Asura

"So you cast off your flesh and overcame terror, then used "BREW" to conquer dread!! And finally, you believed in others to construct a pillar of strength that would tower over horror. But it is a frail pillar indeed! Easily toppled!! And once it does, you are done! Madness will take over again! Goodbye until then! You will again hole up with me and cower!!" — Asura in "The Dark Side of the Moon IX".

Name
English	Asura
Kanji	阿修羅
Romaji	Ashura
Personal information
Known aliases	Kishin Asura (鬼神阿修羅, Kishin Ashura) Kishin (鬼神, Kishin)
Relatives	Death ("Father";Fragment of) Death the Kid ("Brother")
Race	Grim Reaper (Mature)
Age	over 800+
Theme/Motif	Buddhism/Hinduism
Classification	Kishin Meister Great Old One
Status	Incarcerated Deceased (Anime)
Meister information
Weapon Partner(s)	Vajra
Abilities information
Soul Wavelength	Madness Wavelength
Powers	Shinigami Powers Madness of Fear Soul Perception
Professional information
Former Affiliation(s)	Arachnophobia Clown Army
Real world information
Manga Debut	Chapter 19
Anime Debut	Episode 18
List of appearances | Gallery

Asura (阿修羅, Ashura) is the first generation Kishin and Great Old One whose affinity to Madness resides in the Madness of Fear. Born as Death's eldest son and as a fragment containing his fear in order for Death to be the God of Absolute Order. He formerly served as a member of the Eight Shinigami Legions as its strongest member until he betrayed the group, and became a Kishin. He was then sealed away by his father and remained sealed until his revival by Medusa's Army. He is the main antagonist of the Soul Eater series.

Cultural References

Asura is also a term for a low-ranking deity in Buddhism and Hinduism. These dieties are typically portrayed as belligerent, looking for any excuse to get into a fight.

Background

Asura was created by a fragment of Death's soul implanted with his fears in attempt for Death to better himself and become a God of Absolute Order. He was then taken in by his father as his first apprentice and became part of his group,"The Eight Shinigami Legions". However, Asura's paranoia led him to having Vajra consume human souls and then consuming the weapon, eventually turning into the first generation Kishin. After his ascension as a kishin, Death skinned him alive and sealed him under what would be known as Death City.

Personality

As the physical embodiment of fear, Asura's behavior is extremely inconceivable; one minute he seemingly has a completely calm and cool demeanor, the next he is both maniacal and senseless. Interestingly enough, this can be seen when Asura covers his face, he tends to act erratically and is unpredictable, making him especially dangerous. However, unmasked, he is almost the opposite. He displays a much more calm and "sane" demeanor, even displaying sarcasm.

According to his father and master, Death, Asura was a suspicious individual. Wrapping himself with a scarf and wearing five or six layers of clothes, Asura never opened his heart up to anyone nor did he ever trust anyone. Despite being the strongest of the Eight Shinigami Legions, Death comments he was always afraid of something and grew to have an obsession with power, which caused him to break the rules of hunting souls outside Shinigami's List. Some of his fears included his own weapon partner Vajra and the "fear of death", despite his status as an immortal Death God. He also may hold actual fear of his father, a notion supported by his reluctance to fight him head on and in the anime, even Arachne had accused Asura of this. In one instance, Eruka Frog's appearance actually startled the Kishin.

In addition, Asura himself admits that his own creation by Death was irresponsible and views Mankind as nothing more then Death's puppets, finding that what's considered normal and insane to be born of Death's own whims. He also considered Death and those who want to become what is known as a "True Death God" like Death the Kid to be tyrants. Despite his conflicting and immoral views, he seems to not understand those who possess strong will even in the presence of someone more powerful, causing him legitimate confusion.

