The Death Weapon Meister Academy, or DWMA for short, is an academy located in the fictional Death City, of Nevada.
The school is run by Shinigami, the God of Death himself, as a training facility for Weapons and the human wielders of those weapons, the Meisters. Each Meister has at least one Demon Weapon companion which has both a Weapon and human form. Shinigami created the school as an organization that protects peace in order to prevent the rebirth of the "Kishin" (鬼神), an evil demon god that in the past, nearly destroyed everything by plunging the world into chaos.The DWMA was founded on April the 1st.
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The main goal of the Academy is to protect the world from evil and preserve peace. In the world, there are humans that may abandon their life as a human and go on the path of an Evil human, a path that transforms them into vicious evil beings that kill innocent humans for their pure souls. When enough souls are consumed, the Evil human can transform into an incredibly dangerous being called a Kishin.
To stop this, the DWMA trains people to combat against these Evil humans, by training their students from a young age to fight and kill these beings. The DWMA trains these Meisters and Weapons to also combat against Witches, which also threaten the peace of the world. Many students are motivated into fighting against the Evil humans and Witches with their main goal: making or becoming a Death scythe. When a Demon Weapon has consumed a certain amount of souls in a particular order (99 Evil human souls and 1 Witch Soul) they gain extraordinary power and can be used by Lord Death himself. Creating a Death scythe is thus known to be a hard and difficult process, and many Meisters are respected for creating a Death scythe, and Death scythes themselves are respected among the students as well.
As well as an organization to protect the peace in the world, Death Weapon Meister Academy is also a philanthropic organization, donating a lot of its money in order to help with the upkeep of the world. In turn, the Academy runs on global tax.
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The students are split into two main categories: the Demon Weapons and Meisters. Meisters are humans who show great potential in combat and physical fitness, giving them an advantage in a fight. Demon Weapons are humans with the unique ability to transform their bodies into weapons. The DWMA pairs up different Weapons and Meisters together to form partnerships between them, in order to make powerful teams to stand against the Evil humans, with the Meister wielding the Demon Weapon. Many students in Shibusen are gifted with an abnormal amount of power, and because of this, they are sometimes shunned from normal society. Shibusen takes them in and teaches them on how to control their power, so they can be respected more by people around them.
However, pairing a Weapon and a Meister together is not easy, as their Soul Wavelengths (for more information on Soul Wavelengths, see the article, Souls) need to be compatible with each other. Therefore, the DWMA often holds large gatherings, where students gather together wearing badges indicating whether they are a Demon Weapon or a Meister and try to find the partner they are compatible with. It seems possible that even after accepting a partner, one can change partners if they wish to. Upon enrolling in Shibusen, new students are first grouped together, wearing badges indicating whether they are Weapon or Meister, and workshops are run, giving the new students a chance to make partners. Meisters or Weapons who are popular with more than one person can make 'sponsored partnerships' with others.
Once a Meister and Weapon team is formed, the students can take part in lessons and take assignments on the Mission Bulletin in the Reception area of the Academy to kill Evil humans. Well-trained Meisters and Weapons develop many new powers and abilities as their experience and bond as a Meister and Weapon team grow. Training sessions and physical fitness tests and sparring matches etc. are thus held often in the Academy.
Some high-level Meister and Weapon teams are sometimes called upon to take part in large battles against separate societies that are declaring war with the DWMA.
However, it is also essential to have knowledge of the enemies one is up against. This is when the DWMA acts like a regular school, giving the Meisters and Weapons lessons inside classrooms, as well as homework essays and exams.
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In Shibusen, there are two types of lessons. The usual lessons that take place in classrooms, and extracurricular lessons, which are missions that students undertake in order to fight Evil humans or Witches and solve various problems that are out of the range of the average police force. The class lessons are based mostly around on the subject of 'Soul Studies' (魂学 Tamashii Gaku translated as Phasmology in the English dub) as knowledge of souls are important for the students of the DWMA.
Extracurricular or supplementary lessons (課外授業 Kagai Jugyou) involve fighting and thus, is quite dangerous, so the various missions on offer are ranked and have specific requirements. Students must have their chosen mission approved by the receptionist before being able to go on it. The Evil human souls that they collect are tallied and some students who, purposely do not collect any Evil human souls on their missions (like Black Star), are often punished by having to do school chores, or often signed up for extra lessons. Also, if a Meister and Weapon pair accidentally acquire a soul that is neither Evil human or Witch, or they end up causing a lot of damage in their mission, all of the souls they have collected are confiscated by Shinigami.
Whilst not in lessons, students live either in rented apartments, or school dormitories. Each students gets a weekly pocket money of $200 to spend. However, if for some reason, they spend all of it, they will not be able to get any more money until the next week. Because of the large amount of students that end up penniless, many shops in Death City cater for students wanting to work part-time to earn money.
There is no set uniform for the students of Shibusen, however, there are a variety of uniforms once can choose from, and one can match any top with any bottom. Casual clothes are also accepted.
Every year, the DWMA also hosts a grand party for all students and staff, commemorating the founding of the Academy, called the 'Foundation Day Eve' (創立記念日前夜祭 Souritsu Kinenbi Zen Yasai in Japanese) which means that it takes place the night before the actual day Shibusen was founded.
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The DWMA is a rather special school in that students can actually change their names upon entering it. These names are known as 'pseudonyms' (芸名 Gei Mei in Japanese). For example, the protagonist, Soul, changes his name from Soul Evans to Soul Eater. Once a student has changed their name, they are stuck with the same name for a minimum of two years.
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The Meister students and some members of staff that are also Meisters in the Academy are separated into a ranking system. This system is based on the number of stars. Meisters of One-Star Rank make up the majority of the Academy, rookie Meisters. Two-Star Meisters are considered the most advanced Meisters of the student body, like the members of Spartoi. Three-Star Meisters are the most powerful, and is a rank associated mostly with the teachers, such as Sid and Stein. It does not necessarily mean that a Meister can become a Three-Star Meister just by turning their Weapon into a Death Scythe. A Meister needs to have exceptional skill and power to have the title of a Three-Star Meister. There is also the rank of a Death Scythe Meister, a Meister who has made their partner a Death Scythe. Although they are of high rank, they do not necessarily have to be Three-Stars, as the protagonist Maka, has made her partner Soul into a Death Scythe and is still a Two-Star Meister.
The higher the Star rank, the more priveliges Meisters have in the Academy than normal rookie Meisters.
Demon Weapons are not included in the Star ranking system, and are only placed into two categories: a normal Demon Weapon or a Death Scythe. The strength of a Weapon though, can vary as much as Meister's.
The staff is made up of a basic school staff such as receptionists or librarians, but the teachers themselves serve a large variety of roles. Teachers like Stein teach Meisters in classrooms but also take on special orders and missions recieved by Shinigami and act as leaders or personal trainers to a certian group of students. Some are also part of a military force of the DWMA that fight alongside Meisters and Weapons in conflicts against societies such as Arachnophobia. Shibusen also has seven branch headquarters around the world, each with a Death Scythe placed in charge of it.
