Soul Eater, Vol 8       

Author: Atsushi Ohkubo

Publisher: Yen Press

American release date: April 8, 2014

Format/Genre/Length: Paperback/manga/paranormal/188 pages

Overall Personal Rating: ★★★★★

Reviewer: Julie Lynn Hayes

 

It’s Black Star against the bodyguard Mifune! Mifune doesn’t have much choice in the matter, as the little witch Angela is being held hostage. Black Star has come to help Sid, who is to destroy the demon tool Mifune admires Black Star’s Uncanny sword, but is Tsubaki any match for Mifune’s Infinite One-sword style? When Tsibaki tries to persuade Mifune to become a teacher at DWMA, where he can work with children, he tells her the story of how he and Angela met.

Back at DWMA, Maka is still recovering in the infirmary, and gets annoyed when Soul and Black Star begin whispering together in front of her and won’t explain what’s going on.

Something evil is on the loose in Death City, as evidenced by the snake which has wriggled its way into a little girl, out for a walk with her mommy. When Sid returns with the blueprints for the demon tool, he’s surprised that Shinigami-sama tells him to seal it inside the Secret Vault for now, rather than destroy it. What can Shinigami-sama want with such a thing? Isn’t it dangerous to keep it intact? What if someone managed to get their hands on it?

Back at DWMA, Maka has returned to class. Tsubaki is concerned about Black Star. He keeps challenging other people and getting into fights. But why? Dr. Stein is trying to teach the students about cooperation and teamwork, but that isn’t working out so well. Meanwhile, at Arachnophobia headquarters, an unexpected player shows up in the form of Arachne’s younger sister, Medusa!

Death the Kid is throwing a party, and Tsubaki has made all the food, although Liz keeps taking credit for having done it, in order to impress a guy. But Patty and Soul put the kibosh on that plan pretty effectively! Kid unexpectedly tells Patty and Liz to come with him to the Sahara, by orders of the Shinigami. Their mission is to stop the Runaway Express. Shinigami suspects that it’s being powered by a Demon Tool, so they must overtake it and capture the tool! However, that means going toe to toe with with the Fisher King!

Crona is thrilled to be making friends at DWMA, even if Ragnarok can be rather surly to them at the best of times. But things are looking up for him… until a certain someone from his past shows up, someone he has always had trouble saying no to. Will Medusa use the child she was so quick to toss out? And for what purpose?

Two of my favorite things about this action-packed volume of Soul Eater are seeing Mifune again and seeing Death the Kid in action again. I like Mifune, and I hope that ultimately they’ll be able to persuade him to become a teacher at DWMA. With his love of children, I think he would be a natural. But for that to happen, there has to be a place there for Angela too. Which means some attitude readjustment regarding witches. As for Death, he’s one of my favorite characters, quirks and all. Sometimes it’s easy to forget just how very powerful he is, and watching him in action only serves to reinforce that.

My only lament is there is not much of Maka and Soul, but now that Maka is feeling better, I hope to see more of them in future volumes. Also, not much of Spirit, Maka’s father. I can’t help but feel he is actually growing and maturing. He does love his daughter very much (plus I think he’s cute lol).

The big mystery here concerns Shinigami and his growing collection of demon tools. Does he have ulterior motives for not destroying them? I don’t believe he’s doing it for bad reasons, maybe misguided ones? Hard to say at this point, too little information.

Another great volume, looking forward to more of the same!