Despite his sinister intentions, Asura also appears to possess a strange, hidden sense of humor. When first awakened, rather than making a sinister or eerie comment as his first words in around 800 years, Asura anti-climatically comments something along the lines of his nudity being uncomfortable, since he, at the time, had no clothes on. Also, before exiting the Sealed Shrine, Asura catches a glimpse of Free standing in front of him, to which he appears to compliment Free on his muscular appearance, admiring it, and then launching himself through the ceiling. Even Free is dumbfounded by Asura's comment, wondering whether it was really addressed at him. Also, before escaping Death City, Asura also appears to be amused by how much Shinigami's demeanor and appearance has changed. When talking with Death, Asura speaks very politely and formally, showing that he may hold some respect for his former master. He also has a constant notion of "admitting" his "fear" of others, despite his actions showcasing otherwise.

Anime Personality

In the anime , Asura has showcased a different side of his personality not present within the manga. Template:Anime Instance

Appearance

Asura is depicted as a very tall, thin, pale young man. Prior to becoming a Kishin, he wore numerous long white scarves, encircling his entire neck and a large portion of his head, and upwards of five to six shirts on his body, each of varying style and color. Even this significant amount of clothing is covered by a further layer; consisting of a red and black pinstriped blazer, as well as an extremely long pair of dark trousers, burying the black shoes worn underneath in a mass of fabric.

Asura has adopted the symbol of three vertical eyes, as he too possesses a third eye on his forehead. Not only does each strand of dark hair on his head look like an eye, due to the presence of white markings, but even his pupils feature this same eye-like shape. This signature eye symbol is tattooed to the backs of each of his hands and the long scarf that encompasses his head is embellished with multiple black images of these vertical eyes, wrapped in a very particular manner so as to display only three at the front. In the anime, his irises are red.

Due to the circumstances surrounding his imprisonment and subsequent revival, Asura was left without a single item of clothing, either old or new. In order to compensate for this immediate need, he fashioned various wrappings out of his own skin to cover his naked body, even forming it to create the long scarves he originally wore with the same three signature eye-like markings.

Asura's face shortly after rebirth

Asura forms his initial outfit from his own skin

Asura's reformed face and hair after his rebirth

Asura's more clothed appearance in the anime

Asura's appearance in the final episode

Asura's appearance in the manga

Asura's colored appearance in the manga.

Asura's soul in the manga.

Power

Manga & Anime

Asura is an incredibly powerful true god. In combat,He possess the sufficiently extreme level of strength and skill to be one of the few individuals able to challenge Death himself head-on. His Soul Wavelength also is at a god level according to Franken Stein and is a Great Old One whose very presence plunges men into Madness. During his tenure in the Eight Shinigami Legions, he was recognized by Death as the strongest out of his personal guards,therefore holding superior power over the likes of Excalibur,Eibon and the Great Old One of Power.

Death has shown some worry over Asura's power,noting that without Death Scythe in hand,Death may be able to fight on a superior level to Asura but he cannot kill him,with Asura succesfully managing to escape Death ultimately. In the anime,he was able to stand up to Death using Death Scythe,while he was unable to defeat Death without leveraging the lives of Death the Kid,Azusa Yumi,Elizabeth Thompson and Patricia Thompson,when he attacked them with a single blast from Vajra,said blast was powerful enough to knock out and badly wound both Death and Spirit Albarn,reverting Death Scythe back to Human Form.

Asura was capable of easily overpowering the Spartoi,who were among the strongest DWMA members,in their fight on the Moon,in which Black☆Star openly admitted that without Maka Albarn and Soul Eater that he couldn't fight Asura alone and Kid agrees that even after he became a True Death God,he still cannot hope to match Asura alone. Maka Albarn also requested both Death the Kid and Black☆Star's aid in connecting a hit on Asura, stating herself that alone, she couldn't land a single blow on the Kishin himself. In the end,it took aid from other DWMA Elites and Witches to defeat Asura. In the anime, Asura even managed to defeat both Kid and Black☆Star despite having been wounded by his battle with Death according to Excalibur.

