Story: 8/10
"Soul Eater"has not a particularly unique or original plot (high school aged kids fighting evil and villains and faces challenges along the way). Most anime don´t so it´s not a bother for me at least. For me it´s more how the creators have used the concept - and in "Soul Eater"´s case I think it´s done great in many ways. The story follows the Death Meister Weapon Academy´s (DMWA) students Maka, Soul, Black Star, Subaki, Death the Kid, Patty and Liz. Meister stands for a wielder of a weapon and weapons are humans that transform into different weapons that the meister can wield and rid the world of evil beings that had their soul corrupted. The first episodes explores the three main "teams" (mentioned above) of characters and are very episodic. Actually the first 15 episodes or so are episodic but still reveals important details and starts to build up the plot - for me that works. In a little longer show that´s almost expected. After that the show getting it´s momentum and the episodes flows more into each other. The show has a good way of binding and knitting pieces and bits together over time, that makes me feel that the show was well thought through and that most things that was brought to light had a satisfactory closure (minus a few things - you will know what I´m talking about). I don´t expect every little detail explained or justified in this kind of show - especially not when the premises is set like they are in "Soul Eater", they are pretty wacko. And it´s was the wacko, edgy, cool feeling about "Soul Eater" that drew me in and made it stand out to me. The first half of the show is more comedy dominated with some more serious moments. The second half of the show is the other way around, the tone of the show grows more serious and are brightened up by some lighter moments. I personally think the plot and it´s characters are strong enough to make the mode shift and carries it well (actually enjoyed the second part a little bit more). Some extra cred to the excellent action scenes! "Soul Eater" definitively has some great action. The fights are short, intense and and fill there purpose very well. One big minus for me was how the end fight was resolved. It may work for you but after a so cool and spot free up build and fights it just fell flat to me. In my opinion it could had been done in a so better way (hence the 8 instead of a 9 or 10). It´s a filler or two, but nothing major.
Art: 9/10
"Soul Eater" definitely has a unique art style. It took me a couple of episodes to get used to and after that I loved it. It matches the wacko, edgy, cool tone of the plot and characters - it´s just an explosion of abstract colors, lines and angles hat will make your head spin. The art and animation is absolutely one of the things that really makes this show stand out against it´s siblings. The backgrounds always has some crazy funny details and are very colorful - adapted to the mood of the scene or how the character visualized it. Greatly done in my opinion. The characters has their own unique design that makes them feel very "Soul Eater" and can not ever be confused with some other show. The choreography is also a highlight in "Soul Eater" - especially the fight/actions scenes. They are always spot on. You just have to see your self to now what I mean - words are wasted trying to describe them (example Maka with her scythe Soul or Death the Kid with his guns Patty and Liz). Facial expressions are also very clear and strong, which makes it easy for you to grasp the type of character and whats he/she feels at the moment. The creators also uses the characters eyes a lot to drive home a feeling or an expression - just awesome.
Sound: 8/10
The soundtrack is very jazz/rock influenced. I personally isn´t into jazz all that much but it suited the show really well. The music was often well coordinated to the mood of the scene and characters. I really liked the two openings and the last ending song. They also follows the mood and mood changes of the show pretty well. The first opening is up beat and care free tone to it with great visuals that screams "Soul Eater mode" all the way. The second one has a more usual "anime" tone to but follows the more serious tone that the show takes on. Backgrounds sound was well matched and paced, it worked really well in my opinion. Swords clashing together, running footsteps, high fives and so on was nailed and believable. I watched the dubbed version and liked it a lot. I think the VA´s was well matched to respective character and brought them to life and suited their personality. If you have watched your fair share of dubbed anime you will probably recognize all of them (especially if you have watched the dubbed version of Fairy tail).
Character: 9/10
One of the things I loved most about "Soul Eater" was the characters and their interactions. They all had their characteristic personalities and names and aren´t meant to be relateable. The are pure fiction and are meant to be over the top - which I like with this show. You aren´t supposed to feel that you can relate to the story and the characters - they are a crazy, wacko extreme personalities that you are going to enjoy watching. With that said the show and it´s characters dosen´t lack in messages and good words of wisdom. How we choose our path and grow with each lesson. How we should be able to trust each other without to have to understand each other fully. The power of forgiveness and friendship (which seems to be a theme in all this kind of shows). And mostly I liked the relationships between the three meisters and their weapon the most. Maka (meister) and Soul (weapon), Black Star (meister) and Subaki (weapon), and Death the Kid (meister) and Patty and Liz (weapons). They all (Meister and Weapon) had pretty much polar opposite personalities. And despite that their souls where connected in a way that they could cooperate and get stronger together (I know, typical shounen but I love it). How they complemented each other and learned from their differences was a great part of the show. The show also contained a lot of great side and minor characters - no character was boring to me. They were all interesting, funny, super evil, crazy or just smart-asses. All with their role play, which they did great in my opinion. I especially loved professor Stein, whom I actually thought was kind of sexy - I know, weird but what the hell. For character development the characters actually delivered - so much character in this kind of crazy show can develop. But they did, all of them. In all their craziness, traumas and situations some of the character went through felt very real. Mistrust of men because of cheating father, the fear of your inner demons, the will to become stronger so that your partner won´t get hurt and so on. It gave "Soul Eater" a depth to me beyond the funny, wacko, crazy side.
Enjoyment: 9/10
I had a really good time watching this show. I enjoyed myself so much that I watched it all in a weeks time. Just click on forth the next episode kind of enjoyment. The unique art style, the wacko craziness, shining characters and a solid plot kept me watching this in a fast pace. I laughed, was intrigued, at time spaced out, and even cried at some parts. It had it all to me that a great shounen/action anime should have and delivered it in it´s own way - absolutely great.
Overall: 9/10
Some minor things kept me from call it outstanding but it was definitely a great show. "Soul Eater" is absolutely worthy of the attention is still gets. It´s one of those shows that any anime fan should have seen, at least given a try. I recommend this show to any shounen/action/comedy fan that hadn´t the pleasure to bite in to it yet. Like all other shows it may not be for everyone, but for shore for most of you people. And it definitely contains some of the best action scenes out their to date - real class.
