"Ah, those three stripes in your hair are as cute as ever!"
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So you're all prolly wondering what's this? who's that? Where here's the thing... I've been working on a pic of Dr. Stein for Nogojo and well... this image has been in my head for a long time and I can't get it out. I HAD to draw it... you see ever since I started watching/reading Soul Eater I can't stop thinking about what Shinigami-sama looks like under the mask... and the big deal he makes over Kid's stripes I thought was really cute... the more I read the more important I think those stripes are. (but I'll explain that in a minute) So this is basically me playing around and guessing what Shinigami-sama looks like under the mask... and for some reason I wanted Death the Kid in here as a 4 year old, cause I think a little tiny him saying "Chichue!" (trans: Honorable Father) would be adorable XD

There's a couple little things I want to get in there and edit a bit... I forgot to blend Shinigami's sleeve so the blue isn't so in your face bright. There's some scanner spots that I can see... so I'll touch that up and change that after I get hom from checking out the school. Other than that I love this pic ^____^

Now for why I think Shinigami looks like this... but it's spoilers for the manga and possibly the show... so be warned
*Long winded spoiler ahead*
So I kinda thought that Shinigami looked like Kid, obviously because he's his father... but I thought well maybe he has the stripes and they are connected instead of half like Kid's... which may be one of the reasons why Kid has major OCD issues with his own hair. Thinking his father is perfect why isn't he too? Before this was just my musings... I didn't actually start thinking this was seriously possible until I read the last couple chapters of the manga... Around chapter 53-ish Kid and Free are fighting Mosquito they're winning at first but he turns back into his look from 400 years ago and basically mops the floor with poor Kid and Free (Kid lost an arm..) but Brew (a powerful weapon created by a wizard named Eibon) activated somehow and one of Kid's stripes connected. Suddenly he was far more powerful than he'd ever been before (and could re-attach body parts kinda like Abel in Trinity Blood)... anyway... They kept saying something about the "the lines of Sanzu connecting" and later on after the fight it goes to Shinigami's room and he's collapsed on the floor while Spirit is freaking out. They're very vague about it but for some reason Kid's stripe connecting had some kind of effect on Shinigami...

So my point is I think the lines are what shows a fully poweful Shinigami and perhaps... judging by Shinigami's reaction... there can only be one shinigiami at full power and that's why Kid has half stripes? I'm not sure... I hope not because that's just sad... but still it supports my idea of what Shinigami-sama looks like.

*end of spoilers*

*edit* Wow! Akumeno mentioned that the "lines of Sanzu" mentioned in chapter 53 is a reference to the River Sanzu, which I had to go look up. (I'm always thrilled to find out about a myth I've never heard about before. Anyhoo, it's a belief in Buddist religion, a river with three crossings that the soul of one who has died must cross. According to the story, depending on how you lived your life you take one of those crossings. A bridge for those who were good, a ford for those who were balanced, and a deep snake infested patch of river for those who were evil.

I donno, that got my wheels turning even more... I think that pretty much explains why Kid has three stripes in his hair. And it makes me wonder if the fact that the middle stipe connected has any sort of significance. Would that say something about a balance of good an evil? Perhaps it's got something to do with Brew, a 'weapon' supposedly created by someone evil? Maybe that's why Shinigami was affected? Or maybe I'm a nutter and reading too much into the whole thing? Yeah most likely the last one.

But thank you Akumeno for pointing that out! I couldn't understand the scanlation so I didn't catch that about the river.

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Shinigami (although not official looking) and Death the Kid belong to Ookubo Atsushi
Prisma and Manga Liner pens on Bristol