Officially, Okubo has stated that Asura is also stronger then both Death the Kid (with three of the Lines of Sanzu connected) and Black☆Star during the finale of Soul Eater.

Special Abilities

Lines of Sanzu (ザ ライン オブ サンズ, Za Rain obu Sanzu): Being a Death God himself, it is assumed that Asura possess the Lines of Sanzu. It seems to be indicated by that of the white breaks around his hair, having possessed this appearance since even prior to his betrayal.

Asura using his powers.

• Shinigami Powers (死神の力, Shinigami no chikara): Asura has powerful, divine capabilities due to him being a Death God and is presumably powered by his own Lines of Sanzu. Unlike Kid's own, it doesn't draw power from his parent, Death, and functions in it's own, independent theme. Some of these powers include the unnamed capability of applying red electricity against his opponents, nullifying attacks such as Maka's variant of the Kishin-Hunt.

• Shockwave (衝撃波, Shōgekiha): Asura can create a shockwave by swiping his arms and injuring an opponent. It was powerful enough (when used casually) to injure Noah (Wrath), causing it to dismember his right eye.
• Collect (回収, Kaishū): As a Death God, Asura is also capable of collecting the souls of other individuals without actually consuming them.

Asura using Fire.

• Fire (ファイア, Faia) : Asura is capable of creating fire and using it to burn his opponents.
• Shield (シールド, Shīrudo): Asura is capable of creating shield similar to his father for his defense. However, unlike it being shaped as a skull, he instead carries his own theme and creates a shield with a Buddhist/Hindu theme. He can also use it to surround his entire body.
• Barrier (結界, Kekkai): Asura is able to manifest a extremely strong barrier powerful enough to ward off any kinds of intrusions and create a Space. According to Azusa, the barrier he creates makes the inside similar to that of the Death Room, in which disallows those who enter to leave without permission or defeating the creator the barrier.

Asura shoots lasers with his Shinigami Powers.

• Laser (レーザ, Rēza): A powerful capability in which Asura can create powerful beams. Their power was sufficient enough to destroy a neighborhood of houses when used against Death.
• Dummy (ダミー, Dami): Asura can create a clone of himself with his powers almost instantaneously. He was fast enough to to create a dummy just before Death was able to slice through him.

Soul Wavelength - As a Great Old One,Asura possess an extremely powerful Soul Wavelength,described as being on a god level. His Wavelength Pressure is strong enough to potentially implode weaker Souls. A clash of his Soul Wavelength and that of Death's caused strong winds to occur in the Anime. Madness Wavelength (狂気の波長, Kyōki no hachō): As a Great Old One,Asura emits a Madness Wavelength, which has been described as "inexhaustible" and can affect almost anyone across long distances and around the world, including witches, undead and dead, even when bloodless and sealed away underground. This wavelength is on a god's level.

Free and Eruka induced into an illusion by the Madness of Fear.

• Madness of Fear (恐怖の狂気, Kyōfu no kyōki): His Madness prods and incites the Madness lying deep within the human soul, causing them to go insane or in some cases, face horrific illusions and hallucination in which would result in the person unknowingly commit suicide. In some cases, specific people are more vulnerable to this Madness wavelength; for example, Stein is quite susceptible because of his naturally 'insane' personality in which he likes to dissect things, the Madness wavelength will catch onto and make him go insane more than it would to a character like Justin Law, as Justin is described to be a "devout clergyman." When Asura hides on The Moon, his Madness is so powerful that it induces hallucinations and illusions instantly in any nearby persons, physically paralyze those not immune to its power.

Asura preparing to use his Pressure ability (in the form of an orb)

• Pressure (圧(あつ), Atsu): A ability in which allows Asura to use the pressure of his Madness created from a Kishin eye that corresponds with his theme. He can focus it into a physical force capable of flattening an individual. Asura also demonstrated to "slap" eye formations with his skin, attacking others with pressure and downing individuals like Death the Kid. It's later shown that he is capable of using it to a more grand effect, firing orbs in which release the pressure powerful enough to give Maka's Team difficulty despite already having a Chain Resonance.

