Soul Eater ep.09-11

June 19, 2008 | 18 Comments

I'm glad I watch all three in succession because if I just watch episode 9 on its own, I'd have lost interest in the series. That episode was boring beyond belief even though it's clearly meant to be funny. Thankfully episode 10 and 11 are the reverse of episode 9 and it's full of character development and background stories. Plus, for once Black Star is shown to be a lot more than the big mouth that he normally tends to be. While the series has been impressive in terms of animation before, this is probably the first time that I've been impressed with the quality of the storyline. I did wish that the story had been a bit more specific about Masamune's past but I guess it's not really in the writers' interest to tell too much story about him when the main focus of the story are supposed to be Tsubaki and Black Star.

Episode 9

Soul has a nightmare where he's drowning and tries to find a way out. When he does, however, he realizes that he's just burst out of Maka's stomach like that little alien. Medusa, who finds out about this, realizes that the black blood of Ragnarok has blended with Soul Eater. Soul's condition clearly weighs a lot on Maka's mind so Soul tells her not to worry about him since he's in this condition because of his own action. However, this simply makes Maka even more depressed. Meanwhile, Black Star is annoyed because he's been assigned the task of cleaning up library by Sid-sensei. In the process, he meets Kid, who wants to read a book about Excalibur. Kid tells Black Star how anyone who can pull the sword will be famous. Elsewhere, Scythe is trying to engage Maka in conversation but always ends up saying the wrong thing. He then becomes tongue-tied when Maka asks him why he's always cheating on her mother if he loves her mother.

Back to Black Star/Kid, the two are now inside a cave where Excalibur is supposedly located. Inside, the two meet a fairy but when they ask her the whereabouts of Excalibur, the fairy makes a disgusted face before fleeing from them. The two eventually find the sword in question but much to their surprise, it's really easy to take the sword out of the rock. The sword then glows and transforms itself into....a duck-like creature. At the same time, Maka asks her father about the demon sword, Ragnarok, so Scythe tells her the story about how a long time ago, techs and living weapon were not allowed to take human souls. Human souls can give weapon a great power but the weapon will also lose its heart as a human if they eat human souls. Due to fear of dying, however, one technician broke this rule and fed his/her weapon human souls. As a result, Kishin was born. Maka's dad remark that Ragnarok wasn't the only thing that can become a Kishin.

Inside the library, Sid is enraged when he finds out that Tsubaki is the one who ends up cleaning the place. He, however, is satisfied when he finds out that Black Star and Kid are looking for Excalibur, realising that this is a much worse punishment for Black Star. Meanwhile, that Excalibur creature is in the process of asking Black Star and Kid some annoying, inane questions, like what numbers they like the best and telling a really lame story about how his legend began (which ends up being him telling them about his daily routine, ie. having lunch, etc). Back inside the cave, Excalibur tells Black Star/Kid that they must do what he tells them to do if they want to wield it. Meanwhile, Stein reveals to Tsubaki that Excalibur can actually be picked up by anyone but no matter how compatible it is to anyone, no one wants to pick it up because it's so annoying. True enough, Black Star and Kid decide to leave the sword back in the stone because they can't put up with it.

Episode 10

Tsubaki has requested Shinigami-sama's permission to go after a mystical sword known as Masamune. Inside the class, Maka and Soul are informed by their classmates that Tsubaki and Black Star are after a mystical sword that is almost becoming a Kishin. As for those two, they are now inside a village called Shin where the sword is heard about to make an appearance because it likes to prey on fearful souls. Tsubaki is about to explain the reason why she's going after the sword when Black Star is distracted by a statue in the middle of the village. Because he stands on top of the statue, he offends the villagers and get into fight with them. The situation turns from bad to worse when the villagers recognized the star mark in Black Star's arm as the one from Star clan. Later on, Black Star reluctantly tells Tsubaki that his clan was a famous assassin clan who would do anything for money, killed a lot of humans, and ate their souls.

Black Star is the sole survivor of that clan because 13 years ago, the clan were eliminated by Shibusen. Despite this, Black Star claims that he doesn't hate Shibusen because when he was taken by Shibusen, he was only a baby. After hearing Black Star's story, Tsubaki tells Black Star that she too has a story that she hasn't told him yet. Black Star, knowing that Tsubaki is not ready to tell her story yet, tells her that she doesn't have to tell now. He knows she needs to face against that sword so he'll help her out and then when she's ready, she can tell her story. Back at the school, Maka, Soul, and Kid want to follow Black Star/Tsubaki because they think the sword is Maken-like (Ragnarok). Stein explain that the sword is not controlled by witch but will attack people with fearful soul and combine with that soul. Meanwhile in the village, Masamune has confronted a young boy who holds a grudge against Black Star's clan.

When an elder man finds the boy, the boy has transformed and is now wielding Japanese sword. In order to free the young man's soul, Tsubaki tells Black Star to pass his wavelength through the man so that the sword detaches itself from the soul. Tsubaki, however, feels guilty for using Black Star to fight the sword but Black Star assures her that she can always depend on him. At first Black Star is overwhelmed by the fight because the sword can also control the shadow of the body, ordering it to attack Black Star. After some failed attempts, Black Star eventually manages to use Soul Resonance to create Shield Star up in the air. Because Black Star is pretty good with aerial combat, he manages to pass his wavelength through the young man, effectively knocking the sword out of the body. Tsubaki then uses the opportunity to grab the sword and uses her power to enter it. She soon face to face with Masamune, who turns out to be her brother.

