Soul Eater ep.14

July 7, 2008 | 22 Comments

This episode is as hilarious as I thought it'd be. I'm mostly impressed with how the whole thing was edited and put together. You really have to see the climax of the exam scene where everyone else but Maka and Tsubaki going bonkers due to exam pressure. It really brings back memory of cramming for exam while I was in high school/university. Also props to Miyano Mamoru for making Death the Kid even more pathetic than Tamaki from Ouran High School. The way the character begs, pleads, and drives himself insane due to his OCD is just absolutely amusing. I'm also surprised that the writers decided to include the hilarious albeit creepy epilogue involving Maka and her father. I thought after the way they cut other naughty scenes from the series, they would have exculded this particular subplot as well. Thankfully that's not the case here. Although the scene is kind of hair-raising, it's also hilarious as well.

Episode 14

Stein announces to the class that they are ready for the exam. He informs them that he's written all of the questions himself and urges them to do their best. Maka resolves to do her best this year and intends on defeating another boy called Ox, who got first place last year. Maka wants this one badly because there's a rumor going around that whoever gets first place will become a Death Scythe. Since her mother was at the top of her class, Maka feels that she has to achieve the same position as well. Of course, this means that everyone else like Black Star also wants to do the same thing. After Maka and her friends leave the class, her father can be seen moving his hand towards her direction. Upon demanding answer, Stein finds out that Maka's father was just sending his "do your best" aura to her. Fast forward 3 days before the test, Maka is seen studying hard in her room, causing Blair to wonder if tests are fun. Maka seems to think so because a person is tested on everything that they've learned so far so he/she can discover their strength/weakness.

In addition to this there's a rumor that whoever gets the highest score will become a Death Scythe. This means those who want to become one have to do their best. Much to Blair's surprise, she finds Soul also busy studying in his room. He even orders her not to disturb him. Blair, however, transforms into her human form, claiming that she's bored. Because of this, she wants Soul to play with her melons. Needless to say, Maka is ticked off upon hearing the proceeding words coming out of Soul's mouth. Meanwhile at their apartment, Black Star is busy doing physical exercise for every single problem that he can't answer. Because of this, Tsubaki has to tell him stop the punishment game and start studying for real. At Kid's house, Liz and Patty started out their study session in energetic manner. A few minutes later, however, Liz already busy plucking her eyebrows while Patty is snoring on the table. Upon seeing Liz plucking her eyebrows, Kid wants to help her doing it so that it'd be symmetrical. Liz refuses since the last time Kid did it, it took him a month to finish.

Eventually, however, Liz relents and agrees to allow Kid to do it. Unfortunately for her, he wants to sketch her face first to see what's the best way of doing it. Meanwhile, Blair is depressed because everyone is busy studying while Maka's dad busy doing some kind of weird voodoo so that his daughter will get first place in the exam. Black Star is busy sneaking into Stein's research facility with the intention of stealing the test papers. After looking around, he eventually finds what he's looking for. However, because his can't shut his big piehole, he gets caught by Stein. When Tsubaki comes out of the bathroom, she finds out that Black Star is nowhere to be found. As for Kid, he decides not to study because he thinks he's so great in all things Soul-related. Somewhere in the middle of the night, Maka's father continues his creepy ritual to make sure that Maka past the test. If only he knows better, he shouldn't worry because Maka is all ready for the exam. The next day, the exam starts but before the student can begin, Sid-sensei shows the class a thoroughly messed up and bloody Black Star.

He points out that the idiot in front of them tried to steal the test paper from Stein's lab yesterday. With that said, he emphasizes that cheating would not be tolerated. Sid then signals the start of the test and everyone either scrambles to do it or feel sorry for Black Star. As it turns out, Black Star is not the only one who intends on cheating during the exam. Soul believes that anyone who don't cheat during an exam is an idiot. He draws up a comparison about the turtle and the rabbits, believing that the rabbits are too serious about everything. He thinks it doesn't matter how they get the points as long as they win. Hmm yeah, except that the turtle never cheated in that story. As it turns out, Soul has hidden cheat sheets on every single part of his clothes. As a result, he gets stripped down to his underwear by Sid. Maka starts to panic upon seeing the first question, which is fill-in-the-black. The first question is the 「健全なる”魂”は、健全なる精神と健全なる肉体に宿る」(A healthy soul resides in a healthy ?? and healthy ?? ). Maka can answer this easily while Liz fails to do so.

