BLACK☆STAR: THE BRIGHTEST STAR IN THE SKY

Devon Nguyen - Writer, 3rd Year, Anthropology

"What's the point of worrying about the past? A real star keeps moving forward."

SPOILERS FOR SOUL EATER!

Annoying, loud, and obnoxious–three words that many casual fans of Atsushi Ōkubo’s Soul Eater would ascribe to Black☆Star, a rowdy weapon meister and who dreams of surpassing God. Just searching up his name on Google will lead you to decades-old Reddit and MyAnimeList rants about him. It’s rare for me to meet other fans who also favor him the most out of the three main meisters in the core cast, and honestly, I don’t blame people for putting him at the bottom. Compared to Maka and Death the Kid, Black☆Star’s quirky exuberance isn’t as charming as theirs, nor does his overall character arc contain the same depth or relevance to the main story like theirs. In spite of this, I still adore Black☆Star, in what he represents in the grand scheme of Soul Eater’s story and in both the person that he remains and becomes by the end of it.

As I stated before, Black☆Star is loud, head-splittingly loud sometimes. He has no filter, charges head first into battle, and never thinks about the consequences of his actions. There are times where you as a reader wonder why his weapon partner, Tsubaki, puts up with him all the time. How could a person with such a kind and gentle soul resonate with someone who’s so incredibly exasperating? I asked myself that many times during my first watch through of the series, when the first handful of episodes had me desperately wondering if Black☆Star would ever become more bearable. The answer is yes, he does. He absolutely does, albeit rather slowly.

Tsubaki is an incredible foil for him and is the reason why I even gained an interest in seeing him develop into the character I came to love. Their relationship is akin to that of a benevolent older sister and unruly younger brother. There are many moments where it seems like Tsubaki is way too good to Black☆Star, who oftentimes feels like he’s taking advantage of Tsubaki’s kindness. But upon reading further, we come to understand that these two have a genuine admiration for each other. Throughout her childhood, Tsubaki felt like she had to shrink and stay in the shadows in order to please her much less gifted older brother. She was quiet and supportive, never making an effort to stand out. But with Black☆Star, she’s allowed to be herself–she’s allowed to reach far beyond the limits that she had imposed upon herself and uncover her true potential. Black☆Star sees her, and that’s all Tsubaki had ever wanted.

You can really see he matures through his rivalries with Mifune and Death the Kid. Mifune challenged Black☆Star in both the physical and psychological realm. He was a master swordsman with a solid set of principles, firm and no-nonsense in the face of Black☆Star rambunctiousness. Even when they came to clash because of their allegiances, Mifune always treated him with respect, even going as far as daring him to be better than his deceased and dishonored father, White☆Star. It’s during their third and final battle that Black☆Star shows growth, revealing how much he’s learned after his previous defeat. He’s more level headed, more focused and ready to prove to Mifune that he’ll master the way of the warrior, surpassing both Mifune and his father.

Death the Kid challenged Black☆Star on an emotional level. From the moment that Kid became a student at the DWMA, Black☆Star was immediately drawn to him, challenging him to a fight to see how strong he actually was. They grew to be comrades and eventually, close friends. Their friendship really peaked during one of my favorite fights in the entire series though. In a moment when Kid succumbed to madness, Black☆Star desperately tried to bring him back, reaching out to him with both his fists and his feelings. You can tell how much these two mean to each other through this fight. They’re willing to support each other till the end, even when they’re at their lowest moment. It honestly made me a little emotional when after he brought Kid back from the madness, Black☆Star promised Kid that he would help him create the world that he envisions. After so many moments of him proclaiming his goal to be the strongest, seeing him proclaim a goal on behalf of a friend felt incredible. It’s this fight specifically that solidified my love for Black☆Star; he really proved that he’d grown as a person, emotionally and maturity-wise.

It’s easy to call Black☆Star an annoying character who doesn’t think twice about the people around him. But that’s only true for just a small part of the overall story, as just reading where the manga picks up after the anime can show you how much growth he truly undergoes.