Asura and Kishin as Adolla:
Ok, this is a topic that needs to be addressed because it is a pretty substantiative position in regards to Death’s scaling. So I’m going to lay the ground work for why the Kishin is meant to represent Adolla in the Soul Eater world.
First…what happened to the original Adolla:
Explanation: Adolla was simply “
put to sleep” as Shinra describes it. Shinra destroyed the original form of Despair that was Adolla, as it
didn’t belong in the new world Shinra created.
However, it’s noted that Adolla was never indicated to have been completely destroyed by Shinra. In fact his words of “go back to sleep” seems to indicate that he just made the being weaker and cast it off to the depths of the world, away from the new humanity.
And if Adolla is established to still exist after Fire Force’s conclusion, then what happened to it? And how did it come to be from the new world….
The Madness of the Soul Eater world:
I find this part to be the most interesting section in regards to Adolla’s relation to the Kishin and how it came to be.
The Kishin is madness. I think that’s a plainly established fact throughout the series. The madness that resides in all humans
take hold of individuals and make them completely devoid of all emotions. But how did this madness come to be when Shinra supposedly eliminated all the despair of Adolla from the previous world?
Well, you see why Shinra may have eliminated the “despair” the old world by making Death more intimate, he “
created a world of madness” when he did so.
The usage of the term “madness” is incredibly purposeful on Ohkubo’s part as it’s meant to establish the ground work for Adolla’s future impact on the soul eater world as the Kishin.
Shinra may have eliminated “despair,” however “madness” and “fear” still remain in the hearts of man and thus
the Kishin will always remain so long as life exists. It’s even confirmed in Soul Eater that the irresponsible act of cutting away fear (or eliminating Despair as was the case for Shinra)
was the genesis of the world brimming with madness. Thus making way for the Kishin to revive itself. Note: while Asura says “Shinigami” I believe the person he’s referring to here is Shinra as he was the one who both “cut away fear” (eliminated Adolla’s despair) and “brimmed the world full of madness.” (Creates the world full of madness in the first place. It seems this was retroactively retconned thanks to Fire Force to me.)
The Kishin being “fear” itself is incredibly coinciding with Adolla who derives its power of despair through humanities fear of death.
If that wasn’t enough,
madness was one of the components making up despair in Adolla in the first place as well. So the Kishin being remained off of “madness and fear” coincided with what we know makes up Adolla in the first place.
It’s honestly a little brilliant on Ohkubo’s part. How everything ties together to form this very narratively consistent gateway towards the Kishin being the remnants of what Adolla was in the past.
The madness that the Kishin carries is also stated to be
endless and infinite multiple times in Soul Eater which coincides with the endless amount of despair Adolla carries within it
thanks to the very history of humanities despair it embodies.
Additional supporting Evidence: Fire Force is the prequel to Soul Eater.
Yeah so we’re all aware that Fire Force is the prequel to Soul Eater. With the moon in soul eater being the way it is
due to Adolla’s reality warping and the sun being the way it is
due to Shinra’s reality warping.
Because this is very established in the series, I’d like to just quickly…note a couple…distinct similarities between the two.
Look at them…just look at them and tell me they don’t relate.
Yeah I thought so. It’s incredibly consistent with the narrative that the Kishin is the remnants of Adolla, brought forth due to the madness created from the new world. As well as it being consistent with the narrative’s direction of Fire Force being a total prequel to Soul Eater.
The three eyes
used to represent the Kishin are the same three eyes
used to represent Adolla. Along with the mentions of the Kishin being “fear itself” just like Adolla is and the fact that Shinra confirmed not to have destroyed Adolla, but simply “put it to sleep” indicates a clear pathway for the Kishin to be the Adolla of the Soul Eater world.