nenena: (Soul Eater - Put your game face on)
nenena ([personal profile] nenena) wrote2011-04-30 01:21 pm

Soul Eater Not! Chapter 4: Fashion Design for Effective Monster Dismemberment 101

What? An actual plot thickening this month?

I guess so!

We begin inside SHIBUSEN, as a caption informs us. Some random student runs up to Sid and exclaims, "Sid-sensei!! One of those Traitor* guys just showed up again!"

* I'm going to go out on a limb with assuming that トレーター is supposed to be read as "Traitor," but really I have no idea as a quick Google search isn't turning up anything more useful than the fact that トレーター is often used as shorthand for "illustrator" in Japanese. The kanji that Ohkubo uses to explain the meaning of トレーター is 道場破り ("doujou yaburi"), which refers to an old practice in which an outsider would approach a doujou and challenge the sensei to a match - which would only be granted if the challenger could first fight his way through each successive rank of the sensei's students and defeat each one in turn.

So yeah, it's something like that.

"What, again?!" Sid says. "That makes the sixteenth one this month alone... That's way more than normal."

Suddenly, Akane and Clay are there! "Sid-sensei," Akane says.

"These 'Traitor' guys just want to test their strength, don't they?" Clay says. "All we gotta do is show them how strong we are and then they go away, right?"

"We're free until this afternoon, so we will take care of it," Akane says.

Next, in Death City!

So, uh, I guess that's the Traitor? Somewhat worryingly, the Traitor is completely without facial expression, and his only word bubble is written in the EVIL VOICE FONT. Oh dear. "Did you sleep well last night?" the Traitor asks Akane.

"So this is the guy...?" Clay says. To absolutely nobody's surprise, Clay's weapon form is that of a badass black Claymore. "All we gotta do is threaten him with just the tip of my blade, and he should back off and go away."

"That's the plan," Akane says.

And the duel is over with in literally two panels because the Traitor doesn't even fight back.

Akane points the tip of his sword at the Traitor's face and says, "You've been defeated. Now give up and go home."

And then the Traitor, still with no expression on his face, leans forward and begins to push his forhead down onto the tip of Clay's blade.

"HEY!!" Akane exclaims. He quickly withdraws Clay, then knees the Traitor in the chest and punches him behind his head in order to knock him completely out.

Akane stands over the KO'd Traitor and wonders, "What's wrong with this guy...?"

Meanwhile, back at Shibusen: CAKE.

"There are only two of the strawberry tarts that Eternal Feather-sempai recommended," Tsugumi observes sadly.

"And all three of us had planned to try them together," Me-Me laments.

"You know what? I'm not really hungry right now, so you two can go ahead and eat them!" Tsugumi says.

Me-Me and Anya exchange glances and ellipses. Then they say in unison, "Then we're not having any either!"

"Um, you don't have to do that," Tsugumi says. "It's okay for you guys to eat strawberry tarts without me."

"But we promised that we would all try them together..." Me-Me says.

Fortunately, the matter is resolved by a bell ringing. "Oh, that's the bell," Tsugumi says.

"Regardless of what we decided, we wouldn't have had time to eat them anyway," Anya observes.

"Um, where IS our next class?" Me-Me asks.

"In the dance room. We'd better hurry!"

Next, in the dance room! Sid is there, along with the rest of the students who enrolled at the same time that Tsugumi did. (If you squint you can see Meathead and Swordface in this panel and in the background of a couple more panels on the following pages, although they have no lines in this chapter.)

"Class begins now," Sid says. "A sound soul resides in a sound mind and a sound body---..."

Tsugumi is making a great bwuh? face as she listens to Sid. Or maybe that's just Ohkubo being lazy with the art.

"As new students at Shibusen, all of you will also study hard and strive toward the goal of having a sound soul," Sid says. "Because all of you have been gifted with 'power' of some type, therefore a sound soul is of utmost importance."

That's right... Tsugumi narrates. (Wow, nine pages into the chapter and this is the first time that we've had any Tsugumi-narration yet?) I became a weapon... If I don't learn how to control my own abilities, I might end up hurting somebody... That's why a lot of people are afraid of demon weapons, I guess... Sometimes people pretend to respect us but really just want to stay away from us. I've heard of anti-weapon discrimination, too... This must be why it's so important to learn the rules of Shibusen. So that other people can feel safe around weapons, and so that us weapons can earn real respect and appreciation.

