DWMA and Allies (Spartoi) | Witches and Allies | Other | Not!
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DWMA
Leadership
Death / Shinigami
Lord Death (Shinigami-sama)
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama (Japanese), John Swasey (English), Oreste Baldini (Italian)
The Grim Reaper and head of the DWMA. Most of the time he behaves like a complete goofball, but he can be a terrifyingly powerful fighting force when things get serious. His soul wavelength is so large that it covers all of Death City. Spirit Albarn is his current partner, much to the latter's constant annoyance.
- Anthropomorphic Personification: He an Eldritch Abomination that embodies the madness of order, created by Shinra Kusakabe is establish new rules in the reality he created. Upon his birth, Death stripped everyone of their ability to use pyrokinesis and removed Infernals.
- Barrier Maiden:
- Limited to the foundations of the DWMA for the purposes of sealing the first Kishin. Asura got out, Death did not.
- Has something of Barrier Warrior too, as he tries to crush Asura with a shield.
- Becoming the Mask: While Lord Death assumed a humanoid form years after his creation, he adopted his comedic appearance and behavior so as to not scare the children he would be training when he established the DWMA. Centuries of acting this way made it so it's become his true personality. Now he only reverts to his original, ruthless self when the kid gloves come off.
- Berserk Button: Asura's appearance is enough to make him change from being silly to claiming death threats.
- Beware the Silly Ones: His reaction to Asura's escape, after spending the series to date happily goofy and mostly harmless.
- Big Good: He runs the DWMA and assigns missions to his students to stop evil souls. He's also the only one who can defeat Asura.
- Brown Note Being: Like the other Great Old Ones, Lord Death's soul has a madness wavelength that, if left unchecked, can drive the whole world to madness. In his case, he induces the Madness of Order; a madness that erodes free will and the capacity to feel. Because Lord Death has faith in humanity's capacity for good, he chooses not to use it.
- Bumbling Dad: At least as a façade. However, Kid clearly respects him.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: "Mandolin?"
- Cowardice Callout: He calls Asura out on how the latter "hid[es] cowardice behind cunning" and has to lock up his fears and let them fester at the price of everyone else suffering, and to cap it off, Death declares that Asura isn't above sanity but simply doesn't have the belly for it.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: He's incredibly powerful, and hell, downright terrifying when he gets serious. However his playful side is genuine.
- The Death of Death: The moment his son's reaper powers awaken in the manga, his own life comes to an end due to there being only one Grim Reaper allowed to exist in the world at a time.
- Deity of Human Origin: The Stealth Prequel Fire Force revealed that Death is a creation of Shinra's, created so that the concept of "death" would still exist in the new world he made as well as enable humanity to freely interact with a god.
- Don't Fear the Reaper: Done deliberately so he could start a school without children being afraid of him.
- Eccentric Mentor: Paired with Trickster Mentor. He acts silly most of the time, but all of his advice and orders are delivered with the best of intentions and considerable foresight.
- Eldritch Abomination: As mentioned, he's one of the eight Great Old Ones.
- Face Death with Dignity: Once Kid begins connecting the Sanzu lines, he accepts his tenure as a shinigami is over quite gracefully, knowing that Kid will carry on his beliefs.
- A Form You Are Comfortable With: He didn't make too many changes, but yes, originally a lot meaner looking. Then he decided to raise a school; and that involved human children. So he came up with a goofy face and persona so that DEATH would not be scary.
- Good Is Not Soft: Despite putting on a happy-go-lucky persona, he can be utterly ruthless when he feels it's necessary and can be downright relentless when it comes to execution orders for enemies of the DWMA. He was even more vicious during his time as leader of the Great Old Ones and hunted witches without mercy.
- Good Parents: He does his best with Death the Kid and besides being bound to a city and sending his son on dangerous assignments, he's a good dad. Though with Asura, it's complicated.
- Grim Reaper: He's his world's version of Death complete with his various assortment of Weapons that serve as his "Scythes" to reap evil souls.
- Helping Would Be Kill Stealing: In the first episode, Maka and Soul are having trouble defeating Blair. He tells Spirit that he could defeat the magical cat "with a single reaper chop!" but that wouldn't help Maka and Soul develop as meister and weapon. He also could have used his Madness of Order to prevent the actions of many of the series antagonists, but choose not to since it would rob people of their free will.
- Hypocrite: He teaches that fear is the most important tool a fighter can have, that it keeps you sharp and strong, but several centuries ago, he literally ripped out his own fear and it became his first son, the Demon God Asura, who went on to become a Great Old One, representing Madness through Fear. However, it's implied that he learned this very lesson he now teaches as a result of what happened. He himself suggests the notion.
- Killed Off for Real: When Kid finally ascends as a true Grim Reaper, Lord Death happily passes on.
- Large Ham: Usually when performing the Shinigami Chop/Reaper Chop.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: When Asura is released, his dopey round eyes turn triangular and angry, and his comedic karate chop creates shockwaves and leaves a crater upon impact.
- Mind Control: One facet of his "Madness of Order" allows him to suppress free will across the planet, much like Asura's "Madness of Fear" induces insanity, with the offshoot of being able to neutralize the latter's influence. However, he does not, as he believes that Humans Are Special.
- Mirror Character:
- To the Evangelist of Fire Force, both being deities created by humans who oversee the world and everyone on it. But while the Evangelist is an malevolent embodiment of despair that influenced events from behind the scenes to destroy the world, Death is a benevolent embodiment of order who directly interacted with humans and sought to protect the world.
- Once the truth of Asura's origins is made clear, Death compares himself to Medusa for his treatment of Kid. As both Kid and Crona were raised/created for a specific purpose, this is not unjustified. There is, crucially, a world of difference between Death's approach to fatherhood and creating Kid in the image of his own creator compared to everything Medusa did to Crona.
- Mr. Exposition: Constantly at the beginning of the series.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: Depending on how far his current persona is a pretense. He might really have 'gotten used' to it.
- Odd Friendship: With Spirit.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: It's a Played With trope. First it's noted by Spirit in the anime when Death's starts making really scary threats towards Asura during their battle, stating he has never seen him "sounding so murderous before". Lord Death was quite dangerous, serious and menacing 800 years ago before creating his amicable and comical persona to be able to interact with children. However, it's clear he never lost his edge, so while he may seem OOC to most of everyone, to those who did know him centuries ago (like Excalibur or Asura), he is going back to his older more serious personality.
- Parental Neglect: Why is Asura such a fear-mongering wreck? Lord Death created him by putting all of his fears into a physical body.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner: "It's time for you to die again."
- Precision F-Strike: How do we know how kid-friendly he wasn't 800 years ago? There's what he called Arachne: "You whorish swine! I'll kill you as soon as I see you!"
- Putting the "Pal" in Principal: He is the founder and Dean of Shibusen and is respected and beloved by virtually everybody.
- Rank Scales with Asskicking: He defeated Asura in the past, and when he was released he is specifically stated to be the only one capable of beating him. Their second fight has Death dominate Asura for a while, with Asura choosing to flee rather than continuing the fight, whereas all the main cast couldn't even hope to defeat him. Even in their second battle against Asura in the anime, Death remains the only one shown to dominate Asura, so much so that Asura ultimately has to leverage Kid's life to defeat him and he leaves the Kishin so badly injured he's in a way partially responsible for the main cast's ability to defeat him
- Reality Warper: One facet of his "Madness of Order" allows him to alter the rules of a world. He used that power to remove humans' ability to use pryokenisis, removing Infernals as a threat. However, it left a void that would be later filled by Witches and various monsters..
- Reasonable Authority Figure: He doesn't fire Spirit for not staying by his side at all times and tells him to have more self-confidence. He also forgives Maka with what she did to her dad's special card and overall is an amicable boss who oversees the well-being of his staff and students even if they're witches if they're not malicious i.e. Kim and Angela believing in the next generation.
- Shinigami: He's much closer to the original western concept of The Grim Reaper than most uses of the trope, as he is a literal Anthropomorphic Personification of death rather than simply a spirit thereof.
