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ファイト／ステイナイト 
After last week's debacle about Chrona's gender, I decided to keep the character as genderless as possible. When I got around to do it, however, I found that it's rather hard to do so. It makes me realized how English language, or at least English language that I'm accustomed to use is very gender-reliant. The problem comes when discussing an action that Chrona performs or an object belonging to the character. Normally, this is where I use first person words such as his or her to avoid repetition of the character's name. It makes me wonder if others who write articles have the same problem as I do. I also wonder if this is also a problem prevalent in other language apart from Japanese. It's also kind of interesting how such ambiguity allows an author to not reveal the gender of the character until such a point. This also means that one has to be careful of some of the translation work out there because what's probably meant to be a secret up to a point, would have been revealed early due to the use of gender-identification words.
Episode 8
Continuing from the last episode, Soul made a choice to protect Maka with his own body. Maka is horrified to see this that she finds herself unable to run away. Just as Chrona is about to fnish the two of them off, however, the child gets stabbed by a large scythe coming from outside the door. Someone then kicks Chrona away from the door, revealing that the attacker is Dr.Stein and the blade belongs to none other than Maka's father. Maka asks Stein what is that thing that she can't see so Stein explains to her that the very reason that Shibusen was created. Maka correctly guesses that it's called "Kishin". A flashback shows Shinigami-sama asking Stein to stop Kishin before it wakes up. From her broom, the witch orders Chrona to face off against Stein and Death Scythe as a 'test'. Despite Chrona's best attempt to attack Stein, however, the guy easily blocks the attack. Stein then slams Chrona's body into the ground and hits the body with his power.
Maka realizes that Stein attacked the soul's resonance frequency, causing direct damage to the body. However, the blood that Chrona spurts turned into needles that attack stein. Stein realizes that if he doesn't stop the boy, Chrona will become a Kishin. He believes that Chrona is being forced into using the weapon. At the moment the child is still controlling Ragnarok so it's okay but when it consumes the soul completely, Chrona will become dangerous. Stein also wonders about the snake that surrounds Chrona and the soul. Stein tries to attack Chrona and purge the soul but when Chrona's blood spurts out, Stein recognizes that one of the blood looks different. The blood manages to injure him, causing him to drop his glasses. Stein is pissed off now and produces a soul resonance with Maka's father, protecting himself from the blood needle. Stein then jumps on top of Chrona's head and hits the child with his leg, causing the child to be light-headed. Stein uses the opportunity to do double soul purge, the twin lance. This effectively knocks Chrona out.
The witch realizes that she's lost the battle. All of a sudden, the weapon inside Chrona tores the child like needle. Upon seeing the speed of the reaction, Maka and Stein realizes that a witch put the weapon inside Chrona's body. Stein explains that Soul Protect is an advance magic that witches uses to surround their souls and neutralizes its wavelength, disguising theis souls as human souls. Maka is horrified to hear this especially when the witch attacks them. Stein, however, is equally fast and performs soul resonance with Maka's father to create Witch Hunter. Because of this, Medusa unleashes a snake-like visage to snatch Chrona's body and takes the child with her. Stein suggests that they don't bother chasing her since he's worried about Soul. At school, Tsubaski overhears from other girls in the bathroom that Soul is injured. Maka herself is still waiting outside the infirmary and is relieved upon finding out that the operation was a success.
After Maka left, however, Stein admits that while the surgery heals the wound, Soul got 'cursed'. The black blood of Ragnarok has invaded Soul's blood stream. Because of this, it's hard to tell if he will be okay. Meanwhile, Maka is grieving because she remembers how Soul put his own life on the line to protect her. Her sadness, however, is replaced by terror when Black Star kicks the hospital door down and jumps into Soul's bed, demanding the guy to open his eyes. Maka is pissed off and chops Black Star with a book, causing the guy to be hospitalized as well. the childs stop their jokes when a teacher comes to see Soul. As it turns out, however, the teacher is the very witch who attacked Maka and Steain earlier: Medusa. The witch, however, pretends to be a docile and sweet teacher. She asks Maka if she can help her with getting rid of Maka's father, who is now schmoozing her leg. Maka gladly responds to the request by hitting her own father with a book. The episode ends with Medusa revealing her true face when Maka is not looking.
Highlights
* Maka's father (who I'll called Scythe-kun from now on) impaling Chrona with his scythe body. It was one of those unexpected moment in the manga.
* Stein/Scythe-kun partnership. Although they haven't been partners for ages, they work well together.
* Ragnarok is a bully but a funny one regardless. I assume he's as evil as Medusa?
* Maya Sakamoto's voice, which alternates between boyish-like to slightly effeminate/indifferent like Fujioka Haruhi of Ouran Host Club.
* Medusa the witch, probably a rather formidable opponent and I don't think she used her full power when fighting Stein/Scythe-kun.
