Akame ga Kill / First Impressions

「人形を斬る」 (Ningyou wo Kiru)
“Kill the Puppets”

Oh my! So much body dismemberment! This is not an easy episode to swallow.
But it was just what I wanted to see! Not that I wanted to see flying body parts, but if you’ve made it this far with me, then you should know what to expect. Death flags are everywhere this episode with the rampant killing after Kurome summons 8 of her previous victims to do her bidding. It’s incredible how strong she is (although not surprising at all) but it also hits a nerve with me how godd*mn annoying I find her. Unlike Akane, Kurome finds joy by “adding pieces to her collection” with no remorse. Her character seems to find pleasure in killing individuals and the thing is, I don’t know why. I don’t know if I can take her seriously when she says that she wants her childhood friend to be by her side forever because he’s just a soulless shell now. How can anyone want that for a loved one? The way she treats her “puppets” like they’re just tools and how she plays around with the Night Raid without taking it seriously ticks me the wrong way. I absolutely cannot stand the way she treats this battle so lightheartedly and even leaving Bols to die is not behaving like a comrade at all (albeit, he made the decision to suicide on his own). I almost gagged when Wave started talking about Kurome like she was a child – oh boy, does he have the wrong impression of her. She is in no way cute or likable to me. She just needs to die (and almost matching my hate for Seryu) – but something tells me that the rivalry between Akame and Kurome is not one to be written off so soon. If anything, Bols will probably be the only Jaeger to die in this battle.

With all the anticipated deaths, it doesn’t come to a surprise that Leone was one of the first to go – at least her arm was. I actually thought Kurome would’ve finished her off at the same time, but leaving someone hanging around armless can be much worse. It’s probably in her blood to keep on fighting, but if that was me, I would’ve probably knocked myself out by seeing my own ARM just lying there. Luckily, this was the worst of the Night Raid losses so far and pretty much all the puppets have been killed off (hopefully for good this time). It must be difficult going up against a comrade that you knew deserved better than this. The quick flashbacks indicated that both Najenda and Akame knew their opponents, but they still managed to keep fighting which I thought showed a lot of strength. We see a trend of loved ones being forced to fight one another (with the episode on Zanku, Bulat and Liver and now this) and it’s one of the cruelest things that the creator can do. It tugs on my heartstrings every time, but seeing as this will probably be a reoccurring theme, I’ve learned not to get attached to characters; not the new ones anyway. It’s almost wasteful to bring all these characters to life and give them somewhat of a backstory and history, only to get written off in the same episode.

Now what happens next will probably reinforce who’s going to live or die… but from the preview images, it looks like it’s all about Chelsea next week. Delaying the ultimate showdown I see, but I don’t mind knowing a little more about what Chelsea and Lubbock are up to. This episode made it seem like Chelsea was with the Night Raid the entire time? Or perhaps she came back? Either way, I was under the impression she was the one leading Esdeath away so it was weird that Lubbock and Chelsea were included in this episode at all. Chelsea should make her way to kill Bolic (the spy within the Path of Peace) to make use of her Imperial Arms; since it allows her to assassinate people easily. From the looks of the preview, instead, we’ll get a little more history of how Chelsea became an member of the Revolutionary Army. I don’t think it’s required since the previous episodes have painted a good picture of why she thinks everyone is “naïve” already, but it’s a nice break between the intense battles. Once the battle does recommence though, I don’t think many Night Raid members will come out alive (already have 2 death flags in my mind) – and Bols is probably be dead. I mean, he did just throw an explosive over his head. Poor guy, he was probably the one I was most sympathetic towards, especially since he has a loving family and all.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: So much body dismemberment! I can’t wait to see who makes it out alive! Pretty sure Bols is gone though #AkamegaKill #akame_anime

Full-length images: 06, 11, 12, 13, 14, 26, 35.

 

Preview

75 Comments

      1. The most obvious one at the top of my head that shows Chelsea likes Tatsumi would be when Chelsea wonders why she is looking at Tatsumi in the first place while Night Raid is discussing their plans against the Jaegars and the religious organization; I think she was blushing at the time, and later on there should be more hints to how she feels towards him.

        Dualash
        Reply

  5. I literally could not think they could force any more unnecessary fanservice into another episode, especially in the middle of this “edgy” fight. I was so wrong.

    Anyways, I predict next week that someone is gonna die and that it’s probably gonna be another archetype from Tatsumi’s harem kingdom. And then Tatsumi is gonna be all sad, but Boob Girl (If she survives) is going to hug Tatsumi and then Tatsumi is gonna get all embarrassed and shit because its supposed to be funny. And then I predict they are gonna repeat dialogue from their limited phrasal template. And then Esdeath is probably gonna kill some random people and then torture them to show the audience once again that she is evil. And then I predict she’s gonna see Tatsumi. And then I predict Esdeath is going to get all blushy blushy and hug Tatsumi for no reason except for bad comedy purposes. And then she’s going do a complete 180 and kill someone again the prove to the audience that she is evil. And then some other evil characters are going to be introduced. And you will know they’re evil because Night Raid says so. And then those new evil characters are going to kill some random stranger and make a rape face to show the audience that they’re evil.

