#mabaa soul eater

[alcruid]

Soul Eater Fandom, who’s “No screentime, all the plot relevance”?

The previous poll “Straight up evil” was won by Medusa! My fav honestly.

Here’s the final poll! And then the list is completely filled :0. THE RESULTS ARE HERE

If there are some characters that lost polls you want to see drawn, you can send me an ask! I’ll draw them at my own pace :3

Also look forward to our reverb

[crowsyart]

Mizune lore stuff to go along with my witch lore

[sepostscreencaps]

Panels from Soul Eater post chapter 13

[thekingofwinterblog]

Thoughts on some future post canon scenario for the Soul Eater anime?

If i were to write a followup to the Anime, i would focus on 2 overarching conflicts, and use them as backdrops for the main cast's further development.

Those two conflicts would be the age old conflcit between death's side and the witches, and how recent developments would naturally lead to escalation, while the other conflict i would gice focus is the rise of a new kishin, one who's madness was not fear, as we have explored that as far as it can go.

The witches are the secondary conflict of soul eater, but we are never given focus on it as two sides, just individual witches like medusa and her sisters.

You can easily change that however, and use the fact the two sides did not make peace in the anime for a sequel story.

Especially because something has changed. Something that would lohically be the next step in escalation.

The death of Kishin Asura proved that not only could the great old ones be defeated... It also showed how. By hitting them with an embodiment of their opposite.

That completely changes the ballgame when the next shinigami rises to take his father's place, because following the death of asura, the witches under mabaa would probably be very, very interested in doing to him, what Maka did to Asura.

I would have them try to turn this concept into an art, using magical science and understanding into discovering the exact in-universe mechanics behind this, and how to sinplify the process... Or maybe even use it as the basis for successfully taking control over a great old one that witches through both the anime and manga kept trying to do with Asura.

Excalibur has always been a true joke character... But imagine his power under the control of an antagonistic witch.

That would be both terrifying... And also keeping in theme with what Asura said at the end.

Even if Maka defeated him, some new, great evil would arise. A second, an heir, a successor, whatever, someone would rise to fill his void.

That was a risk Maka understood and accepted as she crushed Asura. She just did not care, because she refused to live her life in fear. If it did, she would handle it when the day came.

It also would ahow that Shinigami wasnt exagerating when he described the conflict between witches and his side as one of eternal esxalation.

Of course, this new stage of an age old conflict, and the potential rise of a new great Kishin would mainly be there to serve as the backdrop for our main cast. I would also very distinctly be taking this story in a more romantic development for all of them, exporing the fact that as the series ended, any followup would certainly have them be young adults.

Obviously kid's story would be about actually having taken his father's place, and actually having to continue his father's conflicts... As well as how Patty and Liz would fit into it. Has he considered the fact that just like his father he would outlive every single one of his friends and comrades? How would he react to that? We know how his father reacted to fear... He ripped it out and made Asura. But Kid is a new shinigami, that will have to find his own way.

As for the sisters, what do they want? Are they content to live as Kid's guns until the day they die? And if so, will that be as friends, or do they want aomething more out of it?

Tsubaki and Black star would be very similar to the manga journey, but with the cqveat that Black Star in this universe did not kill Mizune... Im not exactly sure how i would have his overall journey change as a result, but i feel that this moment was a truly decisive one in his development, so having him take a different route should have consequences.

As for Tsubaki, i'll be real, out of all the weapons she is by far the one that NEEDED to take her relationship with her weapon to the next level if you want her to actually develop as a character, but she just doesnt have many other routes to take... And it's not as if her wanting to take the next step with Black Star is a bad next step for her.

And finally we have Maka, Soul and Crona.

Now there are two sides of these i would explore. The romance, and the non romance.

The non-romance part is exploring their family lives. Medusa isn't dead for one, so that is something that needs to be adressed, but it's hardly the only one.

Soul and Maka both have families they love, but have run away from for various reasons, and in different ways. With Maka i would have her and Crona talk about it, and have Maka begin to come to terms with the fact that her mother abandoned her... Leading to them tracking her down. Wheter or she comes back home with them or not, the main focus would be closure.

Maka and her mother reaffirming their love for each other, while also not sweeping the very real faults of mrs albarn and how she handled her divorce under the rug. Maybe with maka having the realisation that she simply does not understand her mother, or that her mother simply is not capable or doing what she did, and taking another leap of faith like she did after Crona betrayed her.