* Maka/Soul scene. I don't ship kids but that was a pretty good and touching scene the two have together.
* Black Star. As annoying as he can be sometimes, you have to admit that the guy is funny. He also cares about Soul in his own ways.
* Maka's book chop. I'd like to get that book.
* Medusa's "she may look like an angel but deep down she's an evil witch" snake face. DO NOT WANT.
Impression
What would happen if Shinigami-sama were to fight against Medusa? Is she at his level or below him? I assume Stein is slightly below Shinigami-sama and therefore Medusa wouldn't be as powerful as Shinigami-sama. Come to think of it, what does Shinigami-sama does on a day to day basis? I assume he doesn't actually go around and collect the soul of people who are already dead and leave the witch fighting to his subordinates. Someone also mentioned last week that the witches don't like Shibusen because they are being used as ingredients for Scythe. However, would this started if they were not evil in the first place? I guess I'd have to know first how Shibusen define the evil that is perpetrated by witches. I also wonder how Medusa manages to enroll into Shibusen and became a teacher there. Is there a way for a witch to hide themselves as human in normal, day to day interaction? I know Stein mentioned about them being able to hide their presence but I thought that's just during battle.
Once again it's interesting to see a usual villain name (Medusa) being used as a name for an antagonist. It makes me wonder if this Medusa has similar ability to the original entity, who apparently is capable of turning men to stone. If only her hair could be more snake-like then she'd be perfect. Another highlight of the episode is the dynamic between Maka and Soul. I always want to know if Soul is actually a human or used to be a human. I used to think that they are supernatural entities like those summons in Final Fantasy games but lately I'm starting to wonder if they are just humans with an ability to turn into a weapon. This is why I want to see how each weapon met his/her technicians. That would be a good background story to see. Did they all meet at the school? What were their story was like before they become a technician or a weapon? What motivated them to become a technician or a weapon?
Preview
Next Week: Is that Excalibur?
Oh noes Excalibar!!! *face palm*
Can't wait to see thsoe 2 "idiots' " faces.
It'll be great to see Shinigami-sama in a fight one day but I don't think we'll get to see it until it's one of those final, final part of the series.
for the question of the weapons, I'm more of the idea that, they are humans with the ability to become weapons, [that's just my guess].
And also, can't wait to see those two faces in the next ep
English is a very restrictive language, I realized that after learning Japanese and I was able to do three way compare between English , Chinese, and Japanese
Chrona bores me. Is he/she/it gets any more interesting in the future? I thought she'll be dead here but that doesn't seem to be the case.
It's kind of strange that English is so restrictive considering that unlike Japanese, it doesn't have gender-specific language. Maybe it's because we're not used to using non-gender language in English? Because I think it's possible to do so.
Wikipedia refers to Chrona as 'he' and 'she', the (online) Manga I read occasionally refers Chrona as a 'she'. It's so darn confusing I don't even care anymore... >w
It's true that we English-speakers have very gender-specific pronouns. But just think how much more annoying it would be to write it in French or Spanish or German? Those romance languages have gender-specific VERB TENSES. This is why I always tell people I didn't consider Japanese that hard, cause I never had to adjust my verbs for subject gender or number. -_-;
Hahahaha, Excalibur should be a hoot. Why? Because he's voiced by Koyasu Takehito. That should tell you what kind of character he is.
"After last week's debacle about Chrona's gender, I decided to keep her as genderless as possible..."
"...keep her as genderless as possible..."
" ...her..."
I think you should refer Chrona as "the child" instead of "the kid", since "the kid" reminds people of "Death of Kid" - I wonder why the creators decide to keep Chrona's gender ambiguous... oh well
Eh, Stein and Medusa don't even compare to Shinigami... Didn't you see his Soul at the end of episode 6? It covered the entire city,
Only one person has ever been able to compete with Shinigami... and only when Shinigami is weaponless.
"...keep her as genderless as possible..."
D'oh! okay. I'll fix that asap.
I think you should refer Chrona as "the child" instead of "the kid"
Good idea. I'll change this as well.
This series' quality is so good that I am always nervous everytime a new episode comes, thinking it'll not be as good as the previous episode.
In other note, why does Medusa want to possess Soul? Wouldn't it make more sense to possess someone who's more powerful?
"In other note, why does Medusa want to possess Soul? Wouldn't it make more sense to possess someone who's more powerful? "
She didn't. It just so happens that the Black Blood entered Soul's body.
"Is there a way for a witch to hide themselves as human in normal, day to day interaction?"
The Soul Protect that Stein mentioned is indeed just that. It isn't used in battle, but the reverse. A witch has to turn their Soul Protect off before using most of their power, thus making them only detectable when they are going to battle.
Seems like another good episode. It pleases me the quality is still pretty good.
Also...
