Soul Eater



"A sound soul dwells within a sound mind and a sound body."

Soul Eater is a Shonen manga by Atsushi Ookubo which has been regularly serialized in Monthly Shonen Gangan since 2004. It received a 51 episode anime by Studio BONES in 2008. As of January 2011, Monthly Shonen Gangan has ran a Prequel/Spin-Off named Soul Eater Not! by the same mangaka, running alongside the original series while covering and expanding on events prior to the original story.

In Death City, Nevada, Death himself (or "Shinigami" in Japanese) has set up the Death Weapon Meister Academy, aka DWMA (also known in Japanese as "Shibusen") to train warriors called meisters along with weapons who can take human form. Their enemies include corrupt human souls, Wicked Witches, and the demonic Kishin, who are created when a human goes insane with "madness". A meister and weapon who manage to defeat and collect 99 corrupt souls (plus one witch soul) get the highest honor; the weapon becomes one of the Death Scythes, servitors of Shinigami-sama himself.

The main characters include:
 * Maka Albarn: Meister and her scythe, Soul Eater (just call him Soul). She's a raging workaholic, he's a slacker, but they're a great team. They almost made Soul into a Death Scythe at the beginning of the series, but failed on a technicality and now have to start over. Thus they're technically higher-skilled than the position they are in.
 * Black☆Star: Would-be Assassin. Has trouble remembering that "stealth" and "shouting out how awesome he is" don't go together all that well. Fortunately he has moments where he remembers, and his partner Tsubaki is a very capable Morph Weapon who can transform into any high-quality ninja weapon, including her usual form of a chain-scythe.
 * Death the Kid: Son of the Shinigami, and a lesser Shinigami himself, he doesn't need to go to the school or develop his own weapons, as his breeding would allow him to skip such formalities, but he feels obligated. His natural talent is offset by his raging OCD—he is completely and utterly obsessed with symmetry. Has two partners, in the form of his pistols, the very blond Thompson Sisters, Patty and Liz. This means that he has to consume twice the quota of souls, but he doesn't really mind this at all. He also holds his guns upside down for some reason.

The series is basically what happens when the plots of Shaman King and Harry Potter are pulsed together in a blender, Studio BONES is put in charge of the animation, and what appears to be the world's biggest Tim Burton fan is hired as animation director. It should be noted that the anime deviates from the source manga midway through the series.

The anime was acquired by FUNimation, with tantalizing previews on their website. All of the episodes are viewable on Netflix, their Video Portal (which is only viewable... In America...and Canada) and their YouTube channel.

See also Elemental Gelade, a similar concept with a more futuristic sci-fi bent. Shaman King also shares lots of similarities with this series. (A partner as a weapon, characters design, etc.)

It's worth noting that the "Book of Eibon" is a reference to H.P. Lovecraft. The author being a fan would give a new perspective on the series' focus on madness, power, and godhood, especially portraying madness as something akin to an infectious disease.

Not to be confused with another Soul Eater. And definitely do NOT confuse this with Shoujo Senki Soul Eater, which is a Hentai.

Warning: The following tropes are from both the Anime and the Manga. Be VERY careful with spoiler text.


