Soul Taker (anime)

LIGHTNING... BREAKER!!!

SoulTaker was created by Tatsunoko Productions in 2001, directed by Akiyuki Shinbo who would later direct the first season of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. It tells the story of a young boy named Kyousuke Date who... dies in the very first scene of the anime. Killed by his dying mother who loved him very, very much. For essentially no reason.

... And then he gets dug out of a cemetery by a girl named Maya, and things get crazier from there as he has to confront the forces of the Mega Corp Kirihara Group led by Corrupt Corporate Executive Yui Kirihara as well as the enigmatic mutants of "The Hospital". Backing him up at first is the equally mysteriously motivated man named Shiro Mibu, and later on the young Hospital nurse Komugi Nakahara who often cosplays. Kyosuke himself has the power to turn into a demonic creature that the Kirihara Group dubs The Soul Taker and resolves to find his sister while protecting the "Flickers", fragments of her soul given human bodies.

Like Nanoha, it starts out with a basic plot but kicks into high gear in the sixth episode, at which point the series starts bordering on Mind Screw territory at times which is why many consider it Devilman Meets Evangelion. It's still a very good series nonetheless, with a unique aesthetic, a kickass opening which was the fourth song JAM Project made, and a stellar voice acting cast on both sides of the Pacific. Definitely worth a look.

Soul Taker was later followed by Nurse Witch Komugi, which parodies this show.

Not related to the western film of the same name.

Tropes used in Soul Taker (anime) include:
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy
  • Big Bad: Runa, Kyosuke's sister, is pretty much stringing everyone along
  • Brain In a Jar: the current status of Kyosuke's grandfather. Doesn't stop him from getting a mutant form known as The Soul Killer
  • Brad Swaile: Voices Kyosuke in the English version. Became a Hilarious in Hindsight moment since it equates to Setsuna being backed up by a badass Patrick
  • Broadcast Induced Plot Hole: At least in the United States. When Tech TV was broadcasting the series, they removed a few minutes of footage from each episode to make them fit within the timeslot. In some cases this made an episode seemed rushed. In others it made things very confusing. Case in point: near the end of episode 6, Kyosuke is falling from a floating castle, and instead of rescuing him, Shiro shoots him with missiles, seemingly blowing him out of the sky. But within the last minute, Kyosuke is shown to be fine, and he states that Shiro had done it to "wake him up," so that he could transform and stop himself from getting splattered in the fall. This last minute was cut from the American broadcast, however, making the beginning of episode 7 seem contradictory and ludicrous.
  • Break the Cutie: Runa's backstory.
  • Brother-Sister Incest: Runa wants to mate with Kyosuke since they're both essentially aliens
    • Even worse, its implied that she felt this way before she found out they're basically aliens. Twincest Squick!
  • Creepy Cool Crosses
  • Crowning Music of Awesome: Hell yeah!
  • Crucified Hero Shot
  • Cruel to Be Kind: Kyosuke's mother stabs him in the beginning. She did that because his latent mutant powers are awakened by trauma and only a betrayal from a loved one would fully awaken them. Runa suffered the same fate at a young age but didn't take it nearly so well.
  • Curtains Match the Window: Komugi.
  • Cute Little Fangs: Komugi.
  • Cute Monster Girl: Komugi, more or less. She even got her own short anime series, Nurse Witch Komugi.
  • Evil Plan: Runa plays everything out the way they do simply so she can get all the Flickers in one place and provide her a mature body, remove all her enemies, and be reunited with her beloved brother
  • Finishing Move: The Lightning Breaker. Becomes a victim of the The Worf Barrage by episode six, however, and has varying effectiveness for the rest of the series
  • Freudian Excuse: Runa was "killed" by Kysouke's real mother years ago to give her the power to defend herself. Poor Runa, who had previously been a perfect daughter, suffered a Heroic BSOD from it and resolved that even her own mother hated her because she really wasn't human
  • Gratuitous English: Don't the Japanese have a word for "alien"? Also, "Hospital".
  • Hand Wave: More than a few plot elements, like Kyosuke's martial arts training and the fact he subconsciously couldn't step foot in the Kirihara Group's headquarters are glossed over in conversation
  • Heel Face Turn: Komugi at the end of episode 3
  • Improbable Weapon User: Things like syringes are favored by the Hospital mutants.
  • It Was with You All Along: Runa has spent all those countless years masquerading as the alien that Yui takes orders from
  • Kill'Em All: The power of the Applicon Buster, a material that could wipe out all life on Earth with just a few vials.
  • Lawyer-Friendly Cameo: In human form, Kyosuke wields a lightsaber... Er, we mean high-frequency katana.
  • Luke, I Am Your Father: Kyosuke, Richard Vincent, director of the Hospital is your father
  • Mind Screw: Each episode has a bit of one, but episode six takes the cake.
  • Mundane Utility: You don't see a high-frequency katana used as a flashlight too often.
  • One-Winged Angel: Essentially, Kyosuke's Mutant form is one of these, as is the Soul Crusher's, Soul Anubis's, and Soul Killer's. Runa also needed one of these so she'd have a mature body
  • Our Demons Are Different: For one, they're all mutants created by exposure to Beta Applicon in the past.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Kyosuke is the blue one.
  • Shonen Hair: Kyosuke.
  • Spin-Off: the ridiculously silly Nurse Witch Komugi.
  • Victim of the Week: The first six episodes involve Kyosuke trying to protect a Flicker.
  • Where Does He Get All Those Wonderful Toys?: For one guy fighting along against the Kirihara Group and the Hospital, Shiro has a lot of guns, planes, helicopters, etc. Later on we find out he's Yui's little brother and presumably has siphoned money out of the company for all this
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Runa wants to kill every single human so that she and Kyosuke can be safe.
  • World of Cardboard Speech: While the Soul Anubis is pounding on Kyosuke he is apparently unable to respond due to his guilt over causing her death. Eventually, though, he decides taking the beating is pointless because it's accomplishing nothing.

I wanted to feel the pain Maya suffered, even just for a moment. I felt that I should know that pain. But right now, no matter how many times I'm hit, I'm not able to feel the pain. So now, I'm ending it.

  • You Killed My Father: Shiro wants revenge on Yui because she killed Shiro's girlfriend, who was a Flicker
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