Tsugumi is not yet done rocking the Captain Exposition Hat. Shibusen is a school that, by teaching us 'rules,' allows us children with 'power' to live normal lives. That is the reason that we are all here...

Wait, I thought that Tsugumi enrolled in Shibusen because she wanted to be a hero?

"Shibusen's course of studies is generally divided into two tracks," Sid explains. "Ninety percent of our student body are designated as 'non-combatant civilians' and enrolled in the Normally Overcome Target or 'NOT' classes. The remaining ten percent are trained to use their abilities in combat against various scoundrels and are enrolled in the Especially Advanced Talent or 'EAT' courses."

So I guess Sid stole the Captain Exposition Hat from Tsugumi. "However, even those of you classified as 'NOT' students possess abilities that can become incredibly dangerous if you do not learn to control them. Therefore, from today forward, the purpose of this class will be to teach you to control your abilities. And today I've invited a team from the EAT class to help us." Sid turns toward a door. "Come on in."

Tsugumi is like, "!!"

"Scythe meister Maka Albarn and demon scythe Soul Eater," Sid introduces the two students.

Soul looks bored and like he would rather not be there. Maka, however, cheerfully introduces herself to the students. "Pleased to meet you! My name is Maka."

It's that sempai... Tsugumi narrates. And she's with that guy with the freaky nickname?!

Maka makes eye contact with Tsugumi and smiles at her.

Tsugumi joygasms. She remembers me!!

"I used to wear that same school uniform," Maka says, pointing to Tsugumi's clothes. Indeed she did.

Tsugumi is le shock. "REALLY?!"

"Anya-san is also going to be wearing a Shibusen brooch starting today," Me-Me points out. "It's so cute!"

She said the same thing to me three days ago, but that's all right, Anya think-bubbles. "Thank you very much."

"Shibusen has an amazing selection of school uniforms," Maka explains. "You're free to match a top and bottom however you wish. Casual clothes are okay, too! So was it hard for you to decide on an outfit?"

"It was," Tsugumi says. "But I really liked this scarf and this collar, so I chose this outfit. Also this shirt kind of obscures my body's curves." OR LACK THEREOF.

Maka grabs Tsugumi's hands. "THE SAME REASONS..."

These two are about two seconds away from sparkling at each other.

And then, SID-CHOP. "A sempai shouldn't distract the students with useless side-conversations." Then he gets down to business. "Maka, Soul. Get ready."

"Oh!! Maka-sempai," Tsugumi says, reaching out toward Maka. "Um... Um... My name is Tsugumi. And I started wearing my hair like this because Sempai inspired me... I'm so sorry!"

Maka blinks at Tsugumi. Then she smiles. "You're very cute, Tsugumi!"

Steam pours out of Tsugumi's ears as Maka turns away from her. "Transform, Soul!"

" 'Kay," Soul says. This is his only line in the entire chapter.

Maka holds Soul in his scythe form as Sid explains, "Now these two are going to demonstrate some movements for you. Remember, a meister and a weapon are both human beings. A weapon is not a mere thing." Sid narrates as Maka balances Soul on her unmoving hand. "If the two of them both synchronize their wills, then even without the meister exerting any force on the weapon..." Soul begins to spin around Maka's hand. "The weapon can move."

"But in order for this to happen," Sid goes on, "the weapon must understand the meister's intentions and the meister must understand the weapon's intentions."

Maka starts busting out her A-game. Amazing... Tsugumi think-bubbles. It's like they're dancing together...

Maka finishes and takes a bow.

And suddenly Akane is there, applauding Maka. Clay looks embarasssed and announces, "Sorry we're late--"

Tsugumi is a bit slow on the uptake. "Huh? But you guys were in the morning class with us."

"Oh, Clay was goofing around at the arcade," Akane lies.

"Again?!" Clay frowny-faces at Akane.

