Soul Eater Chapter 97: No sense in wasting the opportunity.

[nenena]

The opportunity to get yourself arrested and thrown in jail just to see if you can break out again, that is.

That's right. Free is back.

So! We open with a black splatter of a word bubble that I assume is supposed to be Justin's dying words. We will destroy all order!

Justin... Stein think-bubbles. His eyes (or rather, his glasses) finally return to normal. You never understood, not even in the very end... It's because you were always so alone that the rules broke you and you descended into madness... It was because when you upheld the rules you lacked any sort of imagination. No wonder you broke... And besides... Even if all rules are destroyed, that's not the world that I wish for...

Kid turns his head and sees Stein looking all pensive next to a smoking pile of ash. "Did the professor finish off Justin?!"

Suddenly, nameless Shibusen grunt! "Kid!!"

"Now what?"

"You've been ordered to return immediately to the Demon Tool Airship." They really couldn't come up with a better name for that thing? "Shinigami-sama is online and waiting to speak to you."

But Kid is all, like, busy shooting clowns and fighting a losing battle and stuff. "Are you insane?! You expect me to leave the battlefield in the middle of this mess?! I don't care what his reasons are, there's no way I'm going to obey an order like that!"

Suddenly, Stein and Marie! Making damn short work of the clowns all around Kid. "Hey, what's up." I am not kidding that is Stein's actual line.

"Father ordered me to withdraw from the battle," Kid explains to Stein.

At a time like this? Stein think-bubbles. It must have something to do with those negotiations...

"Shinigami-sama is waiting," Shibusen grunt gamely continues. "Please hurry."

I bet he can't stand the thought of leaving when he sees our own wounded soldiers all over the battlefield...

Suddenly, Brilliant Professor Plan! "Follow Shinigami-sama's orders and take the wounded back to the airship with you!" Stein tells Kid.

"Now even you're telling me to retreat?!" Kid says, getting pissier and pissier by the panel.

"The other Death Scythes and I can take care of this battle while you're gone! You can come back here after you've followed Shinigami-sama's orders! Death Scythes don't have all of that flashy power just for show, you know!"

"It's not that I don't have faith in you or the Death Scythes," Kid says as he continues to blast more clowns, "But this is a battle for the sake of Order... As a shinigami, I can't back down from this fight!!"

God fucking dammit Kid your daddy issues are so transparent and your protests are so melodramatic and stupid. Just do what your dad goddamn says and then you can get back to blowing up clowns to your heart's content. I mean did you not just see Stein and Marie finish off Justin and jump right in to save your ass from a whole panel full of clowns, or what.

Stein is apparently thinking the same thing, because in the next few panels he jumps around Kid, takes a swing with Marie, and blows up an entire posse of clowns in the most ridiculously dramatic way possible. Just in case Kid needs any more convincing that these guys are going to be pretty fucking just fine without him.

"I understand, Kid," Stein says. "You're special. There are things you can do that us normal humans could never do. And right now there is something that must be done that only Kid can do."

"Are you kidding me..."

Stein looks out at the line of clowns approaching them again. "They just keep coming, don't they? They won't even let us catch our breath."

Stein drops Marie from his hand, and she jumps out of her weapon form. "Stein?"

"I'm at my limit, so I can't use your 'izumi' power anymore. Please take Kid back to the airship, and take any wounded soldiers with you."

Maries stares at the back of Stein's head.

"Hurry," Stein says, "the clowns are reviving again!!"

"But--"

Stein fist-bumps her. So adorable. "I'm going to be okay," he says, smiling at her.

Marie is definitely not convinced, but she turns away from him anyway and starts heading back toward the airship. "Understood. Let's go, Kid."

Kid chews on some ellipses, then finally turns and follows Marie. "We'll be back soon," Kid tells Stein.

Meanwhile, in the Death Room! Big Daddy is waiting in front of his mirror.

Azusa is standing on the other side of the mirror, inside the airship. Kid arrives. Azusa helpfully announces that he has arrived. "Kid is here."

