Soul Eater is one of the few works I'd consider perfect, for the way it delivers an easy to follow story with surprisingly intricate characters, making for an entertaining and stylish story, in a way that really resonates with me.

I would like to clarify, I've recently reread this manga, and most of my views have not changed on this work as a whole.

Now, what is so good about Soul Eater? It's simple. It's vast collection of interesting characters and how they bond with each other.

Given that the main "gimmick" of Soul Eater's action is the connection between Meisters and Weapons, it is a given we get to see these relationships explored through their ups and downs, and that is exactly what it delivers. Through the course of the manga, we observe the clashing of views and personal dramas of these two groups, creating a unique dynamic between the characters, eventually resulting in their personal character growth, as well as their battle prowess. A good example we have of this is, per example, Tsubaki and Black Star's disagreement on battle strategies. Tsubaki and Black Star, through some events I will not spoil, end up being pushed to their individual limits, eventually attaining a mutual understanding of both's views and strategies in battle, further improving each other individually, but also as Meister and their respective Weapon.

This is only the first of the two key points I always bring up when describing Soul Eater. The second one is easily its world building. We are met with a very outlandish world visually, something akin to what we see in Disney's "The Nightmare Before Christmas". A very twisted, cartoonish yet grim depiction of a "Halloween Town", with the most striking element most will certainly remember, the moon with a creepy, bloody smile, overlooking Death City. This being only one of the many memorable stages for the epic bouts and story beats that take place during the course of Soul Eater. It very consistently delivers on very creepy and unsettling visuals, augmented by the unique artstyle and it's usage of popular horror elements, among some of them we have the likes of the Frankenstein, Vampires, Zombies, and even Death itself.

Despite all of the gushing I've done about the manga, there's not a lot I can really criticize, because unlike the anime adaptation, it lacks the biggest issues in it (like the lack of any character development for most of the other students that aren't part of the main group, a nonsensical rushed ending, and some cases of poor pacing). I can say the manga does get a bit wacky with it's fights, spanning over chapters and chapters, as well as the overall reluctance to have a character truly die, which can be frustrating, but I felt like the overall action and the easy to digest but solid plot made up for it.

In short, Soul Eater has stuck with me in a way a lot of other mangas never have because of Its stylish, humorous and overall fun presentation. I can't recommend it enough if you're looking for an entertaining read with colorful characters and quite stunning fights (under a manga's limitations of course, but they're accompanied by Okubo's very unique artstyle). It's also a much better experience than the anime.