"This is the madness of BOOBS!" - a VERY cultured character (not kidding, someone says it in this manga LUL)

Ahhh Soul Eater, the love child of Bleach and Naruto, kidnapped and raised by Cthulhu and infamous for its bad anime adaptation (dont worry, the manga ending is better). Let's see if I can convince you to read this beautiful, wild mess.

Story: 7/10

Soul Eater is a shounen battle manga with big focus on plot, which is ironically its weakest point. The plot is simple and fast-paced, with some decent twists here and there, which is very serviceable for a typical shounen, but nothing out of ordinary for people who are used to the genre's tropes. There is a LOT of wasted potential here, like poor effort into world building, very poor lore exploration and confusing conclusion of some plot points, but all of that is overshadowed by the series qualities.

What makes SE really stand out from other shounen is its unique blend of comedy and "creepiness", two ingredients you don't usually see together. By creepiness I mean it has horror elements, clearly inspired by H.P Lovecraft (hell theres even a being whos pretty much Cthulhu), which are used to great effect to illustrate the plot's main theme, Madness.

The internal struggle every character has to face throughout the series to keep their insanity in check is portrayed with sinister, abstract artwork, which keeps you often on the edge. Its not Junji Ito levels of horror ofc, but some panels have managed to creep me out, which is more than I can say for other non Junji Ito attempts at horror manga.

The comedy is pure GOLD. Some characters are already funny by themselves (Excalibur is bae), make them interact with it each other and the result is the biggest amount of laughs I've ever had with a shounen battle manga. Some of its great amount of fan-service have not aged well though (intentional boob grabbing and skirt flipping etc), so if that really bothers you, its better to give this manga a pass.

The battles are very epic and well made, the main characters can lose badly so its always exciting and some of the powers are very interesting and creative, a full meal course for any shounen battle fan.

Art: 10/10

How does the author manage to blend comedy and horror elements so well? The answer is superb artwork. The cartoonish visuals of SE are Halloween themed, with lots of references to classic western horror movies, which works very well for both fronts. The flexibility is astounding: the drawing style changes drastically depending on the tone of the scene, with characters going from making light derpy jokes with cute faces to killing people with maniac Joker expressions in the span of a single chapter. This series was published monthly with 40+ pages per chapter, so this back and forth between tones has enough build-up to not feel out of place. A true marvel to look at, still leagues above most of shounen manga published nowadays.

Characer: 9/10

A death god with hilarious OCD fits, a narcissistic ninja that thinks hes greater than god and a stubborn nerd girl with daddy issues. BEST. MAIN CAST. EVER.

Death the Kid, Black Star and Maka are very likeable, memorable MCs that will entertain you when interacting with pretty much anyone, being able to go from hilariously pathetic to super badass in a way very few MCs manage to pull off. I finished this series only hours before writting this review and I miss them already.

The rest of the cast is pretty meh, one-note characters with shallow personalities (except Dr. Stein and Medusa, they are great), but thats fine, their interactions with the MCs are very entertaining even though they are not well developed.

I have two big problems with this cast though, the first being the "main protagonist", Soul Eater. How can a character that is named after the series itself be so underdeveloped?! His personality is so boring and shallow you'd never believe him to be a MC (to me he's in a supporting role at best).

The second is the unexcusable lack of romance. The main gimmick of the series is that some people can transform into weapons and partner up with meisters, in a relationship that in many aspects resembles that of a couple. This premise SCREAMS romance, yet sadly it doesnt go any further than a very small hint here and there. The partners even live TOGETHER AND BY THEMSELVES GODDAMMIT! Argh, so much wasted potential..

Overall: 8/10

The funniest and creepiest shounen I've ever seen! A weird title yes, but that just shows how unique this series is. If you're looking for a funny shounen with lots of epic fights and fan-service, look no further.