As for Soul I would absolutely have him having to interact with his family(after he becomes a death scythe) again, but exploring their issues from a different angle, namely that for all his feelings of inaduqasies, his family never really regarded him as lesser in any way, and quite on the contrary, are really proud of him for becoming a death scythe.

Having to confront the fact that everything you saw wrong with the world is a bitter pill to swallow... But absolutely great for a character arc. It's mundane, but also a great window into Soul's character.

Now with that in mind, i would also use Soul's development for something else.

Namely having his newfound courage to confront things he doesnt like or feel confident aboyt head on lead to conflict, as he now is willing to confront a reality staring him in the face head on.

That conflict being Maka and Crona.

Now it's pretty clear in both the Manga and the anime that soul does have feelings for Maka, with his genderbent self(which represents his ideal idea for a partner) in particular looking very similar to a maka who let her hair grow long...

But that is not the case for Maka, who's ideal partner is a spindly beanpole, with short hair, with an andragonous looking boy that could easily be labled as either gender.

Now while the main cast took this ideal sense to play up what they see as no changes, what this "Ideal" partner represents is actually pretty obvious.

Namely how Crona looked before leaving the school, and by extension going through puberty.

In regards to how i would use this for this sequen to the anime, i would have Soul having to confront the fact the girl he likes in love with someone else... One of his own friends, who the anime seems to suggest moved in with him and maka after the Kishin's defeat.

One who, lets be frank, returns ALL of Maka's feelings.

There is SO much much juicy potential for great character developments and moments especially within the context that there is a very real war going on around all of them, where Maka and Soul need to be at their very best.

Not to mention that this would probably be one topic that would bring out genuine passion in the introverted Crona, who's development with Maka being the most important thing In Crona's life, having the reality that Crona is not the only person who loves Maka could be a very real wakeup that leads to further development.

And of course there is Maka in the middle of it all, where you cpuld handle it from several different angles. She could be the sane man, who is trying to keep their team focused on the mission, who is completely blindsided that Crona and Maka choose NOW of all times to have this discussion... Or you could have her be completely blindsided by the fact that Soul has feelings for her, and chooses to bare them to her before a romantic relationship with Crona(who she likes) has actually taken hold.

There are a lot of ways to handle it, and the aftermath, and subsequent reconnection as the partners have to come to terms with it, and decide where they fo from here. Its rife for great drama, and rooted in the respective character flaws and developments... As opposed to Manga Maka's sudden and out of nowhere fear she is inaduquate compared to soul.

Good character development and drama is built on what is already there, not inventing things whole cloth.

As for the next Kishin, wheter they be an existing character twisted to the path like Crona, or an entierly new character, i would probably play up the fact that the Witches wants to control them, while Death's faction wants to exterminate them... But in the end, it's a friendship from either, or both sides that in the end convinces the Kishin to do what neither Asura or Manga Crona did.

Give up on the power of their own free will, in favor of their bonds with other people, rather than embrace a lonely existence as the strongest thing alive.

Im not sure if i would completely end the conflict between witches and Death like the manga did, but i would definitly lay the groundworks for some kind of lasting peace at the end of season 2, where the two sides are just... TIRED of endless war, back and forths, retalitions and counterstrikes.

I think an uncertain future, but still one where the protagonists choose to give this peace between them a try, similar to the end of the original anime after Asura's defeat, would probably work best.

[ink-asunder]

Soul Eater Witch Headcanons

There can actually be more than one witch with a certain theme. Arachne is a spider witch, but there's also several witches with arachnid familiars and themes. Only the most powerful witch of that group gets the official title of "the (whatever) witch." If the witch holding the title dies, that title might be up for grabs. The title can be won either by a vote among the witch order or duking it out with your competitors.

Witches must be formally acknowledged by Mabaa in order to be more or less allowed. If a witch refuses to come forward and establish their name and familiar type, they will be considered rogue witches and they won't be allowed at the witch gatherings.

Witches are not always born witches, and not all children born to witch parents are witches. A person can become a witch at any point in their life and then be acknowledged by the witch order as one of their own.

