAY. Even without comparing it, this anime is just bland. I know some people are seeing I completed this and wondered why the heck I actually continued watching this train wreck? Well I don't know either. I guess because I am a huge fan of Soul Eater and was hoping for this spin off to have something! Sadly I just feel like I wasted my time
I would not recommend this for anyone, even if they are a fan of soul eater- just go rewatch Soul Eater.

While not as great as the original Soul Eater, it does have a lot of great back story and a deeper look into the life of a weapon, their schooling, their transformation, picking a partner, life at the academy, etc. It's like taking a magnifying glass to the original show and I'm glad I watched it. There's definitely a LOT less Black Star, which is a definite plus. It also gives you a closer look into the past lives of the Thompson sisters. This show definitely strayed away from the mystery and action of Soul Eater and added a lot more of the slice of ... life feel but it's definitely worth watching.

ACTUALLY A NICE SHOW

For your first time viewing the show keep in mind it's nothing like the show before i. So keep in mind and treat it as if it's a brand-new show that just happens to take place in that universe. If you expected to be more like "soul eater" you're not gonna like the show whatsoever.

The title "Soul Eater NOT!" is a fair warning that it's nothing like "Soul Eater" this is less action and more of a cutsie slice of life kind of deal.

I understand why a lot of people hate this spin-off and judging by the reputation in ... the community people were very salty that the main characters from "soul eater" appeared in the series and hardly did anything. When watching the show keep in mind the story is an about them it's about these three new characters and a whole new roster of side characters.

The characters at the beginning of the show are very annoying: The optimistic yet hard on herself main character, the tsundere that hates being left out, and the forgetful dits. But they do developed into well likeable characters.

Soul Eater NOT is arguably the anime equivalent of ice cream on pizza. Two perfectly wonderful foods that when combined create something far less than the sum of its parts.

Soul Eater is without a doubt a cult classic with a unique art style and one of the things that makes it shine as a piece of art is its reluctance to rely on cliché tropes to float the narrative that, in this case, stands strong on its own merits. There's nothing to say a sequal/prequal would be inherently bad or disliked and i'm sure fans would welcome such a project providing it honoured the original ... universe (you could probably deduce from that remark that Soul Eater NOT does not).

So what makes SE:NOT so bad? Slice of life is often a refreshing change of pace to the otherwise typically fantastical stories that dominate the world of anime, cartoons and TV media in general. I enjoy both action and slice of life so i like to think i am not biased in judging this show on both accounts since i approve of both equally anyway. Simply put, SE:NOT is a failure of juxtaposition and a failure of writing. That is to say it fails to really choose what it wants to be and then fails at both, then trying to fix it after-the-fact with popular tropes rather than making something not broken to begin with. Trying to cash in on both the contemporary "cutesie" SoL element that has become popular recently and the rough and raw elements of SE that made it popular back in the day simultaneously.

The original Soul Eater universe plays such a small and even moot role in this title it begs an obvious question of why they even bothered. The DWMA plot could be replaced by any other similar concept and functioned all the same, if not better. Which makes one consider the likelihood this was simply an attempt to milk an existing popular title to boost views on an otherwise generic, magic themed SoL. The cute generic main characters seem almost injected into a foreign world, slapped on like a sticker or after thought.

If i were to summarise my thoughts on this title it would be that the authors should have chosen one concept and run with it for the sake of consistency. Either honoured the original title with a proper sequel/prequel instead of a half arsed spin-off with cameo's or stuck with a SoL with magical elements and utilised the typical conventional art style for an original story that would have stood humbly on its own.

The attempt to try both smacks of laziness, but also a surreptitious money grab and neither sit well with me as a consumer.

If you like Soul Eater, cameo's and slice of life then you may want to check it out if only to tick it off your list. It's not horrible, but it wont blow you out of the water either.

Soul Eater NOT is, well, not Soul Eater. However, i like it even more than the original series, because it not only gave me actual details on how a lot of the supernatural mechanics worked, but came from the prospective of someone completely new to weapons and meisters and all that nonsense.

Story: 7: This is a Moe/Sol deal, not your action/shounen like the original series... And you know what? I loved it. The MC discovers she has the ability to transform into a weapon and transfers to DWMA, Where she finds herself quickly befriending Maka-sempai and two other new students, both meisters, some stuff happens ... and some very surprising plot twists take place. The later parts VS the witch are quite a lot like the regular Soul Eater, but it still always feels slightly more lighthearted.

Art: 8: It's NOT Soul Eater!!!! While the style of the original series fit it's themes very well, i still hated it. This style fits this anime better and doesn't look terrible, which is always good.

Sound: 7: Never really stood out, either for better or worse... The OP is pretty good though

Character: 8 : This is a character-focused show, so naturally the characters are all really detailed, maybe slightly above average for a 12-episode show, but these guys are LIKABLE, which is a really important trait many shows are missing. Even the character following the dumb, forgetful stereotype for most of the anime, never pushes it far enough to annoy even me, someone who loathes stupid characters almost as much as i do arrogant ones.