- Shout-Out: There is no other reason his dub voice needs to sound so much like Potter Puppet Pals Dumbledore.
- So Proud of You: To Kid after Kid ascends to become a true Grim Reaper, Lord Death is filled with pride.
- Spared by the Adaptation: He lives in the anime since the whole rule of the Sanzu lines wasn't established in the manga yet.
- Tears of Joy: The crumbling eye-holes in his mask resemble tears of joy. When Kid finally becomes worthy as his successor, Shinigami's mask cracks up from the left eyes down before he turns into dust.
- Too Powerful to Live: He can't leave the academy, because he'd resolve the fights on his own.
- Truly Single Parent: Death the Kid and Asura are actually fragments of himself.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: He created Asura by removing his own fear, making him responsible for both the Kishin's existence and the reason the Kishin became such a fear-crazed villain in the first place.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: Him and Spirit. Teasing, arguments, impatience, odd moments of concern for one another. Pretty much like any other meister/Weapon pair, in fact.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: Zigzagged with him and Death the Kid, who used to be the page image for the trope. Shinigami often maintains his goofy attitude when Kid is serious, but can also be the Only Sane Man whenever Kid's obsessive compulsive kicks in. He was also more serious and dark when he was younger, but those aren't good qualities when dealing with youngsters, hence him becoming comical and goofy.
- The Wonka: He's effectively the principal of the DWMA and also highly unpredictable and eccentric, capable of switching between absurdly daft and effectively dangerous very quickly.
- World's Strongest Man: Stated by
Word of God himself to be the most powerful being in the series, what we see of him show it's real. He is the only being capable of defeating Asura and is the leader of the godly Great Old Ones. - Your Days Are Numbered: There can not be two Grim Reapers in existence, so when Kid gains his true Reaper powers, Lord Death dies. When questioned by Excalibur if he does not fear death, Lord Death responds that he gave all his fear away already.
Staff
Spirit Albarn
Spirit Albarn
Voiced by: Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese), Hiroaki Hirata (Japanese - CD dramas), Vic Mignogna (English), Loris Loddi (Italian)
Lord Death's current weapon and Maka's estranged but affectionate father. Maka's mother was his former meister, but she divorced him due to his constant flirting with other women.
- The Ace: It's easy to forget, given his ridiculous demeanor, but he's the strongest of the Death Scythes and Lord Death's personal weapon.
- Action Dad: What with being a Death Scythe and all.
- Adaptation Dye-Job: The anime gives him blue eyes, but in the manga his eyes are as green as Maka's.
- Amazingly Embarrassing Parent: To Maka.
- Berserker Tears: He's weeping in utter rage at hearing Medusa's utter callousness for Crona. As a parent especially, he finds such behavior unforgivable.
- Broken Pedestal: Maka absolutely loved her father as a child, but after Spirit cheated on her Mother, her belief in her Father was shattered.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Marie once mentioned Spirit's expertise in soul wavelength control in the same sentence she pointed out his womanizing.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander:Stein: What on earth are you doing, Spirit?
Spirit: I'm sending positive energy to Maka so she'll do well on the test.
Stein: Okay...
Spirit: Anything else?
Stein: No. Continue.
Spirit: Yeah. - Cross Attack: His weapon form is a cross with a Sinister Scythe blade on it.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: It's easy to forget that he is Lord Death's personal Death Scythe for a good reason. In the hands of Stein the two are nearly unstoppable, and when Death wields him.....
- Doting Parent: He is a doting father who really tries his very best for Maka. Unfortunately, while a doting father, he is a terrible husband.
- Establishing Character Moment: He's in the background when Maka and Soul first call Lord Death to report on collecting their 99th soul. After making a play for Maka's affection, he turns on Soul and demands he keep his distance; when Soul mentions a lack of interest in Maka and her small chest, however, Spirit immediately leaps to the defense of his daughter's beauty and demands to know why Soul hasn't made a move on her yet.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He is sometimes called by just his title, Death Scythe, probably to acknowledge he is Lord Death's Weapon.
- Foil: With Medusa, namely that both are parents of a Meister who end up having Black Blood in them. Spirit though is a Handsome Lech and Doting Parent that genuinely loves Maka while Medusa is a Abusive Parent who cares little for her child. There's also the fact that Spirit is a Deathsycthe and Medusa is a witch, making them naturally enemies.
- Handsome Lech: He's a dashing man in his prime and constantly goes out to the bar and flirts with the workers there.
- It's All About Me: Spirit, especially when getting emotional over Maka, has a tendency to interpret events either primarily in his own favor or to portray himself more sympathetically than deserved.
- Let's Get Dangerous!: Spirit is normally goofy and flirty, but when he needs to be serious, he's a major threat.
- Loser Archetype: The collapse of his family has left Spirit a colossal, pathetic mess, all but begging for attention from his daughter and sobbing over it in cabaret clubs when she denies him.
- Lovable Sex Maniac: Though not quite lovable enough to stop his wife from divorcing him. He deconstructs the trope by showing how being friendly and lovable while being a shameless lech clash too much for him to form stable relationships as his wife and daughter can attest.
- Morality Chain: To Stein, especially when they were students.
- Mum Looks Like a Sister: He looks more like Maka's older brother. Justified as he was 18 when Maka was born.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Like Death, if he's not joking around, it's a sign of trouble. His reaction to Medusa's abuse of Crona is the only time we see Spirit get angry. His response to Shinigami in the later chapters may also count; his meister is commenting on the circumstances of his own death and his normally talkative Weapon isn't saying a word.
- Odd Friendship: With Lord Death.
- Also to Stein, considering what he did to Spirit during their years and still willing to accept him.
- Over-Enthusiastic Parents: He gets excited about Maka in multiple ways.
- Papa Wolf: No matter how silly he is, the guy isn't going to hesitate going full-force to protect his daughter. Judging by his unusually aggressive reaction to Medusa, this trope may extend to children in general.
- Parent-Child Team: In the manga's climax, Maka is able to successfully wield Spirit as a weapon against Crona. Their flawed but loving relationship is what makes Crona's resolve waver, allowing Asura to seize control of the kid.
- Playboy Has a Daughter: Played with. Spirit didn't give up his playboy ways after he and his wife had Maka, and Maka's mother ended up leaving him for his infidelity. Despite this, Spirit REALLY wants to be a part of Maka's life, but unfortunately for him, Maka can't stand him.
- Really Gets Around: While they can be rare, there are flashes of Spirit's womanizing behavior here and there.
- Spirit throws himself at Medusa when she's posing as the new school nurse.
- In a flashback to the days when the death scythes were kids, Spirit is seen flirting outrageously with a girl as the Class Representative Azusa happens upon him.
- Maka learns on her daddy-daughter date with Spirit that every shop in Death City has a female employee that he's made a move on (and is so embarassed she refuses to return to some of her favorite shops because of it).
- Secret-Keeper: He was aware that the connection of Kid's Sanzu lines would eventually lead to Shinigami's disappearance well before the fact.
- Significant Green Eyed Red Head: Spirit has green eyes and crimson-red hair, a combination unseen in any of the other characters. On top of being Maka's father, he's the most powerful of the Death Scythes.
- Simple, yet Awesome: His incredibly precise control over his wavelength allows Spirit to toss himself to anyone, even a Red Shirt, and help them wield him like a pro, by boosting their specific skills. Have him jump around a battlefield to where he's needed, and suddenly the Red Shirt Army becomes a Badass Army.
- Sinister Scythe: Unlike Soul, Spirit looks more like a thin, long-shafted cross with the scythe blade coming out from one of the arms.
- Super-Empowering: His unique talent as a Death Scythe is the ability to dramatically boost the natural abilities of whoever wields him so that even a Red Shirt can become a One-Man Army. When teamed up with Stein, the two of them are practically unstoppable, especially considering that they're able to perform the Witch Hunter technique without difficulty.
- Talking Weapon: As with all weapons.
- Theme Naming: Note how the two primary scythes of the show are named Soul and Spirit.
