The Soul Taker

Kyosuke enters the church where his mother lay dying on the floor. With her last ounce of strength she stabs Kyosuke through the heart with a knife. Why did his mother betray him? Kyosuke awakens in a bed and finds that a flicker - a girl with a fragment of the soul of his little sister - helped him survive. He finds that he now has the power to become the SoulTaker, a mutant with supernatural abilities. But wait, since when did Kyosuke have a little sister? Has everything he's known up to now been a lie?

Kyosuke decides to protect the Flickers he finds from a group called Kirihara that is hunting them down while searching for his younger sister Runa. With each episode Kiyosuke discovers more about his family, the Flickers, mutants, and what started it all. The SoulTaker has a captivating story that kept me wanting more after every episode. I really love the way everything plays out with some good plot twists and hardly any filler.

Kyosuke is a cool lead. He is a righteous guy and kicks butt as the SoulTaker. Shiro is a man who aids Kyosuke because their goals are the same: take down the Kirihara group. Komugi doesn't really play much of a role in the story, but the show wouldn't be the same without her - she's so adorable. After witnessing Kyosuke's kindness, she falls in love and decides to stick around. Primarily, each Flicker gets only one episode of development, however, as a whole they're a big part of the show.

The SoulTaker has a unique visual style that sets it apart from other shows, creates a dark atmosphere, and looks very cool. Some scenes are done in B&W and others have characters in different shades of a single color. Animation-wise, the show looks like an OVA for the first three episodes, but unfortunately drops to TV quality - and worse - in the episodes that follow. Some episodes and scenes have a severe drop in animation where it resorts to near still frame images. The action is well done, even in some of the later episodes, with good and quite lengthy fights. The SoulTaker has a good background music and a rockin' "super hero" style opening theme.

The SoulTaker is an excellent combination of style and substance. The animation drops are disappointing yet easy to overlook because the show excels in every other area. The SoulTaker had me on the edge of my seat much of the way through and I enjoyed it a lot. Definitely recommended.

Score:

Written by Marc Frost on Apr 05, 2014