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The Death Weapon Meister academy, or DWMA for short, is an academy located in the fictional Death City, Nevada.[1]
The school is run by Shinigami-sama, the God of Death himself, as a training facility for Weapons and the human wielders of those weapons, the Meisters.[1] 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 an evil demon god that in the past, nearly destroyed everything by plunging the world into chaos.
== The Training of Weapons and Meisters ==
The main goal of the DWMA is to protect the world from evil. In the world, there are may 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 is 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 also trains Meisters and Weapons to combat against Witches, which also threaten the peace of the world.
The students are split into two main categories: the Demon Weapons and Meisters. Meisters are humans with a Soul Wavelength that is more powerful than a regular human's, 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.
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.
Once a Meister and Weapon team is formed, the team can 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.
Many students are motivated into fighting against the Evil humans and Witches with their goal into 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 Shinigami 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.
== Ranking System and Staff ==
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.
The higher the Star rank, the Meisters have more priveliges 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 basic school staff such as receptionists or librarians, but the teachers themselves serve a large variety of roles. Teachers like Stein teaches 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.
==Appearance==
At first glance, the Academy can be said to have a rather eccentric appearance, looking a bit like a large funhouse rather than a school. Standing on a large platform which can be accessed by a long line of white steps, the school is comprised of a collection of large black towers and spires patterned with white lines and the occasional Shinigami mask. The roofs of the towers are conical and bright red in colour. Enormous candles poke out of shafts along the circumference of the buildings. Strangely, the flames of these candles never go out, and the candles never shorten. The Academy's most distinguishing feature however, are the three large Shinigami skulls lined up at the entrance. The middle skull is the largest, and sports three blood red spikes going through its eye and nose holes. The skulls on the side are smaller and have slanted eyes. The gaps between the 'teeth' of these giant skulls serves as the school's main entrances. At the top of the school hover three strange black orbs (in the anime, it is hinted they could be a seal of some form to imprison Asura pre-release).
The Academy is completely symmetrical, which immediately impresses Death the Kid upon first enrolling in the school.
===Inside===
The Academy is quite big and grand inside and contains many long corridors with arched ceilings and lamps to light the way and staircases. The corridors also have round windows looking out onto the school grounds.
Cafeteria:
The school has a large cafeteria providing the students with food during the school day.
Library:
The Library is incredibly big, a large room that goes up to at least three floors, with bridges connecting the opposite sides of each floor, with shelves upon shelves of books and has desks with lit torches for study. The Library follows a rule which restricts some students to only be able to look at a limited number of books in the Library. The books are divided into four categories: Level 1, Level 2, Level 3 and Level 4. Meisters up to Two Stars in rank can have access to Level 1 books, but cannot have access to Level 2 books, which can be read by Three Star Meisters. Level 3 books can only be accessed by staff and the highest rank, Level 4, can only be availabe to Senior Meisters or Death Scythes. However, as seen with Kid, who is a Grim Reaper, exceptions can be made.
Mission Bulletin and Reception:
One of the lively places in the Academy, the Mission Bulletin is where Meisters get their missions to hunt Evil Humans and get more Kishin Eggs to make their Weapons a Death Scythe. Descriptions of each mission are written on cards and placed on the bulletin. Students are free to pick which mission they want, but the missions can have special requirements written on them as well, like the ability to sense souls. Some missions can be dangerous, and mainly include killing Evil humans. However, some do not involve Evil human and are just missions to create peace and help people in distress (e.g. Kirikou and Ox take on a mission to defeat a rampaging giant). Near the bulletin is the Reception. Here, students who have chosen their missions take their mission cards to the receptionist who checks whether they are viable for the mission before actually assigning the mission to them.
Classrooms:
The classrooms are also wide and spacious and resemble lecture halls rather than classrooms, with pitched floors and conjoined desks and the blackboard and the teacher's desk in the centre. There are also windows at the back which provide a view of the grounds. Each class has a homeroom teacher. Maka's class, called Crescent Moon Class, has Stein as their teacher. It seems that students have free access to the classrooms, even outside lessons.
Dispensary:
The area where sick or injured Meisters and Weapons are treated. Whilst nurses like Nygus usually work in here, occasionally Stein is known to assist as well, especially with operations like when Soul was injured. The dispensary is a typical hospital room with several beds and an examining room and doctor's office. In the hospital wards, a couple of health posters can be seen.
Shower Rooms:
It is also revealed that the Academy has shower rooms for students to use after Physical Education classes.
Restrooms:
The restrooms are quite spacious and lavish. Some, like Sid and Maka, use the mirrors in the restrooms to contact Shinigama-Sama in the Death Room.
School Grounds:
The Academy have wide balconies for students to access and the grounds in front of the entrance are also used as a makeshift battleground for training fights between students. During these battles, a member of staff must be present to view the fight. The area near Shibusen also seems to be a forest area, where some students like Maka and her team use it as a training ground.
Lockers
Lockers are also seen in some parts of the corridors. In Soul's case, Meisters (all female) constantly send request letters into his locker for him to be their partner when he becomes a Death Scythe, much to his chagrin. A few lockers are decorated with stickers.
Underground:
The underground of the Academy are in contrast to the bright atmosphere of the rest of the school, and is dark and dimly lit with stone walls. With rabbit warrens of corridors, it is quite easy to get lost. In these levels, there are small accomadations rooms like the one Crona uses and there are also cells to contain Witches and other such villains and interrogation rooms, like with Medusa.
Even further underground is the shrine which contains the Kishin Asura. Long and surprisingly grand corridors lead up to the shrine, which looks a bit like a Shinto shrine that is influenced by Asura's theme of madness. In front of the shrine is the large bag of skin with three eyes emblazoned on it bound up by chains containing Asura. After Asura's release, many parts of the underground were damaged due to the fight between Medusa and Stein's teams.