- This Is Unforgivable!: While he had plenty of reason to dislike Medusa, what truly solidifies his resolve to defeat Medusa is learning what an awful mother she is to Crona. Spirit definitely has flaws as a husband, but he doesn't mess around when it comes to being a father.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: For as much crap as Maka gives him throughout the series, by the end of the manga the two of them seem to be on fairly good terms. Tellingly, the two of them are able to perform a successful Soul Resonance at the series' climax, with Maka's hand not burning while using her father as a weapon.
- Vitriolic Best Buds: He and Lord Death annoy one another quite frequently, but he does seem to care about his meister (e.g the Sanzu Lines business) and his role as Death Scythe.
- Wacky Parent, Serious Child: With Maka.
- "Well Done, Dad!" Guy: He constantly tries to be an admirable father-figure to Maka and seeks her approval; she appreciates his love and hard work, but continues to be angered by his stupidity and shameless flirting.
Sid Barett
Sid Barett
Voiced by: Masafumi Kimura (Japanese), Kent Williams (English), Roberto Draghetti (Italian)
A zombie who was once a teacher and meister at DWMA. Post-mortem, he still serves Death faithfully, and he partners with Nygus in battle. He is named after Syd Barrett from Pink Floyd.
- Back from the Dead: Already back to life as a zombie in the original series, but timeline wise following after Not!, it counts.
- Blade Enthusiast: He's a Knife Meister, but he can also use other weapons (including Azusa Yumi and his own tombstone) without trouble.
- Catchphrase:
- "That's the kind of man I was."
- The anime version even gives him a brief pre-zombification cameo where he says "That's the man I am," instead.
- Charles Atlas Superpower: Surprisingly strong even before he became a zombie. He ripped off a lamppost right from the ground.
- Dirty Old Man: In the manga, Black*Star lifts up Tsubaki's skirt in order to get Sid to talk, and he gets quite a kick out of this. It's never mentioned again, and their relationship is unaffected by it.
- Improbable Weapon User: Ordinarily battles with his Weapon, a knife type, but is just as handy wielding his own tombstone.
- I Would Say If I Could Say: His catch phrase counts for this frequently.
- Meaningful Name: His name is pronounced Shido in Japanese which can mean dead person.
- McNinja: Like most of the cast, his exact nation of origin is unknown, but given his name he's probably not Japanese.
- Ninja: He's BlackStar's teacher, making him a Ninja as well.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: An undead teacher ninja.
- Our Zombies Are Different: He's undead but retains his memories and personality. Overall, dying and then coming back as a Revenant Zombie hasn't changed his day-to-day life much. He also appears to have not decomposed since being zombified, rather, looks even bulkier than his human form.
- Power-Strain Blackout: He collapses after using his powers to assist the main trio, their weapons, and Stein to get outside the witch's trap before it closed.
- Promotion to Parent: He raised BlackStar after the death of his clan.
- Shout-Out: One of his attacks (which he oddly never pulls out again through the course of the series), Living End, creates a cross-shaped pillar of light.
- Stealth Mentor: In his first appearance, he pretended his zombification made him turn against the DWMA only to challenge his student's abilities. It's appropriate because he's, ya know, a Ninja.
- The Undead: He's a zombie. Apart from looking like a corpse and giving him a catchphrase it doesn't make much difference.
- Undeathly Pallor: When this was pointed out by Crona, he says to himself that he "used to have" an excellent skin tone.
- Undignified Death: He stated his death (and the hole in his head) came from being stabbed in the head by a miniature Statue of Liberty. It's implied that, despite his skills, he simply tripped and fell headfirst onto it. Although in Not!, we eventually find out Shaula caused it (and the statue was "miniature" in the sense that it was only about twenty feet tall).
- Visual Pun: Sid-sensei has a hole in his head. Before he died, he wore a bandanna with the Kanji for "hole" over his forehead.
Mira Nygus
Mira Nygus
Voiced by: Junko Noda (Japanese), Shay Moore (English)
Sid's Demon Weapon partner, who took over as the school nurse after Medusa left. In keeping with her partner's undead theme, she looks like an Egyptian mummy. Her weapon form is a combat knife. Is revealed to have met Sid by being the prize of a lottery for partner-less meister.
- Adaptational Early Appearance: In the manga, she appears in her human form right after Arachne's revival, while in the anime she first appears with Sid as they go to check Medusa's lair.
- Booby Trap: Quite skilled at setting them, as Mifune found out.
- Hospital Hottie: She's the school nurse and she's actually quite pretty underneath the bandages.
- Icy Blue Eyes: Of the cold and piercing variety.
- Meaningful Name: Her name (pronounced as "mee-ruh") means "mummy" in Japanese.
- Spell My Name With An S: Nygus or Naigus? A certain sub rendered it as "Kniges", somewhat fitting given her weapon form.
- Talking Weapon: As with all weapons.
Franken Stein
Dr. Franken Stein
Voiced by: Yūya Uchida (Japanese), Mitsuru Miyamoto (Japanese - CD dramas), Chuck Huber (English), Christian Iansante (Italian)
Dr. Franken Stein is a teacher at the DWMA and the most powerful meister to ever graduate from the school. Memorable for being a textbook Mad Scientist, albeit a heroic one. He was Spirit Albarn's first meister, until Spirit was driven off by Stein's obsession with dissecting anything and everything, including Spirit himself.
- Adaptational Villainy: In the manga he struggles with his madness and is suspected of a murder, but never betrays the DWMA. In the anime he actually pulls a Face–Heel Turn and joins Medusa, but comes back not too long after.
- Art Shift: Through the Eyes of Madness, things can get... trippy.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Very intelligent and can focus his thoughts with the screw on his head.
- Ax-Crazy: Noted in chapter 93 when Spirit compares him to the Kishin.
- Babies Ever After: As of the last chapter, Marie is carrying his child, aka new guinea pig. Naturally, that proclamation makes Marie a bit uneasy...
- Badass Bookworm: As smart as he is powerful, he IS a Mad Scientist after all.
- Badass Labcoat: Comes with being a Mad Scientist. It does tend to come off during battle though.
- Beat Them at Their Own Game: Somewhat averted. He can master any weapon he comes across, but he usually has his own style of wielding compared to a different meister. Examples include his one handed defensive stance with Spirit whereas Maka focuses on two-handed offensive and utilized Jackie's chain as a means of blocking and her flames as a propulsion for his punches instead of using her as a flail or flamethrower like Kim.
- Boring, but Practical: His default fighting style with a weapon is to simply block and counter using his Soul Force. Despite this, he's very powerful and it's an effective combo.
- Broken Ace: He's known as the most talented and best Meister to ever graduate from the DWMA, has an intellect that matches Medusa Gorgon and is an accomplished scientist and doctor, is a prolific fighter who can use any Weapon he gets his hands on, and a capable teacher. However, he's also a reluctant case of a bloodthirsty sociopath who struggles with his own mental illness and tipping over into complete insanity. Without a Morality Chain, he'd go utterly berserk and he knows it, much to his shame.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Very quirky and crazy (Spirit is actually afraid of him due to the latter), but is the best meister to ever graduate from the academy.
- Character Tic: Stein frequently turns the head of the bolt running through his own head, producing a ratcheting noise.
- Clark Kent Outfit: He is ripped under his sweater and lab coat.
- Clear My Name: Is accused of murdering Joe Buttataki and ends up disappearing for awhile as result.
- Combat Medic: Several years of cutting people up and studying him has made him very good at patching people up.
- Cool Teacher: Beneath his dissection-obsessed Mad Scientist exterior, he's a good man whose students love him.
- The Corruptible: In the anime, especially. The closest to insanity of all in the DWMA much to his shame, and the bad guys notice.
- Creepy Child: He is shown in flashbacks as a pale, tired-looking boy with an unsettling smile and, apparently, a tendency to beat up people who aren't targets of DWMA. Spirit had been his Morality Chain for a long time before Medusa came along.
- His five years of working with Spirit was filled with Stein experimenting on him before Spirit's future wife informed him and causing Spirit to leave with her.
- Creepy Good: To put this into perspective, he routinely 'experiments on people' and told his partner he switched two of his toes when he was sleeping. He didn't; he was just screwing with him, but the fact that everyone found this a believable thing for him to have done really says it all.