 * Absurdly Sharp Blade: Soul has been shown to be able to cut through stone pillars and a really large when in his Demon Hunter form.
 * Mifune's swords should probably qualify. They sink several inches into the ground, or the walls whenever he throws them. And (at least in the anime) they don't even seem to be particularly magical.
 * And yet, Black☆Star manages to block one with his foot...
 * Action Girl: Most of the female cast.
 * Adult Child: Spirit, Maka's sweet and immature Lovable Sex Maniac of a dad, and Marie the innocent and romantic schoolgirl trapped in a Christmas Cake.
 * Adult Fear: The method used by is not recommended viewing for parents of young children.
 * Really, Medusa is just made of this trope. Just her treatment of her own child is sickening enough. Parental abuse doesn't begin to describe it.
 * Adults Are Useless: Averted. The grownups are more powerful and tend to pull off Big Damn Heroes moments when the main teenaged cast gets in trouble.
 * Aerith and Bob: To ridiculous lengths. Just among the main cast, we have Death the Kid, Black☆Star, and Soul Eater alongside Maka, Patty, Liz, and Tsubaki. And it just goes on from there.
 * All Men Are Perverts: Somewhat deconstructed with Maka.
 * All Witches Have Cats: Blair, who Maka and Soul thought was a witch, turned out to actually be a cat that had a human form and magic and merely dressed like a witch.
 * Almighty Janitor: All the main characters are considerably more powerful than their status in DWMA would imply: Maka was one soul away from making a Death Scythe when she was forced to start over, Black☆Star never bothers to advance in ranks when he could be training instead, and Death the Kid is a Shinigami.
 * As Soul Eater Not! has addressed Maka, Soul, and Jacqueline as EAT (Especially Advantaged Talent) students, the 10% of students who considered as combat specialists, it could be assumed that this trope may not apply. Even if they have the same number of stars as an average student despite being very capable, they are ranked in an entirely different class and given different missions.
 * As of the formation of Spartoi, this trope is out the window, as the 6 weapon-meister pairs included in the group have been promoted to two-star status.
 * Ambiguous Gender: Crona. Recognized as ambiguous numerous times by characters within canon itself. Any person that seems to know hir gender is probably basing their hypothesis off of fan translations and unsubstantiated claims by other fans. The official English translations of the manga and anime use "he" simply because it's the closest English has to a widely used gender ambiguous pronoun, not because they think Crona is male. There is no solid canon support for Crona being either gender, partially thanks to third-person pronouns ("he" & "she") being almost completely unused in Japanese.
 * Fire and Thunder, until chapter 67 shows them in older bodies. Fire is a boy and Thunder is a girl.
 * Amusing Injuries: Somewhat averted. In the first fight between Black☆Star and Kid, Black☆Star still has the head wound Soul accidentally gave him, even after the battle. Somewhat, because they don't die of comedic injuries, but averted because the injuries do last for the normal amount of time.
 * Animal Eye Spy: Medusa and Arachne.
 * Animal Motifs
 * Medusa and Arachne both have the motifs of predatory animals (snake and spider), whereas their henchmen have the motif of their prey. Frogs (Eruka) and mice (the Mizune sisters), whose names are the Japanese words for "frog" and "mouse" with their syllables reversed (kaeru and nezumi) for Medusa. Mosquito for Arachne.
 * Anime Hair: While both Soul and Black☆Star have spiky hair, their hairstyles pale in comparison to Ox Ford's sheer pillars.
 * During the invasion of Arachne's castle, Ox pretty much outright says that his pillars are the source of all of his powers.
 * The fact that he was stabbed in the gut and bleeding heavily in a steaming room might have had something to do with it, though.
 * Anthropomorphic Personification: The Clown, who is madness made flesh.
 * Shinigami-sama and Kid are shinigami, but they are not actually personifications of death—they are little more than powerful meisters, with no specific control or influence over death.
 * Anti-Advice: In the anime's ending, while Marie and  are searching for Medusa, there's a montage of them searching a swamp. After a while   decides to simply go in the opposite direction to the one Marie picked.
 * Anti-Villain: Mifune, the noble Samurai who fights only to defend the child witch Angela. Note the irony in his Rival being Black☆Star, an assassin working for the good guys. Most assassins are not good people in this series.
 * Then again, he's not a very good assassin. Really, Black☆Star wants to be a straight-up warrior too, but he's not adverse to putting assassin arts and stealth to good use.
 * Eruka may or may not be an Anti-Villain. Yes, she's a witch. Yes, she wants to revive Asura. But that's only because if she doesn't follow Medusa's orders, her snakes will eat Eruka from the inside out. Also has a giant tadpole named Otama Jackson for a pet.
 * Arachnid Appearance and Attire: Arachne.
 * Armor-Piercing Slap: Shinigami Chop, and to a lesser extent the Maka Chop.
 * Notable in that, unlike most other Armor Piercing Slaps, the Shinigami Chop is actually used as a weapon once. And it's awesome.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: "You're stubborn and reckless. All you like﻿ to do for fun is read, so you're boring. And you have fat ankles."
 * Also, Hero completes Excalibur's insane requests and tolerates his annoying habits, but can't stand him sneezing.
 * Art Evolution: Very noticeable in the manga.
 * It's gotten more complex. Also, the boys seem to have gotten taller.
 * Art Shift: Whenever someone is going insane or experiencing some intense emotion. Happening more often as the series goes on.
 * Artistic License Astronomy: At first it was just a Weird Moon and Weird Sun,
 * Artistic License Gun Safety: See Juggling Loaded Guns entry.
 * Artistic License Physics: The battle with Free ends with him frozen and sinking to the bottom of a river. Ice floats, in case everyone forgot.
 * Actually, if the immortal werewolf (complete with ball and chain) was more dense than water, and if he was only surrounded by a thin layer of ice, which is only slightly less dense than water, it is conceivable that the average density of the ice and werewolf system could be slightly greater than water, causing him to slowly sink.
 * Ascended Meme: In chapter 74, Excalibur sings his little song which up until that point was only heard in the anime. All together now! "Excalibuuur! Excalibuuur!"
 * Asskicking Pose
 * Astral Checkerboard Decor: The floor of Soul's Mental World.
 * Attention Whore: BLACK☆STAR! This example should be on the top of the page!
 * At first.
 * Did we mention  enough yet? Hot DAMN.
 * Audible Sharpness: Maybe it's just Soul saying "Ting"?
 * Awesome but Impractical: Excalibur, who is something of an Infinity+1 Sword, has an insane amount of unreasonable demands that he makes to the point that people decide that his power is totally not worth it.
 * Though, he was willing to cut down his list of 1,000 unreasonable demands to a still-unreasonable 800 demands just so that someone would use him. Presumably, a very persuasive meister could negotiate him down to something manageable.
 * Awesome but ANNOYING really. And so awesome, in fact, that in a failure student claims him and becomes THE BEST MEISTER in the school. The weapon form itself is exceedingly practical and easy to use, and extremely awesome. It's just the PERSONALITY that makes it unmanageable.
 * It's heavily implied that Excalibur is actually an Eldritch Abomination that is the personification of rage. He's just that annoying.
 * Soul. Anyone whose ever done any kind of weapons training knows that having your only cutting edge on the side of your weapon that faces YOU is not good. Scythes are extremely impractical weapons in real life and hard as hell to use in a fight against any other weapon. Traditionally, even spearmen would carry a short sword on them in case the enemy got past the pointy end of the spear (the only part that they were concerned about).The fact Maka can wield Soul and beat up magic and sword users is a testament to her awesomeness.
 * This is mitigated at higher-level transformations as "Witch Hunter" is shown to be effective with both inner and outer edges, while the highest form up to now, the "Demon Hunter"
 * Note also that, at least in the anime, Death's weapon of choice is a Scythe. He's even mentioned as being "at his finest".
 * Awesomeness By Analysis: parodied; at one point, Kilik gets into a fight with a mook with a magitek headset that lets him accurately predict exactly what moves Kilik will use to fight him. Unfortunately for the mook, he has absolutely none of the skills required to actually make use of this data, and promptly surrenders.
 * Ax Crazy: Maka under the effects of the  when she fought Crona.
 * Back-to-Back Badasses: Maka and Black☆Star do this when fighting Sid.
 * Badass: Pretty much describes the series. You've got ninjas, scythe-spinning, demons, The Grim Reaper, slicing things in half ... get the picture?
 * World of Badass
 * World of Ham: Quite. The main contribution to this is Black☆Star.
 * Badass Bookworm: It's easy to forget under the maniacally grinning, scythe waving badassery, but Maka is a nerd that spends most of her free time reading and has really no idea how to play basketball or to dance without crushing her partner's feet.
 * Don't forget about Ox, he pretty much describes himself as such.
 * Stein probably counts as well.
 * Badass Crew: Spartoi
 * Badass Labcoat: Stein.
 * Badass Longcoat: Maka.
 * Special mention to Death the Kid in the manga; during the beginning of the Baba Yaga's Castle arc he temporarily sported a trenchcoat with the same closures and shoulder-decals as his blazer and a collar like the cloak he sometimes wears on outings. It was invisibly ditched before he could fight in it, but he still looked even more badass than usual in it. No sign of it in the anime, though.
 * Badass Normal: Mifune in the anime. No magical weapons or overt supernatural powers—all he's got is a backpack full of swords, and he still fights both Shibusen teachers, Almighty Janitor students on equal footing.
 * The Manga version is explicitly revealed to have a supernatural connection with his swords, however.
 * Wait, wait. Did you not see that Infinite Sword attack involving landing 24 individual hits, then launching the swords OFF his opponent back into the ground?
 * But, then again compared to people like Stein, he is VERY much normal...
 * Badass Teacher - The Shibusen staff in general, though Stein is the one with most examples.
 * Badass Wolf: Free
 * When he's fighting, at least. Otherwise, he is rather daft, such as when he was actually disappointed he didn't get to dig his way out of prison with a spoon.
 * Ballroom Blitz: One of the episodes, where the ..
 * Bandage Babe: Sid's partner Nygus is always covered in bandages. What adds to the irony is that she is also a school nurse.
 * The fact she is not always bandaged begs the question why she has them in the first place.
 * Her meister is a ninja zombie. I think she's supposed to be a mummy ninja to keep with the whole 'Undead' theme. Why she stopped is a question for the ages.
 * Barbie Doll Anatomy
 * Bare Your Midriff: Liz, Patty, and Blair in certain outfits.
 * Barehanded Blade Block: Stein can do this because he can attune to any spiritual attack; those corrupted with Black Blood can harden their blood beneath their skin, often using this to catch blades.
 * Also,, who not only blocked  , but also pushed the golem that was using him on its back. And let's note that he did this after his Villain Decay into Sleep Mode Size.
 * Black☆Star failed spectacularly at this when he tried to catch Soul while they fought the Kid.
 * Crona was also able to block Soul's scythe blade in her first battle with Maka, and another time during the fight against Medusa, on account of being able to harden the black blood.
 * did this when
 * Barrier Maiden:
 * Baseball Episode: Not an episode per se, but the gang do take time out of their schedule to play Basketball whenever they get downtime.
 * Battle Couple: Soul and Maka, Black☆Star and Tsubaki and a few others.
 * Except they're not technically couples.
 * Beam-O-War: Shinigami and Asura perform a variation of these, involving a beam versus an energy shield, or an energy shield versus another.
 * Beat: In an episode where Kid investigates a ghost ship, Liz gets separated from him and Patty. When the spirit of a little girl manifests before her, she looks at her in fright as the scene freezes for exactly ten seconds, before she scurries away in fear.
 * Berserk Button: Soul has absolute faith in Maka's abilities, knows she can take care of herself, and he'll call her on it if she acts up or they're out of sync. But he does NOT act well when someone seriously threatens Maka. Apart from willing to literally act as a Human Shield for her (on more than one occasion), he does not take well to this. Which results in this followed by this.
 * Step 1: Show Kid something that's too assymmetrical and/or threaten/insult his father. Step 2: Run.
 * Whatever you do,
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Lord help you if you somehow manage to annoy the Shinigami.
 * BFG: Kid's Death Cannon.
 * Big Bad: Medusa is the first one, followed by Arachne, and then Noah Later it was revealed to be the . Then finally Asura as the big bad for the entire series and possibly as the end boss. In Soul Eater NOT! it's Shaula Gorgon the younger sister of Arachne and Medusa.
 * Big Bad Duumvirate: Noah and.
 * Big Bad Wannabe: Noah
 * Big Damn Heroes: Maka when
 * Of course we have the moment early in the series when Stein and Spirit show up to save Maka in her first fight with Crona.
 * Big Fucking Scythe: . You don't get much bigger than that.
 * I call your scythes and raise it a.
 * Witch Hunter isn't technically a scythe. Scythes have one blade on the inside curve. It's a giant Monk's Spade in a large crescent shape because it can cut on the outside edge.
 * By the time you hit Demon and Kishin Hunter, you're not swinging a scythe blade anymore, those are giant glowing AXES. Demon and Kishin Hunter cut on the outside edges. Many, MANY edges for Kishin Hunter.
 * Big Fucking Sword too, don't forget Tsubaki's Shadow*Star forms.
 * Big Good: Death, ironically enough.
 * Big Word Shout: So many times ...
 * Say My Name
 * Bigger Bad: Asura. He has no direct impact on the story other than spreading madness wavelengths  But he has a made a few recurring appearances, like Medusa is still the most active villain and possibly features in the Battle of the Moon as a fully Major Villain.
 * Bishonen Line:  and most of the pre-kishins as they devour more and more souls, it seems.
 * In the anime,  arguably gets this after Kid and Black☆Star wear him down. Arguably because that may have been his stronger form (hence not a proper BL)
 * Black Blood: The Black Blood. - Averted: There's lots of red blood throughout the show, so this doesn't apply. This is actually the Phlebotinum.
 * The Blade Always Lands Pointy End In / Stepping Stone Sword: Mifune uses a Storm of Blades to create a Field of Blades, using this principle. Every single sword he threw [read: launched 20 of them simultaneously into the air without seeming to even aim] landed Pointy End In, and stuck with enough firmness that he could run across their hilts at one point.
 * Blade Brake: Maka sometimes uses Soul to stop or slow herself down during fights.
 * Blade on a Stick: Harvar. He can also release electricity.
 * Blade Reflection - Used to show the human forms of the Weapons while they're transformed. One example in the anime had the reflection changing from the face of the meister to that of the Weapon.
 * Bland-Name Product: Deathbucks Coffee and Death Robbins (with 42 flavors!)
 * Not to mention Liz and Patty temporarily transforming into .42 Death Eagles.
 * Although the fact that the currency is apparently called Death Notes is a rather hilarious use of this trope.
 * The number 42 is a pun, as in Japanese "four" and "two" are "shi" and "ni". "Shini" means "death".
 * Blessed with Suck: Crona
 * Blondes Are Evil: Played very straight with Medusa.
 * Blood From the Mouth: The Moon.
 * And many other examples, since this is a shounen series after all.
 * Bloody Hilarious: In one episode where the students of Shibusen must take an important exam, neither Soul nor Black☆Star study, intending to cheat instead. However, Soul gets his "crib notes" taken away, and Black☆Star gets beaten senseless for looking at the answer sheet and is left lying in front of the class to serve as an example. However, just when all seems lost, Black☆Star signals Soul, and begins to write on the wall beside him using his own blood. Soul, thinking that Black☆Star is trying to show him the answers before time runs out, eagerly awaits his friend to finish writing... . May also count as Can't Get Away with Nuthin'.
 * Bloody Murder: As Crona often reminds us, his/her blood is black, and is fairly multipurpose in terms of its uses. However, it only makes you more powerful by making you insane.
 * Blush Sticker: Blair, when she's catty. Patty, always.
 * Body Horror: Medusa is capable of inserting snakes into someone's body and all burst out at once on command. Soul's nightmares of bursting out of Maka's body.
 * Crona and Ragnarok also. Episodes 7 and 15 come to mind (8 being their first appearance, 15 Ragnarok's 'Black Dragon' transformation upon the "Nidhogg").
 * Bottle Fairy: The pixies that live in Excalibur's cave literally become the literal embodiment of this trope when said sword is gone.
 * Bowdlerize: Shinigami-sama did this to himself before the series began, since when he started the academy, his badass mask and deep voice scared all the children. Every once in a while he reminds us that these are purely cosmetic changes.
