Both the manga and anime series have been overall well received, especially for its art style and Gothic setting, often compared by critics to Tim Burton's works like The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Despite the combined efforts of Maka, Black Star, and Death the Kid, Medusa's group successfully revives Asura, who leaves to spread chaos around the world after a brief battle with Shinigami.

As a result of Asura's spreading madness, Medusa's sister Arachne comes out of hiding and reforms her organization, Arachnophobia, which poses a serious threat to DWMA.

During this time, Medusa reappears with her soul possessing the body of a young girl, and forms a truce with DWMA so they can annihilate Arachnophobia together.

DWMA launches an attack on the moon to defeat Asura, aided by the witches after Death the Kid convinces them to establish a temporary alliance.

After the end of his first manga series, B.Ichi, Atsushi Ohkubo created a one-shot story called "Soul Eater" published in June 2003 by Gangan Powered.

[8] Japanese readers were so fascinated by it that Ohkubo created two other one-shots called "Black Star" and "Death the Kid", published in September and November 2003, respectively.

Since the results were high, the editor of Gangan Comics asked Ohkubo to create a series from his one-shots which became the introductory chapters to Soul Eater.

[9] Ohkubo has explained that, when he began Soul Eater, he already had the plot and details like the DWMA fully formed and shared with his editors.

[14][15] Square Enix compiled the series' 113 individual chapters into 25 tankōbon volumes, released under its Gangan Comics imprint, between June 22, 2004,[16] and December 12, 2013.

[38] The series was rebroadcast on TV Tokyo, under the title Soul Eater: Repeat Show (ソウルイーター リピートショー, Sōru Ītā Ripīto Shō), on September 30, 2010, featuring new opening and closing themes.

[40] In North America, the anime has been licensed by Funimation, who released the series in four half-season DVD box sets starting with the first volume in February 2010.

The first, Soul Eater: Monotone Princess (ソウルイーター モノトーン プリンセス, Sōru Ītā Monotōn Purinsesu) is an action-adventure video game exclusively for the Wii and developed by Square Enix with Bones.

The third closing theme is "Bakusō Yume Uta" (爆走夢歌) by Soul'd Out's Diggy-Mo from episode 27 to 39; the single was released on November 26, 2008 by Sony Music Entertainment Japan.

The second opening is "Ai ga Hoshii yo" (愛がほしいよ) by Shion Tsuji, released on March 9, 2011, and "Northern Lights" by How Merry Marry.

[39] The first character song maxi single sung by Chiaki Omigawa (Maka) and Kōki Uchiyama (Soul) was released on August 6, 2008 by Aniplex.

A special video featuring Chiaki Omigawa and Koki Uchiyama, Maka and Soul's voice actors respectively, was released alongside a teaser visual for the event.

[55] In her review of the first volume, Danielle Leigh of Comic Book Resources wrote that it is "stylish and fun", favorably comparing Ohkubo's art to Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride, which considered paired quite well with references to Anglo-American spooks and horror legends as Jack the Ripper and Frankenstein.

Kenny praised the series for its action scenes and variety of art styles, commenting that its panels "could have come out of Blade of the Immortal, while others are very Yu-Gi-Oh like", and that others "share the same sensibilities as Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas", adding that Ohkubo uses a "nice mix of standard action, comic, horror, and deformed design styles that blend together surprisingly well".

She praised the manga's setting, describing it as a "hyperkinetic Halloween world that's equal parts Shaman King, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and The Nightmare Before Christmas", but stated that "snazzy visuals can't compensate for the bland characters and meandering story".

Dupree wrote that the series holds an inherent charm to its world and characters that is hard to find anywhere else, adding that the key is its "spooky, Spirit Halloween-esque design sensibilities".

He pointed out, however, that the comedy did not age well, stating that the main characters' gimmicks become repetitive and unfunny, and he felt that its use of sexual humor and fanservice is "questionable at best", and would not blame uninitiated readers if they drop the series for it "being too much".

[65] Sandra Scholes of the same website, wrote that its story is "full of comedy, fun and dark humour in a Gothic vein", also comparing the series to D.Gray-man and Bleach, and its art style to Gorillaz's videos.

Zimmerman wrote that Soul Eater follows the shōnen conventions of many other series, but it stands out due to its "unrelenting humor and otherworldly feel", in addition to studio Bones "knack for cinematic design and eye pleasing animation".

[66] In his A+ review of Soul Eater: the Meister Collection Blu-ray, Zimmerman wrote that the series "embraces its shonen origins with flashy fights and themes of friendship while relying on lush animation and a colorful cast of characters that range from ultra serious to nonsensical".

Green pointed out the Western references presented in the series, with characters named after Jack the Ripper, The Blair Witch Project, Al Capone, Syd Barrett and Frankenstein.

[68] Paul Champan of Otaku USA noted as well the series' Western influence, as it is seen in the presentation of the witches and monsters, its nods to American horror films and its different architectures and locations.

Champan concluded that "Soul Eater is a solid addition to the collection of any anime fan who likes heroic action with a taste of the sinister and the macabre mixed in".

[1] Serdar Yegulalp of About.com, said that the series last episodes "unleash some gloriously absurd wide-scale action that tap into giant-robot stories like Gurren Lagann or Evangelion".

[70] Writing for Crunchyroll, Kara Dennison included Soul Eater on a list of "Five Creepy Anime for Your Halloween Party Playlist".