- Creepy Monotone: In the English dub. It's subtle, but it's there.
- Dr. Fakenstein: Naturally. His general design is Frankenstein's Monster-based too.
- Expy: Bears a strong resemblance to Faust VIII, at least personality-wise.
- He's a(n arguably) crazier, less visibly modified Karl Kroenen who's on the side of good... for now.
- The pattern of his scars and skin grafts brings to mind Dr. Black Jack.
- Fatherly Scientist: Downplayed, but he certainly slips into this sometimes towards his students.
- First Guy Wins: Stein was apparently Marie's First Love, and much Ship Tease has abounded. He is now the father of her child.
- Foil: To Medusa: Shibusen researcher who enjoys skirting the rules, does amoral things For Science!, messes with others, mentors younger meisters, and doesn't quite understand "love." Except Stein cares about people anyway (especially those at Shibusen), keeps himself in check (or has others helping), and wants at least some order.
- Also to Justin: Solo Weapon vs solo Meister, pure chaos vs some order, loses sanity through loneliness vs keeping sane-ish through Power of Friendship.
- Freudian Excuse: He claims he doesn't have one. He tells Medusa of the doctors who wanted to find out what traumatic event could have caused him to act so violently towards others (with a flashback to a young Stein beating up someone random for no clear reason), and Franken just wanted to cut them up.
- Glass Cannon: On his own, Stein can dish out good damage but without a weapon he cannot defend himself effectively.
- Good Old Fisticuffs: He doesn't need a weapon to kick ass.
- Guinea Pig Family: Stein declares his child will be another guinea pig for him. That baby's childhood is going to be... interesting.
- Heel–Face Revolving Door:
- In the manga it's subverted. He's a good guy throughout even after Medusa's scheming nearly sends him insane.
- In the anime it's played straight. He briefly switches to Medusa's side then back.
- Heroic Willpower: Has this in metric tons. All the times he nearly falls to madness, and the only time he does was specifically engineered by Medusa. He comes back, anyway.
- Hidden Depths: Obviously an unrepentant Mad Scientist, but clearly one of the most complex characters in the show.
- Hot Teacher: His female students seem to think so.
- Informed Flaw: He claims he does not understand any form of love or compassion. While he's certainly disturbed on an emotional level, it should be noted, less than an hour before he said it, he made the students he constantly goes out of his way to guide and protect promise him that they would not die. That's not even getting into Marie.
- Jack of All Trades: He's got an amazing balance of skills similar to those that make members of the main cast special. He's got high intelligence and soul perception, mastery in hand to hand combat, the ability to attack directly with his soul wavelength, and his being capable of using many different kinds of weapons.
- Ki Manipulation: One of the reasons he is so dangerous is his ability to use Soul Force without a weapon.
- Lack of Empathy: He's accused of it more than once and he himself admitted that he's not quite capable of love. However, he does show care to all his students and he managed to mend his friendship with Spirit. He said it himself, when rejecting Medusa's Love Confession. Not that his general actions back this up. Marie is carrying his newest guinea pig.
- Master of All: This is why he's so deadly. Stein can adapt to any Weapon he's given and be completely effective with it.
- More than Mind Control: In the anime, Medusa causing him to go mad also causes him to leave DWMA and join her.
- Mr. Fanservice: A sexy scientist of a Team Dad, complete with Shirtless Scenes and Ship Tease, and with his Reluctant Psycho thing he's basically living fuel for Hurt Comfort Fics. HE has fangirls.
- Noodle Incident: How exactly he got his screw and scars is unknown, but both are implied to be a result of Stein experimenting on himself.
- Official Couple: With Marie who already has a separate soul showing.
- Playing Drunk: In order to tap Medusa for info, back when she was still playing the role of the Shibusen nurse. It's
hilariously believable. - Power of Friendship: Backs up his Heroic Willpower with it, if the Brew, Murder Frame-up, and Moon Battle incidents are anything to go by.Stein: (reassuring Spirit) I won't give in to madness. I'm with you and Marie and my students, and everyone from Shibusen...
- The Prankster: As shown from time to time in the main story, and definitely in Soul Eater Not!, Stein really loves to mess with people.
- Punny Name: Obviously a Shout-Out to Frankenstein.
- Reluctant Psycho: He is trying to fight the Madness and sometimes he fails.
- Sadist Teacher: Stein really has no problem subjecting his students to physical and psychological punishment, and more often than not seems to enjoy putting them through taxing training just for laughs.
- Sanity Slippage: Exactly how tight can he wind that screw in his head?
- Seriously Scruffy: Inverted Trope. When his appearance is going downhill, it's usually a sign he's in no fit state to work.
- Ship Tease:
- Gets quite a bit with Marie.
- Medusa as well, but that's mostly in the anime.
- Shirtless Scene: Got an infamous one in episode 28.
- Sigil Spam: Not exactly a sigil, but those stitchings of his are on everything he owns.
- Smoking Is Cool: His signature imported cigarettes. In the finale chapter he mentions he's going to try and quit for his kid.
- Sociopathic Hero: Fits the Trope to a T in that he's actually diagnosed in-verse to be some form of psychopath with a boundless amount of aggression. He uses Moral Sociopathy to channel his brutal urges into helpful causes with the DWMA, but it's clear Stein struggles with his own Lack of Empathy, sociopathic view of people and desire to cut them open, and his own eccentric tendencies alienating most people.
- Stealth Pun:
- He's got a screw loose.
- Also, he's loose at the seams.
- Stern Teacher: He really does care, and his students really do know it but his lessons are something fierce.
- Stone Wall: When using Spirit, he focuses on defensive attacks and countering to win. Instead of actively attacking, he simply lets the enemy drop their guard after a attack to win.
- Swivel-Chair Antics: Initially on a swivel chair performing things for Rule of Funny. Oh, and curb-stomping Maka and Black*Star as well.
- Team Dad: He's accepted as such by Maka who frequently goes to him for advice and is very happy to see him when he returns in the manga.
- Through the Eyes of Madness: Presents! What can be inside?! Also, his fight with MorePsycho!Justin looks... interesting.
- Token Evil Teammate: He has a strong affinity for madness and a love for destruction that he keeps in check by worshipping Death. He's actually a fairly nice guy. However, his madness makes him vulnerable to Asura's insanity powers.
- Visual Pun: He's constantly tightening the screw in his head. Meaning he's got a screw loose.
- White Hair, Black Heart: Is definitely morally ambiguous.
Marie Mjolnir
Marie Mjolnir
Voiced by: Chieko Honda (Japanese), Colleen Clinkenbeard (US), Elena Gianni (Italian)
The Death Scythe in charge of Oceania. Her weapon form is that of a large hammer (though partially resembles a tonfa), and her last name is derived from the legendary hammer of Thor, Mjölnir. She wears an eyepatch with a thunderbolt insignia.
- Action Girl: What with being a Death Scythe and all.
- Alliterative Name: Marie Mjolnir
- Babies Ever After: With Stein. The extra soul wavelength in her womb is received quite well. The part where Stein declares the kid another guinea pig, not so much.
- Buxom Beauty Standard: Several Male Gaze shots in the anime, show that Marie is very well endowed, to the point she rivals Blair and Arachne for bustiest character, which is not an easy feat. Adds to her status as a Hot Teacher.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: The main reason she was single for long was because she kept coming off as this to her ex-boyfriends. She admitted to going to great lengths to keep her former boyfriends happy but finds them running out on her while Azusa claimed that this resulted because of her putting to much pressure on her relationships, coming off as clingy and scaring off her men.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Again, tried to marry a toilet and then destroyed the same toilet because she thought it would cheat on her.
- Cool Teacher: Cares for her students a great deal and has a tight bond with them.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: On one hand, oddball Christmas cake. On the other hand, formidable death scythe.
- Curb-Stomp Battle:
- With Stein, against Justin Law.
- Is also Curb-Stomped later on, by Justin. Then again, Noah was there too, so were her comrades. It wasn't pretty.
- Curtains Match the Window: Yellow hair yellow eye.
