Soul Eater Episode 4
Witch Hunting Invocation?
Soul Eater began in earnest this week, with the real deal plot starting to kick in. And as it turns out, Shinigami-sama is kind of a dick.
Recap
After a twisted sitcom morning featuring a guest appearance (in Soul’s bed) from Blair, Maka and Soul head to school to find that their teacher Sid is dead, Maka’s dad is filling in, and rumors abound that Sid has been turned into a zombie.
Along with Black Star and Tsubaki, the pair are called in to see Shinigami-sama. Due to their poor performance, he gives the four students a remedial assignment: get rid of Zombie Sid. Actually, it’s more like an ultimatum. Get rid of Zombie Sid or be expelled.
The fight takes up most of the episode, as this is an action show after all. Maka and Soul attempt to sync up their souls for a monster attack that bombs hard when Maka trips.
Black Star finally manages to capture Sid (and, unfortunately, Maka) in his special Trap Star maneuver.
But not before he attacks Sid’s weak point for massive damage:
I really hope that makes you think of this.
Anyway, someone’s pulling the strings behind Sid, and if you want to know how they got the information you’ll have to read the manga (here’s a hint: panties), but it ends up being Franken Stein, Maka’s dad’s former master before he hooked up with Maka’s mother.
A couple things
First, now that we’re into the meat and potatoes of what Soul Eater is about, the action and pacing are a little more typical for a shounen-style show. There are even broadcast announcements of attack names. It’s still far more entertaining, though, and the trick of making an attack seem indestructably awesome right before showing it fail miserably is still funny.
The other thing is the key dissimilarity between the series and the manga: drawers. The subjects’s been covered, but this episode really drove it home because of the methods used to extract information from Sid in the manga. The Soul Eater comic is heavy on fanservice, which is why it made sense for a late-night version: the high action and wacky hijinks easily appeal to a younger audience, but why not increase the viewership with a Late Night Panty Bonus? Well, the late-night subbers I usually watch are delayed this week, so I still don’t know, but I’m doubting.
It’s not a hinderance to my enjoyment of the show, not to mention I watch it with my wife who might not be that hip to Blair’s protruding nipples filling the screen all the time, but some of the bigger fans of the manga might be disappointed.
