Revision as of 03:43, 16 April 2015 by Soul-dwelling(Message Wall | contribs)(Adding more to Plot. Adding new version of Infobox. Adding to Manga/Anime Diffs, Trivia.)
As her ghouls rush to unseal Asura, Medusa stands in the way of Dr. Stein and his students. Elsewhere, Maka decides to settle it once and for all with Crona.
The school is in flames. The Independent Cube remains locked around the dance hall. Sid Barett blames himself that he did not make his Forced Burial attack have a wider radius to allow Death to escape as well, but the shinigami commends Sid for doing the best that he could. After all, Death says, he is surprised to learn that Medusa is a witch.
While Sid explains that Soul Protect allowed Medusa to be undetected, Kilik Rung interrupts to ask whether they can undermine the Soul Protect to locate witches. Death explains that in the war between witches and Shibusen, both sides have devised new abilities to counter each other. In order to detect witches, meisters were born with Soul Perception. Kilik asks what is the next technique to oppose Soul Protect, prompting Sid to say bitterly that such an option constitutes someone to "Kishinize" themselves.
Kilik is confused, prompting Death to realize he has no point keeping his secret any longer. Death calls to all attendees in the dance hall for their attention: "There's a Kishin beneath DWMA," he says bluntly. Sid and the students are dumbfounded at how blunt Death is.
Death explains that, before he founded the Death Weapon Meister Academy, there was a man named Asura, a member of Death's Eight Guardians. In fact, he was the strongest of the Guardians, yet also the most fearful. He wrapped himself with scarves and multiple layers of clothes to separate himself from others. Death claims Asura confided in no one else, and as such he was brutal. As an example, 800 years ago, Death had asked the Guardians what happened to the witches of the East, learning that Asura had already slaughtered them before anyone else arrived.
Asura's obsession with power led him to break the most important rule: he ate the souls of innocent humans, becoming the first Kishin, "the source of all Madness."
Kilik interrupts, confused how someone who is not a weapon could eat souls. Death reiterates that Asura was fearful of everyone, even his weapon partner, Vajra--so Death ate Vajra. Ox Ford is confused how it is possible to be do so, causing Death to muse that perhaps Asura was not even human, perhaps even the embodiment of Fear itself.
Franken Stein leads his students down a stairway into the underground of Death City. Soul Eater, Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, Liz Thompson, and Patty Thompson are already in weapon form, wielded by their meisters. Maka Albarn is curious how Death sealed Asura, so Death the Kid explains that Death flayed Asura to make a sealed bag out of Asura's own skin. To make sure Asura could not escape, Death rooted his soul and body around the Kishin's location to form a magical seal--and around that location, Death founded Death City. Black Star confirms that these facts mean that Death may never leave the city. Maka asks whether, if Asura did escape, hence breaking Death's seal, whether the shinigami could leave Death City. Stein says no: by rooting his soul to this land, Death has effectively become Death City itself. Stein suggests that attaching legs to the city could allow Death mobility, but he thinks that idea is ludicrous.
Stein then warns his students how disastrous the Kishin's revival would be, as his madness is like a plague.
Hearing these remarks while in his weapon form, Soul frowns, and the Little Ogre chuckles. The Ogre explains that madness cannot be controlled, adding that Hell is in his head, carried around in the flimsy minds of people. The Ogre directs Soul's attention to the skipping jazz record in this room, saying that the needle follows the grooves of the record, inextricably stuck on this path, as humans are on the inevitable path towards madness. Soul disputes this metaphor, pointing out that the needle--humanity--does not stick to that path so long as the record can keep skipping. The Ogre ignores Soul's point, asking what the weapon has decided to do.
Death City
Above ground, citizens of Death City flee from an approaching threat, but they are sliced and collapse onto the street. Having attacked these bystanders with Beam Whiskers, the Mizune Sisters fly upward again, as the city burns. Despite the destruction around her, a strolling cat, Blair, seems unimpressed or ignorant of the catastrophe.
Manga and Anime Differences
Death claims that Asura broke the rule of consuming souls. While this episode may not be as specific as other episodes, Death likely means that Asura consumed non-Kishin egg souls, as technically weapons do consume souls (Kishin eggs), and many characters such as Jack the Ripper, Al Capone, Crona, Masamune Nakatsukasa, and other potential Kishins have consumed human souls.
Death muses that Asura may not have been human and actually the embodiment of Fear itself. While the anime does not make this point clear, in the manga, Asura is confirmed to be a fragment of Death himself--Death's fear, removed from his body and given carnal form--hence Death's son, Kid's brother, and therefore a shinigami.
In this episode, Stein's discusses with his students that, if Death desired to leave the area, he would require feet attached to Death City itself, foreshadows the development of the Death City Mech built by Joe Buttataki and powered by Eibon (Brew itself). In the manga, Death City remains in the same location throughout, and Death never leaves the desert.
A Maka Punch is effective against annoying ninjas, too.
In the anime, after Spirit prides himself on his ability to escape women, Maka is chided by an annoying Black Star, eventually punching him. In the manga, this background gag does not appear.
Trivia
The Little Ogre repeats Crona's earlier remark that Hell is inside one's head.
