Soul Eater Not! Manga Volume 1 Review

Cover of Volume 1 of the Manga

The Spin Off to the popular anime and manga by Atsushi Ohkubo  Not! Follows a freshman halberd named Tsugumi Harudori, who befriends two other meisters, Meme Tatane and Anya Hepburn. The three take part in the NOT (Normally Overcome Target) class at DWMA and learn to control their powers in order to overcome their difficulties to have a normal life. I made a previous announcement about Soul Eater Not! which you can read HERE.

Okay from the cover art (above) and the first page of the manga I can already guarantee one thing, and that is the art style is the same as it was in the original main series! While this shouldn't be much of a surprise it is a nice reassurance that at least I have something familiar that relates back to the original series. I have got to say that while so far there is very limited action in this spin off it is a bit of a relief to have a more comedy focused view of the Soul Eater universe, which has plot twists and a huge cliffhanger at the end, this side story is basically a nice way to see what the students were doing before the kiishin incident that occurred later on in Soul Eater. The main characters are likable and although the narrator, Tsugumi Harudori, has tried to mold herself adter Maka Albern from the original series run she still remains a unique individual character who can be distinguished from Maka.

From this first volume I like the chemistry of the three main protagonists and the connections they make with the original series characters. One sych example is that of Tsugumi and Maka, both are similar in many ways the most important being that they both started out as humans (meisters), but later find out they are weapons! Maka a scythe and Tsugumi a halberd. Something everyone that was a fan of the main series will enjoy is the frequent cameos of the main and side cast from the series interacting with this new set of characters; also there is the elaboration on other minor characters from the original that will help develop a better perspective of their purpose for the main series. One such example of character development is that of Kim Diehl (Witch of the girls Dorm), a Two-Star Meister and a member of the elite shibusen student unit, Spartoi, In Soul Eater Not!, Kim comes to the rescue of a hysterical Tsugumi Harudori after the crazed supervisor, Mizari, ties her to her bed. The next morning, Tsugumi sees Kim in the halls and thanks her for saving her the night before. Kim states, in a dark tune, that in return for saving her, she should give her all her money for the week and after handing over all but a little for one last meal. 


Overall, the anime adaptation should make a good comedy to sit back and enjoy while reading along with the manga. If watching the main Soul Eater series currently watching Not! alongside it as a companion series should not ruin any surprises for you, but instead give you a better understanding of many side characters, and possibly some of the main ones as well.

Rating of Volume One is... 10 out of 10! because there isn't anything I didn't like about this manga, and it actually got me excited for the april release of the anime. 

Cover of Vol. Two: