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Apr 5, 2026
Oh boy, where do I even start with this one…
Soul Eater is an anime that had been on my bucket list for quite a while, and with all the buzz about a potential remake being planned after Fire Force finishes, it seemed like the right time to give this older piece of anime history a shot.
Just a short disclaimer: I have not read the source material. I only watch and rate anime based on what is actually presented in the show. For this one, however, I did hear that the general audience really enjoyed the first part but disliked the second part due to changes
...
made compared to the source material.
So let’s start with the actual review.
Soul Eater is a fairly generic edgy shounen anime that tries to present itself as deeper and darker than it actually is, but fails at it miserably and ends up coming off as completely childish and unserious. The comic relief is extremely cringeworthy and, in my opinion, even worse than what is usually seen in shounen anime (which I already think tends to be bad across the board, with some exceptions).
Story
The story ranges from average to outright bad, with no clear overarching direction. It feels like a collection of decent-to-poor ideas that rarely manage to get you invested, even when they seem somewhat interesting at first, because the show tends to move on from them within an episode or two. All in all, the entire story could probably be compressed into a movie and I would still personally find it lacking.
Art & Music
The art and music were decent. There is not much more to say here, apart from the cringeworthy sun and moon hanging in the sky, which give off a creepy yet childish vibe. Another thing worth mentioning is the voice acting, which at times felt somewhat soulless (it seems the Soul Eater might have eaten all the joy out of it) and occasionally annoying.
Characters
For me, characters are usually what make or break a shounen anime, and in Soul Eater they are among the worst written, most underdeveloped, and most annoying characters I have encountered so far.
To elaborate a bit further: the main characters really did not add anything meaningful to the story. They were simply there, acting childish, annoying, cringeworthy, bratty, and preachy. Ironically, some of the side characters had far more personality and heart, which at least made the anime somewhat tolerable.
Enjoyment
Three minutes into episode 2 (the Black☆Star introduction episode), I told myself that I most likely would not like this one—and I boy was right. I really did not enjoy it. To me, it felt like a trainwreck from start to finish, with only a few average episodes in between.
The biggest problem with this anime, as already mentioned, is its lack of direction—and even more so the characters.
I had a really hard time deciding what annoyed me the most, so here is an incomplete list of things I found particularly frustrating:
-Black☆Star being an egocentric, bratty, annoying child (yes, shounen anime usually have at least one such character, but rarely to this extent), who somehow is portrayed as genuinely great simply because he believes he is.
-Maka’s father and his cringeworthy obsession with his daughter.
-Death’s manner of speaking and acting.
-Maka and Soul’s overall blandness.
-Patty’s childishness and constant, pointless laughing.
-Completely unexplained power spikes for the main characters because… plot armor.
-The final episode and its conclusion.
Conclusion
I should note that I am somewhat biased when it comes to shounen anime. I am not as young anymore, and even when I was younger I never found generic action shounen particularly appealing. That said, I have no problem giving credit to the good ones—this one, unfortunately, just cannot hold a candle to them.
If I try to be objective, I would say the anime probably sits somewhere around 4–5/10, but due to my complete lack of enjoyment I rate it 3/10.
To those who have already watched it and found it entertaining, I am honestly a bit envious. If the bar is this low, you still have a whole world of great anime ahead of you.
To those who plan to watch it—whether because you really enjoyed Fire Force or simply because you love shounen—sure, give it a try, but do not expect it to get better as the show progresses.
And to those who are not dedicated shounen fans and might just want to watch it to “be in the know,” do yourself a favor and skip it. It would likely be a complete waste of your time.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Jan 1, 2024
You rarely encounter anime where you can ask yourself "Is this made based on a real life story?" and this one certainly feels that way. Watching it felt refreshing. A breath of fresh air in the smothering space of generic booby loli over the top superhero from another world painted on the shield of a public justice warrior overpowered detective harem nerd. Aku no Hana (Flowers of Evil) wasn't perfect, but it felt real and I loved every second of it.
Lets get into it and start with the most hot topic in the room right away. (Spoilers ahead)
Animation... was actually not as bad as first
...
few episodes might make you think? Don't get me wrong, character animation was bad. It wasn't smooth, it was out of place compared to the beautiful background and let's not even talk about their mouths.
Hear me out here though. How many anime have you watched where characters in them are in Japan and actually look Japanese? How many anime have you watched where their physique resembled how we actually look? To me it was a beautiful refresher from what I'm used to watching and I really appreciate them doing it that way and I believe it made the show better overall.
Background art and feel was great with moody rusty forgotten town behind the hills. It connects really well into the story being told.