Before Clay and Akane can distract anyone further, however, Sid decides to get the class moving: "Everyone, divide into teams of two."

Akane sidles up behind Sid. "Sid-sensei..."

"How did it go?"

"There was something strange about the man that we fought," Akane reports. "Something really off about him. If he had been behaving normally we would have just let him go. But I've got a bad feeling about him, so we brought him back and put him in detention."

"I see. You did well." Sid turns his attention toward the other students, who (mostly) have finished pairing off. "Have you all divided into teams of exactly two?"

Not all of them have. Tsugumi stands in front of Me-Me and Anya, unable to make a decision. "A team of exactly two, he said... So we can't have a team of three after all..."

Anya smiles. "Me-Me-san was Tsugumi's partner during this morning's class, so that means that it is my turn now," she says.

"Huh? Is that what happened?" Me-Me asks.

"It was. And it's important for us to take turns. That's only fair," Anya declares.

"Okay, I understand!" Me-Me says, smiling.

Unfortunately, at that very moment, Sid looks over and sees the three of them standing together. "What, you three haven't decided yet?" He reaches out and grabs Anya's hand, dragging her away from Me-Me and Tsugumi. "Anya, come over here."

"No, but..." Anya flails ineffectually as Sid drags her away. "Tsugu... But it's my turn... My turn..."

"There's another kid who's failed to get a partner over here," Sid says, "so you will be his partner today."

Me-Me and Tsugumi exchange guilty glances as Anya is dragged away.

"Sh... Should we get started... Me-Me-chan...?"

"I guess so..."

Meanwhile, Sid pushes Anya in front of a boy who is standing by himself, long bangs obscuring his eyes, listening to oversized headphones. Anya stares at him and dribbles ellipses.

Sid gives Anya an encouraging grin. "I'm sure you two will get along great!"

"I'm Anya," Anya introduces herself to the boy. "Pleased to meet you."

The boy stands silently, hemorrhaging ellispes. Finally he says, "Okay."

MEANWHILE, RIGHT OVER ANYA'S SHOULDER: "Eeek! Me-Me-chan!" Tsugumi giggles. "If you try to grab me like this before I transform, it really tickles!"

"Tsugumi-chan, I didn't know that you were ticklish!" Me-Me laughs, tickling harder.

"Ah! You're doing it again!"

OH MY GOD

WAY TO RUB IT IN YOU GUYS

But Anya is now more determined than ever to ignore them. Don't let it bother you, don't let it bother you, she think-bubbles to herself, while trying one more time to get through to her new partner. "We should get started as well," she tells him.

Instead of transforming, he just stands there and molests more ellipses.

Anya starts to twitch with anger, although she keeps her forced smile on her face.

"...Okay," the boy finally says.

But before he can transform, Anya is distracted by Tsugumi and Me-Me again. "If you keep laughing like this then we can't get started~~~!" Me-Me giggles, still tickling Tsugumi.

"B-B-But Me-Me-chan y-you're still~~~!"

Anya makes ANGRY CHIPMUNK FACE.

Some time later, a bell rings, signaling the end of class. "Class is finished for today," Sid announces. "Please be careful on your way home."

"Anya-san!" Tsugumi calls out. "Let's go home!" Me-Me adds.

But Anya is nowhere to be found.

Anya's partner is still standing in the same place where he was standing at the beginning of the class period, not saying anything. "Huh?" Tsugumi says, looking around and seeing no Anya.

"Where did Anya-san go?" Me-Me asks.

She apparently ragequit and cut class, that's where she went. Anya is stomping angrily around Death City and monologuing to herself. "It's fine! It doesn't bother me! One of us is always going to have to be separated from her anyway! But they were calling each other '-chan'... Even though I still address them both with '-san'! How rude! Although I suppose that's my fault, really." Her RAGE face melts into SAD face. "Because I still can't bring myself to say it."

Meanwhile, somebody has spotted the Shibusen brooch that Anya is wearing on her throat. "You're a Shibusen student, aren't you?" he says in the EVIL VOICE FONT.

Anya turns around to see who is addressing her.

"Did you sleep well last night?"

And the chapter ends.

