| Synopsis |
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| Usher welcomes another customer to Atsushi-Ya, the voice of Maka Albarn, Chiaki Omigawa. When confronted with his rude behavior to his publisher and producer, Usher realizes he is a tsundere. |
Atsushi-Ya Backstage Special Commemorating the Soul Eater Anime Adaptation!! is a bonus Soul Eater GAIDEN short story. It first appeared in Volume 13 of the manga Soul Eater. It is illustrated by Takuji Kato, an assistant to Atsushi Okubo and who is frequently portrayed in the GAIDEN as Catlabor.
Featured Appearances[]
Characters
- Usher
- Catlabor
- Unnamed bird
- Unnamed cat
- Unnamed sword
- Maka Albarn
- Soul Eater (shattered, rebuilt)
- Death the Kid (illustration only)
- Death
- Franken Stein
- Sid Barrett
- Other zombies (first appearance)
Arachnophobia (defeated)
Cybernetic Enemies
Other Characters
Locations
- Atsushi-Ya
- Underground office (first appearance)
- Korean barbecue restaurant (first appearance)
Objects
- Tonogai, Shiozawa Pesuto, and Kazukimaru's tombstones
- Soul Eater's new form (first appearance)
- Death Star (first appearance)
Plot[]
Atsushi-Ya[]
While Atsushi-Ya is well known to readers, 800 meters below is where [[Manga|the manga Soul Eater began.
Atsushi-Ya Side Story: "Fresh the First Star Heavy Industries" by the Catlabor Well-Known by Those in the Know...A.K.A. Takuji Kato[]
In this underground office, Usher, formerly known as the owner of Atsushi-Ya, and his assistants--Catlabor, the cat, the bird, and the sword—monotonously created comics panels. Usher then says he wants to die, shocking his assistants. Catlabor urges Usher to finish at least the manuscript. Usher tells the "idiot" Catlabor that he is going to die because he cannot finish the manuscript.
Catlabor then realizes how their task of drawing never ends, the sword expresses frustration, the bird wants to die too, and the cat wants to go home. Hearing these complaints, Usher changes his argument: he refuses to let his assistants leave, so long as they are professionals and must "show the bastards what we're made of." This new drive frustrates his assistants, as they are exhausted. Usher also feels exhausted.
Usher returns to illustrating Maka Albarn wielding Soul Eater—then realizes he could just draw "Scythe-Soul" as a stick without a blade—which frustrates Catlabor and the sword.
Catlabor is inking Death the Kid and suggests making his hair all white to save him inking. Usher refuses, while the bird sleeps.
This discussion becomes so heated that Usher tells his assistants to work for their pay. Catlabor spins needles at its hands, the bird screams, and the cat begins to drool. Each side tells the other to die. As a fight breaks out, blood is shed, as Usher lies facedown in his own blood. Catlabor realizes they have gone too far with their hostilities, and Usher says it is now too late to finish their manuscript. Even as Catlabor is exhausted, it promises to finish the manuscript with "a new dawn for Soul Eater." The other assistants agree, even as they are exhausted.
Catlabor suggests that they make the story up as they go along, as one of the assistants says, since they can draw only mecha, that the comic will end up looking like giant robots.
A New Chapter of Soul Eater Opens...![]
The new comic now has Arachnophobia destroyed, with Arachne Gorgon, Giriko, and Mosquito having their heads buried in the ground. But even as Asura is defeated (his death represented as sitting curled up), a new threat emerges: the Great Imperial Army of the Thing That Lies Beneath, consisting of a giant robot and moles, all surrounding Maka Albarn as she wields Soul Eater.
But in battle, Soul is ripped limb from limb—such that, as his weapon form reverts to human form, so too are his limbs and abdomen broken into pieces.
Franken Stein offers to fix Soul—and make improvements along the way. Once his work is concluded, Maka now wields a new form of Soul—who has so many robotic appendages on his weapon form that he hardly looks like a scythe.
The war continues, with cybernetic versions of the Fisher King, Rasputin, the Flying Dutchman, and Jack the Ripper now battling the DWMA: Death, Stein, Sid Barrett, more zombies, and a mecha decorated with skulls, a lightning bolt, a star, and what looks like Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupre's lantern form. The final part of the new DWMA's army, standing behind Maka, is the transcendent crossbow-class orbital battle station known as Death Star. Excalibur confirms that this is the beginning of a new legend.
Back at the Atsushi-Ya Underground Office[]
Reading Catlabor's new comic, the bruised and bloody Usher burns it with a lighter, not because of quality alone but because the comic is listed as "the last battle" despite being advertised as a new beginning of the series Soul Eater. Usher demands that the assistants finish this new comic, but Catlabor refuses. The sword and bird add that the comic was written as they went along and should not be taken seriously, although the cat thinks that the comic may be adapted as part of the new anime.
Usher then suggests that they get Korean barbecue, saying it is the perfect time to eat. The assistants are not convinced. Usher then suggests that maybe elves will come to finish the manuscript for them; this idea convinces the assistants.
After dining at the Korean barbecue, Usher and the assistants return—and find that no elves finished their manuscript. While the manuscript became "an unmitigated fiasco," at least Usher and the others seem happy with their meal.
A footnote says this story is probably fictitious.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- One of the tombstones outside of Atushi-Ya is toppled to its side.
- Death Star alludes to the giant weapon constructed by the Empire in the popular science fiction film franchise Star Wars. Atsushi Okubo has included allusions to Star Wars in his other works, including the presence of doppelgangers to C-3PO and Luke Skywalker appearing in the manga B. Ichi.
- Death Star is also the name given to the relationship between Death the Kid and Black Star. The phrase "Death Star" will appear in a later volume to refer to this relationship.
- Korean barbecue appears frequently in the Soul Eater Late Show.
References[]
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| Soul Eater | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • Non-Canonical Episode • 13 • Atsushi-Ya Backstage Special Commemorating the Soul Eater Anime Adaptation!! • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25 |
| Soul Eater Not! | 1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 |