By Atsushi Ohkubo
Yen Press, 208 pp.
Rating: Older teen

Maka is a Scythe Meister, a wielder of a living weapon that assumes human form. In her case it’s a scythe that goes by the name of Soul. Together the duo have only one goal: to eat 99 human souls, followed by one witch soul. Once they do this Soul will have reached his full potential and can go on to become the scythe of Death himself!

Oddly enough, the basic concept reminds me of Pokemon, but instead of cute lil’ monsters the main characters have to collect a certain number of souls to become to the living weapon for Shinigami, a/k/a Death. Beyond that very basic premise, Soul Eater is actually quite confusing. For example, I’m not sure if the opening trio of stories, listed as prologues in the contents, are in continuity, some form of beta for the series, or what. This is a bit of a problem since there are a few contradictions between them and the main story that makes up the second half of the book. The most glaring of these the fact that Maka and Soul have apparently only one soul to go before Soul becomes the perfect weapon for Death in the prologues, but in the main story they haven’t eaten a single soul. If the prologue was supposed to be some sort of glimpse into the future to show what they’ll be capable of it still doesn’t make sense since Blair’s kicking around and the prologue tale depicted their first meeting. I suppose the problems with the prologues could potentially be due to some sort of mislabeling on Yen’s part, not that mislabeling explains the internal problems with the main story itself. Oh, and I haven’t even mentioned the horribly clichéd humor, including comedic overreactions, nose bleeds, girls smacking around boys, and more.

Ohkubo’s artwork is okay but I’m not really a fan of his style. The character designs felt like they were trying too hard to be hip and cool, but I think they missed their mark since most end up being forgettably bland with the exception of Blair, but she’s only memorable because she’s dressed in your typical sexy witch getup and that’s something that will always stick out. Frankly, the most eye-catching aspects of the artwork are the settings. Whether it’s the faces present on both the Sun and the Moon, strange locales like the graveyard full of hooks hanging from trees, or the weird, cartoonishly gothic cities, the backgrounds are all interesting. The action sequences are servicable but hardly jaw-droppingly amazing. Ohkubo does a fairly good job at utilizing the concept of humans who turn into weapons, though. The third prologue features two twin women who turn into handguns. For one scene the two jump back and forth, taking turns wielding each other and using the size and shape change to avoid attacks in an action scene that’s the high point of the book.

Overall, I really felt this book was a bit of a mess. The story’s all over the place thanks to the prologues and other inconsitancies, and the tired clichéd humor is painfully unfunny. If that wasn’t enough, the various fan service moments that come in the form of panty shots and a completely superfluous page of Blair in the shower feel out of place and horribly pandering. Clearly, Soul Eater has an audience out there, but at the same time it’s pretty clear that I’m not it since I didn’t think much of the book at all.

Volume one of Soul Eater is available now.

Review copy provided by the publisher.