When a witch discovers her familiar animal, the witches host a celebration. It's like a coming of age ceremony, in a way. It's customary for the celebrated witch to receive gifts--both bought and handmade--orienting around their familiar theme. It's an easy way to get a lot of themed practical objects all at once. Normally these celebrations are a big deal; everyone within the witch order is invited, and the party can last days. They're celebrating their own survival, the health and fortune of their newest generation, etc.

[soul-dwelling]

In the Soul Eater world, would stage magicians like Chris Angel, Penn and Teller, and David Copperfield be performing in "Witchface"?

...Huh. That's actually a good question I had not considered.

We know from the NOT manga that Kim found it awkward to dress up as a witch for Halloween, in a costume that Jackie made for her. On first look, I thought it was a rather typical Halloween witch costume: the hat, the shawl. However, it only went so far as Kim being a bit confused whether a "real witch" would ever dress up like that, and that's when I noticed the witch outfit had more of a punk aesthetic.

(It also was a witch costume not too far removed from what we have seen Angela, Eruka, and Mabaa wear...as well as that one witch from that one Soul Eater prequel [not Soul Eater NOT, the other one] that I'm not going to talk about because that series can piss off, but now I'm going on a diatribe...)

So, in canon, there doesn't seem to be much of a cultural taboo or evidence obvious to me yet that someone in a witch outfit would be considered imitating the culture and look of someone else. (Granted, I also think this exceeds Ohkubo's field of interest, seeing as he tends to sidestep how problematic details would be if taken to a more believable degree--but, again, after that prequel crap he put out [again, not Soul Eater NOT, the other one] where he just went off the rails and ruined the worldbuilding in Soul Eater, yeah, "Ohkubo didn't think this through" seems to be a common problem.)

That being said, given how irate certain witches like Medusa were with sorcerers like Noah, it's not a major leap to then think that imitating magic with stage magic a la Penn and Teller, etc, could be bothersome. If we saw more of the Soul Eater world in canon, maybe that could've been addressed easily as, "Well, that's just illusions, not real magic, Michael," and that avoids an argument that it's trying to make fun of witches.

So, to finally give some answer to your question: I would imagine, in Soul Eater, that enough people know a stage magician is not the same as a witch, so unless there is a magician actively taking on the attire (like Jackie's Halloween outfit for Kim), customs, iconography, and terminology of witches, people in that setting know enough that a stage magician is not witch-face...but that doesn't preclude that there are very likely some magicians who are taking on the aesthetics and customs of witches for the sake of aping them for laughs, cultural appropriation, and to perpetuate a propaganda campaign against witches, it's just all something we never got to see in Soul Eater.

I'll repeat, Ohkubo really didn't bother to take this to any logical conclusion, and that's a shame, because I can imagine a story where we see how Lord Death and others participate in a wider propaganda campaign than what we have seen yet in canon, where witches are not just accused of crimes we have seen but that it's exaggerated to the point of villainizing all of them, and then we're forced to wrestle with how that propaganda led to demonizing Kim until she doesn't feel welcome at the DWMA, or show how someone like Black Star may have fallen for that hype before confronting Angela. But this isn't the villains in My Hero Academia who get humanized, or Nimona where the "monster" gets humanized--this is Soul Eater, where these kind of complicated story ideas are left for fanfiction.

Instead, we just reduce the entire origin of witches in Soul Eater to some fink from Fire Force (THAT'S THE PREQUEL), dragging down what could have been an engrossing bit of worldbuilding into some pain in the ass who wanted Shinra to get her pregnant.

... ... ...

I wish, like a magician, I could make Fire Force disappear...

[just-a-possum-ranting]

Hey everyone this is just a side blog for my fics, headcanons, and current wips but if you follow my main blog @emotional-support-hufflepuff you'll find some polls where my indecisive ass uses votes to decide what to write next!

Completed fics:

1. The killing kind: What do you do when you've hit rock bottom? Grab a pick axe and keep digging because now you have Asura and a demon murder clown from an alternate universe hunting you down.

When a spell created by mabaa goes wrong, tearing a hole between realities, Maka and her friends -along with the losers club- will swap both realities and powers. With the help of they're reluctant partners they'll have to team up to fight each others villains and find their way back home.

Current wips:

1. Love in the middle of a firefight: They're just two dumbasses finding love, kicking ass, and trying not to die in a zombie apocalypse

2. The deadfast club: After graduating from high school Maka gets a scholarship to a private out of state college. After living in the city it's her chance to go out and explore but the chance to go to a school she's only dreamed about seems to good to be true.