Episode 11

While waiting for Tsubaki to come out of the sword, Black Star sits in the center of the village and lets himself getting beat up by the villagers who hate him. Meanwhile, Tsubaki is facing off against her brother but Masamune easily overpower her. He likens her to her name, a name of a scentless flower that blooms quietly. Back at school, Stein (who's having his lunch break), explains to the others how Tsubaki is having a soul tug of war with the sword. The sword is trying to use Soul Possession to control her soul whereas Tsubaki is trying to absorb him. While Masamune and Tsubaki continues their fight, Stein explains that the Nakatsukasa family where Masamune and Tsubaki were raised is a special family of weapons. Masamune was supposed to inherit the family's abilities but the sword was all he got whereas Tsubaki gets the other abilities. This causes Masamune to feel that he's worthless in comparison to Tsubaki.

Because of this, he intends on killing Tsubaki and becomes a Kishin. As soon as he said this, Masamune launches an attack called Marionette Storm, where a bunch of shadows restrain and attack Tsubaki. In the real world, Black Star continues being beaten to a pulp by the villagers. Instead evading them, he just remembers the time when he first met Tsubaki. Back then he was being an egocentric self as usual but Tsubaki actually stayed until the end, clapped and liked what he said. Because of this, Black Star feels that this time it's his turn to wait for Tsubaki. When one of the villagers try to beat Tsubaki, Black Star stands up and threatens to kill the guy. Meanwhile, Tsubaki gets stabbed by Masamune as she remembers how when she was young, Masamune asked her what she want to play. Back then, Tsubaki said that she wanted to play "kemari" even though she wanted to play "house" because if she had said "house", they won't be able to play together.

Masamune asked her if she gets satisfaction from feeling sorry for him but all of a sudden, an image of Black Star happily tells her that he knows she's not like that. This causes Tsubaki to snaps out of her half-death and she begins to fight Masamune seriously. In real life, however, Tsubaki's form is absorbed into Masamune, causing Black Star and the others to be worried. Inside the sword, Masamune finally realizes Tsubaki's real feeling for him and acknowledges that Tsubaki is not a scentless flower. He then dissolves into a big red soul in Tsubaki's hand. Eventually, Tsubaki returns to real life and is greeted by Black Star, who offers her a shoulder to cry on. The guy who's possessed eventually wakes up but the other villagers are still not happy with Black Star so he and Tsubaki have no choice but to flee the village. In the aftermath, Black Star tries to show off Tsubaki's new mode but Tsubaki's new form is too strong for him that it snapped his soul wavelength in an instant.

Impression

I don't understand the difference between what that one techs did a long time ago (feeding his/her weapon human souls) and what current technicians do. I thought weapons like Souls also eat human souls? I think the only thing that's different is that the souls that current technicians eat are the souls of evil humans. Also, maybe I'm losing my funny bones but I've heard that episode 9 is supposed to be funny but all I wanted to do throughout the Excalibur segment was to choke that duck or whatever creature. I guess that part where Black Star/Kid finally understands why the fairy makes a disgusted face was funny but the rest was pretty boring. Also, I thought something would happen to Soul after his blood is mixed with Ragnarok's but in the end, it seems he's recovered easily from it. I guess this particular subplot will continue later on in the series.

Episode 10 turns out to be one of the best episodes in the series. I really like the amount of character development the writer gave to Black Star and Tsubaki. I guess I should have known that a character in this kind of shounen series will have some kind of dark past but it was still a surprise to know that Black Star's clan was an assassin clan who killed a lot of humans. I am not sure if he was being honest about not having a grudge with Shibusen though but then again, he's such an open book so maybe he was telling the truth. I also find his willingness to back up Tsubaki and to wait for her until she's ready to tell her story to be impressive. As for Tsubaki, it looks like she gets the Sasuke's storyline. Thankfully unlike Sasuke, she's a nice and kind character who's not completely obsessed with killing her brother.

Episode 11 was equally impressive. It's ironic how the villagers were behaving in a manner not-too-different from the clan that they hate. Black Star wasn't even doing anything to them and yet they beat him up like he's some kind of a monster. In a lot of way, they become the very thing that they hate by doing this. It's a sickening sight and an example of what humanity can become at their worst. Thankfully, Black Star's patience and loyalty towards Tsubaki had a reverse effect. And it was a really touching when he showed up out of nowhere to assure Tsubaki that she's anything but getting a kick out of feeling pity for Masamune. In fact, Black Star was generally awesome in this episode that I actually like him and Tsubaki more than the two other groups. I also like the message how mistakes of the past should remain in the past. Whatever mistake Black Star's clan made, it had no bearing on the kind of person that Black Star currently is.

Poll:

Which of the three technician/weapon group is your favorite? I have to say that right now Black Star/Tsubaki are mine. Their background story seem far more interesting than the other two group so far.

© memento 2003