| Synopsis |
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| While Death the Kid and Franken Stein are empowered by madness alongside the Death Scythes, the DWMA fights a losing battle on the Moon against Asura's infinite number of clowns. While Akane☆Hoshi and Clay Sizemore are joined by Noah and Gopher to locate Asura's hiding place, Maka Albarn deceives her teammates so she may face Crona alone. |
The War on the Moon (Part 5) is the ninety-fifth serialized chapter of the manga Soul Eater. It was reprinted in tankōbon form in Volume 22.
Featured Appearances[]
Characters
DWMA Moon Forces
- Death the Kid
- Liz Thompson
- Patty Thompson
- Franken Stein
- Spirit Albarn
- Marie Mjolnir
- Sid Barrett
- Akane☆Hoshi
- Clay Sizemore
- Dengu Dinga
- Alexandre
- Zubaidah
- Jinn Galland
- Soldiers
- Maka Albarn
- Soul Eater
- Black☆Star
- Tsubaki Nakatsukasa
- Ox Ford
- Harvar D. Éclair
- Kim Diehl
- Jacqueline O'Lantern Dupré
- Kilik Rung
- Pot of Fire and Pot of Thunder
DWMA Enemies
Asura's Army
Locations
Techniques
- First Line of Sanzu: Release
- Rainbow (first appearance)
- The Lovers (first appearance)
Objects
Plot[]
The Moon[]
Noah is, unsurprisingly, enraged to encounter DWMA soldiers Akane☆Hoshi and Clay Sizemore. As Noah threatens to kill the two, Gopher slaps a hand over his mouth, warning that his shouting will alert their presence to both Asura and DWMA. Noah punches the top of Gopher's head, claiming he already figured out that fact.
Akane takes no chances, ordering Clay to transform into a weapon. But Noah does not attack, instead stuffing his hands into his jeans' pockets and walking into the Moon's nostrils, Gopher following. Akane is ambivalent: he either can fight Noah here, which will expose Sid Barrett's location, or he can let Noah pass. Akane therefore decides to follow the two, which infuriates Noah, whose shouting echoes in the nostrils. Receiving another warning from Gopher, Noah stifles himself but is upset how his usually leveled shoulders are not arching upward. Gopher urges Noah not to worry about his angular shoulders, pointing out that the corners of his mouth point downward, whether this fact balances out Noah's shoulders or shows how both of them are reacting in similar ways to the annoyance of Akane following them. In any case, despite his frown, Gopher is pleased that he is being useful to Noah. But as Noah can see Gopher is wrong, as his usually turned down frown is starting to lift up in a smile, Noah kicks him in the head.
Akane is focused more on the madness he senses emerging from the Moon's nostrils, feeling his body stretch under the illusions of Asura. Akane is shocked at what feels like infinite madness.
This infinite madness continues to influence Death the Kid, who, elsewhere on the battlefield, fights the resurrected White Rabbit and a new unnamed female Clown, is holding his own in combat. However, his attire still appears as it did when he was under the influence of the Great Old One of Power, hence he is precariously close to losing his sanity. Kid complains that his opponents' numbers are similar to "an unending clown car." A third Clown, dressed like a jester, attacks.
Kid manages to seize the wrist of the Female Clown, inadvertently using her as a shield when White Rabbit's piercing attacks slice away her body in order to cut into Kid. The young shinigami dodges in time, but the Female Clown is decimated. Kid is shocked that the Clowns would willingly attack their own kind, but he sees below his feet on the Moon's surface that three linked circles appear, two with three-eyed grinning clown faces and one in which he stands. This three-faced clown says that their comrades have no concern losing a fellow clown, as the circle twirls upwards around Kid, the two connected circles, now joined by a third, wrapping around Kid's knees, waist, and chest.
Bound by the Three-Faced Clown, Kid faces a much taller clown, its teeth gritted with a paper tag over its face, like that tag over the face of a jiangshi but with two of Asura's eyes upon the tag. The Colossus Clown seizes Kid—and the three-faced clown, who grounds that it too is not being sacrificed if it can kill Kid. The colossus merely tosses Kid, who despite being bound lands on his feet. White Rabbit and the jester clown pursue Kid.
