Hello We Risers! I was wondering what to post for Throwback Thursday today, and I thought that bringing back an old article from 2012 would be a great way to do that! This was my first article for the magazine, and I thought you guys would like to read it, if you missed the issue!
You’ve often heard that nothing is original; that every idea has been taken or influenced by something else. Parallels can be seen in shows that are very unlike each other, which makes it interesting to take and compare them. That’s what I’ve done with FUNimation’s anime Soul Eater and Hasbro’s My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. Now, I know more than half of you are rolling your eyes out there, but these shows have more similarities than you’d think. Here are my findings!
We’ll start at an obvious point of comparison: the setting. Both locations, Death City and Ponyville are fictional places that are part of a larger world or country (America and Equestria, respectively). In both of these universes, magic is a very prevalent factor in the everyday lives of its inhabitants. However, where they differ, is that in Soul Eater, it is never made clear on whether or not all beings, be it animal or human, are granted these magical abilities. Characters like Blair are portrayed to have magical powers, though from her character description, she is just a cat with magical abilities (though later on, in Chapter 42 of the manga, she is revealed as a cat monster, explaining her abilities). Laura Faust, the creator of MLP: FIM, said that each pony has his or her own kind of magic. Pegasai with their ability to fly and walk on clouds, unicorns with their object manipulation, and the earth ponies with their ties with the earth and animals, which make them exceptional caretakers and farmers. In both universes, training (for the most part) is received for those able to use magic or any other special abilities, whether it’s the Summer Flight Camp for Pegasai, Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, or the Death Weapon Meister Academy of Soul Eater. These teaching facilities imply that magic use isn’t an inherent characteristic, but requires different levels of training to use it properly. With Soul Eater, Weapons must learn to manipulate their own bodies to transform and maintain their weapon forms, while Meisters learn to detect the soul resonances of other beings and control their weapons to their full potential.
We’ll now move onto the characters! Both shows are comprised of a large cast, with several archetypes comprising the main [“mane”] characters. Built of a cliché group of personalities, they lean on each other for strength and support. Each of them relies on a strong female character to be the leader: Maka (from Soul Eater) and Twilight Sparkle (from MLP). Both of them are intelligent, book-reliant characters that are extremely genuine and kind-hearted. They both take their studies very seriously, constantly reading to be model students, which is the source of their pride. Though they can be a bit distant, getting lost in their studies, they are extremely loyal characters who often are the first ones to reach out to others. In episode 30 of MLP, Princess Celestia’s sister, Princess Luna (aka “Nightmare Moon”;) comes down to greet the ponies of Ponyville and they all fear her. Twilight Sparkle is the only pony to give her a chance and help her integrate with the other ponies. There’s a similar situation with Chrona. When the character was first introduced, Maka was the biggest influence on Chrona. For quite a while, Chrona considered Maka to be their only friend. Nevertheless, the others came around due to Maka’s persistence and guile as a leader. A part of their studies is to report to their mentor figure with status updates. Twilight corresponds with her teacher, Princess Celestia, through letters describing her findings about friendship. Maka speaks to Lord Death through mirrors in various places, about the statuses of her missions. Both keep very close contact with their teacher figures throughout their respective series.
Maka’s partner, Soul, can be compared to Twilight’s friend and assistant, Spike the Dragon. The similarities between these two characters are less than Maka and Twilight, but both male characters are generally laid-back voices of reason for their partners to rely on, not to mention that both characters have piano playing skills. They are also pone to corruption, but for different reasons. In Soul Eater’s seventh episode, Soul is critically wounded while taking a hit for Maka and is infected with Black Blood. From then on, Soul is extremely susceptible to madness and his internal demons. Though he later learns to control the power and use it to his advantage. In the MLP episode, Secret of My Excess, Spike celebrates his birthday, however, because he’s a dragon, his greed, his physical size, and tendency to hoard, increases dramatically. He eventually learns to control it and returns to his regular size.
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The next apparent comparison is the two reckless characters of Black Star and Rainbow Dash. Besides having the physical similarity of blue hair, they’re arrogant, daring characters that constantly show off to prove, both to themselves and to others, that they’re the greatest at what they do. They’ve got unmatched athletic prowess, often showing impressive feats of strength and proving their constant fits of boasting. As far as personalities go, they can be oblivious and a bit mean-spirited at times, but that doesn’t prevent them from being caring and sympathetic to others, especially those they’re closest with.