The chance of getting a scholarship is rare but to get accepted is a once in a blue moon opportunity. After moving onto campus to begin her classes Maka starts to notice things aren't always what they seem at the dwma.

Paintings of previous headmasters seem to watch her every move as a voice that can only be recalled from her dreams attemps to warn her to wake up.

With the help of her newfound yet strange friends Maka will unravel the secrets of what really brought her here but if not careful she to will fade away just as others that have gone missing in death city did before

What will I write: currently hyperfixated on Soul Eater and this will continue until I start writing my original projects again. I don't write smut but will write fluff once in a blue moon so if anyone has requests send them in and I'll write them!

[reaperspikes]

Lookat them go, watching kid's speech-

[trafalgarlawsdepression]

PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE SEASON TWO IN YOUR HEAD

OKAY CURRENT PROGRESS ON SOUL EATER SEASON TWO THAT LIVES IN MY HEAD.

hm okay so first of all it takes place a few years after the og series, I'm thinking like six to seven? point is the gang is all split up, maka was offered a teacher position at dwma but turned it down to travel a bit and consider if she's comfortable with working for dwma considering all the secrecy they're doing. soul is with her because that's what he does and crona is with her because Do Not Separate Them. blackstar and tsubaki are also out seeing the world but less to philosophize and more to get stronger because they're tsubaki and blackstar, possibly incorporating tsubaki's cool new forms from the manga. kid is still in death city and basically I think it'd be interesting if he's slowly preparing to take over as death god with full knowledge of what that would entail for lord death, since that would kinda put a new spin on it compared to the manga. also on the side he's also doing his own scheming because I think that would be fun.

anyway, plot stuff is that dwma have been using angela and mifune to get in contact with the witches and there's talk of a truce, once again incorporating stuff from the manga. the plan is to send kid to do some preliminary negotiations with a team to look out for him, and he asks to take maka and blackstar rather than like, stein or someone, partly because friendship and partly because they're more likely to go along if he starts scheming. this is how we reunite the gang, minus crona who would be wildly unsafe going into with territory considering their connection to medusa and because there's a chance the witches might want to study up on the black blood, in which case crona is the best test subject.

before they leave for the negotiations some way or another it comes out that kim is a witch, which the gang promises to keep secret also I think it'd be cute and sweet if the whole b-team knows and are looking out for kim. anyhoo through kim they find out a bit more abt what the current political situation in the witch world is, which angela and mifune had not been let in on since he's a human and she's like ten. basically, as eruka said in the og series mabaa is getting old so they're also prepping for a change in power, and the title of supreme witch or whatever is slated to go to one of three chosen young witches who have been trained from birth. the gang decide to keep this to themselves for now, partly to keep kim safe and partly because of kid's scheming.

(it should also be noted that there needs to be so many heartwarming reunions also also blackstar is still the shortest he's the token manlet of the group)

anyway they get going and eventually meet up with a witch who uses magic to transport them to where mabaa is hanging out, maybe the witches have a cool witch city that's like. a pit or something whatever it is it needs to be dramatic. negotiations start and kid reveals that he's not only interested in a truce, he wants an active partnership, hence the scheming. mabaa at least isn't outright opposed to the idea but notes that the dwma have been hunting witches for ages so the larger community is bound to be at the very least hesitant. the whole witch election is brought up and mabaa agrees to set up meetings with the three witches with the understanding that if the gang so much as lay a hand on them or in any way try to meddle in the process she will personally see to it that the dwma/witch conflicts escalates to an all out war.

after this I'm kinda fuzzy on the plot, but the first one they see is maggot witch, who's not interested in a partnership. she gives the group brain worms which they manage to get through by the power of friendship or something, and which blackstar has a problem with bc he has a hard time asking from help because that's a sign or weakness or whatever, once again I'm unsure on this. around this time is also where crona shows up because they only managed to keep still for like a day before they started worrying abt maka since they have a lot more experience with witches than she has. they've gotten a lot better over the years, they're still very sheltered but their partnership with ragnarok is much more stable and they can make a joke or two I think. I feel like they deserve it.