Kid does an excellent job of glaring at the mirror in the pissiest way he can possibly glare. "What is it, Father?" Ha ha omg his shirt. The only visible battle damage on Kid at all is some slight singing on the collar of his shirt, which must have happened when Moonbeam's collar bomb exploded on his neck. Which does lead one to wonder how Kid's clothing could possibly be made of the same explosion-proof material that his body is apparently made of.

"Happy to see you safe and sound, Kid!"

"Please skip these useless pleasantries and cut right to the important matter," Kid says. Oh wow Kid way to be a TOTAL DICK to your dad there.

Next we get a panel of Shinigami-sama being uncharacteristically silent, which I guess is his version of making sadface. But in the next panel he finally begins to speak again. "First I need you to calm down and listen to me. We at Shibusen are currently in the middle of negotiations with an important power. These negotiations began in secret before we even launched the attack on the moon."

"An important power...?"

"Witches."

Kid is le shock!! "Witches? But Shibusen and the witches have been enemies for years..." Well, except for Kim. And Angela. And now even Risa and Arisa. Hell even Medusa was willing to cut a deal with Shibusen and help them out in the fight against Arachne. Oh yeah and they were able to force Eruka to help them rescue Kid, too. Come on, Kid! It's not like Shibusen has never negotiated with witches before!!

Goddamit Kid, your memory is so bad that in the next scene I bet you're going to act surprised when Kaguya tells you that the clowns can endlessly regenerate again. Oh wait.

"What could a witch possibly...?" Kid asks, continuing with the lack of memory and excess stupidity.

"In order to defeat the kishin, Shibusen summoned all the Death Scythes to participate in this battle, and had to send a vast number of our worldwide forces to the moon," Big Daddy explains. "It would be most inconvenient if trouble were to break out down on Earth while we're in the midst of being so short-handed... And the most threatening source of potential trouble, of course, the witches."

"So you're negotiating with the witches to prevent that from happening..."

"Yup... The one responsible for creating our current predicament by reviving the kishin is the notorious witch Medusa, but the rest of the witches never agreed with the idea of reviving the kishin... Because the kishin's insanity is a threat even to witches. Therefore it won't be too difficult to negotiate a ceasefire between us for the purpose of uniting to defeat the kishin."

"So then what do you need me for?" Kid asks. "If all of what you said is true, then aren't the negotiations going smoothly?"

"Azusa has been keeping me up to date about how the battle on the moon is unfolding..." Big Daddy says. "With our negotiations we may be able to finally have a way to stop the clowns' infinite propagation abilities."

"Are you saying that the only person who could do such a thing is...?

"Yes. A witch. And the one spell that causes Shibusen the most trouble... Because of that troublesome spell who knows how many witches have been able to enter Shibusen itself..."

"!" Kid has a lightbulb moment. "Soul Protect!!"

"Soul Protect is a spell that prevents the stink of a witch's evil wavelength from leaking out," Big Daddy explains for the benefit of those of us readers with memory loss as bad as Kid's apparently is. "The clowns' constant regenerations are triggered by the kishin's insanity wavelength. But if we can use a Soul Protect to cut off the kishin's insanity wavelength, then the clowns will finally stop regenerating."

"So that's why we need the witches to help us..." Kid says.

"But the witches refuse to negotiate with us unless we fulfill one absolute condition: A shinigami must come in person to the Witches' Realm in order to continue our talks. And I can't leave Death City. Therefore I want you, Kid, to travel to the Witches' Realm and finish these negotiations for me."

"But.. I'm on the moon right now." Oh, Kid. Of all the things you could possibly come up with to protest your father's orders this time, that is probably the least of your concerns right now. Also, don't you have a magical flying skateboard that can travel halfway around the world and back again in a short period of time? Or did you forget that Beezlebub exists, too?

"Oh, the witches know that," Big Daddy says. "They're just imposing unreasonable demands because they don't like us..." Gee, I wonder why. "But with the position that we're in right now, we have no choice but to kowtow to those demands... Shibusen has no way to stop the infinite regeneration of the clowns. Therefore I am issuing a temporary order to retreat, Kid."

Kid clenches his fists. "...Is there really no other way...?"

Because her sense of dramatic timing is apparently quite finely tuned, Azusa chooses that moment to turn toward some Shibusen soldiers and ask, "What's the situation on the battlefield?"

