Under the watchful eye of Shinigami-Sama, the weapon meisters harvest souls with the aid of their living weapons. Maka, a young woman with father issues and her living scythe Soul Eater have almost made the grade, collecting 99 souls... now all they need is the soul of one wicked witch. By contrast, Demon Shadow Weapon Tsubaki and her own living scythe—the boastful (but useless) Black Star—have not even got one.

This is a delightful tale of witches in pumpkin castles, mummies, zombie teachers and more. Slightly saucy, it is just the thing for older teens with its sly digs at relationship problems and its sassy humor, although there is enough in here to appeal to adults too. Like all good manga, the illustrations are as important to the story as the words, and these show some wonderful fight scenes as well as complementing the humor and even managing a few nudes. There is a lot in here, and if all the volumes in the series are as nicely crammed as this one I can highly recommend it to all true manga fans. A great beginning!