next they probably take a quick break at some kind of safe house to recover and build character dynamics, after which they go see bee witch. bee witch is a lot more fun to be around, she throws big parties and has a laff, and she says she'd be interested in working with dwma, because she has a personal loss in the conflict. here we find out that a witch she was really close to (maybe her mom idk) was the witch maka's mom killed to make a death scythe, which maka is smart enough to shut up about but which makes the potential alliance a bit shaky since it's one thing to talk abt it in abstract and a whole other thing to have a shot at revenge within arm's reach. they leave not feeling entirely sure and with crona deeply uncomfortable since they had to endure a party scene press f.

last with they see I haven't drawn or developed a whole bunch yet, but she's a dragonfly witch and doesn't really care either way abt working with dwma since she's not interested in the leadership position in the first place. she has a lot of feelings abt being raised for this One Purpose and not getting to be a person, especially with the risk that she's not even going to get to serve that purpose, which hits home with crona. after this I have. no idea what happens but probably something goes wrong, maybe because of kid's scheming since lord death is bound to find out at some point.

additional notes: I think soul and crona should get to bond over being the most introverted, like just seeing them look genuinely comfortable sitting away from the group and not saying a word to each other. maka's mom's achievements kinda coming back to bite maka in the ass I feel like would give some nuance to the way maka idolizes her mother and constantly tries to follow in her footsteps. I think maybe since this is soul eater season two that lives in MY head I should get to sprinkle in some romance who's to say. I could back it up with how it would add to the themes if I wanted to but it's embarassing and this post is already filling up my embarassment quota for the night, so ask me like. tomorrow if you want to know. I cherish you so much for asking me abt this though make no mistake. I dip you like a dancer

[toweroftunes]

Soul Eater headcanon that Kim uses her tanuki witch powers to prolong Jackie’s life as they get older. But every time Kim uses her magic this way it takes a bit of time off of her own lifespan as a witch.

Aww jeez.

Imagine that Jackie doesn’t know Kim wants to use her power like this. Kim doesn’t know how to tell her. Maybe she does this accidentally the first time after Jackie is injured in battle. Maybe she learns about it from Mabaa. Dunno! But it’d def be an interesting premise to play with themes of sacrifice and trust on.

Idk. Maybe I’ll fuck around and file it away with the rest of the fics I’ve never written.

(Also don’t feel like I see enough of this ship??)

[emmatheward]

This is gonna sound silly but upon seeing that Baba needs a wife my first thought was Maba from soul eater, she's at least 300 years old or older, so same ages, two powerful witch ladies, singular eye theme as I've seen Baba only has one eye and the other is missing much like how Mabas eye was plucked out, Maba has a massive raven while Baba has snakes they could hang out, I know you probably mean ocs but thought I'd share

You know I’ve watched all of Soul Eater a few years back & I do not remember that character. It is pretty insane how much similarity they have. Mabaa seems like someone who would get use to a woman that eats bugs & raw meat. But I gotta ship Baba with someone original.

[franstastic-ideas]

As for Frisk and Chara themselves, in Wraithtale, their monster forms took inspiration from witches and the myths of shadow people.

Their entire bodies are black like a shadow and they're clothed in robes and pointed hats. Their faces are obscured, but their eyes are still oddly visible. Frisk's eyes are nearly closed, but the slits of her eyes still glow. Frisk's eyes are a gray blue while Chara's are bright red.

Their hair is long, extremely long. Waist long. The reason for this is their magic allows it to move, and therefore their hair can act as pseudo-limbs not unlike an octopus's tentacles.

I think the best template to describe how they look is Mabaa from Soul Eater.

[resbang-bookclub]

AMA Transcript: Soul Eater: A New Madness Consumes?

Next, @emiralnova (Ryu on Discord) stopped in to talk about her Resbang, Soul Eater: A New Madness Consumes? Here’s some of what went down:

Q: What made you think of the plot? Did you know how you were going to end it before you started writing? (I really loved the canceling out concept).

Ryu: Lolololol what is plot? I didn’t have too much of a plan going in. I had their mission sorta laid out, but after the mission I winged it. I feel that writing this was a tad difficult because I wanted to stay in canon and omg never again lol, but it was really fun and satisfying towards the end.

Q: Do you feel like your writing style grew/improved while writing? Was there anything you wish you could have included or that you cut out?