"We've completed removal of the dead and wounded from the battlefield. Beginning preparations for launch!"

Kid is le shock again!! This time with two exclamation points!! "!! We can't launch this ship now! With so many clowns still on the moon's surface we'll be shot down within seconds!"

"No, we won't be," Marie says. "Don't worry."

"You don't mean... No..."

"The Death Scythes won't be withdrawing from the battle."

Down on the battlefield, Stein smokes a cigarette, and Spirit lets his luxuriously shampooed hair flutter softly in the wind. Deng's meister and Zubaydah look out at a field full of clowns beginning to regenerate.

"Here they come..." Spirit says. "Oh, and don't even try that 'I'm just going to let myself temporarily fall into insanity' thing," he warns Stein. "Because you just did, and you completely fell apart."

"Did I?" Stein blows skull-shaped smoke rings from his cigarette. "Look, I won't fall into insanity. I have you, and I have Marie, and I have my students, and I have everyone at Shibusen... But at the same time, the real me is never going to change... I'm never going to stop being irritating or gloomy, so I guess you'll just have to keep putting up with me."

"Gimme a break..." Spirit says. "I spend more time taking care of you than I do raising my own daughter. A little bit of gratitude every now and then would be nice, you know." Suddenly, Spirit is lightbulb moment! "I know! You should start a family! If you do that then you won't have time to be babbling about insanity or whatnot anymore."

"So says the man who tried the whole 'having a family' thing and failed miserably."

"Uu...." Spirit's face. "When you put it that way, I'm kind of on the side opposed to following rules, too."

"And that's exactly why you're the Death Scythe," Stein says with a grin.

Meanwhile, in the Witches' Realm! There is a witch wearing a cute hat. "Grandmother Witch. we have received a reply from Shibusen regarding the negotiations."

Meanwhile, in Shibusen's dungeon! Eruka is croaking. "Using a Soul Protect to cut off the kishin's insanity wavelength and end the clowns' ability to endlessly regenerate? That's what my Shibusen contact told me when I asked him about it earlier." Wait, Eruka actually convinced one of her guards or somebody else at Shibusen to tell her information, including information that Big Daddy said a few pages ago was supposed to be super-duper top secret confidential?! "The theory behind their plan is sound... But that's not something that one or even two witches would be able to do... It would take greater numbers..."

Suddenly, a knock on Eruka's door!

"ERUKA! CAN YOU HEAR ME? IT'S ME! FREE!!"

"Free?! What are you doing here?!"

"I'm here to rescue you, duh! I mean, you're the one who came into a dungeon and rescued me back when I was locked up! Did you really think I was gonna abandon my own rescuer? Like I would ever do that!!"

Eruka walks up to the door. "But how did you get in here?!"

"Did you forget that using a Soul Protect makes getting into a place like this a piece of cake?"

Eruka presses her hands to the door. "Even if you use a Soul Protect, it can't be that easy. This is Shibusen, you know!"

"Like I care whether this is Shibusen or whatever! I'm getting you outta here right now!!"

The door opens.

Eruka throws open her arms and grins happily. "FREE!"

Then her grin immediately turns into a sour frog face.

Free is in handcuffs, surrounded by Shibusen agents.

"So you're captured, too," Eruka says.

Free grins winningly at her. "That's right!! Since I was coming to rescue you anyway I couldn't waste the opportunity!!" Then he looks disappointed. "But now it looks like they're gonna release you right now. I guess it's because " and there is a pun here on reason and arrest and head injury all in the same word and goddammit Ohkubo how am I supposed to translate that?!

And oh hey look, Risa and Arisa are there too! And Enrique, who is holding up a mirror, through which Tezca speaks. "Now that everyone's here, let's hurry back up to the Death Room. Shinigami-sama is waiting."

Free stares at Enrique. "I guess you could say this is like monkeys and dogs," he says. Terrible pun explanation time: Japanese use the expression "like monkeys and dogs" the same way that we say "like cats and dogs" in English, i.e. to describe two groups that are constantly fighting for stupid reasons.

But then, just to put the cherry on top of the fail sundae, Free tries to explain his pun to Eruka. "Because, you know, I don't like monkeys. Also, the hammer is my penis."