 * Breath Weapon: Asura's signature attack involves him somehow pulling his weapon up from his stomach to stick out of his mouth and fire a laser. Insert relevant meme here.
 * Breather Episode: Episode 25 has the main cast playing basketball after a grueling 7-episode story arc.
 * Basically any episode where they're NOT fighting is considered a breather episode (ex., the evening ball episode before the end, and the Ultra-Test).
 * Brick Joke: A minor one. Remember all those grave markers in the Death Room?
 * Remember when Soul mentioned, right back in the very beginning, Shinigami's Seven Lights?
 * Anime only: Maka, Soul, Black☆Star, and Tsubaki see who can make a basket for rights to
 * Bros Before Hoes: Soul and Black☆Star. Though not just hoes; anything really.
 * Brown Note: Crona's poetry has the ability to instill extreme levels of depression in anyone who reads it.
 * That sounds familiar... Well, both Hayate and Crona had Complete Monsters for parents, so I guess this was bound to happen.
 * Bunny Ears Lawyer: A very large amount of the cast, particularly the teachers at the Academy. For instance, Spirit is the most powerful Death Scythe in the world, but is a Loveable Sex Maniac and Bumbling Dad. Stein is the most talented Meister to have ever graduated from the Academy and is a brilliant, amoral scientist, but has a certain tendency to travel around on a swivel chair whenever possible and is a bonafide maniac. Marie has lightning powers and is another powerful Death Scythe, but is so obsessed with getting married that she once tried to start a relationship with a toilet. And Tesca Tlipoca...another Death Scythe who wears a giant bear head mask and can apparently understand a monkey's language. The list goes on and on.
 * But Not Too Foreign: If Black☆Star's words when he visits Tsubaki's home are to be believed, Maka has at least a little Japanese in her. Since "Spirit Albarn" isn't a particularly Japanese name, it's possible that it comes from her never-seen mother.
 * Which would mean her mother is a rare blonde Asian, or Spirit's hair is dyed, like Cat Valentine
 * Calling Your Attacks
 * Tamashii no kyoumei!
 * Vector Arrow!
 * The Cameo: The Emergency Alert System (or something similar) seems to make an appearance in episode 42 on Maka's TV.
 * Actually it's simply an announcement saying that the station she has on is going off the air for the night.
 * Captain Ersatz: Black☆Star should immediately remind you of another loudmouthed, egotistical kid ninja. Also both have similar reasons for their behavior (being called "demon child" all their life).
 * Black☆Star is basically a combination of Naruto and Sasuke. Think about it, a hyperactive, knucklehead, kid ninja who's the last of his clan, uses a sword, has crazy markings appear on his face when he in his dangerous, yet powered up form, and even has a special kind of star symbol in his eyes.
 * Black☆Star is supposed to be an exaggeration of the whole Highly-Visible Ninja Hot-Blooded Idiot Hero thing.
 * He does however get better.
 * Cat Smile: A rather disturbing version of this that showed teeth was used.
 * Catch Phrase: Half the cast, at least.
 * Maka says "I'll take your soul!" or something similar (she even says it at the end of each episode preview after the closing credits).
 * Soul does it in her place too, sometimes.
 * "MAKA CHOP!!!!"
 * Black☆Star has his "YAH-HOO!" when he's showing off.
 * "Not a single being in heaven or on earth is as holy as I." (This is a line from the Buddhist canon, believe it or not, alleged to have been spoken by Buddha himself. In Japanese, the first few words are... get this .. "Tenjho Tenge.")
 * Sid likes the phrase, "That was the kind of man I used to be."
 * Of course, before he became a zombie, it was "That's the kind of man I am".
 * Crona has two; "My blood is black", and "I don't know how to deal with [X]."
 * Excalibur's "my legend began in the 12th century", and "FOOLS!."
 * Death the Kid's "Kichiri Kachiri", which could be translated as "Precise and Perfect".
 * Stein's "I want to dissect [X]."
 * "REAPER CHOP''!!!!"
 * Free is a bit rusty at the whole magic thing, so his mishaps are usually accompanied with an emphatic "GODDAMMITSHIT!"
 * Catgirl: Blair, in a rather original way.
 * She even invokes Cats Have Nine Lives in the first episode, but changes this halfway into "Cats Have Nine Souls."
 * Cats Are Magic: Blair the Witch.
 * Cats Are Mean: Or at least, big enough Jerk Asses to force you to start a quest to defeat one hundred opponents all over again, just for the heck of it!
 * Her entire role in the Clown arc was just tormenting the Flying Dutchmen.
 * Aw, she just wanted the Nice Hat!
 * Censor Shadow: Applied under 's robes.
 * Centipede's Dilemma: When Maka and Soul are unable to resonate during the battle against Free, Maka starts thinking about how she usually fights and resonates with Soul.
 * Chained by Fashion: Free.
 * Chainsaw Good: Giriko
 * Character Development: Crona, particularly in the anime. BIG time Crona. He starts out as a near blood thirsty monster who loves to kill and eat souls. But as the story goes on,  It takes a grand total of 30 episodes for
 * Character Title
 * Characterization Marches On: Over the course of the anime, Soul becomes less hotheaded and more of the laid back 'cool' guy he always strives to be. It's not Character Development because this was never something addressed or called out on, it just happens and nobody notices. He makes Maka the hotheaded on in comparison.
 * Chekhov's Gunman :
 * Chewing the Scenery: When Black☆Star wants to be visible, he is visible.
 * Childhood Friends: Maka and Black☆Star.
 * Christmas Cake: Poor Marie, and she is very anxious about her unmarried status; see Cargo Ship entry to see just 'how desperate she wants to be married. (Nervous Laugh)
 * Church Militant: Justin Law is a very devout Christian, but also the Death Scythe in charge of Europe. Interestingly he views Shinigami-sama as God. Nobody corrects him. This would make Death the Kid... Jesus. Lord help us all, pun intended.
 * On the bright side, crucifixion would be the perfect end for Death The Kid: it's a perfectly symmetrical execution device.
 * Death the Kid as Jesus? Keikaku doori!
 * Just add the fact that Spirit would be THE Holy Spirit and your brain starts to melt.
 * ...It would explain his taste in young women though.
 * To make it stranger yet,
 * Cigarette of Anxiety: Doctor Stein tends to do this when he needs to calm down. It's subverted once  This is later exploited
 * Cloudcuckoolander: Excalibur. Explains why no one tries to wield him, ever, despite being the most powerful of all the weapons.
 * And Patty. So very, very much. Giraffe!
 * Not to mention Marie, willing to marry a toilet just so she won't be a single Christmas Cake.
 * Free got himself sent to witch prison for the sole purpose of digging out with a spoon. He then found out that witch prison serves meals with chopsticks.
 * Shinigami, although a lot of it is apparently Obfuscating Stupidity.
 * Practically everyone in the series is this to a greater or lesser extent.
 * The Collector: Noah, deciding to add to his Tome of Eldritch Lore along with anything else he finds interesting.
 * Collector of the Strange: Again, Noah.
 * Color Failure: Several examples. Most recently in episode 46 when Excalibur turns up in the Death Room. Shinigami, Yumi and Spirit go white for several seconds before promptly resuming their conversation and ignoring the newcomer.
 * Combat Stilettos: Marie
 * Combat Tentacles: Medusa's vectors,, Pharaon's Wrath's bandages, and to a lesser extent, Black☆Star and Tsubaki's shadow attacks.
 * Most recently, Crona's thorn... vine... whip-like... shadow... things??
 * Compliment Backfire (or possibly Compliment Just-As-Planned):
 * Conspicuous CG: Shibusen and the sun.
 * Cool and Unusual Punishment:
 * Cooldown Hug: Maka and Crona. Also, Marie and Stein.
 * And yet another example in episode, which can be counted as something of a subversion.
 * Played with in chapter 84 when both Maka and hug Stein in order to stop him from being affected from  madness.
 * Corner of Woe: Crona is very familiar with it. (S)he even gave it a nickname!
 * The Corruption: The Black Blood.
 * Country Matters: Maka in the Hungarian dub (see Precision F-Strike for more details).
 * Covert Pervert: It's only alluded to, but the Guide in the book of Eibon said you will regain your true form from the chapter of Lust when you feel less lustful. Notice that  is the only one specifically worried about not turning back.
 * Confirmed.  still haven't changed back as of Chapter 74. And it's hilarious.
 * In their defense, they're the two oldest people there and Lust wBs specifically noted as being affected by age.
 * Update:.
 * Credits Running Sequence
 * Creepy Cool Crosses: Spirit's tie and attire during the flashbacks. The Death Room is full of (mostly wonky, as it happens) crosses, though with Okhubo's use of numerous religious references, this could actually be plot-relevant.
 * This troper thought for some time that they were the remains of previous Death Scythes.
 * One epilogue scene (during the final episode credits) shows Shinigami burying a red/evil/soul/orb in the field-of-crosses, using one cross as a piledriver/seal of some sort.
 * Cross-Dressing Voices: Black☆Star is voiced by Yumiko Kobayashi, a woman. This becomes more evident in his character song, "My Star".
 * Also he is voiced by a female in the english dub.
 * You may recognize Crona's voice as Fujioka Haruhi's. But well... we're not sure WHAT Crona is yet, so this trope may not fit. But it might. Maybe not, though. It possibly could—why are you so confusing, Crona!?
 * This is the Japanese voice actor - Maaya Sakamoto, not Caitlin Glass.
 * Crossover: Happens when the in-universe manga works Soul Eater and Soul Eater Not! decide to use similar characters. In the Soul Eater manga,  show up as members of the Central Information Office, complete with aged appearances and new hairstyles.
 * Cross-Popping Veins
 * Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Black☆Star can be very effective when he puts his egomania aside and starts focusing.
 * And we have Shinigami. A more striking example than Black☆Star in the sense that until the Asura arc there was far less indication that he was hiding such ruthless badassery behind daft antics and a funny mask.  So, yeah.
 * And even Stein
 * Cute Bruiser: Who else but Maka?
 * Cute Kitten: Blair
 * Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Fey Blade mode.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: The Shadow☆Star and
 * Arguably Shinigami, Kid and the GOO (if not all their fellow anthropomorphic... things). At best, they're eccentric (the GOO's manner being very reminiscent of Shinigami), at worst downright scary. Even Kid when he gets suitably provoked, definitely Shinigami.
 * Dark Magical Girl: Crona, the Witch Swordsman. Woman? We're...not sure.
 * Deadly Hug: How
 * Deal with the Devil: Literally... er... figuratively. We're not sure. But the Black Blood gives a dream image of an actual devil offering power.
 * Debut Queue: The prologue introducing each main character one by one. Also, episodes 1 thru 3 introduces each team one by one.
 * Despair Event Horizon: in chapter 74 and 75. Considering how  usually is, it's rather disheartening.
 * Determined Expression: In the anime, there's a shot of each of the main characters displaying one in turn just before the first battle for the B.R.E.W.
 * Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?:
 * Dirty Coward
 * The Ditz: Patty
 * The Dog Bites Back: Subverted, when Crona Ragnarok is weakened, Crona hits him. He gets angry and more than ever he teases Crona, who still can't defend him/herself.
 * And then later on when
 * Doomed Appointment
 * Drool Hello: Eruka has a hallucination of the Kisin doing this.
 * Drop the Hammer: Marie.
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him: The readers get this in Chapter 67 if they thought both of Kilik's weapons were girls.
 * Gotta be honest, I thought they were both boys. Or a couple of stuffed dolls? I don't know.
 * Eccentric Mentor: Shinigami-sama. In the anime dub, he even sounds like Dumbledore from Potter Puppet Pals.
 * Eldritch Abomination : The Kishin. The strongest of them, even Shinigami-sama isn't sure was ever human to begin with. In addition, Eibon is a direct reference to H.P. Lovecraft.
 * Not to mention
 * It's now referred to itself as a
 * Also, Maba-Sama. As tall as, if not slightly taller than, Angelica, has bat-like wings, which are generally useless, since she prefers to hover; and one of the very few close-ups of her face makes her look like she was built by someone from a Tim Burton visual effects studio.
 * Embarrassing Middle Name: Subverted. Soul Eater Evans doesn't like people using his last name.
 * Empathic Weapon: Weapons are a race in Death City, having both human and weapon forms. Their power increases when they match the "Soul Wavelength" of their Meister partners.
 * Enemy Civil War: Medusa and Arachne have a rivalry that spans centuries; Medusa and her followers will apparently "help" Shibusen if it means Arachne will suffer.
 * Epiphany Therapy:
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Spirit is sometimes called by just his title, Death Scythe.
 * In the manga, he is never referred to as Spirit until after Kishin is released. Until then he's just referred to as Papa, Senpai, or Death Scythe.
 * No, I believe that while Maka and Black☆Star fought Stein, Stein mentioned spirit by name, and Maka had to tell Soul that it was Death Scythe.
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys:
 * Everything's Better with Plushies: Death Scythe has a plushie of Maka that he made. That's not weird at all.
 * Everything's Better with Spinning: Maka and her frequent scythe-twirling.
 * Most of the weapon meisters adore spinning, really. It's just that Maka gets more screen time.
 * Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: is defeated in the anime because he cannot comprehend the concept of courage.
 * Medusa seems to genuinely not get why Spirit and Stein are so disgusted by the way she speaks about Crona.
 * While not evil, Crona was RAISED in a very evil enviroment and as a result is completely baffled by the lack of abuse received from the gang at the DWMA.
 * Evil Eye: Free's witch eye.
 * Evil Makes You Monstrous
 * Evil Versus Evil: Lady Medusa vs. Lady Arachne
 * Evolving Weapon: Handwaved since most weapons are part human too, and by eating souls, they become stronger.
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin
 * Excited Episode Title
 * Exposition Diagram: Occurs occasionally, for example when Kid explains why he prefers the number 8 to 7.
 * Expressive Hair: Maka's pigtails in the anime stand up and/or wiggle when she's agitated.
 * Expy: Seriously all Black☆Star needs is an orange jumpsuit and blonde hair
 * Am I the only one who think's the boy's daddy looks like Kakashi?
 * Not to mention Arachne's extremely strong resemblance to Lulu.
 * Dr. Franken Stein himself seems a heck of a lot like Kakashi to me: a teacher, presiding over a group of three kids, 2 boys and 1 girl, who is a badass genius prodigy with silver hair, who has a stupid thing happen to him the first time he walks in (Kakashi: eraser trick gag, Stein: Swivel chair fail), gives them a test early in the series (Kakashi: the bell test, Stein: the Remedial Class) and ends up with lightning powers (kakashi's signature move, Stein when he partners with Marie), and were both loners as children (granted Stein was Axe Crazy and Kakashi was just an arrogant I Work Alone type). I mean they aren't exact copies, and Stein is a unique and interesting character in his own right, but the influence is definitely there.
 * Stein also greatly resembles Faust VIII.
 * Marie Mjolnir in resemblance to our favorite 1930's bomb fetishist, Nice Holystone.
 * To the extent that they're both voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard in the English dub
 * Extra Eyes: Asura, who is covered in them.
 * Eyes Do Not Belong There: No, they do not.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Marie Mjolnir.
 * Eyes Always Shut: Buttadaki Joe
 * Stein too, at times.
 * Eyes of Gold: Medusa, complete with Hellish Pupils.
 * Can't forget Kid.
 * Face Doodling: Black☆Star, to Maka.
 * Face Heel Turn:
 * Expressive Hair: Maka's pigtails in the anime stand up and/or wiggle when she's agitated.
 * Expy: Seriously all Black☆Star needs is an orange jumpsuit and blonde hair
 * Am I the only one who think's the boy's daddy looks like Kakashi?
 * Not to mention Arachne's extremely strong resemblance to Lulu.
 * Dr. Franken Stein himself seems a heck of a lot like Kakashi to me: a teacher, presiding over a group of three kids, 2 boys and 1 girl, who is a badass genius prodigy with silver hair, who has a stupid thing happen to him the first time he walks in (Kakashi: eraser trick gag, Stein: Swivel chair fail), gives them a test early in the series (Kakashi: the bell test, Stein: the Remedial Class) and ends up with lightning powers (kakashi's signature move, Stein when he partners with Marie), and were both loners as children (granted Stein was Axe Crazy and Kakashi was just an arrogant I Work Alone type). I mean they aren't exact copies, and Stein is a unique and interesting character in his own right, but the influence is definitely there.
 * Stein also greatly resembles Faust VIII.
 * Marie Mjolnir in resemblance to our favorite 1930's bomb fetishist, Nice Holystone.
 * To the extent that they're both voiced by Colleen Clinkenbeard in the English dub
 * Extra Eyes: Asura, who is covered in them.
 * Eyes Do Not Belong There: No, they do not.
 * Eyepatch of Power: Marie Mjolnir.
 * Eyes Always Shut: Buttadaki Joe
 * Stein too, at times.
 * Eyes of Gold: Medusa, complete with Hellish Pupils.
 * Can't forget Kid.
 * Face Doodling: Black☆Star, to Maka.
 * Face Heel Turn:
 * Face Heel Turn:

