First Impressions / SOUL EATER

Summary:

Despite all eight Death Scythes having been called, only three other than Spirit (aka. Maka’s father) have shown up at Shibusen: Justin, Marie, and Azusa. Marie in particular doesn’t want to be there and would rather get married and retire. The more practical of the two, Azusa convinces Marie not to marry a toilet. Stein meanwhile finds Spirit polishing a candle holder in order to try to score some points with Shinigami-sama because he thinks that he’s going to get demoted and transferred away after what happened with the Kishin’s revival. The four Death Scythes plus Stein eventually meet with Shinigami-sama to talk about Ashura, and Shinigami-sama explains that they don’t need to worry about Ashura’s movements so much as how to deal with his wavelength of madness. This wavelength stirs the madness that sleeps at the bottom of every person’s soul, and it’s contagious. The problem, however, lies not in an outbreak among normal people but rather in the awakening and strengthening of evil forces. Because of this, Shinigami-sama decides on some reassignments, and luckily for Spirit, he gets to stay at Shibusen as Shinigami-sama’s weapon. Marie is the one who gets reassigned as Stein’s new partner, and Azusa gets to both search for Ashura and take over Marie’s Oceania area responsibilities. Shinigami-sama, however, decides not to do anything with Justin for now.

At around the same time, Soul drags Maka outside for a game of basketball with Black*Star, Tsubaki, Kid, and Patty. Soul decides that a normal basketball game would be boring, so he proposes having the captain of the losing team be subjected to a punishment: if Kid’s team loses, then they’ll adjust all the picture frames in his house by two centimeters, and if Maka’s team loses, then she has to go on a date with her father. Marie and Stein are there to watch the kids as the game begins, and though Marie is depressed about not being able to find a husband, seeing the kids play brightens her mood about the task at hand. Spirit arrives at the basketball court a little later than everyone else because Shinigami-sama had spoken with him privately about how Stein is being controlled by madness. Shinigami-sama had assigned Marie to Stein because her soul wavelength will have a positive influence on Stein’s soul, and he asked Spirit to care for Stein as well. Spirit now observes out loud to Stein and Marie that the kids are trying to get back their normal lives after all the abnormal things that happened. Maka’s team ends up losing, so she’s forced to ask her father on date, much to her embarrassment and his delight. Meanwhile, Sid comes to see Shinigami-sama about what to do with Chrona, and Shinigami-sama decides to let Chrona experience Shibusen as a student.

Preview

For a transition episode, this was pretty good. It even managed to be funny with the toilet scene. I’m liking the new characters as well, though it seems like only Marie (voiced by Honda Chieko) will be around for the time being, and that’s a shame cause I enjoyed hearing Azusa being voiced by Yukana. The most interesting thing out of it was probably the fact that Stein is being controlled by madness, especially since it appears from the preview that Medusa embodies that madness (either that or she’s back already). I’m curious to see how the new woman in his life counteracts that and if he’ll ever go rogue. The main focus next week though should be on Chrona getting to experience Shibusen, and I found it a little odd that the preview barely shows Chrona at all. The new OP and ED should also be coming soon – either next week or the week after.

35 Comments

  3. Lolz, Marie’s such a strange character. Wanting to mary a toilet and then destroys it, because she was told some wierd stuff about it. Can’t remember though. I wasn’t exactly expecting her clothes to be partly yellow, probably because I’m used to seeing her black and white…

    the burnt shadow
    Reply

  19. The anime has covered 23 chapters out of the entire 53 manga chapters so far. I wonder how they will do the rest. Are they going to do all the left chapters as well as trying to get to the ending (if the manga’s current arc is finished by the time) or wrap up things with the original anime ending.

    I kinda hope that Bones would continue for another season (because I doubt that the current manga’s arc would be the last one). I really enjoy this series and Bones has done such a superb job with the production. (I still keep on hoping that they would make another season of Ouran too…)

    Kaitune
    Reply

  20. @Kaitune – I’m actually worried the anime’s gonna leave off with an open ending (like how Fruits Basket and Host Club ended) Ya know, where it kinda ends but there’s some things left unanswered or unresolved? It’s basically a teaser for you to go and read the manga.

    Dragoniangirl
    Reply

  24. @Kaitune I’m guess they’ll follow suit with FMA and write in their own story so that it can get wrapped up in 52 eps. Though it might digress from the manga’s story, I have confindence in their writing and story development. From their history, BONES doesn’t do follow up seasons for their shows.

    CMWilly
    Reply

  32. Sigh, no, Chrona’s gender still has not been stated in either the anime or the manga. The scanslation is in error, the actual line was Kurona ha watashi no ko desu. (or to that degree, I think jitsu might have been used but I’m not sure). Meaning literally “Chrona is my child.” In order to denote gender she would’ve had to use either musuko (son) musume (daughter) onnanoko (little girl) otokonoko (little boy). Please stop posting “I know her gender” ’cause really only the manga author does!

    Ally
    Reply

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