"Next Week: Is that Excalibur?"
I don't if you've read the manga to this point, Garten, but if you didn't, try not to, because that scene is waaaaay more fun if you don't know what's going to happen.
don't know, even >_>;
On Shinigami - PhantomX has it right, so I shan't spoil you further.
On the Weapons - I think it's the other way around, they're naturally weapons who can become human. Or at least, that's what Soul's comment in episode one - that he just *looks* human - suggests.
But then again....Why is Maka human and not a Weapon like her dad (who was presumably a 'demon scythe' like Soul Eater)?
Can't wait to see this episode just to see Stein and Scythe-kun partner up. First look we get at both in a real fight, and first indication that Maka's womanising dad isn't just a daft twit. He couldn't have become a Death Scythe of his level without being seriously good at what he does.
I think it's pretty much confirmed that Weapons are humans who happens to have the ability to become weapons, since each of them has their own childhood as explained later.
I'm glad to see the episode in a new direction. I was worried that we'll get stuck in a never ending loop of witch hunting. Am I right to assume to assume that if Chrona were to be given a good weapon, she can be a technician like Maka and Black Star?
Chrona's actually a girl. It's stated in the manga.
One thing that has been bothering me, and now confirmed with Maka's dad in the form of Death Scithe.
All right, in the manga when a character/weapon is in his/her weapon mode, and start a conversation with her/his wielder an image of them appears in the weapon, and they appear to be naked [only showing the upper half] but in the animation, only the women appear naked, and man appear wearing there daily clothes.
Why must they do this distintion, if it's fanservice, where's the problem in the man being naked as well.
I just don't like that they do it different for man and women. =P
If they're weapons that can appear human than.. how did Maka's dad become.. Maka's dad? o_o;
@zefi
It's explained later in the series about the origin of Weapons like Maka's dad.
@ JHL
Thank you!!
If you can judge their power by the size of the soul that Maka sees and they show the viewers, then stein and medusa are about the same size while shinigami-sama's is enough to encompass the whole shibusen. So it should be obvious who is more powerful and by how much.
Chrona is definitely a girl.
Chrona's gender is still unclear those that have been scaning the manga have desided to just pick a gender since it was a huge pain to keep the character genderless useing english. I personaly think Chrona is a female as her name seems to be the female form of Chronos and the robes 'she' seems to wear look more like dresses then anything else.
@ Yin
She is a tech and Ragnarok is her weapon he's just a little less human looking then most. As for if she could be on the side of the good guys, well first you would have to do something about the fact that 'she' is pretty axe crazy and has Medusa telling her what to do. So if you could knock some sense into her and get her away form Medusa then maybe.
Sorry to double-post;;
Hmm...I'm Japanese and I was leaning toward Chrona being a boy. Although he (I'll just say "he" for now) is being voiced by Maaya Sakamoto and looks feminine, there are several things within his speech-style that define him as a boy. But "genderless" is also a good description.
- What stands out the most is the fact that he refers to himself as "BOKU", which girls...just don't do (unless they're explicitly trying to be masculine like Tenjou Utena). Chrona is like a bullied child and wouldn't have the strong personality (if he was a girl) to use the masculine "BOKU". On the other hand, assuming he's a male, using the softer "BOKU" would be more appropriate than the strong "ORE".
- Chrona says he does not know how to talk to "girls" (and blushes!), suggesting he's not a girl himself.
- When Chrona shouts at Ragnarok, the way he talks sounds extremely mannish.
Not saying that any of these things are definitive, just very suggestive. Also, characters can be "non-gender specific" and still lean toward a certain gender (think Wish by CLAMP T_T Oh, I know you may not believe me, but the angel was a boy in the original...).
Also, I never thought Maaya Sakamoto had a very feminine voice...that's why Haruhi was able to pass of as a boy so easily =)
It's hard to talk about Chrona with out going in to spoilers. I do have to disagree about your reasoning for her not to use "BOKU" remember that
I get the feeling that the author of Soul Eater could make up their mind about Chrona's gender either :p in the beginning it does seem as if Chrona is a boy, but then later on in the series, Medusa actually calls Chrona her "daughter" plus when Ragnarok bullies Chrona after the black blood fight with Maka he tries to embarrass Chrona by showing off her panties. From the black blood fight and on, it's much stated that Chrona is a she and even if that was just the translators picking a gender, the way characters act to Chrona and speak to Chrona *seems* to heavily imply Chrona is a girl.
Actually English is a VERY easy language to remain genderless in. Unlike many other languages the gender in English is applied only with the use of he, she or a derivative such as him or her. What most people forget is there's a magic word called "it." The problem is that the word "it" often implies that the subject is an inanimate object but that doesn't mean it's not completely valid to use it in reference to a person. English is a very non-restrictive language, people just make it that way with poor use.
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