"Soul: Whoa!! It's Shinigami-sama! In real death!"
 * Cemented in the latest chapter, as
 * Possibly an example of
 * Face Your Fears: The entire theme (particularly the anime version). Indeed the Big Bad's main failing is cowardice.
 * Faceless Goons: Arachnophobia has plenty of these.
 * Faceless Masses: All the other students at Shibusen.
 * Actually some of them do have faces and some even have some clothing detail. They're just not colored in (they're all purple).
 * Fake Defector:  in the first chapter/episode.
 * False Crucible: This is how Maka and Black☆Star are introduced to
 * Fan Service: Dude, it's a shonen anime!
 * Female weapons generally appear naked when shown within their virtual world while transformed. The male Soul started clothed, but became naked when he had a giant scar to show off. Mercifully, the way-too-young-looking Fire and Thunder appear clothed.
 * And when the twins temporarily age-up, Fan Service comes hand-in-hand with a shocking revelation.
 * Blair the Stripperiffic Catgirl is practically Fan Service incarnate, particularly in the anime. Debut scene? Bathtub.
 * In the manga and the anime, Blair also has a Cat Fight with the equally Stripperiffic Mouse Girl Mizune.
 * The Art-Director of the show began putting a huge emphasis on Maka's legs beginning in Episode 27.
 * Not to mention Stein's Shirtless Scene.
 * The fanservice manages to be much more tasteful in the anime, generally speaking. Especially involving Liz and Patty's Ancient Egyptian Naughty Tentacles scene.
 * Fashionable Asymmetry: Mostly subverted by Kidd, but played straight by his hair (to his chagrin). Also, Tsubaki has only one visible stocking.
 * Fate Worse Than Death: Asura was sealed away in a bag made of his own skin.
 * Field of Blades: Mifune's Infinite Sword Style.
 * Five Temperament Ensemble: Maka is Choleric, Soul is Phlegmatic, Death the Kid is Melancholic, Tsubaki and Liz are Supine, Black☆Star and Patty are Sanguine.
 * Five-Bad Band: In the anime, there's one for each season:
 * Season 1:
 * The Big Bad - Medusa
 * The Dragon - Crona,later Free after Crona's Heel Face Turn.
 * The Brute - Ragnarok,Later Mizunes after Crona's Heel Face Turn.
 * The Evil Genius- Free
 * Dark Chick - Eruka
 * Team Pet - Mizune(s)
 * Season 2:
 * The Big Bad - Arachne
 * The Dragon - Mosquito
 * The Brute - Mifune
 * The Evil Genius - Giriko
 * Dark Chick - Angela
 * Sixth Ranger Traitor-Noah (greed),Asura
 * Then, in the manga, there's Noah's group after
 * The Big Bad - Noah(Greed)/
 * The Dragon - Gopher
 * The Brute - ,later
 * The Evil Genius -
 * The Dark Chick - The Clown
 * Then Asura's group with The Clown armies.
 * The Big Bad-Asura
 * The Dragon-Justin Law
 * The Brute-The Clown & White Rabbit
 * The Evil Genius-Moonlight
 * The Dark Chick-Kaguya
 * Five-Man Band:
 * The Hero - Maka; she's the protagonist of the series.
 * The Lancer - Soul; he is Maka's weapon and acts as her voice of reason.
 * The Big Guy - Black☆Star; loud, boisterous and likes to charge into battle.
 * The Smart Guy - Death the Kid; smart and can calculate a plan whenever he doesn't fixate on symmetry.
 * The Chick(s) - Tsubaki, Patty and Liz; they're weapons for the supporting roles.
 * Team Pet - Blair
 * Sixth Ranger:Crona
 * Flipping the Table: Referred to in the anime when Death.
 * Foot Focus: Medusa
 * Foreign Language Title
 * Four Is Death: The phone number used to call Shinigami is a play on words using this trope.
 * When Crona's has a dialogue with his/her alter ego inside his/her head, he/she refuses to answers 42 questions before the alter ego leaves. Of course, 42 in japanese is a homonym of "to die".
 * Freudian Excuse: An unusual example, since s/he's not evil, but Crona unquestionably obeys Medusa's orders, even understanding they're evil, due to the way she was raised.
 * Freudian Trio:
 * Maka - Ego
 * Black☆Star - Id
 * Death the Kid - Superego
 * or
 * Liz - Ego
 * Patty - Id
 * Death the Kid - Superego
 * Friend to All Children: Mifune
 * Fun with Subtitles/ Lemony Narrator: Where else but in the Soul Eater manga can you find captions like "The Next Day" with a musical note right underneath it?
 * Furo Scene: Blair is introduced in a furo scene. Also, Tsubaki takes a bath after studying for the big exam.
 * After many chapters with little to no fan service, we get a scene with nearly all the female leads in the shower - which was immediately followed by nearly all the male leads in the shower. Apparently Okhubo has been taking a few lessons in gender equality when it comes to fanservice. Seen here
 * Gainaxing: The girl-weapons in their "in weapon persona", especially Tsubaki.
 * And don't forget Marie.
 * Also Arachne had her moments of this.
 * Gangsta Style: The Kid takes this to its ridiculous extreme by inverting his guns and firing with his pinkies.
 * Gecko Ending: The anime splits off from the manga around the, setting up the remaining time for a premature ending.
 * This was unavoidable though as the manga is produced monthly and the anime weekly. Making it impossible to to follow the canon storyline without the manga catching up.
 * Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!: Awesomely handled by Patty on Kid as he broke down at the sight of the Otama Bombs asymmetrically strewn all over the place by Eruka, while on his way to stop her and Free from awakening Ashura.
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: One of Gopher's attacks involves him opening his stomach-ish area and shooting out a huge sphere of energy while screaming "NOAH-SAMA!" Not to mention he has an insane infatuation with Noah...
 * In the anime (episode 10) they encounter an old man. They call him that and he objects, saying that he's active all day and all night. While doing hip thrusts
 * The Ghost: Maka's mother.
 * Girl with Psycho Weapon: It's just a rather dangerous-looking scythe...
 * Also Tsubaki is a psycho weapon; at the very least after she absorbs her brother's soul/power.
 * Kim with Jackie when they're brainwashed by Arachne; Jackie (the flamethrowing lantern, naturally) on her own when trying to protect her meister during the same arc.
 * Girlish Pigtails: Maka.
 * Go Out with a Smile: Happens in the anime when
 * God-Emperor: Lord Death, although he's very low-key about it.
 * Good Is Dumb:
 * Good Smoking, Evil Smoking
 * Good Thing You Can Heal: Free. This is self-induced two ways: One, he just doesn't defend because he's immortal. Two, he hits himself with the occasional spell mishap.
 * after being mortally wounded by
 * Gorgeous Gorgon: Medusa and Arachne.
 * Gorn: In the manga, Black☆Star's fight with Chapter 79 may have just set a record.
 * Goth Spirals: In a city like Death City, these are bound to pop up.
 * Gotta Catch Them All
 * Grand Theft Me: In the manga,
 * How can you forget
 * Gratuitous English: Excalibur's song in his second appearance.
 * Also, when he speaks of the part of his past when he was a street hoodlum (in the same episode), many Gratuitous English words pop up onscreen, including even an aversion of Precision F-Strike (at a point, the word "PUCKIN'" appears).
 * The Grim Reaper: Shinigami-sama. We see a flashback to his more traditional persona and he comments that his current "goofy" appearance is as not to frighten the children at his school. His name is also "Death", which we see written in English.
 * Grim Up North: The Brew Tempest arc.
 * Gun Fu: Death The Kid, naturally.
 * Guns Akimbo: Death The Kid not only uses twin pistols, but for some reason fires them upside down and using his pinkies to pull the triggers.
 * Kid holds the guns inverted so that they double as tonfa in close-quarters combat.
 * Also, due to his Super OCD, he can't bring himself to use just one at a time!
 * Half-Dressed Cartoon Animal: Excalibur.
 * Half-Human Hybrid: Maka's father is a weapon while her mother was not, but slightly averted in that she doesn't seem to be any different to other humans.
 * It's quite possible that in the Soul Eater universe, being a weapon or meister is apart of your genes like your hair color and whatnot. And Maka got the meister gene from her mother.
 * A flashback in the manga has Soul's brother commenting on how their family had just enough of the "Weapon Bloodline" for it to manifest in Soul.
 * In the anime, Maka
 * In the manga, the 'weapon bloodline' mentioned above was the result of Arachne using Eibon's work to create the original Demon Weapons (the Nakatsukasas are direct descendants). So, being a Weapon is genetic but the result of tampering, not 'natural' evolution, as it were. Maka has unusual traits - demonslayer wavelength, Grigori soul - but these are put down to being very rare in humans rather than a result of her dad being a Weapon.
 * Halloweentown: Death City
 * Hammerspace: Maka's book, which is somehow always suddenly there whenever she does a Maka Chop.
 * Handsome Lech: Spirit.
 * Handwraps of Awesome Black*Star seems to have swapped his old gloves for a pair of these after his last rematch with Mifune.
 * Head Desk: Free slams his head against a tree repeatedly during the infamous GODDAMNITSHIT! scene.
 * The Heartless: Humans who corrupt themselves by consuming innocent souls become "Kishin Eggs."
 * Heel Face Revolving Door:
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Hellish Pupils: Medusa, oh does she ever.
 * Heroic Albino: Soul Eater. Somewhat averted in that, compared to the other characters, his skin tone is decidedly tan. He's probably more an example of White-Haired Pretty Boy or just Anime Hair Color.
 * Heroic Comedic Sociopath: Stein may count as this.
 * The Heroine Maka Albarn.
 * Highly-Visible Ninja: Black☆Star. Even when he isn't trying to appear dramatically and give a speech, he still tends to fight with as little stealth as any of the rest of the cast.
 * Hit Me Dammit: Maka pulls this on Black☆Star as a way of making up. He doesn't hold back.
 * Homoerotic Subtext: Parodied when Black☆Star and Soul team up to fight Death the Kid.
 * In the manga, one of the later villains (Noah) has a Battle Butler who seems to run on Ho Yay.
 * Spirit and Stein are rather worth mentioning. What with Spirit supposedly being a ladies' man, he sure spends a lot of time being subtexty with Stein.
 * Or Spirit is a firm believer in bros before hos.
 * There was that one scene with the cigarettes in the ending credits of the final episode....
 * Also, possibly Crona and Maka... Umm maybe?
 * Hot Dad: Spirit. He was apparently only 18 when Maka was born.
 * Hot Mom: Medusa.
 * Hot Witch: Medusa, Arachne, and  Blair should count, but doesn't because she's not actually a witch. Eruka is more Cute Witch than hot, and Angela is most definitely a Cute Witch.
 * Hot-Blooded: Ox Ford.
 * Why not throw Black☆Star in the mix while you're at it?
 * Kilik.
 * Hover Board: Death the Kid has one.
 * Humongous Mecha:
 * The Hyena: Patty. This girl finds a disturbing number of things funny.
 * Hyperspace Mallet: See Hammerspace, above
 * I Am Not Left-Handed: Black☆Star
 * I Am Your Opponent: Maka versus Crona. Black☆Star doesn't like it much, but he gives in.
 * I Have the High Ground: Black☆Star loves this one, though it doesn't really help. In one case, he was so high up nobody could hear him shouting.
 * I Lied:.
 * I See London: All of the Panty Shots were removed from the Anime, but Lord Death picking up by the back of her dress and exposing her pumpkin panties (multiple times) was left in.
 * I Sense a Disturbance In The Force
 * An Ice Person: Free has ice powers, but he's a bit rusty and ends up freezing himself as often as he does his foes. Good thing he has his other ability.
 * Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The anime has the main title, followed by a subtitle in the form of a question.
 * Idiot Ball: At the end of the anime after the main characters get trapped inside Asura's barrier, everyone else stands around moaning about how they wish they could do something. Hello, how about attacking the barrier? There may only be a tiny chance you'll make a breach to send reinforcments, but even if you don't you might distract the Kishin or force him to use more of his power to keep the shield in place. Baka, indeed.
 * It's even dumber when you consider that Excalibur is right there with them. Yeah, he makes people go though 1000 tasks(or something like that.) before you can use him, but he's the most powerful weapon in existance and I think he would make an exception for the end of the world.
 * Idiot Hero: Black☆Star is a parody of it.
 * Immortality:
 * Complete Immortality: Free has absolute regenerative immortality and does not age.
 * Body Surf: Giriko implants his personality and memories into his children one generation after the next.
 * Shinigami and the Gorgon sisters seem to possess some form of immortality as well.
 * The Imp: Ragnarok in his Sleep Mode Size. Also, the imp inside Soul's Mental World.
 * Improbable Use of a Weapon: Pretty much anything that doesn't fit below will fall into this thanks to Rule of Cool. The best example being that Kid fires Liz and Patty upside down and uses them like tonfa in close combat.
 * Improbable Weapon User:
 * Kim's weapon partner Jackie is a lantern.
 * And special mention to Justin. He's a friggin' guillotine.
 * Then there's.
 * And the meister who uses him is a monkey.
 * East Asia's Death Scythe is a magic lamp. Yes. We're not even kidding.
 * In the Blood: Being a weapon.
 * Wouldn't that be Superpowerful Genetics, because it's not a moral alignment, or an acquired skill as with Lamarck Was Right?
 * Incessant Chorus: Excalibur.
 * Inconsistent Translation: A bit of a minor one, but the English dub alternates between referring to some of Tsubaki's various forms by their English names (chain-scythe, ninja star) and their Japanese ones (kasari-gama, shuriken).
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Mandheling brand coffee sounds like mandolin, which is why Shinigami keeps strumming a chord every time he talks to Joe Buttataki about coffee. It's a knee-slapper, that one.
 * This one, from when Kid first meets Soul and Black Star. It's kinda subtle at first, but becomes more obvious upon the second reading:
 * Incessant Chorus: Excalibur.
 * Inconsistent Translation: A bit of a minor one, but the English dub alternates between referring to some of Tsubaki's various forms by their English names (chain-scythe, ninja star) and their Japanese ones (kasari-gama, shuriken).
 * Incredibly Lame Pun: Mandheling brand coffee sounds like mandolin, which is why Shinigami keeps strumming a chord every time he talks to Joe Buttataki about coffee. It's a knee-slapper, that one.
 * This one, from when Kid first meets Soul and Black Star. It's kinda subtle at first, but becomes more obvious upon the second reading:

