Discount Soul Eater: Part 3

First we got Medusa, then Asura the kishin. And in "Soul Eater: Part 3," we get a new magical supervillain -- along with a slew of elaborate battle, magical items, insanity, and some disturbing hints about Death's past. It's a little disconcerting when we get episodes that don't really deal with the plot arcs (EXCALIBURRRRRRR!), especially since those arcs are getting so intense, convoluted and dark.

The battle against the golem goes horribly awry when it's revealed what's inside it -- the soul of the evil witch Arachne, the sister of Medusa and the creator of the weapon-people. And she wastes no time in reactivating her old organization, Arachnophobia, and gathering magic tools that are vital to her plans of spreading insanity. To make matters worse, Medusa has somehow survived, possessed the body of a child, and is now forcing Crona to do her bidding -- such as.

And when Death the Kid tries to intercept a magical train in the Sahara, he ends up discovering a possible connection between Lord Death and someone named Eibon. Knowing his father won't just spill the beans, he begins his own covert investigation into what's really going on.

And both the DWMA and Arachnophobia are after the Brew,, a powerful magical tool that's locked in a strange magical field in Alaska. After the increasingly unstable Stein collapses, Maka, Soul, Black Star, Tsubaki, Death the Kid and the twins venture inside. But their fight with Arachne's most deadly servant won't be an easy one even if they can achieve a resonance link -- and they don't know of the malevolent schemes that are being spun outside.

Most of "Soul Eater Part 3" is spent building up the danger from the the quietly manipulative Arachne, and her small army of Arachnophobics (okay, it sounds silly, but you know...). There's also a much grimmer, darker undertone to the stories here, and the silly stuff has been scaled back in places -- although there's still plenty of funny stuff from Death ("Mandolin?" "MANDHELING!").

And while the main plot involves battling Arachne and Co., there are a number of subplots that are painstakingly followed -- Stein's slow descent into insanity, Kid's investigation, Medusa's slow-boiling schemes, and the various Death Scythes returning to the DWMA. These are slowly twined together as the writers start reintroducing some other villains as valid threads (particularly Asura, who's as creepy and crazy as ever), and raise some interesting new questions (WHO IS EIBON? I want to know!).

But the highlight of the season is the battle for the Brew, which takes place both inside and outside a whirling purplish tornado with a jungle temple inside (in Alaska?). While the bloody battles outside are awesome, the true highlight is seeing the team resonate and fight the bloated Mosquito.

The team also has to deal with greater stress in their lives -- Kid's OCD hijinks take a back seat to his investigation into Eibon and his magical tools, and Black Star starts to experience crippling doubts about himself. Poor Crona gets sucked back into his mother's evil influence, and Stein is just losing his mind (as evidenced by his hysterical laughter in Alaska). And Arachne makes a nice short-term villain for this arc -- she's cool, calm, manipulative and so amoral that her own people want her dead.

"Soul Eater Part 3" adds a tangle of centuries-old mysteries and grudges to the mix, leaving you desperately wanting whatever's coming next. Mandolin?Get more detail about Soul Eater: Part 3.