"Oh shut up, you dumb dog."

Meanwhile, in Italy!

The Spartoi group is splitting up. "All right, we're heading back," Ox says. "We don't have any means to get to the moon, so we can't go with you..." We apparently means himself, Harvar, Kirikou, and the Pots.

"I don't know why, but I was just ordered to return to Shibusen, too..." Kim says. So that means that her and Jackie aren't going to the moon either.

"But as soon as we get back to Shibusen, we're going to find some way to get up to the moon and join you guys," Kirikou says.

"We'll be waiting for you!" Black Star says. Wait, how is Black Star getting up there?! Is he going to hitch a ride with Maka, or is he actually going to use his Tsubaki's Illogical Scarf Mode to get all the way to the moon?

"WAIT WAIT WAIT!" Somebody shouts.

It's Soul, running to catch up to the group, Tsubaki at his side. "Here. We've got one for everyone."

Kirikou takes Soul's gift in his hands. "And this is supposed to be...?"

"While Maka-chan was talking to Shinigami-sama, Soul and I bought these from that street vendor over there," Tsubaki says.

"Tsubaki said that it's, like, a headband you can wear when your hair is getting in your eyes and stuff..." Soul says.

"Since we're all separating right now, I thought it would be nice if we could stay together in the sense of at least wearing one thing that matches all the rest of us..." Tsubaki says. "As in, 'even when we're apart our hearts are together'!! Or something like that."

Black Star looks at Soul's headband. "Hey, how come Soul's headband is the only one with that design on it?"

"Oh, I drew this on there myself," Soul says. It's the Soul Eater logo, of course.

"So draw one on our headbands too!" Kirikou says.

"Oooh, let me see that!" Kim pipes in.

Unfortunately, it's Maka who ends up taking a marker and trying to do the actual drawing.

"Ooooh, Maka's so bad at art class, how did she end up being our master painter?" Soul teases her.

Maka scribbles and scribbles until she gives up. "YOU draw it!!" she says, thrusting the headband in Soul's face.

"O... Okay..."

"Soul," Black Star says, "Can I add some stars to mine?"

"Yeah, no problem..."

Black Star turns around. "Tsubaki, you draw it."

"Okay!"

Next panel: Disembodied word bubbles everywhere, but no visuals!

"Seriously?! Jackie, are you serious?"

"Why? Do you think it's weird?"

"...No. It's great."

"Harvar's drawing zig-zags."

"It's just because I don't like curves."

Later! The rest of the Spartoi have left, and only Maka, Soul, Black Star, and Tsubaki are still in Italy.

"Kirikou and his group are gone, too. I guess that means it's time for us to get going," Soul says to Black Star.

"Guess so!"

"WAIT! WAIT!" Tsubaki shouts.

Oh my god. Tsubaki. That bag.

"Again?" Black Star says. "What is it this time...?"

"This is Maka-chan's idea this time," Tsubaki says.

Maka unzips the bag. "The order to execute Crona... was issued because Crona opposed Order and committed crimes which cannot be forgiven. But now that I've met with Crona and I understand why things ended up that way, I can't carry out the execution. But if I disobey that order, then I no longer have the right to bear this Spartoi logo, either." Maka touches the Spartoi logo on her shoulder, then reaches down into the bag and pulls out something long and black. "That's why I brought this."

Soul stares at her. "That's..."

"I talked to Maka about it, and decided to bring it along," Tsubaki says. "I packed everyone else's into that bag, too."

Soul grins a surprisingly toothless grin. "I get it."

Oh my god. Maka. That coat.

Oh my god. Ex-Spartoi. That outfit change.

"ALL RIGHT, EVERYONE!!" Maka says, one hand on her hip and the other pointed straight up at the moon. "WHERE'S THE MOON?! IT'S RIGHT UP THERE!!"

Oh my god. Maka. That battle cry. Leaves much, much, MUCH to be desired.

To be continued next month!





...No but seriously I still don't understand why Maka and the rest of the Spartoi are making Such A Big Deal about disobeying the order to execute Crona when several chapters ago Kid directly explained to them that even though Big Daddy may have issued the order, he still expects the Spartoi to decide for themselves whether Crona needs to be killed or not. I mean, it just doesn't get any more clear-cut than that.

