Will the witches really come to Shibusen’s aid?

Congratulations to Soul Eater on reaching 100 chapters!

The battle on the moon continues; shocking discoveries are abound!

Previously in Soul Eater:  An awkward moment took place which seemed as if Medusa was completely out of character. She was basically acting as a child-loving mother. Crona thought it strange, too, and was just unable to handle it, killing Medusa. Did Medusa truly die for the second or third time in the series?!

What happened to Crona?! Read on!

Previously in Soul Eater: Wow, time flies for this monthly manga. When we were last with it, Justin and Tezca duked it out. Tezca utilized mirror clones which Justine effectively wiped out. What happened next? Read on!

Previously in Soul Eater:  With the madness wavelength flowing from Soul’s wound, Soul yielded into its power. Professor Stein, the only one powerful enough to stand against him, with the help of Jacqueline, he fended off an attack. Meanwhile Soul pulled out of his madness state by facing the demon in his soul which ended the external fighting. Finally, Chrona launched another black sphere attack.

What happened next? Read on!

Previously in Soul Eater:  Readers were treated to the thrilling conclusion of the Salvage chapters, the ones in which Soul, Maka, Black Star, Tsubaki, Kid Death, Liz, Patty, delivered the final special move to potentially rid us of Noah.  This was done and they proceeded to return back to the DWMA.  Meanwhile Justin Law and the Kishin seemed to have a run in.  What happened and where did it go from here?  Read on to find out if this and more were answered in chapter 82 of Soul Eater.

What is Soul Eater?:  Soul Eater is a manga by Atsushi Okubo serielized in the Japanese Monthly Shonen Gangan magazine.  The manga follows several students of the Death Weapon Meister Academy as they go on to maintain the balance of good and evil in the world.  The manga is quick to catch up to and is being serialized in English by Yen Press.  Unfortunately, the current chapter ends the arc…so it is not advised that those new to the series read this chapter. I would suggest, perhaps peaking at this review to gain some sort of interest in the series, or quickly flipping through the chapter then going back 10 chapters to the beginning of the arc. Otherwise one can wait for chapter 82 to start. 

Previously in Soul Eater: The kids of the DWMA entered the deceased demon tool engineer, Eibon’s book in an attempt to rescue Kid Death. Several high intensity battles follow as the group, Black Star and his partner the sword Tsubaki, Kirikou and his partner the twin fists Fire & Thunder, Liz and Patti (Death the Kid’s gun weapons), Maka and her scythe partner Soul, and the cat witch Blair make there way through the book. Black Star was able to reach Death the Kid and both, through some embracing of the insanity wavelength were able to escape with the others from the book and face off against the collector, Noah.  I highly suggest rereading the previous Ten Chapters of “Salvage” as it is impossible to summarize the whole entirety of what occurs in just a paragraph.  But further, now with all of the crew out, and faced with the task of defeating Noah who unleashed enemy after enemy from his book, how does our star students overcome Noah? Read on to find out if this and more is answered in the thrilling conclusion to the Salvage chapter.

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Plot Continuation: Because Soul Eater is a monthly manga series it is easy to forget what happened in the previous chapter with backtracking or having read the chapters numerous times. Fortunately in the sake of the past chapter, the introduction of a huge Horadragon (Horror Dragon?) was an unforgettable moment. This chapter succeeds in carrying the hype from that revelation but proceeds to giving readers a final chat between Noah and Kid Death about their aspiration for the future.

Noah and, to an extent, Kid Death, seem to be under the influence of that insanity wavelength and appear to be using it for even more power, however, as in the past, Kid is using it his advantage.

Kid Death calls his peers together and they go to launch a full scale attack on the creature. With everyone providing some sort of distraction, Kid Death, Liz and Patty launch a new, huge, intense, and well simply stunning attack that must be seen to be believed. A little aside here, but this is just one of those moments where one wishes it was animated.  Rather then spoil the whole attack through description, it is important to note that Kid Death shows that two of the lines of Sanzo in his hair have connected. Speculation speaking, I wonder if it means the series is getting closer to the end as when he receives the third one, would he take his dad’s place? The attack is so splendid that even Noah is engulfed in its majestic light. 

The final part of the chapter returns us to the second antagonist introduced in the series…the Kishin, and Justin Law, aptly preparing us for the next story arc. Speculation continues to provide nothing in the way of what Justin Law is after, and I do not think that we still knew of why he decided to defect.

Artwork: Key to manga are the facial expressions and in this chapter they were all great. They are excellent at portraying pure emotion, such as Death the Kid’s expressions, the moments when characters are under the influence of the insanity wavelength and their eyes change, or they gain some pressure lines around them.  Finally the battle artwork was stunning in this chapter as the ultimate attack of Kid Death was unleashed. The rays of light were simply magnificent and seemed powerful, thus making it more realistic in the defeat of the Horadragon and the vanquishing of Noah.  I also cant help but to show Gopher and his infamous mouth which had a hilarious part in a previous Salvage chapter.

Concluding Remarks: It may have been a month or even two since the last chapter, but this fantastic arc has finally been brought to an excellent conclusion that was well worth waiting for. Sure, attention was drawn away from the main protagonists, Soul and Maka, but Kid Death deserved the limelight of this chapter and perhaps arc as his time as a prisoner left him out of numerous adventures in the past chapters and arc. Seeing him unleash a brutal attack provided the high climax action that Soul Eater excels at.  Lastly the quick change back to the Kishin antagonists worked to get us anticipating the next chapter.  It was a pretty solid chapter overall.

GO Rating - 4 / 5

[Mangastream]