3ET: Soul Eater Not!

I don't think a "tug of war" is the right way to decide this, ladies.

Studio: Bones

Director: Hashimoto Masakazu (Tari Tari)

Writer: Hashimoto Masakazu

Main Cast:

Chisuga Haruka as Harudori Tsumugi

Hayami Saori as Anya Hepburn

Yuuki Aoi as Tatane Meme

Character Design: Koike Satoshi (Cuticle Tantei Inaba)

Music: Hayashi Yuuki and Tachibana Asami (Haikyuu!!)

I usually don't do a 3ET of a sequel or a spinoff, unless the new series can be understood without watching the orignial. Since I'm writing about Soul Eater Not!, it's safe to say that one doesn't need to see Soul Eater to understand this spinoff. Now, if you've seen Soul Eater, there are some cameos that will please the fans, but as someone who didn't watch the original, I didn't get anything out of these scenes. Instead, my enjoyment will be based solely on the three episodes I see here. Because to do it any other way would be unfair, and more importantly really stupid.

One thing I will give Soul Eater Not! is that the world seems interesting enough. Sadly, I can't say the same for the characters. The protagonist, Harudori Tsumugi, leaves home for Death City in order to attend a school for people who can turn into weapons. Once there, she befriends two of her classmates, Anya Hepburn and Tatane Meme, who can wield these weapons. It's a pretty basic setup, no major issues there. My issue here is that Anya is nothing more than a spoiled rich girl and Meme's only character trait is that she is scatterbrained. With no real personality, both girls seem to have the depth of a kiddie pool. As for Tsumugi, she is determined, I guess, but that doesn't make a character feel like a fleshed out human being. Neither does making comments about her friends bust size every other sentence. These girls don't feel like they are in a world where people turn into weapons, they feel like they're from a crappy slice-of-life show.

Oh no, they don't have enough money for cake! How horrifying!

What doesn't help sway me from that sentiment is what happens over the course of the first three episodes. When the major story arc of the second episode is that the girls have to work at a maid cafe to cover their food expenses after the rich girl spent all their money, I smell boring. And that smell grows stronger as more and more high school hijinks go on. There are a couple of actions scenes, and they look fine, I just wish there were more of them. Or maybe more emphasis on Tsumugi learning how to control her power to turn into a weapon instead of which of her friends gets to be her partner for that day. Or at the very least, if this show is supposed to be a comedy, it would be nice if it were actually funny more than once an episode.

I have been told I should watch Soul Eater at some point. But, even if I had, I don't think I would have enjoyed Soul Eater Not! There needs to be something happening in a show to hold my interest, and this show lacks that in any way, shape, or form. The scarcity of jokes that hit make the cute girls doing cute things and having minor confrontations impossible for me to sit through. It's for those reasons that I'm failing this one, and I'm hoping the original is much better.