Soul Eatin Mondays – week 3

I always pick gifs where the characters are smiling because I’m basic that way. I thought I would try something different here but it may have ended up a bit too melancholy. It is a nice gif though and shows Soul’s deeper nature. Also I like to imagine that’s a Mimosa.

1. Your Favorite Teen Meister
2. Your Least Favorite Teen Meister
3. Your Favorite Teen Weapon
4. Your Least Favorite Teen Weapon
5. Your Favorite Adult Meister
6. Your Least Favorite Adult Meister
7. Your favorite Adult Weapon
8. Your Least favorite Adult Weapon
9. Your Favorite Witch
10. Your Least Favorite Witch
11. Your Favorite Class
12. Your Favorite Outfit
13. Your Favorite Pairing
14. Your Least Favorite Pairing
15. Your Favorite Crack Pairing
16. Your Least Favorite Crack Pairing
17. Your Favorite Scene
18. Your Least Favorite Scene
19. Crossover
20. Your Favorite Opening
21. Your Least Favorite Opening
22. Your Favorite Ending
23. Your Least Favorite Ending
24. SYMMETRY!
25. Moon or Sun?
26. Fool! / BAKA!
27. Lord Death
28. If You Met Your All Time Favorite Character
29. Chibi Time?
30. A Message To Atsushi Ohkubo

Your Favorite Teen Weapon

I thought about this one for a while, not so much because I didn’t know who to pick but because I wanted to come up with something a little more unusual, even possibly, interesting. That didn’t happen. Welcome to my post about everyone’s favorite boy weapon – Soul! 

I’ll admit that Soul’s fashion sense is certainly, unique. That’s the polite thing you say when you don’t like something. I have never been a fan of the color yellow, so that’s not helping either. There was the unexpected benefit of making him look really extra sharp in a suit when he dressed up though. 

But putting questionable dress choices aside, Soul is a great character. Calm, grounded, pleasant and friendly, he can play the straight man to just about everybody’s crazy side and is always a nice soothing presence in a scene. I would love to be his friend in real life. Playing against expectations, he is the one that has to talk studious and bookish Maka down most of the time. More than any of the other students at the DWMA, you know that Soul is the guy you can count on if you’re in a bind. 

However, the problem with those nice balanced characters is that development is subtle and difficult to incorporate. Normally you take a character that’s flawed or clearly broken in some way and you slowly fix them. Some sort of empirical progress is easy to show and the audience can cheer along. But what do you do with a guy that’s just fine as he is? Do you make him worse? Do you suddenly reveal some type of huge shortcoming out of the blue? Soul Eater decided to tackle this problem by concentrating on its namesake character not in a vacuum but in the context of his relationship with Maka.

The particulars of the Weapon/Meister dynamic are very interesting. They allow for a very close, even intimate relationship that is neither romantic nor familial. This is something that is quite rare and the show was smart to exploit it as much as possible. Soul’s challenge isn’t to become a better person or accept himself or learn what it means to be a Man or whatever. A much understated and in my opinion compelling, task was set up for him. Soul had to learn how to coexist with Maka without completely taking over nor losing himself in the process. An especially tricky feat when paired with control freak Maka. It was a caricature of an obstacle that exists at the core of every relationship and I appreciated the attention given to such a down to earth concept. 

Also, I think guys that play musical instruments are sexy. I’m basic, I’ve accept it and so should you.

Suggested drink: The Witch’s Heart – when you just can’t find a soul

• Every time Soul’s black blood actus up – take a sip
• Every time we see his bike – take a sip
• Every time Soul plays the piano – listen
• Every time you notice Soul’s teeth – make a note to floss 
• Every time we see Soul’s scar – take  sip
• Every time Soul shapeshifts – take a sip
• Every time Soul puts Maka’s safety first – raise your glass