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"I was scared of the kind of person I was turning into. Although as long as I was having fun, I didn't really care. So that's why I needed it. Not an annoying system put up by a king to serve his own self interests......but a system set up by a god without arrogance." |
Franken Stein (フランケン・シュタイン, Furanken Shutain) is an eccentric but extremely talented doctor and Meister who is known to be the strongest Meister to have graduated from Death Weapon Meister Academy and formerly Spirit Albarn's first weapon-partner.[5] He later becomes a teacher at the school[2] upon Death's request[6] and was later assigned to act as a Meister to Marie Mjolnir.[1]
Cultural references
Stein is loosely based upon the two central characters from the 1818 novel by Mary Shelley, Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus and its 1931 movie adaption, being an amalgamation of the mad scientist Victor Frankenstein and his nameless man-made monster. Like Victor Frankenstein, Stein has a mindset in which he wishes to live in a world "without God," setting his own rules rather than following those of some higher power. In addition, Stein also has motifs centered around electricity, similar to that used by Victor Frankenstein in the 1931 movie to give life to the creature. Both his attacks evoke electricity and his current partner has attacks centered around electricity. The screw in Stein's head resembles the bolts found in the head or neck in many popular portrayals of Frankenstein's monster that all follow the 1931 movie's lead.
Background
A former DWMA student in the EAT Class, Stein was the first partner of Death Scythe and later graduated from the Academy as the most powerful graduate at the school. Although he would dedicate his life to science and not fighting, he was kept on retainer as an unlicensed doctor.[3]
Personality
Being a man of science, Dr. Stein sees everything in the world, including himself, as an experiment. From childhood, he often wanted to dissect the people around him only to be stopped by Spirit.[7] This personality trait made all those around him afraid of him. This strange hobby of wanting to dissect anything he thinks is interesting was still present, even when Stein became an adult; once, as part of a lesson, he tried to have his class dissect an endangered animal, claiming that it would be bad if he did not find out anything from it before it became extinct. The stitching across his face suggests that he had worked on himself at one point.
Stein's crazed side of his personality.
He also exhibits a sadistic and intimidating personality. During his battle against Maka and Black☆Star, he grabbed Maka by one of her pigtails, lifted her shirt up and drew marks on her body, to signify where he would put the knife through, and ponders if he should turn her skin into sand paper. When Black☆Star tried to attack him, he countered by knocking him out in a seemingly painful and bloody manner. His smiles are normally filled with sadistic intentions.
Stein seems to have dormant madness. He has even admitted that he is especially sensitive to it. Stein ultimately did go insane and struggled to maintain it. He even quit smoking as a way to convince himself.
Emotionally, Naigus has described him as always alone and that he has no love in him. He has admitted that he can't understand Spirit's reaction to Maka asking him to go out shopping. This shows he can't feel deep emotions other than the need to dissect whatever interests or irritates him. This tendency likely seems to be more destructive or psychotic, which explains his dormant madness. He is depicted as morally bankrupt, at least back in his youth. In Sid's flashback, he questioned Sid's decision to adopt Black☆Star, who was a baby. This suggests that if it were Stein's decision, he would have left Black☆Star. His immorality is supported further by his repeated experiments on Spirit back when they were younger.
Despite this cruel and twisted personality, Stein does have a kind and compassionate side that worries for his friends and students and he feels the need to protect them. He also exhibits a rather paternal demeanor towards his students. He also expresses deep disgust and moral outrage towards Medusa for stating that she would abandon her own child, Crona, when they would become useless to her. It is never stated when this other personality arose.
Relationships
Main article: Franken Stein/RelationshipsStein is a respected instructor in the the DWMA; his students are said to love him as a teacher, despite his disturbing tendency to favor doing lessons on dissections.[8][9] He's also known as the strongest meister to have graduated from the DWMA.[5] However, due to his sensitivity to madness, he often can be called to be questioned on his sanity. Despite this, however, many of his friends like Spirit, Marie, Sid, and even Death have shown faith in him.
Appearance
Stein shirtless revealing his other stitches on his body where he has experimented on himself.
Stein is a tall man; around the time of Shaula Gorgon's attack on Death City, he was 210 centimeters tall (about 6 feet 10 inches).[10] He has silver-gray hair, large and round glasses, and a handsome face.
Stein's most notable trait is likely the large screw-in bolt going through his head. He often turns this screw, a means to focus his thoughts or as he prepares to attack an opponent.
Another notable detail about Stein's body, as well as his clothes, are their zig-zag stitches. He has sewn stitches all over his body and clothing; even his house is covered in stitches. His most notable piece of clothing is his doctor's lab coat. He is also surprisingly well built for a man his age, due to a large portion of his time being devoted to combat training. He has a turtleneck shirt underneath his coat. It is 2 different gray shade pattern. With the dark one on top and lighter in the middle,with the same dark under the lighter one. The shirt also has stitches in a zig-zags on the lines on the shirt.
Stein's Soul in the anime.
His soul is light blue featuring his trademark stitches and single giant screw. As a child, his bolt and glasses are noticeably absent. He is also much shorter and visibly smaller than Spirit.
Trivia
- A running gag in the series is that whenever Stein goes and sits on a rolling chair, he leaves rolling backwards and falls in the exit.
- The first popularity poll & second popularity poll that took place some time prior to Chapter 100 showed that Franken Stein ranks 8th place in being the most popular character in Soul Eater.[11]
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Soul Eater Manga: Chapter 23
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Soul Eater Manga: Chapter 2
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Soul Eater NOT! Manga: Chapter 16. Soul Eater Manga: Chapter 1.
- ↑ Soul Eater Manga: Chapter 113
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs named:0 - ↑ Soul Eater Manga: Chapter 5
- ↑ In Chapter 21, there is a flashback depicting a younger Stein about to dissect an unknown character, only for him to be stopped by a younger Spirit.
- ↑ Volume 2: Chapter 2's lesson is "We'll be dissecting frogs today!" Maka also claims in Chapter 3 that they have done 'nothing but dissections' since he took over her class. (Yen Press translation)
- ↑ He also implies that they have taken apart frogs and mice, in Chapter 3. "He-he...what you'll be taking apart today [the endangered species of bird] isn't the usual frog or mouse. ♪"
- ↑ Soul Eater NOT! Volume 4.5: Page 159, Anime model sheet
- ↑ Soul Eater Volume 3; Chapter 100, page 77