Black Star’s partner, Tsubaki Natkatsukasa is another parallel to MLP’s Fluttershy. Both characters are introverts female with their apologetic expressions that are occasionally walked on by their friends. For these two, personality traits form the resemblance, rather than their actions or abilities. However, both Tsubaki and Fluttershy both have their episode’s to prove their internal strength and really shine through their with their assertiveness. Tsubaki, in the fight with her brother, learns not to pity others and stand up for herself, while Fluttershy (while she is also shown to have quite the temper at times) ultimately gains it through a seminar. This shows that they have the courage within them to be self-confident and strong, but chose the mothering, tender side of their personalities instead.
Extreme perfectionism with a passion for appearance is the main trait for our next set of comparable characters: the unicorn, Rarity, and the reaper Death the Kid. Death the Kid is infamous for his obsession with symmetry, shown even to stress out over folding the tip of the toilet paper. Rarity is a dressmaking unicorn that is constantly in the upkeep of fashion and looking good. Each of the characters also pushes their fashion sense onto their friends. Rarity, on more than one occasion, has reprimanded her friends on what they were wearing, offering to make them something new as a replacement. Death the Kid, in comparison, has berated his two weapons, Liz and Patty, for not having the same height, breast size, etc. and has gone so far as to spend hours shaping Liz’s eyebrows. Regardless of their overbearing natures, they are also caring characters that can overcome their pet peeves to come through for their friends, making them important, valuable characters to the cast.
Death the Kid’s weapons, Liz and Patty Thompson are equivalent to the ponies Applejack and Pinkie Pie. Applejack and Liz, besides having fondness for cowboy hats, are both great constants to their friends, regularly bringing them back to earth and the reality they’re rooted in. Both Applejack and Liz treasure their relationships to those closest to them. Each of them also has a tendency to get very emotional when it comes to their siblings. Applejack will burst into tears of pride because of her younger sister, Apple Bloom, whereas Liz will cling to Patty crying about how much she loves her. Pinkie Pie and Patty, on the other hand, are the complete opposite in many ways. Energetic, manic, and very childlike, they thrive off the randomness and quirkiness of their personalities. They both speak in singsong tones, and see everything as a game, making them easily excitable. Pinkie Pie and Patty, despite being girly-girl characters, can be quite frightening at times, scaring other characters into doing what they want through their exaggerated facial expressions, strongly worded threats, or psychotic, deranged fits of anger. Nevertheless, their skills and abilities shouldn’t be doubted. Patty, in the manga, has been shown to be extremely athletic and proficient at hand-to-hand combat. Pinkie Pie has her unexplainable “Pinkie-Sense” which helps her predict sudden, random events that are about to happen, such as a pot falling from the sky, or someone walking face first into an opening door. They’re very comforting characters, often using their bubbly personalities to keep up the morale and creating a constant sense of comic relief.
The plots of Soul Eater and My Little Pony also share similar themes to guide the characters along the way. Both shows tie together individuals that seem like they’d be at odds ordinarily, in order to defeat a common enemy. In Soul Eater, the more elite students are grouped together into teams of three Meisters and their weapons. A big part of their combat style is the linking their souls together in order to increase their power. In episode 35, they used Soul’s piano playing as a common wavelength to link their souls together and cooperate in order to defeat Mosquito. In MLP, the Ponies rely on magic crystals called “The Elements of Harmony”. These crystals are used to bring out the full potential of the ponies that wield them, however, only Twilight and her friends have control over them, as they represent the Elements themselves. When an enemy poses a problem for Equestria, Princess Celestia sends them out to retrieve the Elements of Harmony and defeat the opponent together. This not only strengthens the individual characters in both shows, but also places an emphasis on the importance of friendship and strong relationships between characters; a lesson anyone can learn.
Though they may be on different sides of the fandom world, Soul Eater and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic show many similarities. However, this is only a taste of the countless parallels that other shows share between each other. No matter how dissimilar they seem. I hope you found my findings and research to be interesting and invite you to do the same! Just take two different stories, shows, plays, etc., that seem like they’d be on opposite sides of the spectrum and compare them. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised where it takes you!
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