First Impressions / SOUL EATER

Summary:

Since no one knows of what Sid discovered, all the students and faculty are attending a party celebrating the founding of Shibusen, including Shinigami-sama himself. Seeing Soul keeps his distance from the others during the festivities, Maka goes to talk with him and is reminded of how Medusa had revealed that Soul told her he was having bad dreams. Maka thus tries to get him to talk about it with her, but Soul has nothing to say, so Maka eventually just invites him to dance. Soul’s able to get out of doing so after Maka’s father shows up wanting to dance with her, however Soul still manages to enjoy the food she brought him. Medusa meanwhile is communicating telepathically with Eruka when a seemingly drunk Stein interrupts her thoughts. Stein wants to dance with her, but once they start, he becomes more serious and asks her if she knows what happened to Sid. He also questions what a witch like her is doing at Shibusen and thinks that she knows about the Kishin sleeping under the school. All this leads Medusa to realize that she’s been found out, and so she admits that she’s trying to revive the Kishin. She goes on to explain that the power of the Kishin is beyond knowledge and can be considered evolution, yet the Shinigami just want to maintain status quo. Medusa feels that things should be allowed to advance and tries to tempt Stein with a kiss, however they are stopped by the sudden appearance of Sid.

Although injured, Sid warns everyone to get out of there quickly because he knows that their enemies have been waiting for the day when Shinigami-sama and all the students are gathered in one place. Stein is concerned about Sid long enough for Medusa to escape from the party via the balcony and to telepathically order Free to imprison everyone there inside a barrier. Right before Free finishes casting his Independent Cube on the room, Sid uses his last bit of strength to use a special burial technique that causes Stein, Maka, Black*Star, Kid, and their respective weapons to fall through the floor, escaping the trap. Outside, Free tells Medusa that he can only keep up the Independent Cube for one hour, and Chrona and Ragnarok then bring the Mizune family to attack Death City. Medusa herself heads underground with Free, Chrona, Ragnarok, and Eruka. Maka and company meanwhile get deposited by Sid’s technique in the halls of Shibusen, and Stein quickly fills everyone in on how Medusa is trying to revive the first-generation Kishin that’s currently sleeping underground. Kid confirms what Stein is saying by revealing that the reason his father had to stay here was so that the Kishin would remain sealed up. Stein then leads the group underground and tells everyone that their souls have to decide if they’re ready to go with him and fight against fear. No one backs down.

Preview

Well the fighting hasn’t yet begun, but that didn’t make this episode any less exciting. Not only did Stein and Medusa prelude their upcoming fight with a dance (in a different world, those two could have made a great team), but I also really liked how the end of the episode combined everyone suiting up with that particular style of music – it reminded me again of how composer Iwasaki Taku did similar arrangements to great success for Gurren Lagann. Anyway, the battle next week should be a lot of fun, though I find it a little odd that everyone appears to be fighting Medusa in the preview, leaving Free, Chrona/Ragnarok, and Eruka unaccounted for. Perhaps Medusa will be acting as the distraction while the others revive the Kishin – and I assume they’ll succeed since I don’t recognize the creepy guy at the end of the preview.

49 Comments

  28. I felt that this episode could’ve been a lot better (visually), but meh, the preview seems to spell an awesome episode 19: Lots of action, few static frames, few distant shots, etc. I guess I really have been spoiled by the manga and the first episode.

    On the other hand, I wonder if they’ll have enough material for 52 episodes. I can’t really remember how long the manga is any more, but I think we’re almost past the halfway point (since I last read it).

    Houko Kuwashima + Emo Villain = Insta-win for me.

    42-42-564
    Reply

  29. Also, if they screw up Maka’s battle scene (long talks, cutting away to other scenes, story changes, filler, censor, etc), I’ll forsake Soul Eater the anime. I didn’t mind previous episodes, but Maka’s battle is a no-no. IMHO, it is perfect the way it is, and no amount of addition/reduction/changes is going to make it better. And all the cost-cuts that I’ve seen till date had better be justified in her battle.

    It’s took me 18 episodes to finally acknowledge that Maka seiyuu just might have what it takes to pull off her battle scene, and I demand an episode-one-quality for her battle (scene composition, color, theme, action, camera movements, etc).

    42-42-564
    Reply

  36. In fact, since BONES has been making about 1 episode = 1 chapter (and each chapter is 45 pages long), then 52 episodes is actually short.

    I really wonder if we’ll even see Medusa’s sister, Arachne, like the way she’s portrayed in the manga?

    -Izaak, Lord of the Lotus Clan.

    Izaak
    Reply

  37. first impression:
    what a cute couple…
    https://randomc.net/image/SOUL%20EATER/SOUL%20EATER%20-%2018%20-%20Large%2010.jpg

    second impression:
    o… kay… *backs away slowly*
    https://randomc.net/image/SOUL%20EATER/SOUL%20EATER%20-%2018%20-%20Large%2014.jpg

    The current arc in the manga is not finished, heck, it’s not even in the middle of it. So I think some chapters will either be crammed in a single episode or we will be getting some fillers so that they can stop before the current arc. Besides the manga still hasn’t explained anything about Kishin, I wonder if they will go for an original ending.

    StiFF
    Reply

  48. can someone please tell me what the song is that starts at approximately 20:45 minutes into the episode, and it’s where everyone’s getting geared up for what’s ahead, and does anyone know the artist and title? thanks if you can reply in this post.

    madhat
    Reply

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