"Shinigami: We... Well, it's not like we have serious meetings anyways... Something like this is good sometimes. Marie: IDIOT!! We're never serious, so we're allowed to be crazy sometimes? That's ridiculous!!"
 * Insane Equals Violent
 * Insane Troll Logic:

"Spirit: Pumpkin panties... Medusa: Say another word and I will kill you!"
 * Instant Awesome, Just Add Mecha: the
 * Instant Runes: Used by Asura.
 * Interacting with Shadow: Chrona does this inside his mind. It asks him several would-be Armour Piercing Questions, but the only answer Chrona gives it is "pass".
 * Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Black☆Star. Despite being an arrogant jerk that often sets back his and Tsubaki's goal and rubs people (Read: Maka) the wrong way, he is very loyal to his friends: when Tsubaki is fighting her brother, he sits very patiently watching and yells at anyone who disturbs her "show"; he tells Crona that if he/she is having problems with anyone to let him know, and Black☆Star will take care of them; and when Maka is paralyzed, he and Tsubaki go to track down who did it to her.
 * Jerkass: MEDUSA, MEDUSA, MEDUSA. Probably moreso than any other character in the series.
 * Juggling Loaded Guns: Death the Kid, when he shot Soul and Black☆Star during their bromance hug by accident.
 * Yes... accident.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: Tsubaki's (so far) ultimate form is a black katana. Mifune also uses katanas.
 * And as of the recent chapter,.
 * Kid Hero: Four of the main characters.
 * Kill It with Fire: ...And did we mention Jackie also doubles as a flamethrower?
 * Large Ham: Excalibur. Hamminess is also Black☆Star's default state (see Chewing the Scenery), although he is rather less hammy during his Let's Get Dangerous moments.
 * Laser Blade:
 * Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: One of the creatures Maka fights in the original end credits animation is a giant version of Wolf Man's daughter from Scooby Doo and the Ghoul School
 * In addition, the corrupt souls that Maka harvests tend to be variations of Horror Movie villains; Jack the Ripper, Jason, Freddy Kruegger, Sadako, etc.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: In the English dub, during a mission that takes place in a magnetic field that turns you into a memory after 20 minutes (science!): "Come on, we've got to prioritize, this show's only got 10 minutes left!" There happened to be 10 minutes left in the episode, too.
 * In episode 37, Soul says something along the lines of "Special training isn't cool. Leave that to characters in shonen manga."
 * Left Hanging: Without spoiling too much, the anime ended with quite a lot of plot threads left dangling.
 * Let's Get Dangerous: When the eyes on Shinigami-sama's mask go from round-and-dopey to triangular-and-angry, everyone in the next 3 mile radius should kindly RUN AWAY if they don't have a will written.
 * Also, Kid with one of the Sanzu lines completed = bad. Kid with one of the Sanzu lines completed, and NOT having an OCD breakdown = Kiss Your Ass Goodbye.
 * Don't forget, Black*Star when he's not being a Large Ham. You're screwed very screwed.
 * Living Shadow: An effect of the Dark Blade.
 * Loads and Loads of Characters: Seven main characters, seven more secondary protagonists, the staff at Shinbunsen, the Death Scythes, Arachnophobia, Noah's group, Medusa and her allies, Blair...
 * Lolicon: Maka's dad is a non-exclusive one. The way he acts toward his own fairly young and relatively flat daughter is... well, pretty creepy