- Does Not Know Her Own Strength: Mild example. Yuma notes she seems to have no idea how much power her fists pack when she punches people.
- Expy: She bears a close resemblance in physical appearance to Nice Holystone from Baccano!, as far as having the same hair and eye color and sporting an eye patch. They even share the same voice actress, coincidentally.
- Eyepatch of Power: Has an eyepatch and is a powerful Death Scythe.
- Foil:
- To Medusa. While Marie is deathscythe, Medusa is a witch making them natural enemies. Their powers are also opposite, as while Marie uses strength and force with her hammer form, Medusa uses speed and cutting with her snakes, bonus points for how she has healing wavelength to calm souls, Medusa has snakes to spike peoples madness which she does to Crona and Stein especially. How they interact with everyone is also opposite, with Medusa being a Manipulative Bastard and Marie being a Team Mom and the relationships they share with Crona and Stein are where their difference become the most clear;
- With Crona, Marie treats them the most motherly out of all her students, to the point of Crona being Like a Son to Me, which Crona seems to reciprocate entirely viewing Marie as a Parental Substitute for them, while Medusa only sees Crona as Guinea Pig Family at best and living weapon/slave at worst. This really gets tuned up in the anime in the final episodes. She never leaves Crona's side in almost all her remaining scenes, cementing her bond with them
- With Stein, Marie acts as his Morality Chain, keeping him sane while Medusa tries to drive him to insane while both got ship tease with stein only one succeeds. in the anime medusa succeeded, albiet breifly under madness until Marie snapped him out of it, in the manga Marie succeeds as she is pregnant with his child
- To Spirit as well. While they are both death scythes and both have been partners with Stein, Marie acts as permenant teacher on staff while Spirit only acts as a substitute. Their weapon forms are sort of opposite with Spirit being a scythe and therefore a cutting weapon while Marie is a hammer based weapon, using strength and force. Both have special wavelengths to greatly help their meisters; Spirit enhances wavelengths to be much stronger while Marie has healing wavelength to calm madness, both of which are highly resourceful to Stein. Spirit is divorced and has his own daughter, Marie dreams of being married herself and can only be a Team Mom to her students, in particular being a surrogate mother to Crona. She does end up with stein at the end of manga, being pregnant with his child though.
- To Medusa. While Marie is deathscythe, Medusa is a witch making them natural enemies. Their powers are also opposite, as while Marie uses strength and force with her hammer form, Medusa uses speed and cutting with her snakes, bonus points for how she has healing wavelength to calm souls, Medusa has snakes to spike peoples madness which she does to Crona and Stein especially. How they interact with everyone is also opposite, with Medusa being a Manipulative Bastard and Marie being a Team Mom and the relationships they share with Crona and Stein are where their difference become the most clear;
- Heartbroken Badass: After Joe dies.
- Hot Teacher: She’s a teacher who’s quite easy on the eyes.
- Insane Troll Logic: She rationalizes why the toilet would be a good marriage candidate by the fact it takes and accepts anything she gives it.
- Just Friends: States that anything between her and Stein is ancient history. Naturally, they end up an Official Couple.
- Lightning Bruiser: In the manga she's this on her own. With her help, a compatible Meister can beat on someone so fast the victim doesn't even know what's happening to them. She calls this technique "Izuna", but also states that it can't be kept on for too long.
- Mama Bear: Protective of her students. Being a Christmas Cake they are the closest she has to children.
- Meaningful Name:
- In the anime her form actually is a hammer.
- The manga instead emphasizes the 'lightning' connection with her ability to allow her meister to move at extremely high speeds, and the 'internal generation' she uses to burn Medusa's snake. Her nickname, "the Crusher," also recalls the mythological hammer.
- Morality Chain: Chosen specifically to be Stein's weapon when fighting the Kishin for her healing wavelength.
- No Periods, Period: Averted, at least in conversation. Apparently, Marie's will cause her to talk anyone's ear off.
- No Sense of Direction: She's a DWMA alumna and it takes hours of trial and error for her to get anywhere.
- Official Couple:
- Had this status with Joe in the manga before the series proper, and again before he died.
- The final chapter shows her carrying Stein's child.
- Pregnant Badass: The final chapter reveals that she's pregnant with Stein's child; Maka's comment early in the chapter implies she was already pregnant during the Battle on the Moon.
- Ship Tease: With Stein. Confirmed.
- Shoryuken: She gives one to Spirit in chapter 70. And not the regular one, but the Metsu Shoryuken.
- Shock Stick: Marie's weapon form is either a hammer or a tonfa. True to her namesake, she's able to utilize her soul wavelength to generate electricity.
- Silk Hiding Steel: An extremely goofy version, but an example nonetheless. Follows Lord Death's orders to a T (indeed one of the few that showed up when he called after Ashura got out) and is put in charge of quietly reigning in Stein's madness. As for the steel, her nickname is "Crushing Weapon."
- Super-Strength: she is a deathscythe and (as Azusa notes) she "doesn't know the power of her punches"
- Talking Weapon: As with all weapons, she can talk in weapon form.
- Team Mom: As opposed to the other teachers' hardcore attitudes, Marie is downright motherly to her students, and in particular becomes a surrogate mother to Crona.
- Thunder Hammer: Marie's weapon form is either a hammer or a tonfa. True to her namesake, she's able to utilize her soul wavelength to generate electricity.
- Working with the Ex: When first introduced, Marie quite calmly tells Azusa that Stein's status as her First Love is ancient history. Then she's assigned as his new partner. Then at some point in the series, she and Stein develop at least enough feelings for each other to make a baby.
Old Lady
Old Lady
An old lady who works as a receptionist at Shibusen and distributes mission requests.- Animal Motifs: Calls herself a "Gorilla."
- Bare-Fisted Monk: Apparently, Shinigami forbid her to carry a weapon, because she was already too dangerous by herself.
- Big Damn Heroes: For Kid while on the moon, complete with Dynamic Entry.
- Chekhov's Gunman: The first time we see her is when she gives Kilik and Ox their mission with the giant.
- Dropped a Bridge on Her: Sliced apart and then her soul is absorbed while on the moon. Goddammit, Justin.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Tries to blow Kaguya up with explosives. Subverted because it fails and both she and Kaguya survive. And then Justin shows up.
- Never Mess with Granny: Unless you want a boot to the face.
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Too good a character to last three chapters.
Medusa
DWMA's school nurse. In reality, Medusa is a powerful witch who had managed to infiltrate the DWMA to carry out her own machinations.
See her entry here.
See her entry here.
Students
Spartoi
Hiro
Hiro
Voiced by: Hiro Shimono (Japanese), Z Charles Bolton (English), Daniele Raffaeli (Italian)
The most incompetent Meister at DWMA. Bullied and used by just about everyone at the school due to his doormat personality. He finds out about the legend of Excalibur, and becomes the only person since perhaps King Arthur to put up with the supremely annoying holy sword. In fact, he enjoys Excalibur's 1000 tenets, and becomes Excalibur's happy and devoted Meister. For about a day, that is.
- Acquired Situational Narcissism: After he gets Excalibur and thereby becomes the strongest student in the school, he immediately starts abusing his powers to beat up everyone who used to pick on him, teleport into the girls' shower, flip skirts...
- Back for the Finale: He makes a cameo in the last chapter during Kid's inauguration; appropriately enough it's of someone backing up into his face without noticing him.
- Badass Boast: "When all is said and done, the three of you will be nothing more than a footnote in the legend of the Holy Sword, Excalibur."
- Berserk Button: People who sneeze repeatedly. "They might as well just die." It's what finally causes him to get fed up with Excalibur.
- Beware the Nice Ones: In this case, Beware of the Ones You Bully. Hiro gets back at everyone with a vengeance.
- Big Ego, Hidden Depths: Sure, he's an ass while he has Excalibur, but that's probably months of pent-up anger being unleashed.
- Butt-Monkey: Everybody (Including Death in the narration) regards him as the biggest failure in the academy.
- Creator Cameo: In the English dub, he's voiced by the ADR director.
- Deadly Dodging: He was briefly dodging Sid's storm of knives while attempting to act on the 1,000 tenets.