Flight (フライト, Furaito): Asura can fly at high speeds in the air.

Soul Perception (魂感知能力, Tamashii Kanchi Nōryoku): According to Clay Sizemore, because of his paranoid personality, he has developed a high level Soul Perception level.

Asura regenerates an arm.

Death God Physiology: Also being a Death God, he has a far more advanced physiology. Just like Death the Kid himself, Asura's body repel everything, even the likes of poison or dye. He also possess superb regeneration that allows him to regenerate body parts such as an arm. Asura's skin is very elastic and can be stretched and compressed into wrappings.

• Immortality (不死, Fushi): As a result of being a Death God and the embodiment of fear, Asura possesses immortality and cannot be killed conventionally. However, this can possibly only be overcome by Death's variant of the Kishin-Hunt and Maka Albarn's punch, which is "full of courage".

Mjolnir his Asura.

Enhanced Durability: Despite having been skinned alive by Death, he manage to survive this for the course of over 800 years. When engaging Death, he was able to withstand his Shinigami Chop and Shinigami Shock Waves attack. He was also able to withstand simultaneous attacks from Black☆Star and Maka Albarn, despite being in a Chain Resonance, easily withstand Death the Kid's shots despite being a True Death God, and take a direct hit from Mjolnir as well as Gopher's Love Cannon with little difficulty. He also withstood attacks from Noah (Wrath), despite his usage of "BREW".

• Resonance Defense: According to Spirit Albarn, those with similar Soul Wavelengths (family members) cannot breach the Kishin's "wall of suspicion and paranoia" and that only a Soul Resonance that goes beyond race, gender, and personality can defeat him.
• Black Blood (黒血, Kokketsu): Asura was revived when Eruka Frog injected Asura with the Black Blood, replacing Asura's previous blood with the Black Blood as a result. Oddly enough, he doesn't suffer from the usual weakness of being affected by attacks relating to attacking via Soul Wavelength. It is also unknown how much of an effect it has on Asura, though Kid does mention that it does give him a buff.

Asura breaks Black☆Star's arm.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Despite seeming to favor long-distance fighting, Asura has displayed considerable skill in hand-to-hand combat. He not only dealt easily with Death the Kid, a master of Death God Taijutsu, when the younger Death God fought in close combat but also successfully used hand-to-hand combat (consisting him of using palm attacks, kicks, and spear hands) to disable even a combined attack from Black☆Star and Maka Albarn at the same time with the combined usage of his own abilities, breaking the assassin's arm at one point in addition.

Enhanced Strength: Asura's strength is great enough to allow him to easily push Maka away and send her crashing to the ground as well as break Black☆Star's arm.

Acrobatic Skill: Asura shown acrobatic ability as he dodged Death's attacks from Death Scythe as well as Maka's attacks while she was unconscious, capable of performing backflips and standing on objects with low widths (such as the crosses in the Death Room).

Weaknesses

Death skinning Asura alive.

Although a powerful entity in his own right, even Asura himself has some forms of limitations on him. Although possessing incredible abilities that make him virtually un-killable, he's not immune to being defeated.

The only individual to have single-handily beat him in a one-on-one confrontation was Death, resulting in the latter skinning him alive. Death even gained the upper-hand in their second confrontation when the latter was at his most powerful wielding Death Scythe, causing him to leverage the lives of both Death the Kid, Liz, Patty, and Azusa Yumi to gain an advantage and defeat Death alone. Even after the battle, Excalibur remarked that his battle with Death left him "badly injured" to which he needed to enter a deep sleep to heal.

Noah takes the upperhand after using "BREW".

In addition, it seems that even Asura himself had some trouble with fighting the Icon known as Noah (Wrath) when the latter used "BREW", a powerful Demon Tool said to be Eibon essentially. He was unable able to deal damage to him with his Skin Scarves and was caught, though the Sorcerer himself failed to do lasting damage on the Kishin.

