Lord Death - Creation and Conception

Creation and Conception

While creating Soul Eater, Atsushi Ōkubo was heavily influenced by the manga series Dr. Slump and wanted to create a story in which serious or intense action scenes would be defused or interrupted with comedic moments. The story element in which characters transform into weapons is an expansion on the idea of weapons being personified, which Ōkubo frequently saw in other fictional stories. Ōkubo decided to make the main protagonist of the series, Maka Albarn, a female in response to other shōnen manga having male main characters, and paired her and the other main characters with those of the opposite sex to demonstrate an equal representation of gender. He also decided to use a scythe as Maka's weapon for its unique fighting style. He resisted drawing influence from other people for most of his characters, particularly the main protagonists, who he instead based on assets on his own personality—the arrogant Black Star is based on Ōkubo's narcissistic side, the neurotic Death the Kid based on his manic side, etc. However, he did base a few characters on people he was familiar with, such as Excalibur, whose personality he based on his own father. He also designed supporting character Kilik Rung to be black after noting a lack of African characters in other manga series. The names of several characters are based on the titles of other films as a form of tribute, such as Blair being named after The Blair Witch Project and Kilik after Kirikou and the Sorceress.