Soul Eater ep.02

April 14, 2008 | 28 Comments

The second episode still boasts very impressive animation. It's really weird to see a shounen series like this getting such a high production value. Just take a look at the fight between Black Star and Mifune. Normally this would be one blurry mess but in this one, you can actually see each detail. Moreover, the whole thing looks stylish. It makes me wonder where the money comes from and how long can BONES keep up the quality of the series as it is now. The anime also makes an effort to connect Black Star/Tsubaki stories with Maka/Soul story from last week's episode by featuring the four characters in one scene. I am rather surprised to see the camaraderie between the four of them because I thought they'd be competing with each other. Instead, each one seems to have a good understanding of the other group even though they are basically competing for the same goal.

Prologue 2: Black Star

Another scythe technician called Black Star and his scythe, Tsubaki, are on a mission to kill Gang Boss, Al Capone. The problem is, Black Star is a show off so this often makes their job a lot more difficult than usual. Before they can attack Al Capone, his henchmen already attack them, forcing them to flee. Later on, Al Capone's henchman informs his boss that they've found the location of a witch whose power Al Capone wants to obtain. The next day, Black Star and Tsubaki are summoned to the head Shinigami's office. Along the way, they meet Soul and Maka who are still depressed after their previous failed attempt. The head Shinigami already know that the two failed on their mission. Despite this, however, Black Star is still bragging as usual, assuring the head of Shinigami that he'll certainly make Tsubaki a Death Scythe. He even offers the head of Shinigami his signature. Feeling sorry for Tsubaki, the head Shinigami tells her that while normally she has to collect 99 human souls and 1 witch's soul, there's another way to become a Death Scythe. In this world, there are humans who posses strong souls. One of these humans is Mifune, a Youjinbou (bodyguard) protecting a witch called Angela.

Mifune's strong soul should be comparable to 99 human souls. Black Star quickly comes to the conclusion that if they can defeat Mifune and Angela, they'll get the souls that they need. Before the head Shinigami can say anything else, however, the impatient Black Star already leaves the area not knowing that the head Shinigami wants to tell him something about the witch. Tsubaki, however, is not sure if this is as good idea and tries to stop Black Star from charging ahead without a plan. Inside the school, Maka who sees the two from a window feels sorry for Tsubaki. She tells Soul that Tsubaki could do better with another partner. Soul, however, disagrees and tells her that while Black Star is an idiot, he also has a lot of willpower. He believes Black Star is not just all talk and Soul thinks Tsubaki knows this as well. At the same time, Al Capone arrives at the witch's house, which is guarded by Youjinbou Mifune. Back to Black Star, he's in the middle of trying to take a peep while Tsubaki is taking a bath. Because he's being noisy and obnoxious, however, his presence is quickly detected by the girl.

Later on, the two are finally on their way to find the Youjinbou but once again, Black Star still doesn't have any plan. Despite this, the guy assures her that he will make sure that she becomes a Death Scythe. When they arrive at the place, they find that Mifune has killed every single Mafia members who came to the place. He is amused to see a scythe technician like Black Star trying to challenge him but despite this, he obliges the boy's request. It quickly becomes obvious that Black Star is no match for Mifune and has to constantly be saved by Tsubaki. Mifune eventually is fed up and tells the kid to go away because he always feels bad when he kills kids. Black Star is offended to hear this so he asks Tsubaki to turn into Shuriken mode. When that fails to harm Mifune, he orders the girl to turn into a smoke bomb. Because Black Star becomes arrogant, Mifune manages to slice him with his sword easily. Thankfully for him, Mifune only uses the dull part of the blade to cut Black Star so the boy survives. Black Star is offended with this act of kindness and suddenly he changes. In front of Mifune, he looks like he transform into Tsubaki but the truth is, he goes behind Mifune to attack the guy. Before he can finish off the guy, however, Angela the witch appears and shileds him.

As it turns out, Angela is just a little girl. She explains that Mifune simply protects her because she's still not good at magic. She then proceeds to beat Black Star with her little hands just like a little girl. Upon realising the situation, Black Star decides to give up the idea of killing Mifune. The two, however, do not go back completely empty handed because they bring with them the soul of the dead mafia guys that the head of Shinigami wanted in the first place. The next day Black Star is busy climbing a wall....so he can take a peek at the girl's bathing place. As usual, however, he's not being discreet about it so everyone knows about this. A pissed-off Tsubaki has no choice but to send one well-aimed Shuriken to the idiot's head. At the same time, the son of the head of Shinigami, Death the Kid, is busy hunting master thief, Lupin. His weapons are two guns that can transform into two twin sisters. Death's one problem is his tendency to be perfect. Because he's too busy of focusing on the pose of his two human female guns, Patty and Liz Thompsons, Lupin manages to run away.

Impression

Unbelievable. Being animated sure makes Black Star 10 times more annoying than the manga. It's like they put in all of Naruto's worst traits (loudmouth, annoying, obnoxious) into this character. I really can't help but feeling sorry for Tsubaki. Like Maka said, Tsubaki could probably do better if she had a different partner to work with. At this rate, they'd probably get their 99 evil souls + 1 witch soul long after Maka and Soul got theirs. Speaking of obtaining witch soul, is what happened in this episode some kind of hint of things to come? Why would the head of Shinigami sends Black Star to face off against Angela and Mifune? I don't think it's too kill either of them but for Black Star to recognize that there are good witches out there and he should not kill them just because he can. It's certainly adds a rather interesting twist to the storyline if this is true. This means, the Shinigami's job is a lot more difficult than it seems at first because they have to be careful that they don't kill indiscriminately. Anyway, next week we'll see the last of the 3 Shinigami technicians/weapon pair. After than, we should see all of them going on an adventure together. It would be interesting to see if the story gets any more interesting.

Preview

On next week's episode: Prologue 03 - Death the Kid.

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