The Anti-Demon Wavelength can dissolve hallucinations

He's also been able to be sealed away, as Death himself sealed him away with his own abilities and Crona later sealed off Asura using their Mad Blood powered by the Demon Tool, "BREW". In addition, for unknown reasons, however, the anime showcased that a punch "full of courage" from Maka Albarn is able to instantly kill Asura though how exactly is unknown.

As well, Asura's madness is not enough to overcome or fool all opponents. The Anti-Demon Wavelength and Healing Wavelength are both capable of temporarily deterring the spread of madness, even reversing its negative effects and hallucinations. As well, intense focus by some persons, such as Free and Death the Kid, can see through Asura's hallucinations.

Equipment

Asura using his wrappings.

Wrapping (包帯, Hōtai): One of Asura's main weapons seems to be the usage of his own skin modified and stretched to resembled more that of wrapping. This wrapping is strong enough to resist even physical attacks from Death and strikes originating from that of Demon Weapons. Not only can he wrap it around others for some usages (such as strangling) but also can act as a conduit of his own powers (notable for his usage of Fire).

Asura fires Vajra.

Vajra (ヴァジュラ, Vajura): Asura's weapon of choice is his former Demon Weapon partner and Demon Sword he consumed, who takes the form of a pointed and weaponized Vajra. Not only can he use it as a pointed object while acting as a drill but also fires powerful lasers capable of incapacitating Death (with a clear shot) and Spirit Albarn. Vajra also is a rather durable weapon, with Asura remarking that not even the Black Blood (which could melt Ragnarok prior to him being within Crona's bloodstream) cannot melt from the Black Blood.

History

Asura during his time on in the Eight Shinigami Legions.

Eight hundred years ago, Asura was born as a mature Death God when his father, Death, extracted all of his fears from his soul into the fragment with intentions of becoming the "God of Absolute Order". As a Great Old One, Asura later served as a member of the Eight Shinigami Legions as a Meister and Warlord. As a result of the time spent within the group, he was later known as the strongest member of the team.

Asura consuming Vajra.

However, his fearful nature would get the better of him and developed an obsession with gaining power. He was also drive insane due to the Eight Shinigami Legions' extreme sense of justice. After a great battle, Asura began fearing death and secretly fed his partner, Vajra, souls not on Shinigami's List and created the first Demon Sword. He would eventually consume his partner as a weapon full, gaining the ability to consume souls and using the demon weapon by will.

Asura as he achieved becoming a kishin.

As a result, he became the first Kishin. Wrecking havoc with his Madness Wavelength and the Madness of Fear, he was later put to an end by his father. He was defeated, skinned alive, drained of all his blood, and the dried up body and soul was stuffed into a sack made up of his own skin to seal away him and his Madness. Death's soul was then anchored to what would be Death City to prevent the Kishin from moving about. Throughout the next eight centuries, his father and former master would periodically appear to maintain the seal around him.

Synopsis

A Fight to the Death at the Anniversary Celebration Arc

Asura is revived and surprised to see Eruka

Eight hundred years later, Asura is revived when Eruka Frog injects a giant needle of Black Blood into the sack containing the Kishin. As a result, he beings reforming into his original form. As he forms, he is attacked by Death the Kid using the Demon Twin Guns, though they do no damage to the god and continues reforming. As he finishes, he is surprised to find the Frog Witch in front of him, screaming at the top of his lungs. As the witch screams herself in fear, both Kid and Free are astounded by the Kishin being surprised. Black☆Star decides to attack him with his Ultimate Move: Black☆Star Big Wave. However, the attack is ineffective and he is sent flying away from Asura with only a swipe in the air. As Kid attempts to shoot down the Kishin, he is slapped in the forehead with Asura's elastic skin, causing him to get knocked out in one hit. Asura then stretches his skin into Skin Scarves, loudly exclaiming that he is naked and needs to cover up, which he does. He then comments on how nice it must be to have muscles, before jumping into the air and flying his way out of the shrine.

