Soul Eater Watch Order: The Anime, Soul Eater Not! and the Manga

There is one main Soul Eater anime: Bones' 51-episode series from 2008 and 2009. Watch it in episode order. After that come two optional extras, the Soul Eater Late Show extras and the 2014 spin-off Soul Eater Not!, and then the question most viewers actually arrive with: how much of the manga did the anime skip, and where should you start reading?

The main series: 51 episodes, no seasons

Anime News Network's encyclopedia lists the series at 51 episodes of 25 minutes, broadcast on TV Tokyo from April 7, 2008, to March 30, 2009, directed by Takuya Igarashi and animated by Bones. It ran continuously, so there are no seasons or cours to sort out and no film to slot in. Everything goes in number order.

In April 2008, the Japanese site Anime! Anime! reported that TV Tokyo was airing the show twice a week, once in the 6 p.m. slot and again late at night.

The Late Show extras

The Soul Eater Late Show is an extra, not part of the numbered run. Anime News Network's listing for Funimation's US Part 4 DVD set, which holds episodes 40 to 51, names "Soul Eater Late Show" among its special features, alongside an episode commentary and textless songs. It sits outside the 51 episodes, so it does not change the order. Watch it if your release has it.

Where the anime leaves the manga

The anime began while Atsushi Ohkubo's manga was still running. Anime! Anime!'s April 2008 report counted 11 volumes in print in Japan at the time; Yen Press's English edition eventually ran to 25 volumes. A 51-episode show could not wait for the rest, and it did not. Onosume, reviewing the complete series for Anime UK News, compares it to the original Fullmetal Alchemist adaptation, "with both taking their own road at a certain point due to the manga not being complete." Our Fullmetal Alchemist watch order covers that comparison from the other side.

The point of departure is late. CBR's guide to what happened in the manga after the anime (Kayla Crumbley, April 2021) puts it this way: "Volume 10 would be the best bet as Chapter 36 aligns almost perfectly with Episode 35 before their plots go separate ways." In practice that means roughly the first two-thirds of the anime adapts the manga and the last stretch is its own story with its own ending. Our Soul Eater ending explainer covers both endings, with spoilers.

So where should you start reading? CBR offers Volume 10 for readers who do not want to start over. The case for starting at Volume 1 is that the anime's earlier episodes are an adaptation, not a transcription, so some differences begin before the split. Either way, the anime's ending does not carry over: it is not a preview of the manga's, and reading on from Volume 10 is not a continuation of episode 51.

Soul Eater Not! (2014)

Soul Eater Not! is a 12-episode spin-off, also from Bones, directed by Masakazu Hashimoto, which premiered on TV Tokyo on April 8, 2014. Its leads are new: ANN's synopsis names three first-year girls, Tsugumi Harudori, Meme Tatane and Anya Hepburn, starting their lives at the Death Weapon Meister Academy. ANN's March 2014 announcement of the premiere said that main cast members from the original series are reprising their roles.

ANN's reviewers place it earlier in the timeline. In ANN's spring 2014 preview guide, Rebecca Silverman wrote that "Not takes place before the main action of its predecessor," and Theron Martin that it "is apparently set before the events of the original." It still belongs after the 51 episodes. Silverman added: "I'm still not sure that I would suggest watching this without any prior knowledge of the original story, as there are some nuances that could be lost." Martin's advice on expectations was to "emphasize the Not! in the title rather than the Soul Eater part": it is a different kind of show, and the order you watch it in will not change that.

The order in one place

• Soul Eater, episodes 1 to 51 (2008 to 2009), with the Late Show extras if your release includes them.
• Soul Eater Not!, episodes 1 to 12 (2014), optional.
• The manga, from Volume 1, or from Volume 10 by CBR's reckoning, for the story the anime did not adapt.

For lines from the series, see our Soul Eater quote collection, the best Soul Eater quotes, and the pages for Maka and Soul.

Episode counts, broadcast dates and release listings were checked October 7, 2026.