"Black☆Star: [upon seeing ] OH HELL NO!"
 * The Lonely Piano: Appears in the final battle after . Of course, they were asking for it, given how Soul both plays the piano.
 * Lost in Translation: In the original recording, Joe Buttakaki argues with Lord Death about his coffee requirements but ends his sentence with a word in Japanese that sounds like "mandolin", so Death, confused, holds a mandolin. In the English dub, they change it so both characters just say "coffee beans", meaning it's no longer a miscommunication, and Lord Death holds a mandolin for absolutely no reason!
 * In a similar instance, Lord Death and the Death Scythe Spirit are having a philosophical argument about telling jokes and women’s underwear. In the original recording, they compare the importance of repetition in jokes to the repetition in layers of lasagna, which props a helpful popup on the screen to explain the comparison. In the dub, the comparison is taken out of the dialogue, but the popup remains, referring to a lasagna which none of the characters are talking about.
 * Lovable Sex Maniac: For all his flaws, Maka's Dad is a well meaning, caring and lovable fella.
 * Love Bubbles: Spoofed with the "break-up" between Soul and Black☆Star.
 * Loves the Sound of Screaming:
 * Lucky Charms Title: Black☆Star
 * Mad Doctor: Stein.
 * Mad Scientist: Dr. Franken Stein; with special emphasis on "Mad".
 * Made of Iron: Black☆Star mostly.
 * When first introduced, Kidd got impaled numerous times and was covered in blood, but just got straight up again and shrugged it off.
 * Though to be honest, most of the main cast have taken great amounts of damage and treated it like it was nothing.
 * Crona. Pretty much impossible to damage through physical means.
 * Madness Makeover:
 * Madness Mantra:
 * My blood is black... Those doors open inward... My blood is black...
 * Madness Montage: Stein's visions
 * Magic Skirt: With the frequency that she is thrown rolling backwards and all the tumbling she is doing, it's quite surprising that Maka hasn't become the queen of Panty Shot with that short little skirt of hers.
 * The manga averted this for a bit, but later chapters have played it straight.
 * Marked Change: Black line patterns while using the Dark Blade.
 * Marshmallow Hell: Blair does this to Soul on occassion.
 * May Contain Evil: Averted. The pills Medusa prescribed for Maka are just normal herbal medicine for improved blood flow. Of course, this does help to catalyze the Black Blood.
 * Meaningful Name: Most of the cast.
 * Mental World: The room inside Soul's mind.
 * Mind Screw: Stein. Literally.
 * Minor Flaw, Major Breakup: Hero finally dumping Excalibur because of his.
 * Moment Killer: During the scene in Many shippers probably agreed that the Maka Chop which came afterward was well-deserved.
 * Monster Clown
 * Moral Dissonance: "Hey! Black☆Star! Wanna kill that witch? Never mind that she's, like, ten years old and has never harmed a fly. She's a witch so it's perfectly legal to murder her!" :D
 * To be fair, he doesn't go through with it.
 * May have been the point if it was Shinigami's intention to see if Black☆Star would go through with it once he found out who his targets actually were (possibly re-enforced by the fact that he later ). The manga also reminds us on occasion that the teams are limited in who they can kill, and with Shinigami being as mysterious as he is it's not at all clear what the rules are and how far he has his human followers go (he has no problem using witches when he gets the chance, for e.g).
 * Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate: Stein
 * Morph Weapon: Tsubaki
 * Motherly Scientist: Doctor Medusa (subverted: )
 * Ms. Fanservice: Any female character that's not Maka, Eruka or the twins.
 * The twins get their moment, but we lose the "Ms" for one of them.
 * Mugging the Monster: How Liz and Patty meet Kid.
 * While visiting Italy, Soul is confronted by a street gang and beats them effortlessly. Unfortunately for them, they pull this again later against Crona and Ragnarok, and get eaten for their trouble.
 * Multiple Reference Pun: The Thompson Sisters
 * Must Have Caffeine: Hello, everyone. My name is Joe Buttataki and I'm a java junkie.
 * My Greatest Failure: Maka sees Soul's defending her from Crona as this on her part for being unable to protect him, while Soul argues that it's his job to protect her, not the other way around.
 * My Name Is Inigo Montoya: It's a shonen anime; of course this one gets a workout. All the protagonists use it repeatedly.
 * Naked Apron: the Succubus
 * Naked First Impression: This is how Soul finds Blair.
 * Naked on Arrival: See the above.
 * Naked on Revival: . He then makes:
 * Improvised Clothes:
 * The Napoleon: Black☆Star
 * Never Say "Die": Oddly enough, this trope is present in the English dub when Crona's training as a child with the baby dragon "little one" comes up. Flashbacks show ordering him/her to "defeat" rather than kill it. This is strange, given that other parts of the dub seem to have no problem mentioning death.
 * Medusa probably figured that telling Crona to kill the "little one" would have freaked him/her out even more.
 * New Old Flame: Marie and Buttataki Joe in the manga.
 * Because Buttataki has a different role in the anime, the role is given to Stein there instead.
 * Though, that can also be seen in the manga. He's referred to as her "first love" and she's obviously pretty close to him, so it can be construed as at least a subtexty New Old Flame.
 * New Powers as the Plot Demands: The Gecko Ending gives them to Maka and Kid out of nowhere.
 * Kid's later turn out to be Canon.
 * Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant: Patty can occasionally delve into this.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Sid is a ninja meister zombie teacher!
 * And Free is an immortal magical werewolf!
 * And Giriko is a chainsaw wizard!
 * No Name Given: Free is known only by his nicknames.
 * Justified since Free was in jail so long that even he forgot his own name. He decided to name himself "Free" because he was finally out of prison.
 * No One Could Survive That: At least in the manga, and  in the anime.
 * No Sense of Direction: Marie constantly gets lost in Shibusen, even though she's supposed to be an Alumna.
 * Shown again by Marie when
 * Free also.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: [[spoiler:Noah and Justin versus Stein, Sid, Marie, Nygus and Tezca.
 * Nosebleed: Blair's effect on Soul.
 * Not Quite Dead: Repeatedly.
 * Not What It Looks Like: Soul. Oh, Soul...
 * Noun Verber: Soul Eater. Crona the Demon Blader.
 * Or Demon Swordsman Crona, depending on your version.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Shinigami developed his child-like persona for the sake of his students, as he would often scare them in his old form. However, some of his original hardcore personality shows up in his fight with Asura.
 * Odd Couple: Nearly all Meisters and Weapons are opposites of each other, and as they find a medium their power increases.
 * Makes one wonder about Shinigami, looking at his current collection of Death Scythes. Even accounting for Spirit being 'the' Death Scythe, that's an awful lot of contrasting personalities going on amongst the introduced area heads. Azusa's uptight, Marie's a ditz...
 * On that note, who imagines a Grim Reaper carrying a sniper rifle/crossbow, a hammer or a mirror? Puts a slightly different spin on the term "odd couple".
 * One of the reasons that Spirit doesn't go searching for Kishin was along the lines of him being "the only one who can truly be called a Death Scythe".
 * Oh Crap: When Soul  Maka's expression is this.
 * In the manga, during the Baba Yaga invasion arc,
 * And then Mosquito gets one of his own when he realises that Kid has the real Brew. Kid then forces him to retreat.
 * Oh, No, Not Again: Black☆Star takes the cake when after seeing in the Wrath chapter of Eibion, which naturally pissed him off, the group leaves the chapter with Black☆Star (and pretty much everyone else) glad to be ridden of the annoyance, only to find  again in the next chapter. Black☆Star's reaction? Well...
 * Oh Crap: When Soul  Maka's expression is this.
 * In the manga, during the Baba Yaga invasion arc,
 * And then Mosquito gets one of his own when he realises that Kid has the real Brew. Kid then forces him to retreat.
 * Oh, No, Not Again: Black☆Star takes the cake when after seeing in the Wrath chapter of Eibion, which naturally pissed him off, the group leaves the chapter with Black☆Star (and pretty much everyone else) glad to be ridden of the annoyance, only to find  again in the next chapter. Black☆Star's reaction? Well...


