Soul Eater ( Sōru Ītā) is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Atsushi Ōkubo. Set at the "Death Weapon Meister Academy", the series revolves around three teams consisting of a weapon meister and (at least one) human weapon. Trying to make the latter a "death scythe" and thus fit for use by the academy's headmaster Shinigami, the personification of death, they must collect the souls of 99 evil humans and one witch, in that order; otherwise, they will have to start all over again.A single drama CD was produced on August 31, 2005 which came bundled with an art book. An anime adaptation produced by Bones first aired on TV Tokyo in Japan on April 7, 2008, and contained 51 episodes; Funimation licensed the anime series for North American distribution. An action game was released in January 2009 on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation Portable. Another manga series which will run alongside the main series, titled Soul Eater Not!, began serialization in Monthly Shōnen Gangan on January 12, 2011.
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Soul Eater is set at Death Weapon Meister Academy ( Shinigami Buki Shokunin Senmon Gakkō)—"DWMA" ( Shibusen) for short—located in the fictional Death City in Nevada, United States. The school is run by Shinigami, also known as Death, as a training facility for humans with the ability to transform into weapons, as well as the wielders of those weapons, called meisters (shokunin). Attending this school are meister Maka Albarn and her scythe partner Soul Eater; ninja Black Star and his partner Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, who can turn into a variety of different weapons such as a kusarigama, shuriken, and ninjatō; and Shinigami's son Death the Kid and his pistol partners Liz and Patty Thompson. The goal of the school's meister students is to have their weapons defeat and absorb the souls of 99 evil humans and one witch, which will dramatically increase the power of the given weapon and turn them into "death scythes", weapons capable of being used by Shinigami.
Shortly after the start of Soul Eater, Maka and Soul Eater face off against the witch Medusa, who forces her child Crona, meister of the demon sword Ragnarok, to collect non-evil human souls and transform into a kishin , an evil demon god. Medusa and her cohorts attack DWMA with the intention of reviving Asura, the first kishin who nearly plunged the entire world into madness before being sealed beneath DWMA by Shinigami. Despite the combined efforts of Maka, Black Star, and Death the Kid, Medusa's group successfully revives Asura, who leaves to spread chaos around the world after a brief battle with Shinigami. However, Medusa is seemingly killed by the meister and DWMA teacher Franken Stein in the process, while Crona surrenders to the DWMA and goes on to enroll there and befriend Maka.
As a result of Asura's spreading madness, Medusa's older sister Arachne comes out of hiding after 800 years. Arachne reforms her organization Arachnophobia, which poses itself as a serious threat to DWMA. Shinigami calls in death scythes from around the world to aid in the fight against Arachnophobia. During this time, Medusa resurfaces with her soul in the body of a young girl, and forms a truce with DWMA so they can annihilate the threat of Arachnophobia together. The DWMA students and Medusa's entourage infiltrate Arachnophobia's headquarters where Maka defeats Arachne, only for Medusa to betray DWMA, possess Arachne's body, and brainwash Crona into rejoining her. Meanwhile, Death the Kid is captured by Noah, an enemy posing as the former meister Eibon. Following this, Maka finally succeeds in turning Soul Eater into a death scythe, and the duo become part of the newly formed meister unit Spartoi along with their friends, who rescue Death the Kid and defeat Noah.While DWMA searches for Asura's whereabouts, Crona resurfaces in a city in Moscow, destroying it and killing the death scythe stationed there, and then kills Medusa and goes completely insane. Maka is ordered by Shinigami to hunt and kill Crona, inadvertently discovering Asura's presence on the moon during her search for Crona. A battle between DWMA and Asura's minions ensues on the moon's surface while Maka and Soul stay behind on Earth to confront Crona.
Soul Eater Not!
Soul Eater Not! is a side-story to the main series, focusing on a freshman halberd named Tsugumi Harudori, who befriends two other meisters, Meme Tatane and Anya Hepburn. All three take part in the NOT (Normally Overcome Target) class at DWMA and learn to control their powers in order to overcome their difficulties to have a normal life, as opposed to the battle-oriented EAT (Especially Advanced Talent) class taken by Maka, Soul, and their companions. Medusa and Arachne's younger sister Shaula is introduced in this story as the antagonist. The events of Not! take place prior to the events of the main series—Sid Barrett, who is killed and revived as a zombie early in Soul Eater, is still alive; Medusa works undercover at DWMA as a nurse; meister Kim Diehl and her weapon partner Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupré are initially unacquainted; and Liz and Patty have recently been taken in by Death the Kid.