That being said, the story was in fact really simple portrait of youngsters growing up and feeling like they don't belong. Nakamura Sawa being a divorcee child, growing without her mother and with a father that doesn't really understand her and Takao Kasuga, a silent scared boy that lives what he reads. Both of them being detached from the life of a "normie".
That is the surface of it, yet it goes much deeper with the questions it raises and the answers watchers must find for themselves.
I won't go into all the details of what happened as everyone can interpret in their own way, so I'll sum it up in few questions and leave it that:
Have you ever done a simple inappropriate thing and were afraid that someone might find out?
Did it every spiral out of control once someone found out?
Were you ever bullied or been afraid of being bullied?
Have you felt the weight of your "crime"?
Have you done something stupid, because of it?
Have you felt unworthy?
Have you felt empty?
Have you felt out of place?
Have you felt alone?
Answer those questions to yourself truthfully and if there are a lot of "yeses" in there. This might just be the story you would like to check out. Certainly not to make you feel better, because of some feel good ending, but because it might open your eyes and understanding that we human beings are fragile and weak (yes most if not all of us).
With that in mind let's touch on one particular character alongside Nakamura and Kasuga. Nanako Saeki and why did a pretty girl decide to date an antisocial book worm, why did she fight to stay with him, why was she so disappointed at the end of episode 10?
Heck I won't tell you, but I'll give you a hint. I often hear boys/men asking "How the hell did that loser get such a pretty girl?" and I also hear girls/women say, "Why the hell did she pick up that ugly ass idiot?" Clearly there is something wrong with their head? Right? Right?
Some other stuff to talk shortly about before I finish: Music was great, pace was great, overall feel was great. I understand that this is only part one of actual anime, but honestly I would be fine with it staying just as it is. Sadly I have a strong feeling they might ruin it with additions.
So in conclusion... I'm extremely pleased with this show and most of all I'm happy that I watched it now, more than 10 years from it's release. I believe that going well into my 30s I can appreciate such works way more than I would have back in the day. There is a high possibility that I would just brushed it off as "another of those trouble with adolescence shows with terrible animation" and I'm glad I didn't. For now I give it a rating of 8,5/10, but who knows... Maybe with time I'll cherish it even more.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Oct 16, 2023
Ahh.. finding the forgotten gems of the past is hard but always a thrill. We are bombarded with hundreds of shows in this day of age, yet it's nothing like going back and watching a hand drawn shows now and then.
Legend of Basara was made towards the end of previous century, based on the source material that ran though the 90s and as expected from shows of that time it follows some basic principles that were used then. You can't really take them into account while evaluating an anime (the endless name calling for example). It's just how the things were back then like it
...
or hate it.
Now on to the series itself.. I will be blunt and just say it right away. It was not just bad, but straight up horrible. The only bright light that shines though it is that story (while extremely predictable) is at least somewhat interesting.
Characters were bland, stereotypical, edgy and often unnecessarily forced (looking at you Hayato). Story while somewhat interesting overall was predictable and sometimes uselessly stretched to fill out the whole episode. Pacing was off, but that is to be expected of 13 ep series. It could have been better with being 26 ep long. Music was often, if not always out of place. Animation, while taking into consideration the anime is old, was still terrible. Color schemes were all over the place, often completely changing color of clothes or hair from one scene to the other. If it came out 10 years earlier I would still consider it mediocre at best.
All in all this anime has been a shipwreck from start to finish with it's lackluster production. Haven't read the source material, but I've got a strong feeling that it didn't do it justice. We get what we get however and Legend of Basara clearly wasn't the gem I have been looking for. If anything positive taken from it is that I appreciate some old shows (like Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Lain) that came out the same year even more and can't wait to go on another hunt for potential hidden gems. For this one, I do not suggest you to waste your time on it.
Reviewer’s Rating: 3
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Oct 23, 2021
Are you looking for something different? Are you into art, avant-garde and little bit of psychedelic?
Look no further... this might be just the thing for you!
From here onward you might encounter some spoilers, so beware as "Death is certain, it's hour uncertain." (Monte Cristo; 5053)
Story 8/10:
It's a story about one mans revenge, mainly told through the eyes of another and that works perfectly, as it partly hides the fact that everything is a very elaborate plan of a mastermind. This makes storytelling way more interesting and thrilling as it would be in one of your typical overpowered mastermind animes.
Story starts strong, but is for the
...
most part pretty straightforward with some rare unpredictable moments in it, where you uncover the backstories of characters and what led them to being where they are.
Towards the end everything is on the table and very predictable so anime starts to drag out a bit.