 * Ominous Latin Chanting: Shows up during
 * One Head Taller: In the main cast, the female weapons are significantly taller than their male meisters. Soul and Maka are at pretty much the same height.
 * Not anymore, they aren't. Soul had a growth spurt, it seems. As did Black☆Star.
 * One-Winged Angel: Done by  in the anime
 * Only One Name: Black☆Star
 * Although technically he is from the Star Clan and his father was named White☆Star, so you could argue that Star is the family name.
 * Only the Chosen May Wield: Due to their personality overlap and personal relationships, each weapon can generally only be wielded by whatever meister it is assigned to at the moment. Adult meisters and deathscythes appear to be exceptions to this, ironically, as is Excalibur.
 * OOC Is Serious Business: Shinigami is a silly goofball most of the time, except when he's dealing with Asura. In fact, during his last fight with Asura, the longer the fight goes on, the more serious and less goofy he gets. At the end he barely even sounds like the same entity.
 * Opaque Lenses: Stein, most of the time, also Asuza.
 * Open the Iris: Inverted with Maka. Her normally invisible pupils widen when she is emotionally shocked. Crona too, in addition to his/her eyes completely changing color when s/he's freaking out.
 * Order Versus Chaos: One of the major themes of this story.
 * With Order being Good.
 * And a possibility that absolutism in either direction what's Bad. Chaos never has been especially good at moderation, though...
 * See . Seems increasingly likely that it's the extremes which are the danger here, not simply Chaos = Evil.
 * Orifice Invasion: Medusa does this to a little girl in the suburbs to possess her,
 * Our Fairies Are Different
 * Our Souls Are Different
 * Out-of-Clothes Experience
 * Over Enthusiastic Parents: Spirit/Deathscythe/Maka's Papa. What he lacks in ability he makes up for in effort and love.
 * Overprotective Dad: Spirit once tried to fend off Soul... and then quickly does the exact opposite once Soul says he's not interested.
 * Overtook the Manga: An unavoidable case this time as the manga is produced monthly.
 * Palantir Ploy: Arachne uses her spiders as spies to track enemy movement.
 * Panty Shot: Happens to Maka in the manga.
 * There's plenty in the beginning, but as the manga's gone on there have been less and less. The most recent chapters seem to lack pretty much any sort of panty shots.
 * Partial Transformation
 * Pet the Dog: Upon hearing that Maka was injured in a battle and is now bedridden, Mifune gives Black☆Star a 'get well' candy to give to her. Medusa too can have some kindhearted moments, prompting Soul to ask, "Why would someone who could say something so kind decide to mess up the world? Are you really that cold-hearted?" Medusa doesn't respond.
 * Pettanko: Maka.
 * Phrase Catcher: Excalibur, usually invectives.
 * Not a phrase, exactly, but everyone who's met Excalibur makes that same horrible face.
 * Physical God: Shinigami-sama and Kishin Asura.
 * Power Born of Madness: In Chapter 42, Maka and Soul evidently agree that "insanity is the source of strength." The strongest example of this appears to be the black blood, although other characters seem to receive some form of power boost from insanity as well.
 * Power Degeneration: Black☆Star
 * Power Echoes: A rather humurous example with Black Star in episode 13. When he breaks out his demon blade form for the first time against Free, everything slows down and an echoe of "shadow star...star...star...star" can be heard. Turns out it was Black Star repeating the last word over and over again as he passed out mid-attack.
 * Power Gives You Wings: Manga only Maka possesess the rare angel-winged Grigori type soul, which she uses to.
 * The Power of Friendship
 * Power Perversion Potential: Masamune can provide both bondage and single-handed gangrape. Soul can and has been used for things he oughtn't be used for in doujin and H-rated pictures. Let us not speak of Medusa's extras in literally every Medusa-centric doujin ever. Time will only tell if Noah has it.
 * Pragmatic Adaptation: While the first three quarters of the anime is more or less taken exactly from the manga, after that the Gecko Ending kicks in and things (obviously) start getting different.
 * Precision F-Strike: There's a couple in the Hungarian dub amongst a great deal of Cluster F Bombing: "I'm gonna kick... HER ASS!" and "Go crawl into a cunt!"
 * Prepare to Die - In the anime, Medusa to . Uses the And Now You Die variation.
 * Shinigami to Asura after the latter escapes from Shibusen.
 * Product Placement: The book Maka is always reading is Gangan, the magazine the manga is serialized in.
 * Pronoun Trouble: With Crona's gender left ambiguous, fan scanlators, subbers, and dubbing companies were sometimes forced to make a best guess. This has led some fans to claim to know Crona's true gender, even though there's no canonical support.
 * Psychic Link: Soul Resonance can do this.
 * Psycho for Hire: Giriko.
 * Psycho Serum: The Black Blood.
 * Psychoactive Powers: The soul wavelength.
 * Punny Name: Dr. Franken Stein and Eruka (spelled with the same syllables as "kaeru", Japanese for frog), just to name a few...
 * Also, Maka is an anagram of "kama", which is Japanese for scythe.
 * Puppeteer Parasite: Another lovely trick of Medusa's;
 * Red and Black and Evil All Over: Most of the shots of the Big Bad in the 4th credit sequence is Red, Black, Grey, and inspired by insanity.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Asura plays it straight, while Soul averts it.
 * Repeat Cut: Maka's Demon Hunter finishing blow on Mosquito in episode 36. Kid's "Death Cannon" technique frequently evokes this as well. Also Maka punching out the Kishin.
 * Ring Ring CRUNCH
 * Rubber Face: Soul does this to Maka to make sure she's not an imposter. She passes when she hits him with a Maka Chop.
 * Rule of Cool: Death the Kid shoots his pistols upside down. With his pinkies.
 * It is suffice to say that this pretty much describes the entire series.
 * Running Gag: The "I-have-met-Excalibur" face.
 * Sadist Teacher: Stein. He just wants to cut you up so bad...
 * Samurai: Mifune.
 * Sanity Slippage: Dr Franken Stein.
 * Sarcastic Devotee: Soul, to Maka.
 * Scaled Up: Medusa can do this.
 * Scarf of Asskicking: In the manga,.
 * Scars Are Forever: Soul gets a large scar during the first fight with Crona; it remains visible on his body for the rest of the series.
 * Also, in the manga . Even the healer can't remove it, and  essentially claims that's because it represents his Character Development.
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: Dr. Franken Stein is pretty much obligated to do this. Azusa regularly uses this to intimidate people. Ox Ford also fulfils this trope in a less scary fashion.
 * Schizo-Tech: Outside of Death City is a mishmash of technological eras. Ancient Japanese villages and modern-day Suburbia and everything inbetween.
 * School of Hard Knocks
 * Science-Related Memetic Disorder: Stein seems to suffer from some form of this.
 * Screaming Warrior: Black☆Star
 * Sealed Evil in a Can
 * Self-Restraint: Medusa
 * Series Goal: The meisters and weapons are supposed to be gathering 99 human souls and 1 witch soul, but this goal becomes mostly irrelevant once the Knight of Cerebus is introduced.
 * Not exactly irrelevent, just not the be-all and end-all for the series. Once  the reality of the position is quickly impressed upon them; Death Scythes exist for a reason, and their abilities are necessary. Which is rather different from the original impression, where it appeared that the position was sought for the sake of it; none of the kids seemed to know what being a Death Scythe involved.
 * Seven Deadly Sins: The Book of Eibon is organized into seven chapters based on the seven sins. It starts with Lust, then progresses through Gluttony, Envy, Wrath, Pride, Sloth, and finally Greed, supposedly organized by the corrupting influences of each vice.
 * Shapeshifter Weapon: About half the cast.
 * Shinigami: Interestingly, only Shinigami-sama and his son are directly refered to as this. Meisters and Weapons have varying origins; some are born in Death City, and some Weapons were "found" as humans. It's a blurry line, as Maka is the daughter of a Meister and her Weapon Partner.
 * Thanks to the manga explaning some things, it seems now to be more clear.
 * Shinigami have distinctive souls, and there are only two in the cast - Shinigami and Kid - and it seems to be a race rather than a designation.
 * The Weapons are descended from experiments by Arachne to fuse the souls of humans with the transformative souls of witches - their ability to switch between human and Weapon forms is genetic.
 * The anime uses Maka's parentage to give her special abilities, whereas the manga has not; she is apparently a normal human, albeit one with a few rare traits and a very handy infection.
 * That being said, the manga hasn't yet specifically ruled out the possibility of Maka having latent weapon powers yet and it is a shonen series so really it's still up in the air.
 * Ship Tease: Soul Eater has so much potential for canon and crack pairings that this is practically inevitable. It doesn't help either when your average weapon/meister relationship includes huge helpings of fierce protectiveness on both sides. Added to this the fact that the core teams of weapon/meister (as well as a few others) have members of opposite genders... Well, you get the idea.
 * It's unfortunate that Ohkubo said in an interview that he plans to keep most of these relationships platonic...
 * Shirtless Scene: Soul in the exam episode, and when Maka walks in on him after.
 * Stein of all people gets one in the anime. Fangirl reaction was as expected.
 * Don't forget Free. Even Asura was envious of his sculpted physique.
 * Shonen: Between the fights, the powerups, and the training to be stronger, this is a textbook Shonen series.
 * Shoo Out the Clowns: Averted; comic relief Excalibur is included until the very end of the anime. And that's not even mentioning his latest role in the manga...
 * Sibling Team: The Thompsons
 * Siblings in Crime: How they worked before they met Death the Kid.
 * Sibling Yin-Yang: Liz is level headed, while her sister Patty is a complete space case.
 * Sigil Spam: The Shiningami mask in Death City.
 * Significant Anagram: Maka is an anagram of "kama", the Japanese word for scythe. Eruka is an anagram of "kaeru", the Japanese word for frog, and Mizune is an anagram of "nezumi", the Japanese word for mouse.
 * Single-Stroke Battle: In the anime, the
 * Sinister Scythe: Interestingly, only Soul Eater himself and the most recent Death Scythe (Maka's father) are true examples of this; despite their name, the Death Scythes consist of various types of weapons.
 * Skunk Stripe: Death the Kid has several.
 * Three, to be precise. Since they're all on one side they are the bane of his symmetry-obsessed existance.
 * In fact, when he gets his super power boost, one dramatically grows to form a full loop, though it goes back to normal when he does. The conversation about this it's states that once he grows/inherits his full Shinigami powers, all of them will do this, all the time.
 * Slasher Smile: So, so many examples. Medusa's is particularly demonic; Maka's is surprising when you realize just how much control she has over it.
 * The Sun and the Moon BOTH have one!
 * Soul also shows his off a lot, too.
 * In chapter 69, Medusa and seem to engage in some kind of Slasher Smile arms race.
 * Don't forget madness incarnate Asura.
 * And Stein whenever he gets a screw loose...
 * Patty sports one when she kicks Black*Star in the nuts after he unwisely decides to ask for a time-out at the very beginning of their sparring match to get his hands tied up to supposedly make it even.
 * Slipknot Ponytail: When Tsubaki morphs into Fey Blade mode, her hair is let down.
 * Slow Motion Fall: Happens to.
 * Small Name, Big Ego: Black☆Star.
 * Smoke Out: One of Tsubaki's forms is a smoke bomb.
 * Smug Super: Black☆Star, AND DON'T YOU FORGET IT!!!
 * Soul Cutting Blade: Masamune.
 * Special Edition Title: In the episode where the aforementioned Heel Face Turn occurs, the end credits change from the usual "Maka walking in place alone" to "Maka and walking together" to demonstrate it.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Many fan translators spelled the Demon Sword meister's name as "Chrona" or "Krona" until the third ED revealed the spelling to be "Crona."
 * Some people prefer spelling 'Kid' with an extra 'd'.
 * Spin-Off: Ohkubo has recently announced that Soul Eater will be getting a spinoff titled Soul Eater Not!.
 * Spoiler Opening: Subverted. In the second opening, we see
 * The ending is actually a Spoiler Ending.
 * For those watching the anime for the first time through the recently released Repeat Show, which so far is just the original episodes with brand new opening and closing sequences, the new opening features characters who don't even appear until the second half of the anime. It also gives away
 * Standard Female Grab Area: Sort of played straight during the introduction of and subsequent first fight with Stein. Stein grabs Maka by one of her ponytails at one point, almost completely immobilizing her. While this is certainly more effective (and more painful) than the arm, one would think that a strong Action Girl like Maka would be perfectly capable of throwing a few elbows into Stein's stomach or something.
 * Stealth Mentor:  and   were first introduced as enemies.
 * Actually,  appeared in the episode prior to that one. He's not outright named, but it's obvious to anyone who remembers his   who he is when he appears in the next episode. Hint:
 * Stealth Pun: Dr. Franken Stein is a Mad Scientist with an enormous screw through his head, which he turns to keep his mind on the problem at hand. He is also The Corruptible, and the closest person in Shibusen to full insanity. In other words... he's got a SCREW LOOSE.
 * In Episode 3, when Death the Kid is seeking souls for Patty and Liz, Shinigami-sama tells him about
 * The witches' ultimate weapon is called B.R.E.W.
 * Stock Ninja Weaponry: Tsubaki isn't just proficent with "ninja" weapons; she transforms into them (more specifically she has smoke bomb, kusarigama, tanto, giant shuriken and  forms). Black*Star wields her. Interestingly, Black☆Star's mentor Sid (despite being ninja themed) averts this trope by specialising in knives (his partner takes the form of a modern, Western survival knife).
 * Strange Bedfellows: in the manga.
 * Strong as They Need to Be: See the New Powers as the Plot Demands entry, above
 * Super Mode: There's the basic Resonance of Souls, the more advanced Chain Resonance,, Maka's Witch Hunter  , Black☆Star's Fey Blade mode  , Kidd's  , Free's werewolf form, Mosquito's younger forms, and many others.
 * From Mosquito's comments about the shinigami, Kid's  seem not to be a supermode so much as an example of a future 'normal' mode.
 * Super OCD: With Death The Kid, it's implied to have something to do with the lines going through half of his hair. In the manga, he acheives a Power-Up when one of those lines grows to all the way.
 * And achieves a Crowning Moment of Awesome when he says that any other time he would be obsessing over it, implying that right now he's NOT obsessing over it.
 * This is justified in that he, and his father, are more or less the personification of order. He just cannot help himself about his obsession yet, like his father can.
 * Super-Powered Evil Side: Maka and Soul using
 * Surprisingly Good English: Some of the songs on the OST (most notably "PSYCHEDELIC SOUL JAM" and "Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Have a Nice Dream") have really good English pronunciation. The lyrics, however, not so much...
 * "Excalibuuur! Excalibuuur!"
 * Tailor-Made Prison: The Demon God being imprisoned with his own skin.
 * Take a Third Option: During the last Mifune vs. Black☆Star fight in the anime. Mifune asks Black☆Star if he will choose the "Path of the Demon" or the "Path of the Warrior". Black☆Star (somewhat predictably) decides that neither path is good enough for him, and choose to forge his own path forward. He never really elaborates on what the path is, but it clearly comes with powerups (the Enchanted Sword grows about a foot longer and glows red.)
 * Take Our Word for It: We don't actually get to read Crona's poem, but it must've been pretty depressing, since it sends anyone who reads it into a Corner of Woe.
 * It even sent Black☆Star into a Corner of Woe! That must have been some poem.
 * Taking the Bullet:  takes the bulle- er, sword for.
 * Also, in ep48,
 * does this again for in episode 51, when
 * Chapter 79 has Sid push Marie out of the way of an attack, costing him an arm in the process.
 * Talking Animal: Blair, who is technically just a cat with magic strong enough to be able to assume a human form.
 * Talking Is a Free Action: Villains will literally stand by patiently, sometimes for over a minute, as the heroes formulate a new plan out loud.
 * Talking Weapon: Ragnarok, which can also use its mouth for Crona's Screech Alpha attack. Excalibur is also a talking sword, however much the cast might wish he wasn't.
 * Technically, all Demon Weapons are this, to the point that in the first chapter/episode, Maka is honestly worried when Soul stops talking to her while in scythe mode.
 * Tear Off Your Face: One of the hallucinations Free and Eruka Frog suffer as they get close to  is that he's chewing their faces off.
 * Thanatos Gambit:  seems to have pulled one of these as of Chapter 87.
 * Through the Eyes of Madness: Just being in the proximity of a Kishin results in hallucinations and loss of reason.
 * Talking Is a Free Action: Villains will literally stand by patiently, sometimes for over a minute, as the heroes formulate a new plan out loud.
 * Talking Weapon: Ragnarok, which can also use its mouth for Crona's Screech Alpha attack. Excalibur is also a talking sword, however much the cast might wish he wasn't.
 * Technically, all Demon Weapons are this, to the point that in the first chapter/episode, Maka is honestly worried when Soul stops talking to her while in scythe mode.
 * Tear Off Your Face: One of the hallucinations Free and Eruka Frog suffer as they get close to  is that he's chewing their faces off.
 * Thanatos Gambit:  seems to have pulled one of these as of Chapter 87.
 * Through the Eyes of Madness: Just being in the proximity of a Kishin results in hallucinations and loss of reason.