Ryu: I think I improved a little just by the act of writing, which I need to do more of, lol. And I think it was jaded who mentioned “what happened to Maka's christmas gift?” and that kinda got lost in the end, my bad lol.

Q: Do you have any favorite beta comments you’d like to share?

Ryu: Omg there was one thing that marsh said: 'Be the laxative Soul.'

Q: Was music important to your process at all, and if so, are there any songs/playlists that were relevant?

Ryu: I tend to not listen to music when I write cause it distracts me. Unless it fits the mood I need. But usually, no music.

Q: What are you most proud of in this bang?

Ryu: I think I’m really proud of what I did with the mission to the moon and rescuing Crona. Like, I had to plan out what I wanted and it was like a few days before posting, so I crunched it out. And I pulled the whole cancel out and 8 kishin horcruxes out of my ass, but it worked out.

Q: What are you working on next?

Ryu: I am working on nothing writing-related atm.

Q: Was there anything in mind that you wanted to do with the Christmas gift? :0 Like, if the notion hadn't slipped away?

Ryu:  I sorta wanted a more romantic scene to happen and it was supposed to happen before Maka collapsed. But that scene ran away from me so it didn’t work out ^^"

Q: Okay your villain was so interesting, how did you come up with that concept?

Ryu: Oh, the wizard. So like during my first Resbang, I had a dream that basically took place in Brazil at the monolith and there was a guy that was there and was speaking mysterious words to Maka, and that is sorta what I pulled on the entire first mission. His design is slightly based on that one antagonist in BNHA. Slade? Shade? I forgot his name. STAIN, HIM.

https://media.discordapp.net/attachments/263055402583851008/409538871441883138/tumblr_o9sua1jpR61vux8v6o3_400.gif

Ryu: Like his posture and hair and skin were the same. [He’s] maybe less thug and more old and evil.

Q: What's your writing process like?

Ryu: I definitely work better when I plot out my shit point by point, so if I were to deviate, it can happen but at least I had a point for the scene. And it was hard cause of laziness buttt the checkins really helped me decide what would actually happen.

Q: Is there anything you wish you could change?

Ryu: I kinda wished I had more time so that I could maybe have a better ending. I feel like the cancelling out was good for the circumstances, but it felt like cheating to me, but it largely worked out and I was ok with it.

Q: Why the amazon?

Ryu: Hmm idk. I think the guy I liked at the time was half Brazilian so I just… made it so. But it wasn’t done in the fandom yet, so I felt that Brazil was a safe place to host my mission. And I also pictured tons of trees and tropical areas. So… Brazil.

Q: Who is the Wizard? Does he have a real name? Is he actually Mabaa's brother?

Ryu: I didn’t have a real name for him. And it’s rumored but not confirmed, like I said in the fic.

Q: Do you think your view on characters changed or anything as you wrote?

Ryu: I felt like I was stretching Maka’s mindset during her fall out but it was okay? I think? Whenever I think of Maka, I tend to imagine her as like this brave, no nonsense sorta girl that wouldn't really let her emotions hold her back? At least that is what I struggled with this whole fic. But I think I did the best I could to try to make it realistic, and I think that sort of helped balance Soul out because he seemed to be the most put-together of the two. And I sorta drew my inspo from the sloth chapter from the manga to help me cement some of Maka's guilt.

Q: Did you have a fav moment in the fic. Mine is def chew toy Soul.

Ryu: Omg I love that part. I feel like my favorite part would be Crona and Maka reuniting. I think I teared up a little writing that scene. I felt guilty about Rag. Like, I wanted to save him too, but the black blood held me back.

Q: I really liked that he did the good thing in the end though. Like, he actually gave a shit.

Ryu: I struggled with that at first cause I didn't just want to get rid of him for no reason other than the blood thinning or something. I think it would've redeemed his character a little, so I was really happy with that. The ending for me somehow pulled itself together at the last minute lol.

Q: Were there any parts you had to rewrite? :0 And if so, why?

Ryu: Ughhh so the fic started with Spartoi waking up as animals??? That was the original beginning, and that was supposed to lead into the Brazil mission. But when I started to plot the story out, the story turned out much darker than I intended and so the beginning didn't fit anymore. So i had to start from scratch. At some point I wanted to rewrite first half so that the story became more linear than having the flashback, but I didn't have time for it. ^^" I did rewrite some paragraphs, but that was basic editing. I found that later, when I was in the writing process, there were some passages that were weak and long, so I cut a lot of stuff out, and rewrote them to fit the tone.