Characters
 | Angela Leon A witch in the anime / manga Soul Eater. Mifune, her guardian, protects her against those who want to claim her soul. She is still very young and not skilled at using magic. |
 | Arachne A character from the anime / manga Soul Eater. One of the antagonists in the story, who is known as "The Heretic Witch". |
 | Arisa One of the employees of Death City's resident cabaret club, Chupa♡Cabra's. She is a witch along with her friend Risa. |
 | Asura The first Kishin who was originally a member of Shinigami's "Eight Powerful Warriors Shinigami". He was insane and secretly ate souls of people not listed and eventually became a powerful Demon God, who was sealed under Death City. |
 | Black Star Black Star is one of the main characters of Soul Eater. He is student as Shibusen, and uses the demonic ninja weapon Tsubaki. |
 | Blair One of the characters in Soul Eater. Blair is a cat with a strong aptitude for magic, which gets her confused as a witch. |
 | Crona Crona is Medusa's child and hope to create a new Kishin, and wields the black blood weapon (usually in sword form) Ragnarok. |
 | Death The Kid Death the Kid is son of Shinigami-Sama and one of three main characters of the anime series, Soul Eater. |
 | Eruka Frog A cowardly witch who works for Medusa Gorgon, and is a minor antagonist in the Soul Eater franchise. Like most witches in the series, Eruka also has an affinity for a specific animal, hers being a frog. |
 | Excalibur The legendary partner who has a long history. Able to connect with any user. He goes unused because no one can stand his rules or his obnoxious personality. |
 | Fisher King A member of Arachnohobia that Kid encounters on a the Runaway Express. |
 | Franken Stein A character in Soul Eater. He is one of the strongest technicians at Shibusen, and was Spirit's technician. |
 | Free A werewolf who was in prison for 200 years for ripping out the head Witch's eye, and claiming it for himself. |
 | Giriko Giriko is a villian in Soul Eater. He is a chainsaw weapon without a meister, and has a rivalry with Justin Law |
 | Harvar D. Eclair Harvar is a supporting character in Soul Eater. He is Ox Ford's lightning spear weapon, and makes few appearences outside of spear form. |
 | Jacqueline O. Lantern Dupré Jacqueline is a supporting character in Soul Eater. She is Kim's lantern weapon, and makes few appearances outside of lantern form. |
 | Justin Law A Death Scythe in Soul Eater who is a holy man that is always listening to loud music and can't hear people with his headphones on. His body is capable of transforming into a Guillotine. |
 | Kilik Lunge Kilik is a supporting character in Soul Eater. He is considered to be one of the strongest meisters in Shibusen, and fights with his twin pots of fire and thunder, which resemble gloves. |
 | Kim Diehl Kim is a supporting character in Soul Eater. She is the object of Ox Ford's affections, but could care less about him. She uses the lamp weapon Jacqueline. |
 | Little Demon Little Demon is the personification of Soul's insanity brought on by the Black Blood he was infected with. |
 | Liz Thompson A pistol type weapon from Soul Eater. A more serious and level headed personality then her sister Patty. She is wielded by Death the Kid. |
 | Maka Albarn Maka is Soul Eater Evans' partner and one of the protagonists of Soul Eater. |
 | Marie Mjolnir The Death Scythe formerly in charge of Oceania. |
 | Masamune Tsubaki's older brother. |
 | Medusa Gorgon Medusa is one of the main villains in Soul Eater. She is a witch who seeks the revival of the Kishin. |
 | Mifune Mifune is a supporting character in Soul Eater, normally playing the part of a villian. He is a "strong soul" samurai who has a love for children. |
 | Mira Naigus Mira Naigus is the Demon Weapon partner to Sid Barrets partner and took on the role of DWMA. She transforms into a combat knife. |
 | Mizune A witch who is really a group of mice that can fuse into one. |
 | Mosquito A servant of Arachne, he is a vampiric character who has the power to transform back to how his body looked when he was younger and stronger. |
 | Ox Ford Ox Ford is a supporting character in Soul Eater. He is generally considered Maka's rival academically, and fights with his lightning spear weapon Harvar. |
 | Patty Thompson A pistol type weapon from Soul Eater. Somewhat dim witted and tends to giggle a lot. Wielded by Death the Kid, along with her sister Liz. |
 | Pot of Fire The brother of Pot of Lightning, he and his sister, while very young, are the weapon partners of Kilik Lunge. They transform into giant gloves and he has the power to emit fire from his glove form. |
 | Pot of Thunder The sister of Pot of Fire, both of them are the weapon partners of Kilik Lunge and even though despite her young age she and her brother have helped him numerous times. She can transform into a giant glove that emits lightning. |
 | Rachel Boyd A little girl from Death City who has her body taken over by Medusa. |
 | Ragnarok Chrona's demon sword partner. He is basically Cronas blood and is able to shapeshift into many things. |
 | Risa One of the employees of Death City's resident cabaret club, Chupa♡Cabra's. She is a witch along with her friend Arisa. |
 | Shinigami-sama God of Death and protector of innocent souls. Shinigami-sama leads the Shibusen training school for meisters. |
 | Sid Barett Sid Barett is a character in Soul Eater. A teacher at DWMA, he is a zombie who specializes in covert ops, and uses the knife weapon Nygus. |
 | Soul Eater Evans One of the main characters of Soul Eater, Soul Eater Evans, more commonly referred to simply as Soul, is a scythe weapon, and a student at Shibusen. |
 | Spirit Albarn One of the Death Scythes, Shinigami-sama's personal weapons, in Soul Eater. He is also the father of Maka Albarn. |
 | Tsubaki Nakatsukasa She is a co-operative, easygoing character and well suited to be Black Star's partner in the show Soul Eater. |
 | Yumi Azusa Yumi is a character in Soul Eater. She is one of the Death Scythes, her weapon form being a crossbow/rifle weapon, specializing in long range espionage. |