Meanwhile, Soul is frustrated because he now doesn't have a way to cheat his way through the exam. He then gets the idea to cheat by looking at Kid's test paper. Unfortunately for him, Kid hasn't even finished writing his own name since he's that perfectionist. The other person next to him, Patty, is not even doing her exam since she's too busy drawing using her crayon. Later on, she also somehow managed to make a miniature Giraffe using her exam paper. Don't ask me how. As for Kid, he becomes frustrated because he feels he can't even write the letter "K" properly. When he tries to rub off the K and starts all over again, however, he accidentally tores off the top right hand corner of his exam paper. This turns out to be the last straw for Kid because he starts vomiting blood before passing out in the exam room. At the same time, Soul thinks that Black Star is going to tell him the answer by writing them using his blood. As it turns out, however, Black Star simply writes his name using his blood. When the bell rings, just like Black Star, Kid, and Patty, Soul fails to complete his exam.

In the aftermath, Maka gets the first place as she hoped for. She goes back home and goes through her photo album and finds some pictures of her father teaching her how to read. Meanwhile, Maka's father is pleased to know that Maka ended up getting first place in her class just like her mother. He also wants to give Maka a present but because he fears that she'll reject it, he asks Blair to ask Maka what books she likes then purchase said book with the money he's given to her. He's also included a card that he intends to give to Maka. Unfortunately for Scythe-san, Blair ends up buying something for herself while she was window shopping in the city. Because of this, Blair decides to use her magic to shrunk whatever it was she bought and gives the item to Maka. He then passes on the item to Maka, telling her that it's a present from her father for passing the exam. Much to Maka's horror, the item in question turns out to be a sexy lingerie. Creeptastic. While Scythe-kun wonders if Maka will appreciate his present, Maka tells herself that she hates her father.

Highlights

* Maka telling Blair that tests are fun. No, just NO. I don't know how test can be fun even if the subject is enjoyable, I don't know why anyone think the stress before, during, and after the exam is a good thing.
* Blair popping them melons. Yeah, it's the same old jokes but sometimes it's hard not to laugh at how ridiculous the size of the melons that anime girls possess.
* Kid and his pathetic desire to pluck someone's eyebrow so it'll look symmetrical. And it took him a month the last time around. Kudos to Miyano Mamoru for making him sound so pathetic.
* Black Star is hilarious as always. I can't believe he'd be so stupid to actually steal the exam paper. Actually, what's really stupid is that he can't shut his piehole long enough to copy the paper before running away from the place.
* LOL at Soul trying to cheat by writing it in his clothes. Double LOL at him trying to cheat from OCD Kid and crazy Patty.
* LOL at Kid trying to write his K perfectly. This guy really doesn't know when to stop.
* ROTFL at the Giraffe. Patty should have been in creative class.
* Eww at Black Star trying to write using blood from his nose.
* Maka's father has the worst luck ever. Also, the "My father bought me a lingerie" joke was bordering between hilarious and creepy.

Impression

They may as well call this episode "How to cheat badly in the class and suffer because of it". The interesting about this episode is that it reveals the nature of each character. Maka wants everything to be perfect and has a very organized way of doing things. She even manages to get a good night sleep the day before the exam, for crying out loud! I'd be cramming till the last hour and usually only has 2-3 hours sleep. Tsubaki is pretty diligent as well but unlike Maka, she's not as careful and easily tricked to choose the wrong answer in the exam. Soul is one of those amateur cheater who thinks he got it all figure out but he's not good enough to even hide the glee in his facial expression. Black Star is the kind of idiots who think they can steal the exam paper and get away with it. There's no saving them. Patty and Liz are the kind who just go with the flow and hope that they manage to answer some questions along the way. If not, then they'll sit in the supplementary exam. It's kind of disappointing that there's no character who's intelligent enough to cheat effectively like the ones in Naruto.

Poll:

Have you ever cheat in high school? Was it a success or a complete failure?

ED Theme: 「Style」by Nishino Kana - AVI version (61.1MB) | PSP version (17.8MB)

The new ED is definitely a lot better than the previous ED. At least this one actually resembles a song. The focus is on Maka/Soul and their partnership. There's a slight hint of romance if you want to look hard into it.

© memento 2003