Is Soul Eater manga over? Status of the series explained

Soul Eater is a popular manga series by mangaka Atsushi Okubo. It was published by Square Enix and first released as three separate one-shots serialized in two Gangan Powered special editions and one Gangan Wing in 2003. The manga properly began serialization in Square Enix's Monthly Shonen Gangan manga magazine on May 12, 2004.

The source of confusion could be that the anime ended before the manga had been completed. Thus fans got to see an anime-original ending to the series. However, this could also have led to many losing interest in the series and not pursuing the manga to find out the canon ending.

Thus, many might remain oblivious to the status of the manga: whether it has ended or not. Moreover, the fact that the series is a sequel to Fire Force, which came out in 2015, might add to the confusion. So, to answer the question, yes the manga has ended, and that too quite some time ago.

Disclaimer: This article contains spoilers.

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Is the Soul Eater franchise over?

Still image of Soul Evans from the anime series (Image via Studio Bones)

The Soul Eater manga series began publishing on May 12, 2004, and came to an end on August 12, 2013. The series takes place at Death Weapon Meister Academy in Nevada, United States. The academy is led by a Shinigami named Death and serves as a training facility for humans who can transform into weapons, as well as for the wielders of these weapons, known as meisters.

Thus, teams are formed consisting of meisters and demon weapons. The objective is to hunt down 99 evil human souls and one witch soul to create a death scythe.

Still image of Lord Death from the anime series (Image via Studio Bones)

Regarding the confusion surrounding the manga series being a sequel to Fire Force, despite the latter being released later, the answer is pretty simple. Fire Force is set in the old world, whereas Soul Eater takes place in the New World, which was brought into existence by Shinra Kusakabe from Fire Force.

In this new world, Death eliminated pyro powers and became a significant entity. The confirmation that Fire Force is a sequel was made in the final chapter of the series, where characters such as Maka, Soul, Death the Kid, and Black Star made an appearance.

After the official manga ended, a spin-off manga series, titled Soul Eater Not! was serialized in Monthly Shonen Gangan from January 2011 to November 2014.

Still image of Maka Albarn from the anime series (Image via Studio Bones)

Lastly, the Soul Eater anime, produced by Studio Bones, aired its first episode in April 2008 and concluded with its final episode on March 29, 2009. Speculation arose about a potential remake of the anime series to commemorate its 15th anniversary in March 2023, but no official information has been released to the public.

Therefore, it can be said that the Soul Eater franchise has reached its conclusion.