Art/animation 8/10:
Art in Gankutsuou is the main make or break and will either make you love this anime or make you drop it after a few episodes. You will have hard time finding such unique avant-garde psychedelic art in anime world and it's a loss of words to describe it. You have to see it for yourselves.
While I loved the art of it, I couldn't really get past animation... The animation just isn't good and I can't give pass to obvious CGI moments. Even for the time Monte Cristo came out it was terrible, yet it seemed they were very proud of it and pushed it heavily towards the end of series.
Sound 10/10:
Sound elements were beautifully composed and put into action. It fit the anime and scenes perfectly.
Both opening and ending fit well into whole picture of Gankutsuou and can also be considered masterpieces on its own.
Characters 9/10:
Could talk all day about characters, but it's only fair to let everyone meet them on their own. Overall they were well made and developed through series. They fit into their roles and backgrounds and rarely strayed away from what they were meant to be (apart from some questionable decisions towards the end).
Personal favourites: Monte Cristo, Peppo
Enjoyment and overall conclusion 8/10:
As noted before I loved the art that this anime provided in combination with great sound and characters it had. Story itself was also top notch, but I wouldn't be me if I didn't include a bit of rant here:
What killed my enjoyment (as it usually does in anime and other media) was the fact we follow a very good story about revenge and then we completely stray away from it with redemption arcs or in this case "hugs that can beak the biggest demons in us", just to end the story on a "feel good moments". Maybe it's just me, but the ending in this series could have been awesome, if they just for once sucked it up and finished up what they started with.
Setting rant aside, it's an awesome anime that I'd really suggest to those who are looking for something different, than your usual panty and boob shots. Do yourself a favor and watch it in sub tho!
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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Mar 26, 2021
Bangou Stray Dogs is your typical action Shōnen anime that could hype you up to grab it, while searching for new anime to watch, but once you do, you're just left kind of disappointed.
Watching it you get your daily dose of action sequences, bunch of edgy main and side characters, out of place cringe worthy comedy, masterminds, some tries at plot twists that you should expect coming, little bit of "gore" and many more...
So why unfavourable review? If interested do read forward, but beware Weretiger and some slight SPOILERS ahead!
I won't lie. Going into this anime I really wanted it to be good, as
...
the premise is interesting and animation of battles I've seen beforehand seemed really neat. Being tagged as Seinen and R +17 rated also picked up my interest as this gives one the idea of being a more of mature kind of anime.
And yet... right off the bat you meet the most typical Shōnen main character possible, mr. Weretiger; Nakajima Atsushi. Confused boy with bad past and strong morals, that make his actions through whole series indecisive (but forcefully decisive?), cringe worthy, whiny and at some parts straight out stupid.
That is actually not something new to this types of anime and one could surely look past it if other aspects of anime were great, but they just... were not.
To comment on other characters a bit. I get it why people might like Dazai and Ranpo. They are the "super-duper-smarts good guys" of anime, but sadly that just isn't my cup of tea and plot surrounding their great unravels is nothing but average.
I'd say villain camp was made slightly better, but built in full out edgy mode. Akutagawa was in essence the right opposite of Atsushi and at same time practically the same (good/bad contrast?).
Personally what I felt about characters over the whole series was resentment. It just felt like they were introducing one annoying character after another. Some might touch the average area, but overall they were just dreadful.
And characters while being very subpar weren't even the worst part of this anime. That title goes to none other than comedy!
Dear lord... I've seen a lot of bad comedy in my day, but never have I seen something as bad as it was here. It was out of place, it just wasn't funny. Even terrible comedy sometimes brings me a slight chuckle, this one just didn't. If they skipped it all together I'd see myself enjoying this anime far more.
Now that we got some of the bad parts out of the way, lets shortly touch the good ones.
Animation and sound was actually pretty decent. Visual effects were pleasing to the eye and combat sequences were very fluid and enjoyable. I'm personally not into character loudly announcing the names of abilities they use, but I can't get past saying that part was very well done.
Also the abilities they use in anime were very imaginative. They just had to put in that one that can cure all the fatal injuries tho didn't they? We're spoiled by George R.R. Martin killing of characters left and right I know.. but come on, everyone surviving, be it good or bad in plot that revolves around good guys fighting with mafia? You're just shooting yourself in the knee with plot like that.
In conclusion:
If you're a type of person that ran out of top notch action Shōnen anime and you're lusting for more, you should consider giving this a try, otherwise pick up something else.
All that being said I'm writing this review after I finished watching first 3 seasons. Didn't want to give my verdict before I saw if this anime improves over the time and before I understood why it has such a huge following. I'd say it does improve a bit, especially the plot part, so if you watched 1st and enjoyed it, be sure to check 2nd and 3rd.
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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