Thoughts on CROMA and why it is an objectively better ship then SOMA even though Soul is a good charachter still?
Ah, trying to objectivly break down ships huh? Thats always fun... and likely to piss people off. Sure, why not?
The problem with Soul X Maka as a pairing, is very much the same as the problem with all the rest of the meister x weapon combinationa from the 3 main cast combination.
All 3, Maka x Soul, Kid x liz/patty and Black Star x Tsubaki.
All of these have a strong foundation... But don't really use that foundation as the basis for their developments as the series progresses.
Black Star and Tsubaki have an excelent character outing when they go to confront her brother, but not really much afterwards.
However, while Black Star and Tsubaki's dynamic is all about the fact that they fit together surpeisingly well despite their flaws and quirks, Maka and Soul are the exact opposite.
Despite having worked together long enough to be at the cusp of turning Soul Eater into a deathscythe, the two of them have an absolutely miserable dynamic, fueled almost entierly by Maka's shortcomings at the start of the series.
This is not a bad thing at all mind you, as character flaws and overcoming them are the aoul of any well written arc, and for obvious reasons, you can get a very good romance out of two people helping the other grow.
That is literarily what makes Crona and Maka such a good dynamic in how their relationahip fuels both plot and character development by just being near each other.
However that's not quite the way Soul and Maka is handled.
Because the point that is emphazied at the start of the series is that Soul is much more along the path of his own development than Maka is.
Maka is fueled by all of her worst insecurities, her flaws and shortcomings, and so she fails utterly against Blair, Stein and Crona, losing all of her 3 first fights.
Her relationahip with her father is a total mess, while she lives in denial about her mom abandoning her, and she is alwqys stupidly quick to fly off the handle regarding soul because she is terrified he will leave her.
Soul by contrast is has his shit together much moreso, keeping a cool head, and using Maka's own shortcomings and Blair's unfamiliarity with both of them for a tactic to beat her where all of Maka's efforts failed.
He kept his head cool against Stein and convinced Maka to keep going even after seeing the old Meister's sheer power firsthand, and was more than ready to take Death blows for Maka against both Stein and Crona, withouth hesitation.
There is a reason why Maka despite her arguments and bickering with Soul respects him so much.
However, here is the problem when discussing the two of them as a potential couple.
Soul brings out Maka's better aspects by acting as a stabilizing influence after all of her issues are forced to the surface. She becomes braver and more capable, and trusts soul more and more as the story goes on... But fundamentally, Soul does not change Maka.
Crona does.
Whereas Soul serves as a stabilizing influence on Maka in her weaker moments, Crona makes Maka change on a fundamental level, by bringing forth all the aspects of herself that she has chosen to bury.
Crona brings out the kindness, the compassion, the ability to immediatly trust and love others withouth reservation that Maka lost before the series began during her family life breaking apart.
Crona makes Maka change to the person she wants to be, their relationship serving as the catalyst for her development into the young woman who did what Shinigami could not, and defeated Kishin Asura.
And of course Maka and Crona's relationahip had it's own drama as well, with her love for Crona putting her directly and personally at odds with Medusa, an enemy she disliked, but would go on to thouroughly despise and hate on a deep peraonal level due to how she treated Crona.
Of course, both manga and Anime goes different directions, but both are still the best character bits of their respective shows, with the sandpit scene, where Maka discovers she was betrayed, and feels the sting of just how much it hurts to be backstabbed by someone you love... While also finding it in herself to forgice Crona and help the friend she loves past this lowest moment.
It is here where she surpasses her parents, and in the long run, Asura.
Meanwhile, in the Manga Crona becomes THE motivation and cause of Maka's life, and in the end, it is this relationahip that the climax was actually about. It was the most important dricing force that kept the rather disjointed and not well put together final arc, a coherent story around these two people who love each other... And it's the Manga's failure to bring this relationahip to a satisfactory ending, along with Asura not being defeated, that destroyed it as a story.
To bring it back around to the actual question, it is very telling, that in her final scene in the manga, where Soul makes it very clear that he is interested in her, she sorta turn downs his obvious flirting, to instead focus her feelings and dreams back towards Crona, because her love for Crona has not changed after the final battle. It is still the single most important thing in the world for her.
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