Soul Eater: a popular anime and manga from 2009. The entire series of 51 episodes are currently available on Netflix. This is one of my favorite animes of all time, and I wish to share my thoughts on why that is.

First and foremost: the action. There are few other reasons as to why I’d watch an anime besides it having action. I’m an action nut, but that’s beside the point. The fight scenes, though they have talking (like almost all animes), don’t take four episodes to finish and the talking is always relevant. The fights are fast-paced yet retain a believable scale. Often action anime will up the ante but then will have nowhere to go from there.

Think like Dragonball-Z, Goku has beaten every enemy that was impossibly stronger than the last impossibly strong enemy. So what where could they go from there? Fighting what are basically alternate versions of themselves from different universes. Which is the story arc of Dragonball Super. That is neither a criticism nor an example to avoid. I just hate when an anime’s writers put themselves in a corner and the whole show spirals out of control. Some people like it but not me. Back to Soul Eater, the show stays within the reasonable realm that it sets for itself.

The next reason is the cast of characters. From the main protagonists to the side characters, there’s a favorite for everyone who watches. The diversity in the show is to be admired. The show goes all over the world, and it follows that there would be people of all kinds.

I find it refreshing when an anime has black characters, but these are minor characters. The main cast brings the emotional powerhouse.

My personal favorite character is Black Star, a loud-mouthed egomaniac who’s a very skilled and powerful assassin. Being loud is the exact opposite of what an assassin should be, but of course, Black Star (being so great) doesn’t care. His family was an infamous clan of assassins (using that word a lot) and they turned to murdering innocent people to strengthening themselves. They were then wiped out by the powers that be, and taken into the academy.

He acknowledges that what his family did was wrong and holds no resentment to the academy. In fact, he verbally states that he thinks his father is weak. Despite this, there are those who are nervous about him. Black Star pushes himself, doing insane workouts and striving to win always. He feels he has to win, often saying he’s “the man who will surpass God.” He is similar his father, White Star, in this regard and people who have met him think that’s a scary thing. The more he tries to be better than his father, the more like he becomes in a sense. People try to tell him to relax, otherwise, he’ll end up like his father, which does not sit well with him. He only knows how to do things his way and people (besides Tsubaki, his partner) tell him it’s wrong.

Conflictions like this happen throughout the show, hoping to get out of parents seemingly ever-expanding shadow. But even more than that the show deals with the mental states that paranoia, fear, and stress can induce. The ultimate antagonist became the way he is because of his unending fear. He was afraid of death, despite being incredibly powerful. He hid under heavy clothes and scarves. Eventually, his fear drove him to get stronger at any cost, which involved taking the lives of innocents.

The show teaches many lessons about trust, love, sacrifice, and dealing with mental illnesses. But most of all it teaches us about being brave. That it isn’t about ignoring your fear, making it into something, or never knowing fear. It’s about facing your fears, that it’s ok to be afraid but you must stand and face them. That having fear isn’t a weakness, that strength comes from facing it.

It’s an awesome show, and I highly recommend it.