Soul Eater, Vol. 1 [Paperback]

Atsushi Ohkubo (Creator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 27, 2009 | Series: Soul Eater (Book 1)

Maka is a weapon meister, determined to turn her partner, a living scythe named Soul Eater, into a powerful death scythe - the ultimate weapon of Death himself! Charged with the task of collecting and devouring the tainted souls of ninety-nine humans and one witch, Maka and her fellow meisters strive to master their weapons as they face off against the bizarre and dangerous minions of the underworld. But the meisters' own personal quirks may prove a bigger obstacle than any sultry enchantress!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Atsushi Ohkubo

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Yen Press (October 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0759530017
• ISBN-13: 978-0759530010
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.8 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,857 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great book; poor execution, February 3, 2010

By 

T. Smith (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soul Eater, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

First of all, let me say the story and art are great. Okubo is that very rare creature, a true original. His stories, characters, and especially his artwork are unique and always a surprise. In Volume 1 he's finding his stride, pulling together the story and steadying his art style, so this volume of Soul Eater is a bit inconsistent, but you can see the improvement by the end of the book as everything tightens up. From here into the next volume and beyond the story and the art just get better. I was amused to note that Okubo is quite clearly influenced by the American comic book artist, Mike Mignola (Hellboy), especially in his use of chiaroscuro.

The printing is excellent, very important with a book that has such sharp blacks and whites and large areas of black fill.

So why does it only get three stars? The translation is a big disappointment. First of all, adding two translations (a transliteration and a suggested English reading) to the sound effects makes for a large extra "blob" of text that interferes with the art and fills spaces that are meant to be white. Adding the English version would be acceptable but why the literal Japanese? It does no good at all. And fan who really wants to be able to read the sound effects could teach themselves katakana in at most two weeks, probably less. So it's just a waste of space. A notable number of the sound effects are mistranslated, as well. The dialog is inconsistent and lacks life and voicing. Several Japanese jokes and phrases are far too literally translated. Some so much so they need to be explained in the end notes. This means the impact of them is lost to the reader during the actual reading of the story. I doubt this is what the author had in mind.

All in all, it's nice to look at, very original, and a fun story. But I really had to knock off a star for the disappointing translation. Yen Press, you can do better than this!

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Eating the souls, October 9, 2009

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Soul Eater, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Two words sum up "Soul Eater's" overall flavor -- Halloween kitsch. Fortunately Atsushi Ohkubo's horror/comedy manga has a bit more than its silly-spooky style going for it. While "Soul Eater, Volume 1" spends most of its length introducing the trio of main characters (and their talking weapons), it spins up some hilarious characters and plenty of bizarre supernatural confrontations.

Every scythe meister wants to have their shapeshifting weapon/partner turned into a weapon worthy of Shinigami-sama. To do this, the weapon/partners must devour ninety-nine rotten human souls, and one witch soul. In that order. If they screw up, they have to start again.

As the story begins, Maka and her brash partner Soul Eater have nabbed their ninety-ninth soul -- now they just need a witch, and he'll be a Death Scythe. But their battle with the Witch Blair becomes a very complicated one, since she's not only powerful but has some weird secrets of her own. In the meantime, the narcissistic ninja Black Star and his partner Tsubaki have nabbed the last of their souls... but to get a witch, he'll have to fight her bodyguard!

And while these two are struggling, Shinigami-sama's son Death the Kid is on a mission of his own with his twin pistol-partners -- they have to infiltrate a pyramid infested by mummies, and clean it out. Too bad Kid's OCD is slowing them down. And in the main story: Soul, Maka, Tsubaki and Black Star are all called in by Shinigami-sama, who is assigning them a mission. They have to eradicate a former teacher who has become a zombie and is attacking students -- and if the students don't succeed, they'll be booted out of Death's special academy!

Fanservicey witches in pointy hats, haunted forests, cemetaries, jack-o-lanterns, a leering moon and sun, big spooky castles, an angular skull-faced Death, zombies and monstrously freaky villains -- all set in a vaguely European night-world that is crawling with supernatural creatures. Reading "Soul Eater Volume 1" is a bit like having an adventure inside a Halloween haunted house, where the intent is more to entertain than to scare.

In fact, "Soul Eater" isn't very scary -- Ohkubo usually balances out supernaturally-charged action with plenty of comedy and fanservice (usually followed by somebody getting severely injured -- think a shuriken in the head). The first three parts are a bit limp storywise, since their main intention is to introduce the main characters and show them in action. But the last story is when the plot starts blossoming, with the introduction of zombies, superpowers, and a new Big Bad Guy.

All the meisters and their partners are pretty much standard opposites -- Maka is an uberserious girl with a violent streak, while Soul is rough around the edges and kind of rude; Tsubaki is sweet and mellow, while Black Star's ninja stealth is directly at odds with his tendency to grandstand. As for Death the Kid, he's utterly hilarious -- uptight and obsessed with symmetry, and even willing to vanish during battles just to be sure that a picture is perfectly straight.

"Soul Eater Volume 1" is a fun (if overly fanservicey) little manga, introducing us to Atsushi Ohkubo's eccentric characters and setting up the world they live in. Worth a read, if not the best the series has to offer.

5.0 out of 5 stars Has Its Own Niche Of Readers, January 6, 2012

By 

James Pinkston "Waring King" (Victorville, CA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Soul Eater, Vol. 1 (Paperback)

Let me start by telling you that Soul Eater is already at volume 20 in Japan so it must be doing something right. The manga should not be based on one volume which is why I argue with some the other reviewers opinions. It can be summed up as a story that revolves around a set of different characters that all have different personalities and abilities. The summary of the first volume is the back story the introduces the 3 main set of character that have both a reaper and their scyths that have their own form. With no real main character it makes for enjoyable experience to pick the one you like the most and pay attention to how their story progresses thoughout the manga.

I'm not asking you to buy it, but if you do be warn that there is funny stupidity, sexual perversion, and awesome fight scenes.