Fans of everything horror and supernatural have built a cult following behind Soul Eater. The hit anime is known for its original portrayals of classic horror tropes. In addition to representing horror iconography, the anime pays brilliant homage to one particular classic horror masterpiece.

Fans of the series might remember Soul Eater's little red ogre and his dimly lit room. This setting and the character are clear references to the American television series Twin Peaks, which also features a similar setting and character. However, unlike some of Soul Eater's other horror references, this one has much more meaning and depth for the series.

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Soul's Descent Into the Black Room

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From Episode 1 of the anime, Soul Eater follows young warriors who harvest the souls of the most vile and heinous criminals. These characters are students of Shibusen Academy who have been trained to understand the responsibility of power and to avoid the corruption of fear, insanity and murderous intent.

The main duo, Maka and Soul, are one of the best teams, but not every mission goes according to plan. After destroying a serial killer on their list of targets, Maka and Soul find themselves fighting against an overwhelming and mentally unstable foe possessing a mysterious and dangerous substance called Black Blood. This substance is powerful in ability and form but causes the wielder to become insane and unpredictable. With the enemy being too much for Maka and Soul to handle, Soul is nearly killed by this weapon and infected with the Black Blood. After this unfortunate incident, he begins to have strange dreams.

Soul Eater's Little Ogre and Black Room

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After Soul is attacked and infected with the Black Blood, he begins to have strange dreams where he is sitting in a darkened room with red curtains covering any walls that may be present. In this dream, a small red ogre stands across the black and white checkered flooring, dancing off-beat to sultry jazz music. The ogre magnifies Soul's fear of death and taunts him with the promise that he can eradicate that fear from Soul's heart. Time and time again, Soul rejects the offer to take in the power of the Black Blood, but he is still tormented by the Little Ogre and later on, a vile doppelganger of himself.

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Over time, both Soul and Maka realize that Soul can access this room and the power of the Black Blood at will, but that it will plunge them into madness that could destroy both their souls. The setting of this "Black Room" serves as a place of dangerous power for the protagonists, while the Little Ogre is the unpredictable host of the power that threatens these heroes' lives.

Although the premise and plots are different, Soul Eater's "Black Room" was directly inspired by the American television series Twin Peaks' "Red Room." From the bizarre and terrifying dreams to the supernatural threats on his soul, the anime character Soul endures almost exactly what Dale Cooper did in the '90s.

Dale Cooper Ensnared in the Red Room

Dale Cooper meets Laura Palmer in the Red Room in Twin Peaks

In Twin Peaks, the protagonist is an FBI agent named Dale Cooper who finds himself in the midst of supernatural phenomena while trying to resolve the murder of a teenage girl. One of the first hints that there are supernatural dangers surrounding him is the dream he has of the red room -- a recurring setting that becomes central to the entire series.

It's revealed that the Red Room is a part of a mythological legend, also known as the Black Lodge. While there is a higher purpose for souls passing through this extradimensional space, evil spirits lie in wait to abuse and torment innocent souls. This leads to the main conflicts of the series; the murder of Laura Palmer and the demonic possession of numerous characters.

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Twin Peaks' Little Man and Red Room

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In the series, Dale Cooper also begins to have strange dreams. In his dreams, the FBI agent sits in one of three modern lounge chairs -- when he isn't running through the terrifying maze of red curtains, that is. Within the empty space of the black and white chevron flooring, the company is even stranger. Dale's host is revealed to be a small man dressed in a red suit who speaks in an ominous backward language. He also has a bizarre habit of awkwardly dancing to sultry jazz music, adding to the mounting oddities within this series. At random, certain faces and friends appear and disappear in sudden flashes, letting Dale know that no one is safe.

Dale has these dreams throughout the series until he finally manages to make his way into the Red Room at the climax of the show. As Dale experiences the legend of the Black Lodge, he must face the Dweller on the Threshold -- a doppelganger of himself threatening to destroy his soul.

The Connection Of The Rooms

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The most obvious similarities between Soul Eater's Black Room and Twin Peaks Red Room are the red curtains and black and white flooring. There's also the shared element of jazz music -- a genre famous for its quick changes of pace, raw expressions and brilliant improvisation -- which could certainly help to illustrate the chaos of both stories.

Diving in deeper, the characters involved in both iconic scenes are extraordinarily similar. The heroes are both commanders of justice fighting against the criminally insane to uphold harmony. Soul is fighting to destroy, and therefore punish, evildoers with violence, while Dale uses his strength to uphold the law and punish evildoers through less violent means. Both Soul and Dale wind up caught in an overwhelming predicament that threatens their lives and haunts them with disturbing visuals and an identical and dangerous plane of reality.

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The heroes' hosts are similar as well. They are both small-sized but greatly powerful villains who might not do much outside their words to threaten the heroes but certainly hold all the power -- and a love for jazz. The physical threat comes from the doppelgangers that take on the appearance of Soul and Dale to destroy them from within.

While Soul Eater takes a more uplifting and direct approach to these elements and Twin Peaks is far more bleak and surreal, the core tones and meanings are identical. With how impactful Twin Peaks was in the '90s and how identical this reference is in Soul Eater, it stands to reason that manga creator Atsushi Okubo might have been a fan. Either way, the anime's Black Room pays the perfect homage to Twin Peaks' legendary Red Room. They both served as the final stage for the main characters' do-or-die moments in the face of pure evil.