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xparrotSo in my continuing saga of catching up on all the animanga I've missed (in which for some reason I keep avoiding the most popular things like OP and FMA - even though I know I love them! - to persist in reading/watching stuff nobody on my flist knows...wtf fangirl self?) I'm now reading the Soul Eater manga. I watched the anime back when it was originally airing and quite enjoyed it - it's pretty generic fight shounen, which is my kryptonite anyway, plus it's got a female protagonist and equal gender distribution of the nakama, which is very nice - up until the point where it deviated from the manga, upon which as so many anime do it went off the rails into nonsense, and ended with one of the most annoyingly disappointing conclusions of any anime I've ever seen.
Am quite enjoying the manga now - for the most part the anime was a faithful adaption, though it cut much of the really blatant and ridiculous fanservice (even for a shounen, the T&A is random - main heroine Maka isn't sexed up so much; it's mostly background chars, with ecchi cat-fights and shower scenes and panty shots and such. The mangaka apprenticed under Ayamine of GetBackers, which explains some of it, though he's not nearly as equal opportunity as Ayamine; Soul Eater (tragically) does not thus far feature the main boy kissing another boy, as part of a magic spell or anything else.) Once you page through those bits, though, it's a fun ride, and now that I'm past where the anime got to it, I'm glad to see that the manga keeps on being entertaining, providing one's recommended daily allowance of all the fight shounen staples, courage and friendship (lots of platonic het friendship! <333) and rivalry and all that good stuff.
There's also Professor Stein, who continues to be my favorite char in of spite, um, practically everything, starting with the giant bolt through his brain and ending with the part where he's a kind of sociopathic sadist...but he's feeling much better? Well, no, actually he's not, but that's part of his charm; chars struggling with insanity are something of a fiction trope kink for me (see also: every shounen series in the history of ever).
The thing about Stein is...Soul Eater is basically riffing on Harry Potter, a bunch of supernaturally gifted teens being educated at an elite academy run by a crazy-powerful wizard/death god who usually maintains the facade of a doddering old goof. And Stein is the Snape of the school, down to being an old classmate of the hero(ine)'s father. (Okay, Stein did thedissection bullying more than being bullied, but...) Except that everyone in Shibusen actually cares about Stein in spite of his dark-side tendencies, and fights to save him from himself even as he's fighting to save all of them, and okay, yes, I wish Harry Potter had done better by Snape, but Soul Eater is making up for it, at least so far (still have a few volumes to go and it's ongoing, so who knows how it'll end, but fight shounen do have their formulas, so...)
(Btw, if anyone knows of any Stein-centric fic/dj about the 'net, please to be linking...?)
Am quite enjoying the manga now - for the most part the anime was a faithful adaption, though it cut much of the really blatant and ridiculous fanservice (even for a shounen, the T&A is random - main heroine Maka isn't sexed up so much; it's mostly background chars, with ecchi cat-fights and shower scenes and panty shots and such. The mangaka apprenticed under Ayamine of GetBackers, which explains some of it, though he's not nearly as equal opportunity as Ayamine; Soul Eater (tragically) does not thus far feature the main boy kissing another boy, as part of a magic spell or anything else.) Once you page through those bits, though, it's a fun ride, and now that I'm past where the anime got to it, I'm glad to see that the manga keeps on being entertaining, providing one's recommended daily allowance of all the fight shounen staples, courage and friendship (lots of platonic het friendship! <333) and rivalry and all that good stuff.
There's also Professor Stein, who continues to be my favorite char in of spite, um, practically everything, starting with the giant bolt through his brain and ending with the part where he's a kind of sociopathic sadist...but he's feeling much better? Well, no, actually he's not, but that's part of his charm; chars struggling with insanity are something of a fiction trope kink for me (see also: every shounen series in the history of ever).
The thing about Stein is...Soul Eater is basically riffing on Harry Potter, a bunch of supernaturally gifted teens being educated at an elite academy run by a crazy-powerful wizard/death god who usually maintains the facade of a doddering old goof. And Stein is the Snape of the school, down to being an old classmate of the hero(ine)'s father. (Okay, Stein did the
(Btw, if anyone knows of any Stein-centric fic/dj about the 'net, please to be linking...?)
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Date: 2011-03-18 11:39 pm (UTC)....
Oh, manga, never change. XD
Maybe I'll have to check this one out eventually. I've heard of Soul Eater, but it's not one that I've ever taken a look at, in either its anime or manga incarnation. And I do love me a good Snape riff ...
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Date: 2011-03-18 11:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-18 11:56 pm (UTC)Soul Eater's nothing special as far as shounen go, but if you're in the mood for standard fight shounen antics, it delivers. And the HP parallels...aren't that strong, but I still feel them? He's not exactly a redemption char, but it hits similar buttons...
...I wanna see Tesla rather badly, really; just waiting 'til I'm in the mood for Western TV ^^
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Date: 2011-03-19 06:39 am (UTC)Death the Kid is my weakness, though.
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Date: 2011-03-19 06:49 am (UTC)Death the Kid is awesome and hysterical and probably would have been my favorite if not for Stein ^_^ (I kind of crave cute father-son stuff between Kid and Shinigami-sama. ...also very curious about who the heck his mom is/was!)
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Date: 2011-03-19 06:54 am (UTC)His personality vs. his father's is pretty cute on its own. I have some adorable fanart of Shinigami-sama and baby Kid, anyway.
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Date: 2011-03-19 07:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-19 07:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-19 11:47 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-19 08:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-03-19 09:07 pm (UTC)