First Impressions / SOUL EATER

OP Sequence

OP: 「PAPERMOON」 by Tommy heavenly^6
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming

Finally! The new OP! I’ve actually already listened to the song quite a bit since the full PV aired on MTV, and I really like the cut of the song they chose for this. The OP sequence meanwhile was exciting to watch, especially if it’s any indicator of characters and events to come, though I was a bit bothered by the fact that Excalibur so blatantly walked across the title screen.

Summary:

Everyone has been nice to Crona since she came to Shibusen, and this is especially apparent during a party one night. Kid is supportive of Crona proceeding at her own pace, and Black*Star promises to beat up anyone who bullies her. Since Crona isn’t sure why everyone is being so kind, Maka explains that it’s natural since they’re all friends. These warm feelings stay with Crona until she leaves the party to go home, and that’s when Medusa appears. Despite Medusa’s small body and seemingly gentle nature, Crona is deathly afraid of the witch. Medusa claims that she came to see Crona and was very worried, but what she wants Crona to do now is to spy for her in Shibusen and to find a secret vault. Crona doesn’t want to betray her new friends and new home, but Medusa uses her status as Crona’s mother to coerce Crona to do it.

Crona is very conflicted about this, but she still ends up going underground Shibusen to an off-limits area to try to find the secret vault. Before Crona can get very far, she’s caught by Marie, and Ragnarok makes up the excuse that they got lost. Marie believes them since she’s also lost, and it takes two hours for her to help Crona find her way back to her room. Nevertheless, Marie tells Crona to come to her if she’s ever bothered by anything again. Once back in her room, Crona is paid a visit by Eruka in her frog form who’s able to communicate with Medusa via the snakes in her body. Since Crona doesn’t think that she can find the vault, Medusa decides instead to take advantage of Marie’s kindness towards Crona and gives Crona a pen with a listening device inside to plant in Stein’s laboratory.

Crona thus goes to Marie under the pretense that she wants to talk, and Marie brings her to Stein’s laboratory. While Ragnarok has Marie distracted, Crona puts the snake listening device inside Marie’s coffee, and she then watches as Marie drinks it. Afterward, when Crona goes to leave, Marie stops her because she almost left the pen behind. Eruka explains later that the snake will allow Medusa both to eavesdrop and to accelerate the madness in Stein. After hearing over the radio how fondly Marie talks about her to Stein, Crona quietly returns to her room and retreats to a dark corner with a pillow. As the darkness around her spreads, Crona starts crying.

Note: Crona’s gender is officially unknown and likely won’t ever be clearly stated. For the sake of not having to say Crona’s name a bazillion times every sentence, I have and will continue to refer to Crona in the feminine form.
Preview

Well, they certainly did quite a good job developing Crona’s character. I really liked how, during the friends scene, they referred back to the shell and the ocean imagery that we originally saw when Maka fought Crona. Those are warm feelings that contrast very well with the despair at the end of the episode. The crying was a very poignant moment, and I was really feeling sorry for Crona by that point, helped along by the choice of background music in that scene that added to the melancholy atmosphere. I assume that since the friends angle is getting played up so much, Crona is going to need Maka and the others to come through for her if she’s going to get through this without completely reverting back to being Medusa’s pawn, though it may already be too late. Also interesting is the fact that Medusa is really trying to make Stein go completely insane, and the shot of him looking crazy in the OP has me excited about where that storyline in particular will go.

Other things I enjoyed about this episode include how cute they made Medusa and the hilarious repeat-after-me scene between Shinigami-sama and Maka’s father. And for better or worse, Maka sang Excalibur’s song through the preview, so it looks like next week is another intermission episode about him.

58 Comments

  2. YEEESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!! NEW OPENING AT LAST!!!!!!

    So, Omni, what are your impressions based on the Opening animation? Did you find anything suspicious? Anything to be wary off?

    -Izaak, Lord of the Lotus Clan.

    Izaak
    Reply

  26. I am happy they waited so long to change the opening. This one really isn’t at Resonance level… it just feels really generic.
    The first opening was one of the few anime openings I watched completely every single episode… I am pretty sure I will not watch this new one again anymore :/ sad.

    Bituca
    Reply

  32. Could someone remind which show Omni chose to blog from the normal and late shows for Soul Eater? I’ve been following the late show from the beginning but recently I’ve been told that the morning show might be a better watch, and it’s driving me nuts. I want some opinions from people who may have watched a few eps of both shows.