Asura and Death meet once again after eight hundred years.

As Asura reaches the surface, he is then captured by some of Death's seals that were in place just in case he ever escaped earlier. However, due to being newly revived and the dated sealing, the seals are easily torn. However, Death then appears before Asura. As Death greeted the Kishin and questions wellbeing, Asura questions why Death currently wears a silly mask. As the question is answered, he presumes that the silly voice in which he speaks is the result of being in the academy and wanting to appeal to the children. Death then gives Asura an ultimatum, stating it is time for him to die again before being hit by a powerful Shinigami Chop.

Asura drills through Death.

Crashing into the group, he then laughs manically, asking Death does he know the pain of having skin torn from the body and claims he's forgotten. He then sends his skin scarves to Death, prompting him to use Katsu and Shinigami Shock Waves to nullify and counter his move. He takes the shockwaves, taking damage and easily heals. He then attempts to escape, with Death blocking his way with a Death Block shield, promoting him to use his own abilities to drill through both the shield and Death. As Death attempts to skin him alive again, the attack bounces away and it is revealed Asura was aware that Death can no longer move freely. He then tells Death that he doubts they'll ever meet and bids his farewell, calling Death "Master" before leaving.

After escaping Death City, Asura found refuge on The Moon and eventually generated Clowns from his Madness Wavelength.

Arachnophobia vs DWMA Arc

Template:Anime Instance

Mad Blood Arc

When Crona had used Mad Blood to encompass a large sphere of Black Blood around the city Ukraine, Asura's own Black Blood reacted and prompted Justin Law and The Clown to investigate the reason behind it.

Dark Side of the Moon Arc

After Noah (Wrath) manages to capture Asura by using Brew to fuse with one of his ants, Crona suddenly appears behind Noah and they dissolve both Noah (Wrath) and Asura in twister of Mad Blood. Crona then absorbs only Asura and they say that they don't need Noah (Wrath), who Ragnarok immediately spits out of Crona's body. However, after Crona has a mental breakdown, Asura assimilates Crona's body and swears to create a chaotic world driven by Madness.

He easily resists Maka's failed attempts to get Crona back, and deflects several attacks by Maka, Black☆Star, and Kid, watching calmly as Kid completes his transformation into a full Shinigami and commenting on what a stupid younger brother Kid is, revealing the fact that he too is Shinigami's son.

Asura continues fighting the trio, and their efforts to defeat him continue being in vain despite Kid's transformation into a Shinigami. Soul determines he and Maka must harness the power of the Black Blood to defeat him, and take the risk of insanity that comes with it. Donning the dress of Black Blood again, Maka enters Asura while Kid and Black☆Star hold him back. Inside Asura, Maka manages to convince Crona that they are doing the wrong thing. Crona finally agrees to stop and agrees to help the group because they trust Maka's judgment so much, as Maka was the only person ever to be kind, caring, and trusting towards them.

Upon leaving Asura, Maka attacks Asura with the Kishin-Hunt, defeating him and allowing Crona to seal both Asura and themselves inside The Moon to keep the madness locked away forever, whilst Maka, Black☆Star and Kid are safely transported back to Death City.

Quotes

• (To Death the Kid) "Shinigami wished to be the god of absolute order, and thus he cut loose his fear — and turned it into me. That careless act was the genesis of this world that is saturated with the madness you hate so much."
• (To Black☆Star) "Why do you blindly trust Shinigami when you possess such power for yourself? This is why humanity is foolish."

Trivia

• According to the end statements for the preview of Episode 25 when Maka questions Asura's favorite activities as a child, he stated he likes stretching, although every question from that point and after has Asura only answer "stretching" no matter the question.
• Asura's prominent symbol of three vertical eyes was based upon the symbol involved with the character "Emine" and his Hakutaku in Atsushi's earlier series B. Ichi.