The cover of the first volume.
Soul Eater Not! (ソウルイーターノット! Sōru Ītā Notto!) is a spin-off prequel of the main series focusing on a freshman transfer student named Tsugumi Harudori, who befriends two other Meisters named Meme Tatane and Anya Hepburn as three take part in the "NOT" meaning the Normally Overcome Target class at DWMA. She wants to learn how to control her powers in order to overcome her difficulties to have a normal life.
Plot
The story and pace of Not! is drastically different from that of Soul Eater's but instead having the focus on Maka Albarn, protagonist of the parent series, it is leaded by Tsugumi Harudori, a Japanese, 14 year old girl who finds herself with the ability of a magic Demon Weapon who then transfers to the American Shibusen or Death Weapon Meister Academy campus in order to control her powers. Tsugumi finds herself with two friends named Meme Tatane and Anya Hepburn, these girls eventually become candidates to be the single meister of Tsugumi and along the way, Tsugumi occausionally runs into characters of the first Soul Eater such as the as forementioned Maka Albarn and her partner, Soul Eater, or Black☆Star and Tsubaki Nakatsukasa. Some characters from Soul Eater actually become series regulars like Kim Diehl, and Sidney "Sid" Barret. Throughout the series, the young thrush learns the importance of friendship and bonds as well as knowing her own strength and her self-worth; It's a cruel but wonderful world.
Timeline Placement
Soul Eater Not! roughly takes place a year or so before the events of the original one-shots or prologues of the intial Soul Eater, but According to Atsushi Ōkubo, Soul Eater Not! takes place during the actual Prologue time frame of Soul Eater begin, the first four episodes of the Soul Eater anime but, before the actual story which happens one year later in that instance. However, this cannot be seeing as Death the Kid has not join into a combination with Liz and Patty.
Anime
Soul Eater Not! is the anime adaptation of the Soul Eater Not!, which is a spin-off to the main series. Like the last anime series, Soul Eater, Soul Eater Not! is being produced by BONES. In the January 2014 issue of Monthly Shonen Gangan the adaptation of the spin-off was announced.
The first episode premiered on April 8th 2014. It is currently ongoing and new episodes are released every Tuesday and is being simulcast by Funimation. The opening theme is "Monochrome" by Dancing Dolls and the ending theme is "Yūgure Happy Go" (夕暮れハッピーゴー?) by Haruka Chisuga, Aoi Yūki and Saori Hayami.
Chapters
Episodes
Albums
Characters
Tsugumi Harudori
The main protagonist of the spin-off manga Soul Eater Not!. She is a timid yet cheerful student from Japan who firmly believes DWMA is a school to train the world's heroes. She is a demon halberd, but does not learn to turn into her weapon form until after she enrolls at DWMA. She models her appearance after Maka Albarn, the first student she meets at DWMA, by wearing her own hair in two ponytails.
Meme Tatane
A meister who suffers from short-term memory loss, causing her to forget even her own name on occasion. She becomes friends with Tsugumi after she helps save her from a pair of bullies. Although clumsy most of the time, she is proficient in a kind of martial art called "Sleeping Fist," which she can only perform while she is asleep.
Anya Hepburn
A meister with a wealthy upbringing who escapes from her constrained life and goes to DWMA in the hopes of emulating the behavior of those she considers to be "commoners." She views Tsugumi to be the most normal of all her classmates, and thus shows interest in becoming her partner.
Eternal Feather
A glasses-wearing upperclassman with black ponytails, she is Tsugumi and her friends' senior, and often provides them useful advice during their first days at DWMA. She dislikes her nickname, "Eternal Feather," which was forced on her by Kim Diehl and left unable to change it for two years under a DWMA contract.
Akane
A claymore-meister partnered with Clay. He works at a part-time job as a waiter at the DWMA café with Clay, Tsugumi, Meme and Anya.It seemed like he could transmit his wavelength as shown in Chapter 5. Apparently,during chapter 7 it was revealed that he studied the techniques of the Hoshi (Star) clan that Black*Star belongs to. Furthermore when his glasses are removed his pupils take the shape of broken stars.
Clay
A demon claymore and Akane's weapon partner. He works at a part-time job as a waiter at the Café shop with Akane, Tsugumi, Meme and Anya.
Maka Albarn
Maka makes a brief cameo in the first chapter, when Tsugumi Harudori, on her first day at Shibusen, is struggling to climb up the stairs leading to the school building. She looks at Maka in awe as she is able to scale the stairs without even being out of breath. Maka stops, turns to Tsugumi and cheers her on, saying that it is not long until she reaches the top. Tsugumi, moved by her encouragement, thinks that Maka is cool and looks up to her, and starts wearing pigtails to match with Maka. As she finally reaches the top of the stairs, she finds a note left from Maka along with a can of juice, welcoming Tsugumi to Death City and telling her to look behind her to enjoy the view of the city.Tsugumi's thoughts on Maka later helps her to bring out her courage to help stand up to some boys harassing Meme.
Connection with Soul Eater
As well as being a spin-off, Soul Eater Not! takes place between the Prologue Chapters but before the actual Main Storyline starts.
- Sid is still seen alive, not as a zombie.
- Medusa is still working undercover as a nurse.
- Kim Diehl is not yet outed as a witch, nor was she as acquainted with her partner than in the series proper.
- Patti and Liz seemed to had recently become Death the Kid's weapon partners.