Soul Eater is like what would happen if Tex Avery directed Bleach but with Hermoine Granger as the main character. Oh and if Voldemort were a woman. A really smokin' hot woman. (But still noseless, le sigh.)
From a feminist perspective, it's not perfect. There's a ton of T&A fanservice, and one of the supporting female cast spends most of the first episode completely naked. But, for me at least, the general awesomeness of it overall - lots of kick-ass women, really great characterization, an overall quirky and offbeat tone, a pitch-perfect balance of humor and darker drama - balances out the (*le sigh*) elements. And they really are (*le sigh*) elements - nothing overtly misogynistic or anger-inducing - just sort of a lot of eyeroll-inducing fanservice.
And a feminist critique could be made out of the power dynamics of the show. Without launching into a detailed explanation, basically, Soul Eater centers around master-servant pairs. The "main" pairing is a female master with a male servant. They are equal in levels of competency and power, although the girl is the one calling the shots in their relationship. The two supporting pairings, however, are both gender-flipped: male masters, female servants. In one case, the female servant is hyper-competent, but her male servant is a thumbsucking idiot, so we get the anime-cliched dynamic of a super-powerful woman being subservient to a much weaker guy. In the second case, we have a hyper-competent male master, paired with two girl servants who are moronic and hysterical, respectively. Yes, that's a cliche too. BUT. The reason that I don't find myself annoyed with either of those relationships is that they're just really, really well-written. Yes, they're cliched, but they're also presented in a really truly funny (and sometimes touching) way. It helps that the male servants are both more frequently the butt of the joke than their female servants are.
So. Er. That's Soul Eater through a feminist lens.
(And the anime is still unlicensed, so, you know, torrents are out there. I recommend Rumbel's fansubs, they really have the best translation out of the many groups working on the series.)
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From a feminist perspective, it's not perfect. There's a ton of T&A fanservice, and one of the supporting female cast spends most of the first episode completely naked. But, for me at least, the general awesomeness of it overall - lots of kick-ass women, really great characterization, an overall quirky and offbeat tone, a pitch-perfect balance of humor and darker drama - balances out the (*le sigh*) elements. And they really are (*le sigh*) elements - nothing overtly misogynistic or anger-inducing - just sort of a lot of eyeroll-inducing fanservice.
And a feminist critique could be made out of the power dynamics of the show. Without launching into a detailed explanation, basically, Soul Eater centers around master-servant pairs. The "main" pairing is a female master with a male servant. They are equal in levels of competency and power, although the girl is the one calling the shots in their relationship. The two supporting pairings, however, are both gender-flipped: male masters, female servants. In one case, the female servant is hyper-competent, but her male servant is a thumbsucking idiot, so we get the anime-cliched dynamic of a super-powerful woman being subservient to a much weaker guy. In the second case, we have a hyper-competent male master, paired with two girl servants who are moronic and hysterical, respectively. Yes, that's a cliche too. BUT. The reason that I don't find myself annoyed with either of those relationships is that they're just really, really well-written. Yes, they're cliched, but they're also presented in a really truly funny (and sometimes touching) way. It helps that the male servants are both more frequently the butt of the joke than their female servants are.
So. Er. That's Soul Eater through a feminist lens.
(And the anime is still unlicensed, so, you know, torrents are out there. I recommend Rumbel's fansubs, they really have the best translation out of the many groups working on the series.)