Blah, I don't have a whole lot of thoughts this month, other than being happy to see an actual plot moving along and being rather unsurprised to discover that the majority of Shibusen's student body apparently aren't trained to hunt monsters or gather souls. Although that does beg the question of where Shibusen's freakin' huge army of adult soldiers comes from, if 90% of their student body is "civilian non-combatants." But whatevs! Maybe we'll find out the answer to that later.

[identity profile] neocloud9.livejournal.com 2011-04-30 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooh, sounds like things are getting good... :3

[identity profile] rainsand.livejournal.com 2011-04-30 06:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you very much.

[identity profile] its-onthefritz.livejournal.com 2011-04-30 06:51 pm (UTC)(link)
Thank you for the chapter summary! Loving all these little details about how Shibusen and things in the Soul Eater world work.

"I used to wear that same school uniform," Maka says, pointing to Tsugumi's clothes. Indeed she did.

So Maka did wear that uniform regularly at one point! We're even getting canon details on the clothing. Awesome ^^.

(Anonymous) 2011-04-30 09:24 pm (UTC)(link)
That explains the EAT patch on Soul's headband early on.
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-04-30 10:27 pm (UTC)(link)
Ooooooooh, nice catch!

[identity profile] wanderingdreamr.livejournal.com 2011-04-30 11:29 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, so that explains the title, and here I was thinking that the title was supposed to mean "it's Soul Eater, wait, just kidding!" Oh and I had to read that paragraph on トレーター twice because the first time I thought you meant someone would challenge a famous doujinshi artist and that they would first have to square off in a manga-making competition against the artist's underlings because they got to challenge the doujinshi artist. And then I realized I was reading about SE, not Genshiken, so that couldn't be right....

*insert confused face here*

(Anonymous) 2011-04-30 11:35 pm (UTC)(link)
Okay, just asking for some quick clarification. Are the people in the NOT section of Shibusen miesters and weapons that don't want to train to fight or just normal kids? I was a bit confused there.
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Re: *insert confused face here*

[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 01:13 am (UTC)(link)
Not sure what you mean by "normal kids." I mean, they're obviously all meisters and weapons in the NOT class.

As to whether they're there because they don't want to fight or not, I dunno. It doesn't specify. I think it's safe to assume that if a meister or weapon didn't want to fight then yes, they would be placed in the NOT class. It's also possible that some students are placed in the NOT class because they're either not ready or not able to train on the level of the EAT students. But this is just conjecture as the manga really doesn't say.
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 01:14 am (UTC)(link)
They are! But even without the addition of plot-plot I would've been happy with several more chapters of just plain worldbuilding and Tsugumi being awesome.
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 01:15 am (UTC)(link)
You're welcome! :)
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
I know! I love getting all of this worldbuilding stuff, too. It is indeed awesome!
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 01:16 am (UTC)(link)
It may not have been right but it would have been epic. ^__^

[identity profile] neocloud9.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 01:24 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, absolutely. The characters seems really charming, and I love learning about the non-combatants...
darjeeling: (【eater】 not gonna write you a love so)

[personal profile] darjeeling 2011-05-01 02:25 am (UTC)(link)
Looking great so far! Thanks for the translation.

[identity profile] duelsoul.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 06:36 am (UTC)(link)
Some plot movement and more worldbuilding, yep I'm pretty satisfied with that.
I remember reading in a fanfic somewhere that explored the idea of there being discrimination against Demon Weapons. Guess that canonizes it. Though there could have been a more elegant way of doing rather than shoving a blob of text in our direction- maybe having Tsugumi experience it first hand and having Meme and Anya defending her thus strengthening the friendship between them. [/shrugs]
Eh, I feel like I'm being picky, it was a reasonable chapter after all.
And as always, thanks for translating C:

[identity profile] rojeru.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 07:48 am (UTC)(link)
I think I know where the 'NOT' in Soul Eater NOT came from now haha
And I think I know why there's an 'EAT' word on Soul's old headband. He may have been flaunting the fact that he's from an advanced group to add to his 'coolness' XD

BTW, does Clay and Akane belong in the EAT section? I mean, they got sent on a mission to take care of the "traitor/challenger" right? Or maybe it doesn't count since they normally perceive traitors as non-threatening and not really evil? Hm...