But still, not gonna lie here, seeing the four moon-bound Spartoi putting back on their original outfits was a pretty awesome moment.

Edited to add: Two things!

1. If you would like to link to this summary, I would appreciate it if you could link to the dreamwidth version, NOT the livejournal version! Thank you!

2. Also, shout-out to all the lazy scanslators reading this! Please don't be as lazy this month as you were last month, mmkay? (Explanation.)

Comments

[olgiebear]

Oh man. I'm so excited for next month.
Not too sure how I feel about an outfit change. I...wasn't really expecting that, of all things.
The signs really are leading me to believe that Ohkubo plans to end it soon.

Thank you for the recap! Amazing work as always.

[olgiebear]

Oh, and I was wondering about this too.
I haven't seen the raw yet so perhaps this is answered in a panel or something.
But what about Sid, Akane and Clay?
Are they still there or did they evacuate with everyone else? Or has everyone forgotten that they went into the kishin's moon-nose layer.
And Noah...
Well, I'm thinking Ohkubo will likely address that in the next chapter.

[nenena]

Sid, Akane, and Clay aren't mentioned or shown in this chapter.

So I don't know.

[(Anonymous)]

I'm glad to see that Ohkubo didn't forget that Free exists, even if he didn't really do much plot wise other than getting arrested. But at least we know he is alive! :D

Also I get the distinct feeling that the sudden costume change is there because Ohkubo got tired of the Spartoi uniform and wanted to draw everyone in sparkly new clothes. Either way, I'm still excited to see what the new outfits look like. I'm hoping the main color for the outfits is grey, for no reason other than that the first set of outfits were mostly black and the Spartoi outfits were mostly white and I just think grey would be a nice addition to the color set.

Is it just me, or is this whole order/disobeying/rules/etc gratuitously hammered in? I like it when stories have a moral to teach, but goodness it feels like Soul Eater is just slapping me in the face with this message in the most unenjoyable way ever. I could handle this once, but it seems like the message worms its way into the plot more than it necessarily needs to.

Thank you for the translation and recap!

[(Anonymous)]

Same anon as the one who made the comment about the outfits. Please disregard that, I should have read the summary more thoroughly, ahaha... ^^; My apologies.

But still, thank you for the translation and recap!

[nenena]

You're welcome, and don't worry about it!

I mean I've missed whole panels before when I've been recapping this manga so hey, it happens to the best of us. ;)

[titangirl161.livejournal.com]

This chapter...I love Stein, I truly dearly LOVE Stein. Always have, always will. Taking out entire endless clown armies, telling Kid to get his ass in gear and do what Daddy says, that snarky remark to Spirit...I would've loved to see the bunny ear eyes another chapter, but even still I can live with this...I cannot live with Kid's continuing mounting stupidity (was he this stupid before, or did the lack of oxygen on the moon mess with his head?) and daddy-issues. And I really want to see that pun translated SOMEHOW, mainly because now I have no idea what Free was trying to say.

I ghuess, despite the fact everyone else needed an AIRSHIP to get to the moon, Maka is just going to fly right on up because she is a main character or some crap. LOL at them all drawing and getting matching headbands to stay together in spirit (d'awww). I really want to see those outfits now...

Thanks for the recap! ^_^

[nenena]

The outfits are their original outfits. They just added the black bands as accessories (Soul wears his as a headband, Maka wears hers as an armband, Tsubaki wears hers on her exposed thigh, and Black Star wears his on his wrist).

[(Anonymous)]

such a silly chapter.... but so much better than the serious ones

[nenena]

Curious as to why/how?

(Not disagreeing or anything, just curious!)

[anitheanimaniac]

That's right. Free is back.

I squeed so bad omg so much happiness. And then I squeed even more during the Free and Eruka exchange. I'm so happy Ohkubo did that and made it even more epic by getting him arrested in the process. Such a cute and funny scene. Now it's time for Free to make his big escape! :D

And that last scene sounds really cute. Other than Kid being dumb and such, I think I'm really going to enjoy this chapter. I can't wait to see the raws when they're posted. :)

[nenena]

I know right?! I actually fist-pumped the air when I saw that Free was back. I've been waiting so long for him to make an appearance again!

