Soul Eater - Merchandise

Soul Eater is a manga series that is published by Square Enix and created by Atsushi Ohkubo. It was serialized in 2004 and ran until 2013. An anime adaptation consisting of 51 episodes ran between 2008 and 2009 and had an original story that diverged from the original manga at a certain point, as the manga was still on-going when the anime series was in production. As of 2020, the manga has sold over 18 million copies worldwide.

Four different video game adaptations from the manga have been released by Square Enix for Wii, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS. Additionally, a manga spin-off set in the same universe as Soul Eater called Soul Eater Not! was written and illustrated by the same author (Atsushi Ohkubo) and serialized in 2011 by the Square Enix owned magazine, Monthly Shounen Gagan. The manga focuses on events that happened before the Soul Eater manga. An anime adaptation of Soul Eater Not! was aired simultaneously in Japan and North America between April and July 2014.

The following items are examples of popular merchandise based on the Soul Eater series: the “Atsushi Ohkubo Art Book Soul Eater Soul Art 2”, the “Soul Eater Maka & Soul Notebook”, and the “Soul Track Jacket”.

Atsushi Ohkubo Art Book Soul Eater Soul Art 2

This fully colored art book contains official art drawn by Soul Eater and *Soul Eater Not!*’s original author, Atsushi Ohkubo. It features never before seen art revolving around the main characters from the Soul Eater series. This is the second art book of the series released by Atsushi Ohkubo. It focuses on a light color palette, making for a stark contrast to the original color scheme of the series.

Artist: Atsushi Ohkubo
Publisher: Square Enix
Publication Date: Dec. 2, 2014
Specifications: A4 size, full color

Soul Eater Maka & Soul Notebook

This notebook’s cover art features Maka, Soul, and the witch Blair in cat form. The notebook has 100 pages adorned with illustrations of Soul and Maka’s souls at the bottom of each page. The back of the notebook has art featuring Maka wielding Soul in his Death Scythe form. The notebook has a spiral binding with a hard front and back cover.

Manufacturer: Great Eastern Entertainment
Size: 8" x 5.5"
Pages: 100 (50 sheets)

Soul Track Jacket

This black and yellow track jacket is a real-life replica of the one that Soul Evans (Soul Eater Evans) wears in the manga and anime. It comes in a unisex design with padded buttons. It is also made with high-quality materials, which means it is suitable for everyday use aside from more specific uses, such as cosplay.

Manufacturer: Great Eastern Entertainment
Size: Unisex Large

About Soul Eater

Soul Eater is a manga that follows three different duos of Meisters and Demon Weapons. A Demon Weapon has special abilities and can turn into a weapon that can be wielded by a Meister. Both Meisters and Demon Weapons train at the Death Weapon Meister Academy (DWMA). The headmaster of this school is Shinigami (also known as Death), who wields powerful weapons known as Death Scythes. To become a Death Scythe, a Demon Weapon must have killed and absorbed the souls of 99 evil humans and one witch, in that order. Once this is done, the Demon Weapon gains an incredible amount of power and can be wielded by Shinigami.

The main duo consists of Maka Albarn, a Meister, and the Demon Weapon scythe named Soul “Eater” Evans who must fight a witch named Medusa, who instigates the Meister Chrona into killing and absorbing the souls of humans who aren’t evil with the help of her Weapon Ragnarok. A Meister who consumes a certain amount of human souls will eventually transform into a Kishin, or evil god. The anime adaptation of the manga ran for a total of 51 episodes, while the manga went on for a total of 25 volumes. While both follow roughly the same plot, the anime adaptation began to deviate from the original manga and ended up having a unique ending, as the manga had yet to finish by the time the anime series finished production.

About Art Books

Art books are pieces of merchandise that often include a variety of illustrations, concept art, interviews, and comments from the creators of a given manga, anime, or video game series. Oftentimes, art books are created by the original author or creators of a series, making it invaluable to some fans, as they usually include never before seen artwork. Other things like rough drafts of characters and settings can also help fans understand the inner workings of their favorite series. These books also sometimes act as sources of supplementary information that give some more obscure details about the characters from a series, like their blood type, birthday, zodiac sign, and favorite and least favorite foods, or any other information the author may want to include. Since art books are so popular, fans sometimes scramble to pick them up, causing retailers to run out of stock before they are supposed to release.

Links

Atsushi Ohkubo Art Book Soul Eater Soul Art 2
Soul Eater Maka & Soul Notebook
Soul Track Jacket
Soul Eater Label