- Eating the Eye Candy: Hiro is a Pretty Boy who dresses flamboyantly and shows off some skin so others will think he's sexy, but nobody in the school actually cares—as far as his classmate's are concerned, he's just a dweeb.
- Extreme Doormat: Weaponized—him being such a doormat is what lets him put up with Excalibur and all one-thousand of Excalibur's rules. Of course, once he gets Excalibur he stops being a doormat to anyone else.
- Flash Step: Armed with Excalibur, he can use his Wings of Light to move at the speed of light. He can also just plain teleport, as well.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Phlegmatic. Docile, misused, alone.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: It's entirely possible that Hiro was the first one in hundreds of years to wield Excalibur - and he certainly would of been the greatest Meister at the Academy, of all time, had he managed to put up with Excalibur's constant sneezing. Considering the very short time that he had Excalibur, Hiro's greatest achievement will likely fade into the dust. After all, he's not mentioned again in the series beyond his feature chapter.
- Ham-to-Ham Combat: With the power of Excalibur in tow, Hiro is just as loud and flamboyant as Black*Star, which really comes out during the three-on-one fight between Hiro and his classmates.
- Having a Blast: Nobody is sure what his "Hero the Atomic" is, exactly, but it involves explosions.
- Lethal Joke Character: A non-video game example. Hiro's hardly cut out for the DWMA life, but he's the only one who could put up with Excalibur's personality for an extended period of time, and boy, does he put that power to good use in his day in the limelight.
- Loser Archetype: Hiro is a Pretty Boy and The Fashionista, but he has the misfortunes of both attending a school where nobody cares about those things and having no talent in a fight (which is what the DWMA specializes in). His classmates use him as an Extreme Doormat accordingly.
- Meaningful Name: After he gets Excalibur, he certainly seems to think so. "My name means 'the courageous one'! Hero the Brave!"note Lampshaded by Maka in that for someone with his name, he is a bit ordinary.
- Minor Flaw, Major Breakup: He basically disowns Excalibur over a sneezing fit.
- Mr. Fanservice: Hiro is a Pretty Boy who wears flashy and revealing clothes. In-Universe, however, nobody cares, alas.
- Power Perversion Potential: Uses Excalibur's powers to slip into the girls' dressing room. He later uses it to flip the skirts of some girls who used him as an Extreme Doormat.
- Punny Name: Hiro is one sidestep away from "hero".
- Screw the Rules, I Have Supernatural Powers!: After obtaining Excalibur for a weapon, Hiro immediately starts taking revenge on his classmates, in particular creeping on the girls by barging into their showers and flipping their skirts. When the girls protest this to Mr. Sid, the zombie teacher responds that, unfortunately, Hiro's ability to wield Excalibur makes him so valuable to the DWMA that they were actually considering giving him a superior rank—according to Sid, the girls' only recourse is to get tougher.
- Super Loser: Hiro is a Loser Archetype who spends his days getting kicked around by almost everyone in the school (Black*Star practices chokeholds on him), and the instant he gets the power of Excalibur, he proceeds to use them to creep on the girls and be a colossal dweeb in the middle of his fight.
- Super Weapon, Average Joe: With Excalibur, he is able to kick the asses of three of the strongest meisters, but he has no skills and is useless otherwise.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Completely averted during his time with Excalibur. He enjoys working with the sword.
- Took a Level in Badass: His power ascends to great heights when he wields Excalibur, along with his attitude.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Obtaining the power of Excalibur gives Hiro the ability to revenge himself on everyone, an opportunity he seizes immediately. Soul lampshades it.
- Who's Laughing Now?: After being used as an Extreme Doormat by his classmates, Hiro uses Excalibur to get some payback.
Crona
See their entry here.
Alumni
Death Scythes
Death Scythes in General
Death's Personal Weapons From Left to Right
Death Scythes are Demon Weapons who have been "forged." That is a Meister, or a collection of Meisters, have captured 99 evil human souls on Death's List and one witch soul and fed them to a candidate. Doing so creates Death Scythes who have qualities that the God of Death himself uses.
- Infinity +1 Sword: Death Scythes are characterized as being phenomenally more powerful than the average Demon Weapon, adopting powers based on the witch who's soul they've eaten and while they can be wielded by a human meister, are the preferred weapon for the God of Death.
- Non-Indicative Name: Sure, they're called "Death Scythes," but almost none of them are actually scythes. The number rises to two when Soul becomes one, but that does nothing to change the fact.
Justin Law
Justin Law
Voiced by: Yoshinori Fujita (Japanese), Eric Vale (English), Gabriele Lopez (Italian)
The Death Scythe in charge of Western Europe. His weapon form, the guillotine, fits his title of "executioner". He's usually seen wearing priestly garb and a pair of headphones that he keeps on at high volume.
- Adaptational Heroism: In the anime, he never turns out to be evil. Which also means he never died.
- Art Shift: After his Face–Heel Turn, the panels depicting him grow steadily more warped and twisted.
- Ax-Crazy: When he shows his true colors.
- Badass Biker: Towing a coffin, to boot.
- Badass Boast: Justin's bike tows a coffin—apparently for his targets. Showing up with one of these in tow is an implicit boast that it's going to be filled.
- Bad Habits: He dresses like a Catholic minister, but is never stated to be a churchman of any kind, and of course, he is evil.
- Blade Below the Shoulder: His usual and most basic attack consist in sprouting a guillotine blade on his arm and shoot it or use it to slice in melee.
- Broken Ace: While a tremendously effective solo weapon, his ability to form relationships with other people is hobbled—his one relationship is his devotion to a god that he doesn't really listen to. Eventually his problems with isolation get the better of him and with the Evil Mentorship of a certain clown, he dives headlong into madness.
- Calling Your Attacks: Does this often. As he grow more and more insane he can't fully call out most of his longer attacks anymore.
- Child Prodigy: Attained Death Scythe status as a thirteen year old, as an improbable weapon type and without the help of any meister to boot.
- Church Militant: Even in the middle of battle, Justin never ditches his priestly clothes.
- The Dragon: He effectively become one for Kishin Asura.
- Evil Counterpart: To Stein. Both grappled with madness; Justin was much better at hiding it, but ultimately gave into it at the end, whereas Stein makes no secret of it and stays loyal to Lord Death. Both are also famed singular prodigies from the DWMA as a meister and weapon respectively, but while Stein remained loyal despite his own madness, Justin caved into his madness and became more corrupt.
- Evil Feels Good: He considers being Asura's Dragon a pleasant life because he's free of all the restrictions of living under Lord Death.
- Evil Makes You Ugly: After he commits his Face–Heel Turn, he progressively gets uglier and warped in the panels.
- Evil Mentor: Justin Law meets the clown before the Internal Investigation arc. The clown infects him with madness and begins to spend time with him, ultimately driving him into a Face–Heel Turn.
- Face–Heel Turn: Reveals that he's loyal to Ashura.
- Foil:
- With Soul, whose first encounter with Justin leaves him helplessly contemplating what it would be like to be a solo weapon while holding his defeated meister Maka in his arms.
- As a solo Death Scythe who and worships the Big Good, Justin contrasts Giriko, the weapon who fights alone for Arachne the Heretic witch.
- He further contrasts Stein, a meister who can work with any weapon and doesn't even need one, but whose struggles with madness are public knowledge. Justin keeps his struggles to himself before ultimately going Laughing Mad, while Stein only briefly succumbs in the anime and overcomes it entirely in the manga.
- Foreshadowing:
- Stein thinks that Justin Law's sheer devotion to the god of death puts him above the influence of Asura's madness—but given that all the normal people in the room see Lord Death as little more than a quirky boss, Justin's blatant and unusual religious pieties become immediately suspect.
- Justin Law's puts his headphones in when it's completely inappropriate, during the middle of a crisis meeting with the rest of the death-scythes. When it becomes apparent, Law is making a curiously moody face.
- Death describes Justin Law as a dependable ally when revealing he sent him to Loew village to rescue the kids. Justin ultimately goes mad and turns traitor.
