Soul Eatin Mondays – week 30

OMG guys, this is the last question!!! We made it! Are any of you still here?

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

A Message To Atsushi Ohkubo

It’s probably silly of me to be this proud of having completed a challenge. But I am! 30 separate themed Soul Eater drinking games!!!! That is going on my CV.

Before I get into this week’s prompt, I want to say that doing the challenge has made me realize how much I still love Soul Eater. Reviewing shows in general has that effect on me. I can easily pick out elements I don’t like so much as I’m watching something but when I think back on it, I’ll concentrate on lovely little aspects I might have originally ignored and end up completely softening my stance.

But this isn’t exactly what happened here. I saw Soul Eater a long time ago and it’s always been dear to me. One of those series I held close to my heart for reasons both good and possibly imaginary, not all entirely clear even to me.

In hindsight, a studious, impatient, smart, tiny and unapologetically self assured main character, who just happened to be a girl, might have helped. The female characters of Soul Eater are generally very well written, complex fully realized characters that go beyond standard tropes and never devolve into caricatures. For most of them, their gender is incidental rather than defining.

I most likely didn’t notice at the time. Unfortunately, this is far from being the norm yet (in all media) but it’s something I find refreshing. Also it just makes for more interesting characters. The same can be said for the visible minorities here. Their race is a simple character trait never used to convey any special meaning or set them apart. They are not meant to be different or even particularly stand out.

So I guess one thing I would say to Ohkubo-san is great job on the inclusivity. The fact that we rarely hear about Soul Eater when discussing the lack of diversity in anime, is a sign of how seamlessly it was done.

The other thing would be… what’s with that anime ending bro? I mean you must have had some say. What made you think that was ok?

Suggested drink : a Final Word

• Every time an arc ends – take a sip
• Every time someone says goodbye – take a sip
  
• Every time two characters hug – take a sip
• Every time you notice something you like – raise your glass
• Every time you realize a character is special – take a sip
  
• Every time you feel like rewatching Soul Eater – Do so!