By Atsushi Ohkubo. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialization ongoing in the magazine Shonen Gangan. Released in North America by Yen Press.

This volume of Soul Eater proved to be much better than the previous one. Then, I could only recommend it for the insane art-deco style art and backgrounds. Now I note that the characters seem to be developing, there’s a great bad guy who’s incredibly terrifying in places, and some of the battles actually hold my interest (a rarity for me; I tend to skim any fight in shonen manga).

That said, the art is still the best thing about it, but that’s cause the art is really fascinating. As a brief example, check out the final page of Chapter 7, with Tsubaki and her brother squaring off inside the sword. The grinning moon, the shadow stick figures, the ground that appears to also be a sea… it all combines to give an utterly unsettling feeling, which is absolutely appropriate for this scene. Of course, the whole manga has a frisson of this, as the entire world of Soul Eater is slightly off, and you NEVER feel completely at ease reading it.

Some of the characters help there as well. Medusa is a fantastic villain, managing to give off that wonderful evil villainess vibe, and back it up with deeds. Possibly my favorite creepy moment was her grabbing the mouths of Erika and Mizune and sticking her fingers down their throats. It’s utterly vile, and also foreshadows an even more utterly vile moment later. I can’t wait for this woman to be taken down, though knowing shonen manga as I do, it may take a while.

I admit to being wary when I saw that the main storyline in this volume would involve Black*Star, who I found the most annoying of the main cast by far in the first two volumes. And he’s still a bit annoying here as well, but he’s starting to grow a little bit. We learn about his background, and some of what drives him to show off. More to the point, we begin to see what Tsubaki sees in him – which, since she’s so sympathetic and likeable, is important to make the reader not think she’s an idiot.

And for those who like Soul Eater’s sense of goofy humor, the entire chapter about Excalibur will be right up your alley. I particularly liked the expressions of disgust in this one.

Soul Eater is still finding its feet, and I’m still not totally sold on it. But this volume was a big improvement, and it actually managed to hold my attention with something other than the artwork. I look forward to another.

By Atsushi Ohkubo. Released in Japan by Square Enix, serialized in the magazine Shonen Gangan. Released in North America by Yen Press.

There’s a lot not going on in Soul Eater at the moment. The author is still setting up his world, so what we see here is a lot of short fights and ‘school’ stuff. I’ll be honest, it doesn’t really grab me. I find the storyline typical shonen, with the souls merely an added frisson. Likewise, the lead characters to date have done little to make me like them, and Black*Star and Soul can be actively irritating at times.

There is, at least, some humor to tide things over, though it tends to be of the goofy and stupid variety. Not surprising in a manga like this. Much as I don’t really like them, the two boys’ attempt to team up was not only funny but over very quickly, thus preserving the joke. And the relationship between Dr. Stein and Maka’s father is gleefully perverse and twisted.

However, there’s one big reason that you may want to read this title, and that’s the art. Note that I would not call the art great by itself. However, the combination of style, backgrounds and world gives Soul Eater a feel that is very hard to find in the shonen world. It’s almost art deco at times, filtered through a corpse-like lens. The insanely grinning constellations, the spike-drenched buildings, the bizarre accessories… I want to find out more about them. Not because of the story, per se, but because they simply LOOK interesting. It’s Soul Eater’s main selling point.

If this sounds like a weak recommendation, that’s because it is. Any manga where art is more interesting than character and plot is going to run into trouble. But Soul Eater was not exactly aiming high, anyway. It’s a shonen romp, filled with serious fights and goofy fights, and the occasional morbidity (nice to see a shonen series not afraid to kill people off, though I suspect the leads will have immunity). It’s meant to look cool to teenage boys, and thanks to its style, I think it succeeds. I’m not sure if I’ll keep up with it forever, but it’s earned my taking a look at a third volume.