[identity profile] vega-jd.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 08:19 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the recap! I never would have thought that such a high percentage of the students weren't out in combat o.O But anyway, yay cameos! yay plot!

The more I see Anya the more she looks like Justin's long lost little sister to me. And I guess her partner for the day and Soul could have a competition about who looks more bored and less willing to say a full line of dialogue.
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 08:22 am (UTC)(link)
You're welcome!
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 08:24 am (UTC)(link)
No, you're completely right, that is exactly the type of information that would have been much better delivered via showing rather than telling. But yeah other than that I'm pretty satisfied with this chapter too. :)
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 08:27 am (UTC)(link)
Clay and Akane are NOT students, in the same class as Tsugumi et al. The reason they were allowed to face the Traitor is because, well... Traditionally, a "doujou yaburi" means that the challenger has to begin by facing the lowest-ranking students in the school, and then fight his way up through the ranks. Clay and Akane are NOT students and happen to be the newest recruits to the school, which would make them among the lowest-ranked of the NOT students and therefore the lowest-ranked of all the students at Shibusen, period. That would make them the perfect pair to be the first that the Traitor faces. No wonder Sid let them volunteer for the job.
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 08:30 am (UTC)(link)
The more I see Anya the more she looks like Justin's long lost little sister to me.

Oh thank God I thought I was the only one who kinda sorta saw this.

[identity profile] vega-jd.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 08:34 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, at first I thought it because of the clothes, but after I saw the first color illustration I couldn't unsee it.

[identity profile] rojeru.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 12:17 pm (UTC)(link)
Ah, I see. Thanks for clarifying =3 and also for the great recap =D

[identity profile] hoshizoku.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 04:00 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh yeah, time for some action!

As ever, thanks Nenena! :) it seems that things are getting pumped, well, I think the original plot started faster, and NOT! was a little passive in my opinion. But it's OK, after all, this is a new tale, and it's supposed to be different in many ways.
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 05:03 pm (UTC)(link)
You're welcome! ^__^
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 05:06 pm (UTC)(link)
But it's OK, after all, this is a new tale, and it's supposed to be different in many ways.

Exactly! So much this.

Oh, and: You're welcome!

[identity profile] volrouge.livejournal.com 2011-05-01 11:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Wow, an actual plot is forming! I'm expecting some story arch that would seem VERY important but end with practically no development whatsoever. Yes, I'm still salty about whole Insane!Kid arch thingy. But whatever.

And I REALLY hope they have something in mind for Soul and the rest of the original gang. So far Maka is the only one actually involved. But who's to say? This is Ohkubo after all. xD

Thanks for the translation! :)

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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-02 11:19 pm (UTC)(link)
You're welcome! ^__^

(It's okay, you're totally not the only one who's still bitter about the big Kid arc that went nowhere.)

(Anonymous) 2011-05-07 12:27 am (UTC)(link)
hmm...so will Anya be moving into an apartment with this kid like we've been informed all non-same sex partners do? questions questions
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-07 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
I don't think so, because it seems like her pairing up with that boy was only meant to be for that one class period. It didn't come across as a permanent thing. At least not to me.

(Anonymous) 2011-05-07 01:47 am (UTC)(link)
thank you for clarifying, and for the recap^^
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[identity profile] nenena.livejournal.com 2011-05-07 03:21 am (UTC)(link)
You're welcome! ^____^

[identity profile] xaliceunknownx.livejournal.com 2011-05-17 04:24 am (UTC)(link)
blehh, i'm so late to the party -____- sorry, trying to cut computer time, and, well, yeah.

so, like, Little Child Without Name = Mini Stein + Justin? (the headphone/earphone similarity, and the possible lack of trust?) i swear, that kid seriously looks like Stein's long lost child to me….o_0

thank you for translating~! i like it better than the scanlators's

[identity profile] girlinterpreted.livejournal.com 2011-07-02 03:37 am (UTC)(link)
So, in NOT!verse weapons transform via floaty pixels instead of blurry, misty effects lines. I think it looks pretty darn cool. It hasn't made it over to SE, has it?