Soul Eater Not!

Soul Eater is a personal favorite of mine. I've watched it several times over and each time is as entertaining as the first! It's based in a school called the DWMA (Death Weapon and Meister Academy) for human-weapons and meisters to train together to be able to defeat evil souls. It's an action packed comedy full of jokes and awesome fight scenes. The characters are inventive and the art is beautiful. But enough about Soul Eater, I'm here to tell you about Soul Eater Not!, the spin-off show.

I heard about the show before the anime was released from my dear friend CrazySaki but never gave it a chance because it sounded rather lame. Given that the original series depicts the adventures of the best DWMA students I couldn't see the point of returning to see the stories of some mediocre students. Nonetheless, when I saw the anime being aired, I couldn't resist taking peek! Too my surprise, all my assumptions about the show were wrong! First of all, I thought Not was based after the events that happened in the original show when in fact it's the opposite. There are two benefits of this; one, we get to see all the Soul Eater characters at a younger age: two, it means you can access Not even if you haven't watched Soul Eater! Which I think is important because I imagine Not attracting a very different fanbase to the original. But there's also one glaring downside: they can never make the plot too big because if anything important happens the Soul Eater characters would sort it out. It wouldn't be left to Not characters for certain! But I digress. I haven't even told you the plot yet!
Not stands for Normally Overcome Target, which is a title given to the DWMA's non-combat class. Truth be told, I'm not sure what these classes are supposed to be for but that's the set-up. Tsugumi is a freshman who just found out that she's actually a weapon. Even though she doesn't know how to fully transform yet she quickly becomes friends with Meme and Anya two eccentric Meisters who both want to partner with her.
Like I said, the people who enjoy Not and the original will probably differ greatly. Soul Eater is an exciting well thought out story with loud characters and a slapstick sense of humour. It's careful balance of fun and seriousness makes appealing to a wide audience too (uh-oh, my bias is showing!). Conversely, Not is about 14 year old girls and it feels much more like a slice-of-life and the action is limited to petite fights. The characters are stereotypes from a dating sim and the comedy is all very girly and based more on embarrassing moments. You've got to be pretty open about your femininity to enjoy this show!
Fortunately, my feminine side is pretty dominant and my preferences often tend toward the girly. As a childish slice-of-life, this is a successful anime and I enjoy passively watching this instead of doing anything productive. Whether you enjoy this show or not basically comes down to whether or not you appreciate their sense of humour. Is seeing a rubbish lier attempt undercover work entertaining? Do you find a girl who with the brain of a goldfish funny? How about a pampered rich girl who has no understanding of real life? If you answered 'yes' to all of the above then congratulations! I've found you an anime to watch! If you said 'no' to any of those, then I'm afraid you need to keep looking.
The important thing to take away from this review is that even if you love Soul Eater more than you love your own children you will not necessary enjoy Not! If you're anticipating an exciting plot, intense battle scenes and wonderful animation, you will be incredibly disappointed. Instead think 'Tamako Market', if you enjoyed that show, then I bet you'll enjoy this one too!! And vice versa of course!

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