Before I go into particular issues that Soul Eater goes into, I might as well address the comedy to this series. Many attempts that the show makes at comedy are rather obnoxious and usually kill the mood for serious scenes that develop, particularly during the middle of the show's run when Medusa's plans come to light. A number of the character quirks in the series such as Black Star's hyperactive persona, Death the Kid's obsession with symmetry and Excalibur's egotistic persona are more obnoxious than funny and I have to wonder why the makers of this series would think these would be funny as well. While the comedy of the series does tone down in its second half with the gradually more serious developments, it still makes its presence felt as such where it was more a nuisance than a joy for me.
In terms of plot, Soul Eater uses the first six episodes of the series to introduce the major characters of the series and the exploration of its world and dynamics such as the Meister/ Weapon partnerships, witches and kishins. Later episodes introduce us to Medusa Gorgon and her cohorts as Medusa manipulates Shibusen into fulfilling her goals and exploring the ramifications of those plans when events escalate in the second half of the series. Medusa made for an intriguing villain for Soul Eater as she was very crafty and manipulative in pushing the members of Shibusen and her cohorts to fulfill her plans and not afraid to get her own hands dirty if others confronted her. Her abuse and manipulation of son Crona also contributed a tragic storyline to the series as more about his character comes to light. On the other hand, Asura, Arachne and the members of Arachnophobia aren't too effective as villains being either rather flat in terms of personality or not getting enough screen time where their characters could be further fleshed out.
In terms of other characters, they are a mixed bag. Dr. Stein was an intriguing character with the show focusing on his struggles in resisting his dark persona while teaching at Shibusen. Some like Soul and Maka are tolerable as characters, while others like Death the Kid and Black Star are rather unbearable at many points in Soul Eater thanks to their obnoxious personalities and/or quirks. Others introduced like Justin Law and Sid Barrett don't get much in the way of fleshing out as they only exist as either comical relief or to advance the show's plot.
The final episodes of the series are rather infamous for deviating from its manga source material since it was still ongoing at the time the anime aired. While I haven't read much of the manga, the later episodes still left much to be desired. Asura doesn't have much presence in the series until the show's final quarter despite being hyped as the biggest enemy threat in the series. While being an interesting villain, it was unclear what Medusa's plans clearly were as it seemed she wished to use Asura's power for her own gain in the first half of the series yet had no qualms with him being destroyed by Shibusen in the show's second half. The final episodes also rely too heavily on sudden power upgrades in the final battle with Asura when our main pairs/ trios and comes with a rather underwhelming conclusion that went against what the series was seemingly developing with the relations between the group.
Visually, Soul Eater's presentation is rather standard in terms of visuals and soundtrack. Still for visuals, it does offer some unique elements that add to the show's setting implementing a Halloween-style theme with a number of the settings and character designs such as Dr. Stein's attire, the outside of Shibusen's headquarters, the twisted looking sun and moon, and Sid the zombie. The series often resorts to animation shortcuts at points such as reused animation frames, speed stripes and jump cuts. But for the most part, fight scenes are enjoyable to see thanks to a number of the characters having rather unique abilities that they use in battle, if you are watching Soul Eater for the action. The soundtrack to the series mostly consists of comical or energetic insert tracks with opener and closer songs consisting of generic J-Rock songs. They're rather unmemorable and don't have much that let them stick out from other shounen battle titles.
Overall, I'm mostly indifferent to Soul Eater. While having a few interesting characters, it doesn't do much to break the mold for a shounen battle anime, has some obnoxious characters from the show's poor attempts at comedy and has a rather underwhelming final arc due to heavy reliance on plot conveniences and lack of screen time from major villain Asura in the buildup towards it. Unless you're a diehard fan of shounen battle anime, you aren't missing out on much here.
