7.6 | / 10 |
Users | 4.5 | |
Reviewer | 4.5 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Maka is a Meister and Soul is her Weapon. As students at the Grim Reaper’s Death Weapon Meister Academy, their study habits couldn’t be more different. But in battle against the supernatural forces of evil, they’re a freakin’ lethal team.
Starring: Chiaki Omigawa, Kôki Uchiyama, Yumiko Kobayashi, Kaori Nazuka, Mamoru MiyanoAnime | 100% |
Foreign | 94% |
Comic book | 29% |
Action | 26% |
Comedy | 24% |
Adventure | 14% |
Supernatural | 13% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.78:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.78:1
English: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
Japanese: Dolby TrueHD 2.0
Both are 24-Bit
English
50GB Blu-ray Disc
Three-disc set (3 BDs)
Slipcover in original pressing
Region A (B untested)
Movie | 4.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 4.0 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.5 |
Have you ever played a videogame without an autosave function that has an insane number of tasks to complete before you can level up? And have you almost made it—maybe more than once—before blowing it just before, or even during, the final task? If so, you’ll probably feel right at home with Maka and Soul, two of the main heroes of Soul Eater, for it’s one of this intriguing anime’s central conceits that the Grim Reaper, here a good—if patently goofy—guy, has set up a school of sorts where masters (or meisters in this show’s verbiage) train with their “weapon” (a sort of human Transformer who can morph into any number of attacking elements) in order to complete an insane number of tasks. But the catch (literally) is that each Meister and Weapon duo must rustle up 99 evil souls (kind of like Harry Potter horcruxes), known as kishin, plus one witch soul (just for good measure) before their “level” is complete and the Weapon becomes part of Death’s personal hit squad. The chief focus of Soul Eater is on Maka Albarn, a young girl whose Weapon is a sort of neo-punk boy named Soul Eater. The two are part of a Death City, Nevada entourage known as the Death Weapon Meister Academy (DWMA), a training ground of sorts where Meisters and their Weapons learn to work together. In the Soul Eater universe, only the efforts of the Grim Reaper (also called Lord Death, the Americanized version of the Japanese Shinigami), his dotty obsessive-compulsive kid, and the various Meisters and Weapons can keep the world safe from the nefarious efforts of various kishin and witches. Considering the havoc that the kishin are attempting to wreak, in this instance death is a very good thing indeed.
Soul Eater's AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1 is from a native HD source, and the results are often staggering. This is simply one of the coolest looking animes out there right now and the Blu-ray presentation is top notch. Soul Eater manages to blend a more traditional anime style with a number of more innovative elements which make this series easily one of the most visually innovative in recent memory. While some the CGI elements look a little lackluster, especially when compared to actually much more impressive hand drawn elements, overall this presentation is bright, colorful and extremely varied in style and approach. There's also ubiquitous usage of quasi-3D elements, a la Disney's multi-plane system of yore, and that gives the visuals a lot of added depth and nuance. Line detail is exceptional throughout the series, and the palette is incredibly robust and beautifully saturated. A winner all the way.
Both lossless tracks on Soul Eater are excellent and the choice will probably boil down to whether you want to experience the original Japanese language track in a relatively narrow Dolby TrueHD 2.0 rendering, or opt for the at least slightly more expansive English dub in Dolby TrueHD 5.1. This series actually could have utilized a bit more surround activity, though what's here is quite impressive, with excellent fidelity and some great LFE. Voice work in both languages is great, and even those who don't like English dubs will probably find little to complain about here. Fidelity is excellent throughout the series, the underscore thumps along nicely in a variety of rock and hip-hop beats, and the overall mix sports good balance and excellent dynamic range.
Soul Eater may strike some as a traditional shonen anime, but its visual ingenuity is so completely above and beyond anything that's been seen in similar series that it sets the bar instantaneously higher than it's been in some time. While there are certainly elements in Soul Eater that have been seen in other series, they've never been seen quite like this. A mad and magnificent blend of traditional anime stylings with newer concepts that are redolent of everything from Tim Burton to Peter Max, blended into an intriguing and varied plotline make Soul Eater one of the standout series of contemporary animes. Highly recommended.
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