- Fusion Dance: With any of the Kishin's Clowns. See One-Winged Angel.
- The Gimmick: Justin Law has one of the strongest gimmicks of the death-scythes—he's the only person who actually *worships* the god of death, and not only does he dress the part (he wears the zucchetto, mozzetta, and cassock of a bishop), he makes hammy displays of religious piety.
- Go Mad from the Isolation: His loneliness and inability to form any close relationships besides indulging in his unrequited worship of Lord Death is what ended up driving him insane.
- Good Shepherd: A holy man who venerates the Big Good and smites evil. In this manga this is inverted as he is truly a Sinister Minister that worships Ashura.
- Headphones Equal Isolation: One of his main Character Tics, Played for Laughs initially, but the manga ultimately has it Played for Drama. Justin wears headphones that play music so loud that he not only speaks with a constantly raised voice, he can't hear the sound of anyone talking to him—he only reads lips, which causes some inconvenience when speaking to masked or faceless characters—like the god he worships, Lord Death. Alas for Tezca Tlipoca, who finds Justin on the brink of absolute madness, Justin can't hear his Kirk Summation.
- Improbable Age: He became a Death Scythe at age 13, the youngest in DWMA's history. Coordinator of Western Europe by age seventeen, aka when we meet him.
- Improbable Weapon Person: Why is he the only Death Scythe who graduated without a partner? No one figured out how they were supposed to wield a guillotine in battle.
- Irony:
- In an Establishing Character Moment, Justin laments that he cannot hear the voice of his god, the grim reaper—completely blind to the fact that his pounding headphones are the exact reason that he cannot.
- Justin is a man who only reads lips and is apparently "friends" with Tezca Tlipoca, a man who loves to chatter but whose mask covers his whole face. This becomes tragic when Tezca's Kirk Summation goes unheard because there are no lips for Justin to read.
- Stein says that people like Justin are the least susceptible to the Kishin's madness. Stein later determines that his isolation is what lead him into madness to start with.
- Large Ham: A side effect of his frequent yelling, dramatic speeches and arm gestures, especially when talking to Shinigami-sama. Though it may be a subtle side effect of his insanity or an act to fit in better with the quirkier Death Scythes.
- Laser-Guided Karma: He's ultimately done in by Stein (the man he tried to frame as having gone off the deep end and murdered Joe Buttataki) and Marie (Joe's ex who she might have had a shot of rekindling something with).
- Light Is Not Good: Dresses in priest's garb, has an attack called "Law Abiding Silver Gun," and always aims to strike down enemies of his God... Except his God happens to be the Kishin.
- Limited Wardrobe: Justified, by the priest wearing proper vestments.
- Loners Are Freaks: He constantly isolated himself even as a child, and uses his headphones, speakers, and other noise to cut himself off from the world. Stein says his isolation is the reason Law gave into madness.
- Loves the Sound of Screaming: He only willingly takes off his earphones because of this.
- Madness Makeover: When he fuses with the Clown.
- Mirror Character:Justin Law is a bladed Shapeshifter Weapon who drives a bike just like Soul.
- The Mole: For the Incarnation of Madness itself, no less. Note, this is only in the manga.
- Names to Trust Immediately: Justin Law sounds like "Justice Law" which is a fitting name for one of the chief enforcers of the Incarnation of Order and Stability in the verse (I.E. Death). Inverted, in the manga, as he truly works for the Incarnation of Madness.
- No Body Left Behind: In the manga, Stein and Marie utterly obliterate him during the Final Battle on the Moon, leaving nothing behind.
- No Indoor Voice: He might as well be deaf when he has his head phones on, which means he can't hear himself either so he winds up talking loudly or yelling a lot.
- One-Winged Angel: By fusing with a clown, Justin gains a large helmet and the power to create all sorts of guillotine themed weapons at great distances.
- The Paragon Always Rebels: Justin Law is one of Lord Death's most effective death scythes and serves the Kishin likewise.
- Production Throwback: His most common attack, the "Law Abiding Silver Gun", is named after Yowhey Nanami's Swiss-Army Weapon in B.Ichi, Ookubo's previous series.
- Psycho Supporter: He is fanatically devoted to Asura, who he worships because he is the God of Fear and Madness.
- Punny Name: On "Justinian law" which was created in an attempt to unify the Roman Empire by requiring that all citizens convert to Christianity.
- Reading Lips: Which is good, considering his headphones. Unfortunately, he does not seem to get along well with Tezca Tlipoca, as he wears a mask, making him unable to read his lips. So usually, whatever Tezca has to say to him goes ignored unless accompanied by the Clown.
- Scars Are Forever: The scar he got when Tezca Tlipoca burned off half his face has stayed the same since it happened. Not particularly notable since that sounds reasonable, except for the fact that his eye has apparently been on fire since it happened.
- Shadow Archetype: Justin Law is a bladed Shapeshifter Weapon and Badass Biker just like Soul, but as a solo weapon Justin doesn't need to be wielded by a meister. Over time, it becomes apparent that Soul's relationship with Maka is one of his greatest strengths, while Justin's inability to connect with others is his greatest weakness.
- Slasher Smile: He's relatively low-key until Chapter 69, when he starts busting out grins that threaten to split his head in half.
- Talking Weapon: As with all weapons.
- This Is Your Brain on Evil: The longer he stays on Asura's side, the crazier he gets. By the time of his fight with Tezca Tlipoca, he's starts slipping into complete, incoherent raving madness. Then again, working for the embodiment of insanity can't be mentally healthy.
- Troll: Normally can't be bothered to remove his headphones, even when he can't hear what people are saying. Except he can read lips, and will sometimes refrain from saying so until he's sufficiently annoying. Giriko was not amused.
- Undying Loyalty: To Lord Death. In the manga he switches it to Asura.
- Use Your Head: Though ironically when he uses a headbutt in a fight he calls it "Headbutt of Love."
- Walking Spoiler: Mostly for those reading the manga.
- You Are Not Alone: Tezca makes this speech in the manga right before Justin kills him off for real... once Justin's started merging with Kishin clowns. So thanks to Kishin, he really doesn't have to be alone anymore.
Yumi Azusa
Yumi Azusa
Voiced by: Yukana (Japanese), Brina Palencia (English), Angela Brusa (Italian)
The Death Scythe in charge of East Asia. She is bookish and analytical and is close friends with Marie. In weapon form she takes the form of a crossbow, able to fire high-velocity spirit shots up to 10 km accurately. She is also an extremely competent information gatherer and tactician, easily finding one of Arachnophobia's labs.
- Big Damn Heroes: In chapter 111, right when it seems like Asura has won, Kilik and Azusa shoot Asura in the head all the way from Earth with some handy calculations from Eruka. It ends up being just the distraction that the heroes needed to turn the tables on Asura.
- Brutal Honesty: She didn't hesitate to tell Spirit and Stein what she thought about their failure to prevent Asura's revival. Even earlier, she gets clocked by Marie for telling her marriage woes aren't something she should be worried about.
- Cold Sniper: She's a very stoic, cool-headed individual. And sure enough, she takes the form of a sniper crossbow.
- In-Series Nickname: Called "The Queen of Commitee Chairman" by Spirit and Stein, due to her strict and bossy behaviour back as a student. Much to her dismay.
- Meaningful Name: It's supposed to be a pun on the azusayumi, a type of Japanese bow (as in bow and arrow).
- Perpetual Frowner: She's never seen smiling.
- Psychic Powers: She uses clairvoyance to scout enemy territories remotely.
- Scary Shiny Glasses: So scary, in fact, that Spirit and Lord Death himself get visibly frightened when her glasses become shiny.
- Shipper on Deck: Repeatedly asks Marie what's going on between her and Stein, and somehow doesn't seem too disapproving (even though Yumi seems to disapprove of Stein as a general rule). Oh, and she's right.
- Support Party Member: Although she is still every bit as strong as you'd expect a Death Weapon to be, where Azusa really shines is being Mission Control. She can perform Soul Resonance through walkie-talkies or cellphones, which allows her to see everything within a certain radius of those she's paired with. It's every bit as useful as it sounds.
- Talking Weapon: As with all weapons.
