Asura (阿修羅, Ashura) is the strongest and most dangerous antagonist in Soul Eater. He was the first Kishin to ever come into existence.
Contents
[show]
* 1 Personality
* 2 Appearance
* 3 History
* 4 Abilities
* 5 Part in the story
o 5.1 Fight to the Death
o 5.2 Tying Things Up, and New Beginnings
o 5.3 Arachne Vs. Shibusen (Anime only)
* 6 Quotes
* 7 Trivia
edit Personality
Asura was a human said to have always possessed an extremely careful soul, this resulted in making him mistrustful of everyone around him, which is the primary reason why he covered his body with ridiculous amounts of clothing. However, despite all his immense power, he was persistently terrified with the greatest fear that was possible. So; in order to protect himself, he became obsessed with power and forgetting all discipline, began eating the souls of innocents who were not listed by Shinigami. This fear eventually drove him to consume even his own weapon partner, causing him to go mad and become the first Kishin.
As the physical embodiment of madness, Asura's behavior is entirely erratic; one minute he seemingly has a completely calm and cool demeanor, the next he is both maniacal and senseless.
edit Appearance
Asura's face revealed.
Blackstar1Added by Blackstar1
Asura is depicted as a very thin, pale young man. Prior to becoming a Kishin, he wore numerous white long scarves, encircling his entire neck and a large portion of his head, and upwards of five to six shirts on his body, each of varying style and color. Even this significant amount of clothing is covered by a further layer; consisting of a red and black pinstriped blazer, as well as an extremely long pair of dark trousers, burying the black shoes worn underneath in a mass of fabric.
Asura has adopted the symbol of three vertical eyes, as he too possesses a third eye on his forehead. Not only does each strand of dark hair on his head look like an eye, due to the presence of white markings, but even his pupils feature this same eye-like shape. This signature eye symbol is tattooed to the backs of each of his hands and the long scarf that encompasses his head, is embellished with multiple black images of these vertical eyes, wrapped in a very particular manner so as to display only three to the front.
Due to the circumstances surrounding his imprisonment and subsequent revival, Asura was left without a single item of clothing, either old or new. In order to compensate for this immediate need, he fashioned various wrappings out of his own skin to cover his naked body, even forming it to create the long scarves he originally wore with the same three signature eye-like markings.
In the anime; it is demonstrated that the irises of his eyes are red, and he possesses a red aura.
edit History
Asura is one of the 5 remaining out of the original 8 warriors, he ate the other 3
BlueowlAdded by Blueowl
Shinigami removing all of Asura's skin
LLightAdded by LLight
Asura was supposedly a human who existed well before Shibusen's creation, though Shinigami questions whether he was ever actually human to begin with. He was the strongest and most feared member of Shinigami's "Eight Powerful Warriors" -- powerful enough to even destroy all of the witches of the East by himself, without leaving any remains. Not only that but at a later unspecified time he ate three of the Eight Powerful Warriors.
Eventually the insecurities within his personality resulted in Asura going insane and becoming the first Kishin, causing madness to spread throughout the world. To stop him and the global turmoil he had created, Shinigami removed all of his skin and used it as a seal on Asura, to trap him under the school. Shinigami then proceeded to root his very own soul to the area surrounding Death City, in order to stop Asura from ever awakening again.
edit Abilities
He was the strongest and most feared member of the Shinigami's "Eight Powerful Warriors". Shinigami once viewed Asura as his equal in might.
Asura has a wide range of attacks which generally can cause a large amount of damage even if blocked.
Asura producing Vajra from his mouth.
Blackstar1Added by Blackstar1
* Vajra: Though Asura ate his Weapon partner, he can regurgitate it partially so that the pointed end extends from his mouth; he can still use the weapon in this state. He can rush the enemy while using his soul wavelength to create a twister-like air current around him, turning himself into a human drill. This attack was strong enough to break through Shinigami's shield and blow a hole through his body. Asura can also fire a powerful beam of energy from the tip of his weapon. In the anime, Shinigami referred to his weapon partner as Bashura.
Asura preparing his Large Blast attack.
Blackstar1Added by Blackstar1
* Large Blast: Not named as of yet, this attack begins with Asura folding his hands in a manner similar to praying, before creating small spheres of soul energy which become two circular eye-like symbols that both release a very powerful beam of energy.
Asura defends using his Skin Scarves
Blackstar1Added by Blackstar1
* Skin Scarves: These scarves are made from Asura's own skin, giving him complete control over them. This allows him to use them as extra limbs or to shield himself from attacks.
* Black Blood: In the anime, Asura's black blood allows him to recover from even severe injuries very quickly. He can regenerate lost limbs instantly and seems to have some form of resistance against attacks that would ordinarily destroy a Kishin.