Q: Was there a scene that was your least fave to write?

Ryu: I feel like the Death Room meetings dragged me, but I had to do it. Also I have a thing where the death room is the place to spam info into dialogue. So in the future, I kinda want to deviate from the room for more nuanced info dumps

Q: I love that you dealt with witch relations and all those post canon dynamics, was that always the plan?

Ryu: i sort of wanted to play with all the things that happened after the manga happened, so it just worked out that the witches were there and I was dealing with magic/kishin stuff lol. And that Kid would need to prove himself somehow. I think Kid ended up being more of a central character than I intended, but he is a Shinigami after all lol. I wish I did more with Black Star and Tsubaki, but I have trouble writing them. ^^"

Q: What would you have done with B*S and Tsu, any ideas? :0

Ryu: Hmmm, I wish i could've used them as more plot devices instead of comic relief. Like maybe Black Star could've been more involved with... idk, something serious lololol. In which then Tsubaki would also come into play. I figured if anything, he would at least be there to give some advice and common sense in a funny way :D

Q: How did you come up with the whole cutting up Asura thing? And btw I love that it's acknowledged in fic how gruesome it is.

Ryu: Hmm I’m not sure how it happened but I knew I needed something to happen to Asura once he fell, and my instant reaction was 'cut him up into pieces.' We needed some blood in here, and the spreading it across everywhere sorta made sense as well to me. I didn't intend for it to be like 7 horcruxes, but it [was]. Whoopsss, sorry JKR lol. So yeah, it was mostly a kneejerk reaction. Because if the skin bag didn't work, well ok, let’s cut him up then lol. And he's immortal as well, so Kid had to do something!

Q: Do you think you'll do Resbang next year or any other big projects? :D It sounds like you grew and learned so much from it!

Ryu: I don’t have any active plans. I do have a few AUs on a list but they're hard affffff. Like Evangelion AU. That universe is like a trip and a half, so I don’t think I’m ready for that yet lol. In the meantime, I’m still mulling over my own OC universe I've sat on for ages. But who knows what'll happen this year. We'll see.

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Thanks to Ryu for stopping by! Stay tuned for more transcripts!

[soul-dwelling]

Do you think Medusa was one of the most powerful of the witches or did her "succes" stem from the willingness to be so proactive, no matter the cost?

I’m not satisfied that any material from the comics or the anime give a good answer. 

Let’s try to group together all the magic into some broader categories (thanks to the Soul Eater Wiki for a lot of this): 

Math (calculations, spatial, vectors)

Destruction (and its polar opposite, healing)

Elements (ice, fire, thunder)

Transformation

Summoning 

Mind and Emotional Control

The most powerful magic that I can remember from the series tends to be the mathematical magic, the stuff used to seal the DWMA, to teleport characters from the Moon, and to help Kilik aim Azusa at the Moon. (I’m oversimplifying the terms: I know the spatial magic is distinct enough from the math magic, but it is about predicting space, math is about looking at spaces, so that’s what I’m calling it.) Medusa, Free, and Eruka are all able to use it. And what are Medusa’s vectors if not spatial magic? Seeing as Free’s math magic seems to owe to Mabaa’s eye, I imagine Mabaa too is good at it, as she did  help get everyone off the Moon. We’re shown Kim and the Chupa Cabra witches also use it to get people into the Book of Eibon. 

But it’s kind of weird how that is one of the few really big forms of magic in the canon. The others are either summoning items and familiars (Noah pulling stuff out of the Book, Eruka summoning tadpoles, Kaguya changing clothes), all of which is similar enough to transformation magic in terms of making one thing disappear and another thing pop up (witches’ animal forms, weapon transformations). 

Or, along the poles of destruction (most witches but pretty much any offensive attack magic) and regeneration and healing (Kim).  

Then we have magic that can affect the mind and emotions. We have users such as Arachne, Medusa, and the Great Old One weaponizing Madness itself. And Shaula’s mind control venom. And the one audio drama had the love potion. 

There are few elemental magics, like Free’s ice magic, maybe Fire and Thunder’s abilities. (Holdovers from the Fire Force world?)