Tezca Tlipoca
Tezca Tlipoca
- Alliterative Name: By way of splitting the name of an Aztec deity down the middle.
- Badass Creed: "Life and death are bestowed equally on all people. I'm a mirror in which a person is reflected. So, how you die is up to you..."
- Chekhov's Gunman
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Snaps between this and his competent badass persona in the blink of an eye. For example, after faking his death, he disguises himself by putting on a giant gopher head.
- Cool Mask: That is one freaky bear head.
- Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass
- Faking the Dead: Thought to have been unceremoniously bitten in half, but turns out he used a dummy to fake his death and track Justin Law. Justin Law later decapitated him and checked the body to make sure - the body was real, but Tezca's soul survived..
- The Fighting Narcissist: One of his stated motivations is to create a perfect copy of himself because he thinks he's very good-looking under the mask, but can't reflect himself.
- Implacable Man: First he's seemingly killed by Noah, then he really dies fighting Justin, and now he's appearing in mirrors as some kind of twisted ghost thing. His dialog during this last time seems to imply that he could just come back to life if he found a new body, and may have done so before.
- Logical Weakness: His speech to Justin Law late in the series goes completely unheard because Justin Law only reads lips and Tezca wears a mask that hides his face.
- Magic Mirror: He can taking on another's appearance, show his enemies how they're going to die, and create numerous, independent copies of himself, which can rejoin their bodies in unsettling ways when "killed".
- Mask of Power: Subverted; not only does the mask not seem to serve any purpose, but it also makes it impossible for lip-reader Justin Law to understand him. Since they were apparently old friends, this means Justin hung around him for years without catching a single word he said.
- Meaningful Name: "Tezcatlipoca
" is the name of an Aztec god associated with mirrors. It literally means "Smoking Mirror" and the way it's separated, gives him his first name as "Mirror" in Nahuatl. - Not Quite Dead: Justin destroyed his body, but not his soul.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: He doesn't seem too quick on the uptake and constantly jokes around during combat, but gets serious in a big hurry.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: The man who can make himself look like anybody, but wears a giant bear mask, disguises himself... by replacing the bear mask with a giant gopher mask.
- Scarily Competent Tracker: This seems to be his area of expertise, as we've seen him acting as an independent tracker several times now.
- Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: Possibly. Justin and Medusa both see people they've wronged in the past while looking at him at least.
- Sympathetic Magic: After someone's soul is reflected in his mirror, he can track them wherever they go. He can even reflect his own soul, allowing it to exist after his body is destroyed.
- Talking Weapon: As with all weapons.
- Wave-Motion Gun: His Solar Ray attack is a beam of concentrated sunlight.
Tsar Pushka
Tsar Pushka
- Demon Slaying: One of only three characters in the series to be confirmed with the anti-demon wavelength. As noted by Medusa, he's particularly effective at fighting Crona as a result... up to a point.
- Epic Flail: Despite being called a "Cannon Bullet", he can also become a sort of flail (with his neck becoming a sort of chain).
- Meaningful Name: "Pushka" means "cannon" in Russian. "Tsar pushka" is the largest bombard by caliber ever built.
Ding Dinga
Ding Dinga
- Alliterative Name: Ding Dinga
- Light The Way: He can reflect back light beams and leaves large rainbows trails behind when swung.
- Rainbow Motif: Fittingly enough, in Africa rainbows are considered an omen of death.
Djinn Galland
Djinn Galland
- The Faceless: His face behind his turban has never been shown.
- Genie in a Bottle: Him performing Soul Resonance with his meister creates one.
- Heart Symbol: The attack called "The Lovers." Probably also an example of The Power of Love.
- Meaningful Name: His last name is most likely a nod to Antoine Galland, the first European translator of One Thousand and One Nights.
- Tarot Motifs: Two of his forms are called Tower and Lovers and are stylized accordingly.
The Last Death Scythe (Major Spoilers)
Soul "Eater" Evans
For more information, see his entry here.Other Meisters
Joe Buttataki
Joe Buttataki
Voiced by: Atsushi Ono (Japanese), Jason Douglas (English)
Referred to as "Mole Hunter" Joe Buttataki, Joe is an ally of Shibusen and ex-boyfriend of Marie Mjolnir. Due to the anime's Gecko Ending that split off after his introductory chapter, Joe plays a different role in it. In the anime, Joe was one of Shibusen's most talented scientists and engineers, and Shinigami pulls him back to Death City to help work on a black ops project involving BREW. With the exception of his irrational love of coffee, little else of the character's background was kept from the manga.
- Dub Name Change: Renamed "Beater Joe" in the Italian manga in order to keep the initials and make the wordplay clearer.
- He Knows Too Much: Justin does this pre-emptively, killing him off so he can't find out he's the mole. Conveniently for Medusa, this also happened right before he could tell anyone he detected her team (as well as three other witches) through their soul protect.
- Living Lie Detector: He can use his especially strong Soul Perception this way, which is the main reason he's the "mole hunter".
- Mr. Fixit: In the anime.
- Must Have Caffeine: The first instance of this sets up a piece of hilarious Japanese wordplay.
- The Plot Reaper: His Soul Perception became so strong he would have immediately discovered Medusa and probably would have found Asura long before Maka did. If he managed to live, that basically would have drastically altered the events of every story arc from then on.
- Sacrificial Lamb: For the Arachnophobia/Baba Yaga's Castle arc of the manga.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Since his role in the anime is different (he's hired to help fix up the Brew machine) and Justin doesn't give into the madness and turn evil. He lives through the entirety of the anime.
Enrique
Enrique
Tezca Tlipoca's Meister. He's an ape. An ape that wears clothes, sneakers, and a baseball cap. Mm-hmm.- Boisterous Bruiser: It's difficult to tell, but Enrique is apparently quite the comedian, as his introduction had him delivering lengthy jokes (and sending Tezcatlipoca into hysterics) while Medusa was attacking him. He's also not above having a laugh at his Weapon's expense. At the same time, he's a Death Scythe meister, and will presumably end you.
- Improbable Weapon User: Fights wearing Tezcatlipoca, the Demon Mirror, on his ankle.
- The Unintelligible: He's incapable of saying anything but variations of "Gau," which is partly why he didn't show up at the initial Death Scythe convention.
- Intelligible Unintelligible: Although strangely, Tezca has no problems understanding him.
Fyodor
Fyodor
Tsar Pushka's Meister.- Dance Battler: Specifically, cossack dancing.
- Improbable Weapon User: Pushka himself appears to be a giant iron ball on a stick; Fyodor fights by attaching the stick to one leg and launching the ball with the other.
- Meaningful Name: His name references Tsar Fyodor Ivanovich, who in real life commissioned the Tsar Pushka (which shares its name with Fyodor's Death Scythe).
Hemming
Hemming
One of Ahab's annual meisters, and a hunter of madness-inducing sky whales.- Meaningful Name: His name comes from American author Ernest Hemingway, who was also a hunter (and perhaps more relevant, wrote The Old Man and the Sea).
- Student–Master Team: With Ahab.
- Young Gun: Who rides a literal "Old Gun."
Zubaidah
Zubaidah
Djinn Galland's meister.- Meaningful Name: Her name is most-likely a nod to Zubaidah bint Ja'far, the Abbasid princess who is featured heavily in One Thousand and One Nights.
Alexander
Alexander
Ding Dinga's meister.- Calling Your Attacks: "RAINBOOOW!"
- Facial Markings: A large white spot on his face.
Maka's Mother
Maka's Mother
Maka's unseen mother. She never appears in the actual story, but she has a major effect on the lives of both her daughter and her husband.- The Ghost: Never appears in the story.
- Small Role, Big Impact: Despite never appearing, it's heavily implied that the reason why Maka decided to pursue her current life as a scythe meister was to follow in her mother's footsteps.
- Unseen No More: She finally appears on the very last page of Fire Force. And sure enough, she's a dead-ringer for her daughter.
- When You Coming Home, Dad?: Female example. She never appears in the story due to being so busy with her own work. One gets the impression, however, that she's just not really much of a factor in Maka's life.