* Shield: In the second fight between Asura and Shinigami in the anime, he was seen using a shield similar to Shinigami's, in the form of a red circle. It is filled with numerous symbols, most likely of Hindu or Buddhist origin.
edit Part in the story
[edit] Fight to the Death
Asura is eventually resurrected by Eruka and Free upon Medusa's orders. Even newly awoken, he knocks out Black Star and Kid in a single blow and matches Shinigami in power. Shinigami was at a disadvantage, being limited by his connection to Death City and not possessing a Death Scythe, allowing Asura to win the fight and escape. He flew to an unknown destination to regain his strength, but once again Asura is causing madness and terror to infect the world.
[edit] Tying Things Up, and New Beginnings
It is later revealed Death Scythe Justin Law was acting as a spy for the Kishin, and was ordered to murder BJ because his strong Soul-Perception ability was perceived as a threat.
[edit] Arachne Vs. Shibusen (Anime only)
In the anime, Asura flew to an abandoned mansion to hide from Shinigami. He is visited by Arachne, who tries to recruit him into Arachnophobia to help her destroy Shibusen. He is at first aggravated by her presence and nearly strangles her to death with his scarves, yet accepts and comes to Baba Yaga's Castle. Arachne subdues Asura and harvests his insane wavelength to spread madness throughout the world and creates destructive weapons with his power.
Asura in the anime
HenhouseAdded by Henhouse
After Shinigami transports Death City to the castle's location, he manages to capture Asura and seals him within the Death Room so they may do battle once again. This time however, Shinigami has his weapon, Death Scythe Spirit. Shinigami seemingly had the advantage, but in the middle of battle Asura sent a powerful attack at Death the Kid and Yumi, forcing Shinigami to take the blast in his stead to save him. With Shinigami defeated, Asura returned to Arachne. Though they embrace, Asura kills her and eats her soul when he realizes he is afraid of her.
After eating her soul, Asura undergoes a transformation into a much larger, monstrous version of himself. Maka, Kid, Black Star and their weapons confront him, but all their attacks prove useless. Soul is knocked out and Maka tries to bring him back. While defending her from the Kishin, Kid activates the Lines of Sanzu. Asura pierces Kid's chest with an over-sized finger, but the lines still activate. Black Star distracts Asura while Kid prepares and fires his attack. Asura is almost completely destroyed, except for a burned husk, which explodes into Asura's original form. Kid falls unconscious, and BlackStar tries to fight Asura alone, but he too falls. Maka and Soul return and find their friends defeated.
The Kishin's monstrous form
Blackstar1Added by Blackstar1
Asura begins to torture Maka with fear and taunts her futile efforts to attack him, believing someone so weak and normal as a human could never defeat him. Maka strikes him with Kishin Hunter, but even so it proves useless. Asura reveals Maka's Anti-Demon Wavelength fails to kill him because madness itself is not impure, but exists within everybody. Asura fires an attack at Maka, but Soul protects her and collapses. Enraged, Maka tries to take the Kishin on herself, but she is quickly defeated. She even tries to fight Asura while unconscious to avoid all fear, activating her powers as a weapon, but the Kishin quickly sees through her plan.
When all hope seems lost and death seems imminent, Maka tells Asura she is relieved. This scares him, and he wonders how she could feel relieved in such a situation. She tells him her greatest power is not something special, it is "courage," which opposes fear. The Kishin becomes more and more frightened at her determination, and begins to go insane with frustration over why she would rely on something so pathetic and useless as "courage". Maka punches him in the face with a "fist full of courage," which surprisingly causes Asura's face to crack. As his body begins to shatter, Asura wonders how a punch full of something as simplistic as courage could defeat him. Maka tells him courage is indeed nothing special, that everybody has it. Before he explodes, Asura smiles to himself upon realizing that courage is therefore the same as madness: everybody has it.
edit Quotes
* "There's nothing unusual here…The appropriate one stands in the appropriate place after the inappropriate ones have collapsed to the ground, defeated. There is nothing unexpected or odd about it. Because this is reality. Not one shred of uncertainty exists here. Not even fear, of course…"
edit Trivia
* Asura's prominent symbol of three vertical eyes was based upon the symbol involved with the character "Emine" and his Hakutaku in Atsushi's earlier series B. Ichi.
* Asura possesses several references to Hindu and Buddhist religions. His name is taken from the demonic race of Asura in Hindu and Buddhist mythology. The concept of a third eye is a symbol of enlightenment while the hand signs he uses to attack are similar to mudrā, symbolic and ritualistic gestures of Buddhism and Taoism. His weapon, a vajra, is a ritual tool symbolically used by various eastern religions.
* Asura's three eyes might also allude to Dante Alighieri's Satan in The Divine Comedy as Dante's depiction of Satan had three heads and both were sealed away as punishment for their treachery towards their respective masters.
* Incidentally, Asura is shown to consume souls the same way that Soul and Ragnarok does; literally eating them.
* Asura's awakening scene is based off of a scene from Aphex Twin's music video Come to Daddy.
* When describing the five remaining warlords of the Great Eight, the black mass says, "Order, Knowledge, Power, Rage, Terror". Asura could associate with power, rage, or terror, but based on the anime it is most likely he is "Terror".