Theme Naming

 * And how!
 * Maka's parents are named Spirit and Kami. (Which can mean "Spirit" in Japanese.)
 * Actually, her name isn't Kami. The English-speaking fandom thinks it's her name because of a scanlation error that translated a word for wife, 'kamisan' as a name with an honorific by mistake. She's never actually been given a name. Funny what a single mistranslation can do.
 * The witches seem to be named after animals; especially women in Greek Mythology associated with animals.
 * Kishin Eggs are a mishmash of historical/fictional/mythological antagonists.
 * The weapon people, who are usually named after mythological and/or video game weapons: Marie Mjolnir, Masamune, Ragnarok, Excalibur, Soul Eater, etc.
 * Though Excalibur is stated (at least in the anime) to be the Excalibur in Arthurian legends.
 * Two of the students are named after Western Universities (Ox Ford and Harvar D. Eclair, Oxford and Harvard respectively).
 * Maka's Witch Hunter (a possible reference to Rush's song "Witch Hunt")
 * Or more likely the concept and act of an actual Witch Hunt, originally the search for someone suspected of being a witch. These days it can mean looking for any negative element in society in a panicky effort to root it out after one prominent incident involving said element, such as pedophilia.
 * Mosquito's Police Stinger (both the band The Police and their singer Sting)
 * He is also, appropriately, a vampire. Though one of his transformations has him taking on a more 'traditional' look rather than the insect thing. Unwisely, Liz and Patty point out this look is 'boring' and he "looked stronger before".
 * Blair's Smashing Pumpkin
 * Sid Barrett's The Living End.
 * Patty and Liz's surname might be a dual pun on the Thompson Sub-Machine Gun and the Thompson Twins.
 * Blair's name can be seen as a reference to The Blair Witch Project.
 * In the first chapter, Maka is actually seen carrying around a folder entitled "Maka's Blair Witch Project".
 * On top of that, Maka Albarn might be named for Blur frontman Damon Albarn, who voices 2D (a Soul Eater look-alike) for Gorillaz.
 * Sid Barett (Syd Barrett of Pink Floyd) and Kim Diehl (Kim Deal of the Pixies).
 * Kilik's Soul Resonance: Aphex Twin.
 * Justin Law (Cantonese pop singer Justin Lo) The reference is more obvious when you see the names in Katakana)
 * Black Star is the name of a Hip Hop group formed by Talib Kweli and Mos Def. Coincidence? It's possible, but given the massive number of music references made with every other character in the series, it seems likely that the band is Black☆Star's namesake. Even more telling, this would round out the three main teams by giving each a musical reference (Damon Albarn for Maka and the Thompson Twins for Kid).
 * Black Star is also a song by Radiohead.
 * In a theme that isn't part of a Shout-Out, all three named members of the Star Clan are named a color and then "Star." Black Star, his father White Star, and his cousin Red Star (though he generally goes by the less obvious ).
 * Dr. Franken Stein. Need we say more?
 * One Monster of the Week had an attack called Nine Inch Nails.
 * Eibon is named after a character who happens to be a sorcerer in Clark Ashton Smith's story The Door to Saturn. Eibon also wrote "The Book of Eibon" which chronicled his life and was filled with magical spells and rites.
 * The little girl Rachel may have been a reference to Jacob's wife Rachel in the Bible. (Especially considering the obvious reference to Eve, the serpant, and the apple shortly after Rachel's body was taken over by Medusa.)
 * Noah, the collector. Another well-known Noah also spent time collecting things—animals for his Ark.
 * Kishin Asura may be a reference to a group of power-seeking dieties in Hinduism called Asura or Ahura.

"Nidhogg: "Are you saying you would take away freedom?!" Kid: "I am a Shinigami. I grant no freedom to kill.""
 * The Thing That Goes Doink: As seen in Ox's and Hero's episodes with Excalibur.
 * Those Two Guys: Ox Ford and Kilik Lunge. Subverted in the manga when they get expanded roles, not so much in the anime.
 * Thou Shalt Not Kill: Death the Kid

"" Hey God... Today I killed another pig that was full of antibiotics... HEY GOD!!""
 * Thriller on the Express: episode 30 of the anime, "The Red Hot Runaway Express". Kid, Patty and Liz have to board the speeding train and fight an enemy on board for possession of a magical artifact, while a third party outside is fighting both sides.
 * Throw the Book At Them: Maka Chop!
 * To Be a Master: Collecting enough souls to obtain the rank of Death Scythe
 * Token Motivational Nemesis: Nakatsukasa Masamune, is spite of being such an important figure in the life of his sister Tsubaki, is killed within one episode of his introduction.
 * Tome of Eldritch Lore: The Book of Eibon. Heavy on the Eldritch now that we know there's
 * Too Dumb to Live:
 * Took a Level in Badass: The main characters, of course.
 * Totem Pole Trench: In chapter 46 Kilik have once his two (very tiny) partners be the head for their disguise as a cloaked Arachnophobia soldier.
 * in Episode 21 of the Soul Eater anime: Blair is fighting the (remaining) 5 Mizune sisters. She smashes four of the sisters with one spell...but the fifth sister behind her starts giggling madly. Activating the hivemind within the sisters (accompanied by speaking in sync and rhythmic finger-snapping), Create a they then proceed to stack themselves in a tower formation. When the last member completes the desired tower, all the Mizune undergo a merger, the five combine to form... a Hot Witch. It Makes Sense in Context... I guess.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: B.J. and coffee.
 * Transformation Sequence: Kid activating his Resonance of Souls. It was even  at one point.
 * Translation Convention: Considering the academy is in America and most of the on-screen text is in English, it's implied that everyone is actually speaking English.
 * Trash Landing: During their fight against Blair, Soul drops Maka into a dumpster.
 * Maka again gets the trash treatment after asking Black☆Star to punch her in apology. He doesn't hold anything back, & she goes flying into the trash.
 * Triple Take
 * The Trope Kid: Death the Kid.
 * Troperiffic
 * Tyke Bomb: Crona
 * Vibroweapon: Ragnarok when it screams.
 * Unconscious Objector: In the anime,  in the final battle against the Big Bad. He realises she's even more dangerous in this state and and wakes her up.
 * Underboobs: One of the Fanservicey traits of Mizune's combined form.
 * Unnamed Parent: Maka's mother has only been referred to in both the anime and manga as "Maka's Mother" or "Spirit's (ex)wife". A scanlater accidentally turned the word for wife into a name (Hence the fact that everyone's been calling her "Kami", but officially, she's nameless.
 * Unusual Euphemism: Ragnarok refers to souls as candy.
 * Unwinnable Training Simulation: Maka, Soul, Black☆Star, and Tsubaki, once they have apprehended Sid, are sent to kill the person who made him a zombie in the first place. That would be Stein, who is one of the most powerful Meisters in the world. They aren't told this is a test ahead of time.
 * Utopia Justifies the Means:
 * The Vamp: Arachne, so very much.
 * Villains Never Lie: In chapter 60 of the manga,.
 * Villains Out Shopping: Sort of. In the credits of the anime's final episode, we see
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Soul and Maka.
 * Maka and Black☆Star to a certain extent.
 * Crona and Ragnarok too, at least in the anime.
 * Voluntary Shapeshifting: All of the weapons, many of the witches, Free, etc.
 * Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Shinigami-sama and Kid. They provide the page image.
 * Wager Slave: The breather episode with the basketball game. If Kid's team loses then they'll move all the pictures in his house slightly off, if Maka's team loses, she has to spend the weekend with her father.
 * War Arc: The Arachnophobia arc.
 * Weapon Twirling: Every single Meister in this series seems to love doing this. It may or may not aid with Soul Resonance or not, but it sure looks cool and eats up a few seconds of screen time.
 * We Will Meet Again: Sid, to Mifune.
 * Weird Moon: In addition to a weird sun. Both have faces, the sun laughs ominously and the moon occasionally drools blood.
 * Wham! Episode: Arguably, chapters 87 and 88.
 * What Could Have Been: Apparently, Soul Eater started out as three separate one-shots, which eventually evolved into the first three chapters of the manga.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Among other things, Crona's name is a play on "Kuro na", translating as "dark one". And just for a moment, Shinigami-sama and Asura's competing auras form a yin-yang symbol.
 * What Measure Is a Humanoid?: So apparently, weapons can reproduce with humans...
 * Keep in mind that weapons are basically shapeshifting humans.
 * White Gloves: Maka
 * She has white gloves, true, but not exactly inexplicable ones considering the weapon she uses.
 * Why We Can't Have Nice Things: In his debut episode, Kid ends up destroying a pyramid.
 * Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: Played straight with all characters besides Maka, who inverts the trope with her irises expanding when she's scared. They're invisible the rest of the time.
 * Witch Species: Cute Witch, Wicked Witch, Vain Sorceress, and Old Mistress varieties. At first, most except Angela seem evil, but this is being elaborated on in later chapters of the manga. Which (ha!), in the manga, leads to a...
 * Witch Hunt:
 * With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: An ever-present threat for everyone, especially those infected with the black blood.
 * Word Salad: We either hear the lyrics to, or hear Justin Law thinking the words to his music.
 * Word Salad: We either hear the lyrics to, or hear Justin Law thinking the words to his music.


 * The Worf Effect: Black☆Star suffers from this and indeed suffers a minor Heroic BSOD from it. Later in the anime after recovering from his Heroic BSOD, he fights  and the Worf Effect started when.
 * Seems to be reversing in the manga as well, unless Black☆Star loses to Crona...
 * Chapter 79,
 * Also, this applies to Tsar Pushka and Feodor. They were killed (or maybe had a Fate Worse Than Death) by Crona in his/her return to the plotline. It was probably just to show that the new-and-improved Crona can, and will, kill a death scythe and its meister for Medusa.
 * Worthy Opponent: Despite his love of children, Mifune fights Black☆Star as an equal because of this trope.
 * Eventually. They're not fighting on truly equal terms until their last encounter, as Mifune held back due to his opinion of Black☆Star's youth and attitude. The trope applies once Black☆Star figures out the latter.
 * World of Symbolism: The big showdown between Death and Asura could be strongly reminiscent of a debate between Christians and Atheists. Death could easily be substituted for God, while the Kishin could be substituted for the devil, or a nonbeliever. It's actually really interesting when looking at it under those pretenses. However, Your Mileage May Vary.
 * Would Hit a Girl: When Maka asks Black☆Star to Hit Me Dammit, he does. In the face.
 * Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Mifune; he only fights Black☆Star when his Morality Pet is threatened,
 * Xanatos Gambit:  When two of your enemies are fighting each other, it doesn't matter who wins. Though, as per the trope, she did have a prefered outcome. Which leads to
 * An earlier example is during the battle for BREW when  In fact the whole thing could probably be seen as one big, elaborate Xanatos Gambit. All the doing of resident Magnificent Bastard, Medusa.
 * X Meets Y: The series can be described rather accurately as Bleach meets The Nightmare Before Christmas.
 * With just a dash of Shaman King thrown in. And a little Harry Potter.
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Tsubaki won't be able to stand Black☆Star's exasperating arrogance without that lovely personality of hers.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * You Killed My Father: In the anime, killed White☆Star, Black☆Star's father, and Black☆Star eventually defeats him. Though in something of a departure from trope, Black☆Star isn't interested in revenge—rather,  tries to kill Black☆Star because Black☆Star is following in his father's footsteps --.
 * It's averted in the manga, however, in which.
 * Your Answer to Everything: Maka says this to Soul Eater about him using brute force early in the series.
 * Interesting how that one worked out, especially in the anime. He asks why she's running off without a plan.
 * Your Other Left: Black☆Star apparently has this problem in the anime.
 * Your Princess Is in Another Castle: Black☆Star saved the world and stopped Asura's rebirth from happening with a last attack! .......what? It was a hallucination? ........never mind.
 * Your Soul Is Mine
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Blair the Witch excels here. Tsubaki as well, though she has differing amounts of "Absolute Territory" on each side.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Blair the Witch excels here. Tsubaki as well, though she has differing amounts of "Absolute Territory" on each side.

Would you like to fall into the madness?