So, out of all of these, the math magic is the one that seems the most powerful and the most often used: it gets you around the world, it gets you to the Moon, it gets you to the Witch Realm, you can trap people, you can dodge opponents. 

But math magic is also the most popular--and almost every witch we meet uses it in some way, so it’s ironically also not that powerful despite what I just said about it seeming to be the most powerful. If everyone is using it, then that means it takes one person--Medusa--to step in and figure out ways to work around it. Sure, she uses her vector magic, so perhaps she has weaponized that magic in ways other witches haven’t. (Imagine Medusa opening a portal through someone to kill them.) 

And as you seem to suggest, if Medusa is that driven, that proactive, then I have to imagine that she is probably the most powerful of witches short of Mabaa. 

We have not seen the full extent of Mabaa’s powers, so this isn’t a fair question, and it’s not fair for me to position Medusa at a higher level than Mabaa. Maybe Mabaa has other magic abilities--maybe the magic Free has comes from her, so we have to give her the ice magic, which also means she may also be able to do other elemental magic. This is conjecture, though. 

But think about this: Lord Death is the god of this world; Mabaa is the only other person we have been told can compete with him; Medusa probably would say Mabaa has more magics than she herself does, and that Mabaa is more powerful at even math magic, given how she has tended to the Witch Realm. 

And yet, despite how powerful Mabaa is, and how Lord Death is probably as powerful as her, Medusa was the one who beat Death, locked him up, got Asura out, and finalized making Crona into a world-destruction force. That is not all magic, granted--it is also just brutality, violence, and trickery. In that regard, while I think Medusa has weaponized spatial magic in a way Mabaa hasn’t, as shown by her vector magic, I do think Medusa being so proactive and willing to get herself killed to make Crona into an instrument for destruction shows she was one of the most powerful witches. 

(And she did manage to take over her own sister’s body and repeatedly cheat Death himself.)

[soul-dwelling]

I dunno, its funny to me, I hate the SE manga ending, but atleast it had the guts to basically end the institution of "death scythes" and even the endless war between witches and the dwma - I mean it was rushed but still - while BNHA, a series about passing the torch, about the flaws of the old ways, had just minor gradualist reforms?

Maybe I was expecting too much lol

Question received August 3, 2024, answered August 4, 2024--the official publication date of the last My Hero Academia chapter. 

I think this has as much to do with real-world applications. It’s similar to the problem of whether you want gradual change in society or immediate change. Personally I get why some change is gradual for the sake of trial and error to see what works; I also think the United States needs a drastic leftward swing to counteract more than 40 years of rightwing regression, and that requires immediate fixes, not gradual changes to policing, social welfare, financial support and debt cancellation, federalization of industries and services, stronger support for labor unions, demilitarization, de-policing, shifting resources and services from police departments to non-police units, and drastic reforms to economics and industry to protect laborers and the environment. 

This is a work of fiction. I’m surprised Horikoshi insisted on grounding this in some sort of hyper-realism rather than just letting a happy ending exist. It’s the same problem I have had with the MCU ever since the first Iron Man: the insistence on “grounded in realism” means no magic, little sci-fi, no aliens--and then, boom, suddenly all this unrealistic stuff that clashes and leads to power scaling that is not believable and does not dig into how characters would act in a believable fashion. Horikoshi puts these characters into this setting--and their actions do not strike me as believable for what they would do. 

And I do not feel equipped right now to discuss how some of the changes we do see to society are handled. Shoji helped educate against bigotry--why won’t you show us how? Ochaco implemented better counseling in schools to help students with dangerous Quirks--why don’t you show us how? I am so tired of stories that skip past the bureaucratic community organizing--show me those steps. I know Parks and Recreation has its problems, but it was able to make stories out of the process of providing governmental services. I want to see process, even in my action-packed superhero story. 

But I reluctantly agree: at least Soul Eater showed a very obvious change to their society first with the pact with the witches and second with the elimination of any future Death Scythes, making sure to not just tell but show in the form of Kid’s humbling of himself to Mabaa, the witches showing up to save the DWMA members on the Moon, and Soul’s ceremony at the DWMA as the last death scythe. Where were the scenes in Chapter 430 showing Ochaco leading Quirk counseling? Give me another scene of Shoji engaging in anti-bigotry work outside of shaking hands with another mutant-type person.