[skirtingdanger]

AHHH. Oh dang, this sounds like one of the better chapters to happen in a long while. It seems like things are finally getting somewhere!

Thank yoouuu for always being willing to translate the chapters for us every month * 3* ♥ I can't wait to actually see it.

[nenena]

I don't know if this is one of the better chapters to happen in a while (because last month's is a pretty hard one to top), but it was definitely a great chapter nonetheless!

[skirtingdanger]

Well, I did like the last one, but admittedly just the latter half of it anyway. I'm sure the moon battle won't be nearly as much a drag to plow through once it's all out and we can go through it at once, but for now it feels a bit like it to me. But from reading this, I think I'll be able to enjoy the entirety of this chapter, so maybe it's just me that thinks so, haha.

Either way, it still makes me eager!

[nenena]

Oh, I agree completely, the moon battle has definitely been dragging. It's gotten so boring and repetitive these past few chapters, ugh. I can't wait for them to finally get rid of all the clowns. So yes, I'm definitely looking forward to the next few chapters too!

Drooling over screen (again)

[(Anonymous)]

OMG.....OMG....

Everything....just...just everything here :3 I couldn't help but pause and react out loud after reading every line, especially after seeing that "FREE" is making a comeback! It's about damn time Ohkubo!

Stein showed a human emotion :O Adorable!? *Thinks is finally cannon XD*

That's sly thinking there by Ohkubo, using Soul Protect. Something almost forgotten from the very beginning of the story, gonna play a big part now. Ahh yeah, this is why Ohkubo is the best.

And then Stein and Spirit's banter...that will never get old...one of the highlights of this chapter...Hell! All the dialogue this chapter was amazing! I loved it all! I can't wait to see it in picture form!

And the answer to Soul's Headband design finally comes to light! And lol Maka, no artistic skills whatsoever >_< I really wanna see Black*Star's and the other designs!

And then the last part...oh God...NOSTALGIA FTW!!!!! OLD UNIFORMS KICK ASS! OMFG! I CANNOT WAIT TO READ THIS SHIT!

That battle cry...It better be followed with an extremely pumped up and sort of angry Maka face pointing up to the sky. I really hope it is...XD

Again....Thank You dearly for spoiling us before lazy ass scanlators fuck up terribly. I basically blew up on my facebook friends while reading through this. They say I grow another personality when reading these spoilers and the actual chapter. If so, I don't care. I love shit! And I thank you so much for this again!

-Thankful as always, Zi

Re: Drooling over screen (again)

[nenena]

lol yeah I know that this makes me a huge hypocrite because normally I'm the first to say "Hey lay off the scanslators," but fuck it, this month I'm all for having a good laugh at their expense. Because last month Tiesto apparently couldn't be arsed to actually translate all of Justin's dialogue, so he lifted whole chunks of it from my recap and then gave himself credit for translating the entire chapter, I guess hoping that nobody would notice.

Re: Drooling over screen (again)

[(Anonymous)]

Not just Justin's Dialogue...But where in the FUCK do they come from where they think that they can translate "Lines of Sanzu" or "Sanzu Lines" into "Lines of Size"? How the hell does that even happen? It's like the scanlator doesn't even read the manga! That really pissed me off about last month...smfh. It was seriously just a fucking pathetic job on their part. Which is why I look forward to your Spoiler Alerts so much every month. It makes reading those scans a little easier knowing I can come back here and read what's it's supposed to really say. Anyways...here's to hoping the chapter comes out sometime this week at least

-Zi

Re: Drooling over screen (again)

[nenena]

Whoa. Calm the fuck down.

"Lines of Size" isn't a mistranslation. It's obviously a spellcheck or an autocorrect error. Yes, it's still a mistake and they still should have caught it, but they didn't. Big deal.

Scanslators provide you with free manga every month at considerable expense (not to mention criminal risk) to themselves. They do it for free, they're not professionals, and mistakes are going to happen. So what? Your free pirated manga isn't going to be perfect. If you want professionally translated and edited manga, then pony up and buy the official releases. When you're stealing manga for free, though, you're getting what you bay for: an inferior product.

