Soul Eater - A Lesson in Disappointment

Spoiler Rating: Moderate

Soul Eater, this anime is decidedly underrated, and for myself unexpectedly influential. The series took me by surprise, it really did, if simply for how little I had heard of it. One day, while browsing anidb.net to stay ahead of the anime curve I found an intriguing image buried amongst a hundred other forgettable titles. The art and character designs looked decent, the story at least mildly interesting, and I had nothing else of note to watch so I took a chance. (See image above.) I downloaded a fansubbed copy as (although I didn't realize right away) the series was still being actively released. Little did I know that I would be embarking on a title that would set a new precedent  for my watching habits and embed itself as a signature series in my mind. 

Soul Eater came into my life during a time period I like to call my "Golden Age of Anime", a term slightly inspired by the obsessive amounts of Civilization 4 I played at the time. That time period was also a relatively low point in my life in which anime was one of my few joys and passtimes that distracted me enough to, at least temporarily, forget about a myriad number of problems that made me feel as though my life was burning to the ground around me. So it was a time of outstanding anime, terrible life circumstances, and copious procrastination that helped shape many of my early impressions of Soul Eater. I was living in a house with some of my best friends from High School at the time too, so I generally always had someone looking over my shoulder during a series. I shared a room since I was less likely to care if awoken (if I wake up at all, I'm a heavy sleeper so I'm told) or for that matter go on homicidal sprees. Watching anime became a communal activity that, usually, eventually drew in everyone. That said, Soul Eater started out as a solitary activity strangely enough. 

Kill la Kill - So Over the Top It's Coming Up From the Bottom

   

Spoiler Level: Mild

     Hello readers! This is my first review so I figured I'd start it off big and flashy and it doesn't get much more flashy than Kill la Kill! Kill la Kill is a adrenaline pumped, beautifully animated, absurd ride from start to finish and it has taken the anime world by storm, largely renewing flagging hopes in the industry. For those of you just hearing about this anime for the first time, whether by sheer cruel coincidence, your choice of habitation beneath a rock, or because you have just recently emerged bleary-eyed from your bunker after delusions of worldwide nuclear holocaust, Kill la Kill is already in position to contend for top anime of 2014. The good news, though, for readers just finding out is that you've saved yourself the heart-ache of waiting for new episodes to come out. Kill la Kill started in Fall of 2013 and just concluded as recently as March of 2014.

     If you can't tell already Kill la Kill has captured a special place in my heart. Written and directed by the same people who worked on Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, you can definitely see the influences right from the start in the artwork and writing style. From the onset, Kill la Kill seemingly blends FLCL, Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, and Soul Eater into one unique package that still manages to stand on its own without borrowing too heavily from any single source. Like FLCL you get a cast of 'quirky' and over-the-top characters that all have a surprising depth to them, as well as the frenetic and utterly insane fight scenes. Gurren Lagann has the most sway by far, which isn't surprising considering it was the director's last big project. You can notice the lingering influences in a little bit of everything from, again, the artwork and writing, to details like character design, cast size, animation choices, and pacing. Much like Gurren Lagann, Kill la Kill suffers from a beginning that feels a little rushed, however the pacing soon irons itself out into a comfortable sprint that keeps you wanting more each episode. My only major complaint by way of similarities lies in character design. Many of the characters in Kill la Kill almost feel like parallel world versions of Gurren Lagann characters like Simon, Kamina, and Lord Genome's big four. I will provide my own counter to that though, and admit that less than halfway through the show the characters were well established enough that they all had their own identities independent of Gurren Lagann.