After connecting the First Line of Sanzu, Kid decimates the Colossus Clown
Frustrated, Kid roars, uniting the First Line of Sanzu with Release, ripping apart the three-faced clown. The energy of the release kicks up ground even yards away where White Rabbit and the Jester stand. Kid slides past the two clowns, knocking the two with his demon pistols before uprighting himself to stand before the Colossus Clown, ram one pistol into its left fist, and with a roar, fire. One skull-shape plast erupts from the Colossus Clown, decimating it.
Kaguya and an elephantine clown stare at Kid's brutal power—before the Elephantine Clown's is shot off by Kid. While Liz and Patty Thompson are pleased with this development, Kid mocks Kaguya's "friends" for being so pathetic.
But the battle is not going so well elsewhere on the Moon, as DWMA soldiers continue to fight an onslaught of clowns. Spirit Albarn in his Death Scythe form continues to switch hands between meisters, but he reverts to his human form because his mind is focused on how defeating Asura depends on Kid connecting all three Lines of Sanzu and assuming all of his potential powers to be a true shingami—and that fact seems to have Spirit concerned.
Meanwhile, Alexandre wields the Death Scythe Dengu Dinga's weapon form against the Spider Clown, as the meister and weapon perform Rainbow, the spectrum of colors swinging from Dengu slicing into the Clown. Death Scythe Jinn Galland joins his peers, as he and his meister Zubaidah initiate the technique The Lovers, as a beam of energy—which makes the sound "Rabu" ("Love-oosh") burns away the Spider Clown.
As Kid can hear this explosion from Jinn and Zubaidah's attack, he tells Kaguya to prepare for her death. But he surprised when the clown simply chuckles. As happened before, the remains of the clowns dig into the Moon's surface, forming into orbs topped with flames, then reform from the surface as Clowns: the ones Kid just killed are reformed. Kaguya mocks Kid, claiming he cannot defeat the clowns due to Asura's infinite madness, and Kid too will inevitably fall into that madness.
The Spider Clown as well re-emerges before a shocked Alexandre and Zubaidah. The clowns are reforming around Franken Stein, who, still under the effects of madness, is simply overjoyed at the prospect at tearing apart more clowns. But Justin Law thinks that he knows better: he sees Stein struggling against madness as he loses his bravery. Even as Justin is dying, the explosive internal attack from Stein and Marie Mjolnir contained yet damaging his body too much to survive, Justin expects despair awaits Stein.
Italy[]
Maka finds Crona where they first met
Black☆Star asks, if Maka Albarn located Crona in Italy, why she has not yet located that target. Maka says the number of people around compromises her Soul Perception. Black☆Star replies, "I see," while Maka is silent.
Ox Ford suggests that the members of Spartoi split up to locate Crona. Once Maka is alone with Black☆Star, Soul Eater, and Tsubaki Nakatsukasa, they reveal their actual plan: Maka indeed has Crona's precise location, but she has asked her friends to let her approach Crona alone. As her three teammates leave, Black☆Star reminds Maka that if she needs any help, call him. Black☆Star also realizes that Crona is at the same spot where Maka first met them.
At Santa Mario Novella Basilica, the bells tolls. Maka stands before the door, as she had long ago when she and Soul first battled Crona. As last time, Maka places her hand on the door, and again she can feel the soul of Crona. She hesitates. She pulls open the door and enters, finding before the cross stands her target and friend, Crona. But Crona does not recognize Maka.
Manga and Anime Differences[]
- In Episode 50, Death the Kid connects the Lines of Sanzu to defeat a tall being of madness. However, whereas in this chapter Kid connects only the first Line in order to decimate the Colossus Clown, in the anime, Kid connects all three Lines to attack Asura, who had increased in size and power upon consuming Arachne's witch soul.
Trivia[]
- The term used to refer to Noah is "square shoulders," which in Japanese uses the character for "rage" or "wrath," apt for this particular Icon.[1]
- Gopher's usual frown turns upward at its corners as he attempts to smile. This "W-Smile" later appears in full in the final chapter of the manga.
- Spirit worries about Kid connecting all three Lines of Sanzu in order to become a true shinigami. As foreshadowed in earlier chapters, and as confirmed in Chapter 111, Spirit's worry is because only one Shinigami may exist at any time: once Kid assumes that role, Death will die.
- Some of Ohkubo's illustrations of Italy seem to be based thoroughly on photographic images of actual buildings and bystanders.