I'm sorry, but this is one of my biggest fandom pet peeves right here: People who don't speak a shitlick of Japanese pitching fits about how wrong somebody's translation is or how bad the scanslations are. Come on, don't be that person.

And yes, I realize that this is probably my fault - I'm the one who opened the door for temper tantrums about mistakes in scanslations when I posted my ETA above - but you understand the difference here, yes? Taking credit for somebody else's translation is just not cool. But pitching a fit about typos and mistakes in scanslations that you get for free is also not cool. Understood?

Re: Drooling over screen (again)

[(Anonymous)]

Yep...I was THAT guy last night...ain't my fault I wasn't born in Japan :p

Yeah I understand what you're saying...but would you post a piece of work of yours if you knew it wasn't the best it could be? Like you said, "Lazy scanlators" and that's probably all it was. And maybe it's just me, but waiting a month, unlike weekly shounen manga, I sort of expect quality for a manga like Soul Eater.

*Btw I do buy all the volumes that come out here in the U.S. as they come out and have bought the anime DVD's as well. So I do support Ohkubo*

Re: Drooling over screen (again)

[nenena]

but would you post a piece of work of yours if you knew it wasn't the best it could be?

Yes. I would and I do. I proofread my own blog posts and fanfics before I post them, but I don't go over everything with a fine-toothed comb because, sorry, but I prioritize my real job and RL obligations over fannish work, which means that I just plain have less time to spend on fannish work, hence the fannish work sometimes gets posted with mistakes. I fix my own mistakes when I notice them, but I don't always notice them. And frankly I think that making a typo or a spelling error - or hell, even a translation error, as I sometimes do because sometimes I read Japanese too fast - in a funny post about some shounen manga that I put on my livejournal is a lot less egregious of a mistake compared to doing the same in a document or email that I make for work. So guess which tasks I devote more time and effort to? And, newsflash: Everybody does this.

I'm sure that scanslators are in the same boat. They have school and work obligations that they have to prioritize over spending time slaving over a silly manga from Japan that it's illegal for them to be posting online in the first place; scanslating is a high-risk, low-reward venture, yet they continue to do it for free just so that fans like you can read your free manga every month. I'm glad that you support the Ohkubo and the copyright holders by buying the official stuff, but that's irrelevant here: the issue is about the latest chapters from Japan, so you and the scanslators are both riding the same pirate ship there.

but waiting a month, unlike weekly shounen manga, I sort of expect quality for a manga like Soul Eater.

That's hilariously illogical, but okay. If you want higher-quality scanslations, then volunteer with one of the SE scanslation groups as an editor. If you're not actually doing anything to help those groups, though, then stop spitting in their faces when they offer you scanslated manga for free. Even with typos and errors, it still takes a helluva lot of time and effort to create a scanslation, so stop calling them lazy when they're busting ass to cater to your fannish whims.

(But I still reserve the right to call the translator who gave himself credit for my translations pretty damn lazy, but that is an entirely separate issue from this whole "oh noes there are mistakes and imperfections in my pirated manga!" business.)

Re: Drooling over screen (again)

[(Anonymous)]

Just wanted to pop in here and say that the "Lines of Size" is actually in the Chinese translated scans, but I don't remember if that was in the original Japanese raws.

I remember because when I was looking at the Chinese scans, I was just laughing and pointing at it, like this:

LINES OF SIZE ROTFLMAO WHAT SIZE WHEN DID IT BECOME SIZE????

Re: Drooling over screen (again)

[nenena]

but I don't remember if that was in the original Japanese raws.

It wasn't.

Re: Drooling over screen (again)

[(Anonymous)]

That's what I thought!

Anyway, I think my point to the anon was that it's possible for the scanlators to have used Chinese raws for at least some of the translation and then used the Japanese raws for the actual scanlation. That's the only logical reasoning I can think of. Not that it excuses them for not double checking and staying consistent, but yeah.

[chiikaboom.livejournal.com]

THE OLD OUTFITS ARE BACK??? FUCK YEAHHHH!

And hells yes FREE omg. I'm surprised Ohkubo didn't forget about him lol

Honestly though, Kidd saying "but.. i'm on the moon" just made me laugh my ass off. Totally made the chapter for me. Im actually compelled to draw a comic about that line it made me laugh so hard.