    SOSAnimeBoy
    Reply

  34. @SOSAnimeBoy:
    The early and late shows are no different in the actual episodes themselves. The next ep previews are different, with the late show’s preview often showing more risque parts of the next ep, but there’s no additional footage.

    Love the new OP. Since I’ve seen the manga up toe the current point, I’m especially enthused about the appearance of Show Spoiler ▼

    quigonkenny
    Reply

  35. I liked the new OP though I couldn’t stop seeing the Black Star vs Mifune fight in my head when listening. Its not bad as an OP, but does well for fights.

    Great another Excalibur episode….so won’t be watching Soul Eater for a while then. I’d just end up smacking my head off the desk if I tried to watch another whole episode dedicated to that guy.

    FlareKnight
    Reply

  40. @GStrike and Espada
    The leader singer for the brilliant green (who sang Ash Like Snow) is Tomoko Kawase, who is also Tommy heavenly6. Given that though, I completely agree with GStrike. They have very similar opening and ending chords. It might be entertaining to see someone overlay the Ash Like Snow onto the Soul Eater Op and PAPERMOON over G00’s op. I bet both would be perfectly fine (especially if someone played around with the synching a bit).

    Misuzu
    Reply

  41. KonaKona4 u aint alone, that grl is tight, she up there with scorpion woman from gurren lagann,…HAHAHA! for Excalibur straight SON’ing the OP. ahhh me loves the character development ep’s.. cant wait to peep

    BROOKLYN otaku
    Reply

  42. @Brooklyn otaku

    “KonaKona4 u aint alone, that grl is tight, she up there with scorpion woman from gurren lagann,…HAHAHA! for Excalibur straight SON’ing the OP. ahhh me loves the character development ep’s.. cant wait to peep”

    This is why..this is why people like you need are stereotyped as idiots..

    heartofadeadpoet
    Reply

  43. The new　OP’s mood is kinda grim compared to the upbeat one in Resonance.
    And really I do get this same feeling back with “Ash like snow”.
    Even the lyric itself is kinda moody. Given that, however, I still like it.

    Tonketsu
    Reply

  44. @Misuzu

    thx for the info Misuzu i did’nt notice its Tomoko Kawase… Did they disband The Brilliant Green hmmmm…

    @Omni

    Omni i like to ask something. Are you blogging “Soul Eater Late Show” or the morning one…

    Espada
    Reply

  45. Finally new OP! Excellent quality IMO, and as the last OP gave so many glimpses of future story, I ended up watching this one a few times over.

    Episode was good, kept my interest high all throughout. Next ep will be Excalibur though, but at least Maka got to sing a silly song

    Quen
    Reply

  47. Pretty good opening.
    Not sure what’s up with the end bit when Soul’s holding Maka in his arms with the kishin marks on the floor below them. Maybe its a hint of them making up their own final encounter with him?

    blinx01
    Reply

  50. Regarding the actual episode itself… its terrible whats happening to Crona. She finally makes friends and starts to get her life in order and now she is betraying all of them. Havent read the manga so I dont know how it will all turn out.

    Splash
    Reply

  51. @Splash

    I totally agree. Poor Crona! Just when something really good starts to happen Medusa shows up and is a b*tch again. She makes a great villain but man is she…Grrr. I like the character development too, but I was a little disappointed with this episode only because they didn’t have the wonderful “mamma” scene with Black*Star, Patty and Liz. Man, that had me laughing so hard when I read it. But oh well, it was still really good. 🙂

    Ally
    Reply

  53. @Ally

    yup seriously some scenes in the manga are omitted which makes it lively…

    in my opinion the whole episode (except for the awesome op) is kinda sad and dark T_T…

    spolier? nah…

    Espada
    Reply

  54. I remembered how frantic I was about finding the name of the insert song played in episode 28 during that beautiful fight between Mifune and Black Star, and how my head went stiff and focusedly shaky when I suddenly heard it at the start of the episode.
    The OP visual was enjoyable especially how I think Arachnephobia is pretty good looking.XP
    Afew things I would take note of from the OP would be the -Soul’s keyboard jamming- and -the mirror breaking when it reflected Shinigami-

    Sorry, this is the first time I’m posting on RC,
    hajimemashite to yourushikhhu~
    \|/
    (-^ ^-)
    \ V / (btw thats a carrot, I’m a veggie guy)
    \ /
    V

    RosaGarthern
    Reply

  55. the carrort din’t turn out right sorry…
    may I also take time to express my disturbance with ExcaliPur walking in front of my screen in such a beautiful OP. (FF ref in case your “huh? diao”ing)

    RosaGarthern
    Reply

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