[anime] Soul Eater #1-7
Jan. 23rd, 2009 05:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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Credits: Decent song. The graphic design for this looks like its borrowing from some current American cartoon styles, with bold likes and stylized, exaggerated backgrounds and fewer shadows colored in.
What's with the wide angle lens effect? I hope the whole show isn't like this.
Why is it that little boys in anime so often have the deep voices of much older men? It's weird.
Oohh... I kind of like the idea of swords or weapons that manifest "personalities" in faux human forms. That could be fun to play with.
100 souls to upgrade a weapon? Sounds like a video game.
Aahhh...and here we go with the random sexualized humor that is not funny. "Why would i ever go for a girl with small breasts?" I don't know-- maybe you wouldn't because you're A WEAPON AND NOT AN ACTUAL PERSON. ...except that I can already tell you are, in the eyes of this anime, and that means that probably what's in my head right now at the idea of weapons as personalities manifested in human form is a lot more interesting than where this show is heading.
I don't understand... is the father in purgatory? or the afterlife/underworld?
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General Thoughts: I'm a little confused about what the distinction is between a human, a meister, and a weapon. In episode 1 Soul says that he's not a human, he's a weapon who happens to have human form. But Maka is human, albeit a meister, and her father is a weapon. So... are they human or not?
When I started the show, I was assuming that when Soul Eater said he was a weapon, that it meant that his "self" is a device, a tool, not unlike a cyborg (or a demon), and that the human form is just a convenience, as I might wear a wool coat but no one would ever assume that I was a sheep. As I've gone another several episodes, it looks to me like rather than being a weapon that transforms into a human, Soul is more like a human that transforms into a weapon. Important linguistic distinction.
This makes the whole concept slightly less cool, in my opinion. I rather like the idea of the weapons as being a separate "species" if one could call them that, something fundamentally distinct and not human, especially if they're forged, or created, like the name 'weapon' implies. But if Death Scythe is Maka's father then clearly being a weapon or being a meister is more like having a talent than actually defining what you are in the physical sense. That seems a little lame, a little to easy, because it takes away the alienness and the menace of what Soul Eater is/does. Right now it just looks like another generic kind of shapeshifting, only he's able to turn into a giant scythe instead of something cool like a falcon. I hope the show elaborates on this more in the future.
Characters: I could do with less of the almost-pornographic fanservice, especially since it's in a series that's otherwise very teenybopper and shonen in its presentation, like something for the 10-15 age range. But when the show moves away from that and focuses on the partnership between Maka and Soul, it gets more interesting. I like that they're partners in the work that they do. Equal partners mostly, but if anyone is in charge it's clearly the meister, in this case Maka. I was watching this episode and trying to think of another anime series where there's an ongoing job to do and the male and female character share an equal, co-dependent partnership like we see here. I've seen tv shows that have it (Bones, X Files, even Sanctuary in a way), but I don't know if I've ever seen a partnership presented like this in an anime before. Usually we get teams or one person and his/her sidekicks.
Side rant: Will someone explain to me why Death Kid and Black Star's weapon partners appear naked when reflected in their weapon form, but Soul Eater has all of his clothes on? That's so nonsensical that it's past annoying fanservice and into rage-inducing pointlessness.
Music: I like the opening song, but the closing song follows the same irritating pattern of rock bands of the last decade of having singing/screaming in alternating choruses/verses with no original composition style whatsoever.
---------
Credits: Decent song. The graphic design for this looks like its borrowing from some current American cartoon styles, with bold likes and stylized, exaggerated backgrounds and fewer shadows colored in.
What's with the wide angle lens effect? I hope the whole show isn't like this.
Why is it that little boys in anime so often have the deep voices of much older men? It's weird.
Oohh... I kind of like the idea of swords or weapons that manifest "personalities" in faux human forms. That could be fun to play with.
100 souls to upgrade a weapon? Sounds like a video game.
Aahhh...and here we go with the random sexualized humor that is not funny. "Why would i ever go for a girl with small breasts?" I don't know-- maybe you wouldn't because you're A WEAPON AND NOT AN ACTUAL PERSON. ...except that I can already tell you are, in the eyes of this anime, and that means that probably what's in my head right now at the idea of weapons as personalities manifested in human form is a lot more interesting than where this show is heading.
I don't understand... is the father in purgatory? or the afterlife/underworld?
---------
General Thoughts: I'm a little confused about what the distinction is between a human, a meister, and a weapon. In episode 1 Soul says that he's not a human, he's a weapon who happens to have human form. But Maka is human, albeit a meister, and her father is a weapon. So... are they human or not?
When I started the show, I was assuming that when Soul Eater said he was a weapon, that it meant that his "self" is a device, a tool, not unlike a cyborg (or a demon), and that the human form is just a convenience, as I might wear a wool coat but no one would ever assume that I was a sheep. As I've gone another several episodes, it looks to me like rather than being a weapon that transforms into a human, Soul is more like a human that transforms into a weapon. Important linguistic distinction.
This makes the whole concept slightly less cool, in my opinion. I rather like the idea of the weapons as being a separate "species" if one could call them that, something fundamentally distinct and not human, especially if they're forged, or created, like the name 'weapon' implies. But if Death Scythe is Maka's father then clearly being a weapon or being a meister is more like having a talent than actually defining what you are in the physical sense. That seems a little lame, a little to easy, because it takes away the alienness and the menace of what Soul Eater is/does. Right now it just looks like another generic kind of shapeshifting, only he's able to turn into a giant scythe instead of something cool like a falcon. I hope the show elaborates on this more in the future.
Characters: I could do with less of the almost-pornographic fanservice, especially since it's in a series that's otherwise very teenybopper and shonen in its presentation, like something for the 10-15 age range. But when the show moves away from that and focuses on the partnership between Maka and Soul, it gets more interesting. I like that they're partners in the work that they do. Equal partners mostly, but if anyone is in charge it's clearly the meister, in this case Maka. I was watching this episode and trying to think of another anime series where there's an ongoing job to do and the male and female character share an equal, co-dependent partnership like we see here. I've seen tv shows that have it (Bones, X Files, even Sanctuary in a way), but I don't know if I've ever seen a partnership presented like this in an anime before. Usually we get teams or one person and his/her sidekicks.
Side rant: Will someone explain to me why Death Kid and Black Star's weapon partners appear naked when reflected in their weapon form, but Soul Eater has all of his clothes on? That's so nonsensical that it's past annoying fanservice and into rage-inducing pointlessness.
Music: I like the opening song, but the closing song follows the same irritating pattern of rock bands of the last decade of having singing/screaming in alternating choruses/verses with no original composition style whatsoever.
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no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 03:16 am (UTC)As for Soul having clothes - a couple episodes in that switches and you see that both the male and female weapons are shown as naked in the reflection of their weapons form.
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 04:10 am (UTC)Oh. Good.
Do you have any thoughts on my general question on issues of humanity/weapon stuff?
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 08:48 am (UTC)I'm not totally sure on what your question was, specifically.
I guess the fact that it was always clear to me that the weapons and witches had the same emotions as the humans, so... I was never disappointed?
no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 08:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-01-24 09:26 am (UTC)