Thanks for the recap!

[nenena]

omg please draw that comic. I will love you forever.

Also I laughed way too hard at "But... I'm on the moon" too.

[rieev]

Thanks for the recap, now I'm looking forward to seeing the translated scans.

So....The plan is to use the witches' Soul Protection (an ability that hasn't been mentioned for who knows how many chapters) to interfere with the Kishin's insanity wavelengths so the clowns would stop regenerating? Okay....Don't know where Ohkubo got that idea but if it means that I no longer have to click through pages of pointless Kid vs Clown fighting, I say go for it.

Nice to see a couple of the old characters showing up again, I was starting to miss Free. With that and by the sudden outfit changes (which I'm really excited about), it seems like Soul Eater is heading toward its finale. I'm giving it until the end of the year, unless Ohkubo suddenly pulls out another arc (and he probably would if his superiors are making him continue the series).

[nenena]

I really, really hope that Soul Eater ends at the end of the year, but I'm not holding my breath for it. I neither want this final arc to drag on forever nor for Ohkubo to completely conclude the Crona and Kishin storylines but then pull a third act out of his butt. But we'll see.

Re: :)

[nenena]

It eases my anxiety I have for hoping someone would throw the raws in the internet bowl for me to feed. om nom nom

Guess what I'm doing right now.

Re: :)

[(Anonymous)]

THANK YOU

It was scrumptious.

[(Anonymous)]

Holy crap! Ohkubo actually remembered that Free exists! And he came to save Eruka! (oh please Ohkubo, let them at least have a hug)

I'm kind of hopeful that in the end Shibusen and the Witches will retain some sort of alliance after the Kishin battle, and if the witches fight in the next chapters, perhaps we'll see Angela soon! (maybe even in the moon battle considering how much Shinigami is concerned about childrens safety)

Anywhoozle, thanks for the recap! :D

[nenena]

You are very welcome! :)

[kamdensl.livejournal.com]

I almost want to think that Okubo sent Kid to the moon SOLELY so that he could use that line. "But. . . I'm on the moon" is the best payoff for the repetitive clown fights. Totally worth it.

Also, I'm so happy that Free is back! And with Eruka too! And now I miss Medusa.

[nenena]

I know!! So ridiculously happy to see Free back, too.

[nitrome]

omg :D!!! thanks for this :D~
Now ... I 'll have to wait another month ...

[nenena]

You're welcome! ^__^

[aiwatan.livejournal.com]

Thank you a lot for the recap!

It's nice to see Free and Eruka back once again. Specially together, I was missing them so much.


"Tsubaki said that it's, like, a headband you can wear when your hair is getting in your eyes and stuff..." Soul says.

Tsubaki said? Haven't you been wearing different headbands for like most of this manga?

[nenena]

I know, it's not like Soul has never worn a headband before or anything. (Although to be fair the vagueness in that line is supposed to come from the fact that the Japanese says something more along the lines of 'you can wear this as a headband when your hair gets in your eyes, or you can do different things with it, whatever it doesn't really matter, but the important thing is that THIS WAS TSUBAKI'S IDEA.' I don't think I translated it very elegantly, but I tried.)

[(Anonymous)]

So, now we get the witches.

Called it.

In fact, I always predicted ever since they first said they disapproved of Medusa's plans that there would be an alliance between Shibusen and the witches against a common enemy. I just didn't know exactly how they planned to make it work.

[nenena]

Called it.

Well, you and pretty much the entire fandom. I mean it's not like Shibusen has made an alliance with witches in order to defeat a powerful enemy twice before or anything. ;)

:DD

[furrymonkey.livejournal.com]

Ohhh Free! <3 How I missed him, I almost forgot how dumb he is.

And I've got to say I totally loved the Spartoi moment, and the scene where they all change their outfits, but I hate how Kid, Liz and Patty aren't there. They've been left out of an actually touching and epic moment of FRIENDSHIP, and I love those kind of moments *sigh* U__U (It's still epic though)

Anyways, loved the chapter, and the recap! Thank you so much, and thanks for the raws too ^.^

Re: :DD

[nenena]

No problem, and you're welcome!