Enjoyment: 9: Much like Fate/Prisma Ilya, there is a strong yuri vibe in the 'downtime', when annoyances such as the plot are taking a rest, and to a slightly lesser degree this exists for the same purpose as Kaleid: Fun. The story isn't supposed to move you to tears or anything, it's supposed to just be a fun, interesting show with a touch of action and yuri.

It's literally a slice of life in the Soul Eater universe.
So, if you like Slice of Life and Soul Eater you probably will also enjoy this anime. (i don't see why not)
Actually i wish there were more animes "like that", slice of life in some specific universes... :P
And... As the title says Soul Eater NOT! it's NOT Soul Eater or kinda like Soul Eater at all, but it's pretty decent for a slice of life.
But of course, it would be better if the title was something like "MORE Soul Eater!" and it was more of Soul Eater, damn, i really miss that anime and i ... wish they made more.

Btw, if not yet, try out Enen no Shouboutai (Fire Force) it's set hundred of years before Soul Eater and it's pretty pretty good.

An intriguing spin on the Soul Eater franchise, to say the least. I'm going to go out on a limb and say this could have been so much better if the writers actually had more episodes to work with. They set up a lot of potentially intriguing character development only to be abruptly cut off in the end. The development of the new characters thus felt choked, and it's hard to be invested in any of them, especially since ample screen time was given to cameos from the original series. A lot of the plot points were also interesting, but alas, came out ... half baked because of the limited format. 8 more episodes and these writers could have wrapped up something special, but when life gives you lemons...

The inexplicably large proportion of yuri moe fluff felt forced at times, especially in light of how the series ended. It had to have been some bizarre upper management mandate to force itself into a market it didn't exactly fit in. I didn't even mind the art style change, which I thought would have been an interesting choice, had the series turned out better. As a huge fan of the original series, I can see that a lot of talent went into this work, but ultimately it was dulled by what can only be described as a money grab by the owners of the IP to start selling merchandise to the moe market. Disappointing, but there's definitely enough there for fans of the series and Manga to enjoy.

***I'm not a hard core critic, this is just a short paragraph sharing my thoughts/ opinions on the anime.***

I started watching this series knowing it wasn't going to full of action like the original soul eater series, and expected more of a slice of life kinda anime. As a slice of life type of anime it was pretty enjoyable, and it did have a yuri feel though out the anime. The little fight scenes in the last half were pretty sick, but nothing too crazy or intense. It was also really cool to see the original characters make appearances every now and again, ... which made me want to rewatch all of Soul Eater. It would also be really sick to see a whole new series with all of the characters from both anime incorporated into a new story. The openings and ending were okay, but i liked them. Overall it's worth watching if you have nothing better to watch.

When the first episode came out, most people were ambivalent to the series since they thought it was going to have the same style as the Soul Eater anime, but it did not. I only read the manga and I did not watch the anime. However, I found the series to be enjoyable as it focused more of the slice days of life than rather than action

Plot

The main character Tsugami has been chosen to go to Soul Eater Academy since she can turned into a weapon. There she meets two meinster candidates in which she has to choose one of them to be her weapon ... master. The rest of the series focuses on daily lives of those three plus more character development for some characters who did not get that much in the main soul eater series. Plus, it seems that there is a mysterious enemy brewing trouble in the academy.

Characters

You got the optimistic girl Tsugami, tsundere princess Anya, and a forgetful girl Meme. These three girls form a tight relationship as they sleep in the same dorm and work together. One of the main problems that Tsugami has that she has to choose a meinster candidate either from Anya or Meme. It is a tough choice since they become really good friends over the course of the series, and it gets harder and harder for her to choose, as one of them is going to go let down. Some of the original Soul Eater characters get a cameo like Moka. Another unique thing is that some of the side characters from the main series get more character development and more screen time in this series. We learn more about them more in this series before the main story Soul Eater comes later.

Sound

I loved the Op of this series. It gives the watchers a good senses of what the series is going to be, a lot of fun, but a sense of danger.

Animation

The animation has been fairly standard, and nothing too crazy from the original Soul Eater Anime. However, there could have more action scenes, and action could have been better animated. I found the character designs unique and resembles the wackiness of Soul Eater Not!

Enjoyment

In all, I found the series to be really enjoyable. Some of the negatives I found was that the the main antagonist could have done more in the beginning and not everything at the very end. The show went very lighthearted to some grim moments at the end. Otherwise, it has been a good ride.

Soul Eater NOT! was clearly made for a different audience than its predecessor Soul Eater. If you're looking for more of the OG Soul Eater, this anime will be a disappointment. However, if you don't care, and like slice of life, fanservice, and moe, you'll probably have a good time watching Soul Eater NOT! For me though, this was a snooze-fest as I really enjoyed the original Soul Eater and was hoping this would, at the very least, have the same charm as the first. Furthermore, you could watch this without having seen Soul Eater and understand it just fine, but if you choose to ... do that don't let this spin-off deter you from checking out the real thing.