    Apa
    Reply

    2. There was no fanservice this episode. The closest instance that you can contrive as fanservice is when Mine emerged from the frog. But there was nothing revealing. It was some cloth missing on her shoulder and her leg. That’s about it. And I can’t take anyone seriously who says edgy, let alone tries to say that this was an edgy fight. This was a straightforward clash with quite a bit of action. Don’t be an idiot.

      za21
      Reply

      1. That’s why I put quotation marks around “edgy”, because people recommended this anime and have been calling these fights “edgy”, and since I liked the idea of it, I was intrigued at first. And yes, the part where Mine has her clothes melted by acid in the set way that it would show cleavage (not just her shoulder and legs), is what I would call unnecessary fanservice. There is no logic behind that scene except to show cleavage, because if it was supposed to make me think otherwise, Tsundere Girl would at least have some burnt marks on her. It’s like either the mangaka or the director thought; “Hey, we need at least one scene this episode that shows one of our harem archetype characters in at least a mildly suggestive scene.” Now that I have explained to you why I said what I said, and with (what I hope are) valid reasons, I like to think that I’m not an idiot. You may disagree with me, but calling me an idiot is immature.

        Apa
        Reply

    1. I have the feeling that Kurome isn’t a sadist. I think she went through so much trauma that she does believe that killing and turning her loved ones into zombies to be with her forever is a sign of true love.

      By the way, I don’t agree with Cherrie. Kurome didn’t leave Bols to die. Until the last second she had one of her zombies protect him, and he was very effective until Najenda sent Leone to help Akame (good plan).

      Mistic
      Reply

      4. She can do much more than send a puppet to fight with Bols imo. If she can needlessly chop off Leone’s arm, she can probably stand and fight with Bols. Of course, I can see that she values her life just as much too so maybe sitting on a rock watching is cool too o_O

        Cherrie
        Reply

      5. Well, remember Akame pointed out that summoning her zombies makes Kurome sluggish (if not, her ability would be just too much). The more she summons, the worse for her body.

        That’s why Akame attacked her so quickly at the beginning of the episode and why Kurome has her most trusted zombie protecting her at every moment. Her attack on Leonne was a surprise attack and she didn’t follow through. Yet she still dedicated one of them to protect Bols (like Natala does for her). She probably thought that the other six were enough to take care of Night Raid.

        Mistic
        Reply

  11. I found the episode a bit short, but maybe because it was full of action at every turn. Even Tatsumi managed to kill two of her puppets (albeit with Chelsea’s help in the first case).

    Any ideas of how the manga-chapters-to-anime-episodes correlation goes in this series? And do we know how many episodes will the anime have?

    Mistic
    Reply

    1. Right now I see 24 eps.
      From what I hear, manga readers think that the anime has done a good job adapting the show so far so no complaints there. Especially in the beginning, I believe each chapter correlated to one episode.

      Cherrie
      Reply

      1. Thanks, Cherrie! I didn’t know how long the anime was going to be. As for the correlation, I’ve just checked the old manga chapters on my own to know for sure (no spoilers, everyone, don’t worry).

        The first chapter of the manga is the first episode of the anime. No surprises. Then, more or less, each anime episode translates two manga chapters (at least that’s what I saw up to episode 15; it was very clear that the first half was chapter 28 and the second half chapter 29)

        Mistic
        Reply

  17. My heart can’t handle this… too many death flags.. waayy too many. I fear everytime there’s a fight like these someone will suddenly / unexpectedly die. On a side note: Susanoo is awesome!

    Xignal
    Reply

  18. Looks like there is another OP villain and it is Kurome with her crap bag of puppets and doping cookies, my level of dislike for this little sister of Akame makes me feel bad for said Night Raid member, having such a deplorable enemy and being related is just insult to injury. That aside, Kurome clearly has no respect for the dead and would continue to glorify them by killing people just to add more to her sick collection of past trauma.

    Someone needs to kill her and Seryu ASAP

    Diddo
    Reply

    1. “I almost gagged when Wave started talking about Kurome like she was a child”

      Well, she does act like a child. A very creepy, damaged child.

      She just needs to die (and almost matching my hate for Seryu)

      Funny thing, Seryu, Kurome and Wave are my favorite Jaegars.

      Grahav
      Reply

    2. You need to get your head evaluated from that comment alone. Along with all us Esdeath x Tatsumi shippers, praise be!

      Joking aside, Kurome is the kind of girl that would use her demeanor against you and stab you in the friggin’ back and make you serve her unwillingly. Let’s not forget, Akame did try to reason with her to come with her. Perfect opportunity to leave a hellish life but she stayed back so she has something to bitch and whine and fall back on when reality comes and smack her in the goddamn face when she’s cornered by her sister and enemies.

      Yeah, I might be a hater, but I am an enlightened one. The bandwagon does not stop here.

      Diddo
      Reply

  21. well, with next episode being all about chelsea, her death flag has just skyrocketed and if I have to pick the next death im going with her. I thought it would be leone and they had me for a second in this episode. And who knows maybe her missing arm will get the better of her and she will still be the next. we shall see.

    Bijyu
    Reply

  23. You have no idea how much Kurome will change in the later parts of the manga. She is, actually, one of the most well-developed characters in this stuff. Putting her on the same tier as Seryu is just plain wrong.

    Anyway, good episode, but the choices of the music felt a bit weird.

    Neuth
    Reply

  25. I come here to see Mein’s clothes melted, but didnt expect her clothes not melt that much lol.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    pedobearmatt
    Reply

  26. Black Knight says hi to all the victims of gratuitous appendage loss….
    For an action-filled episode there were almost no casualties apart from the puppets. BUT:
    That nuke at the end… what a cliffhanger. Even Akame and Leone would be at least hard pressed to dodge that…
    Bols himself probably is dead, though. As is his sheild puppet, but he was not main threat anyway.
    I must say that Susanoo’s “reflection” attack is probably most impressive, though.
    We did not see Kurome much in action yet, though and she is either utterly overconfident or insanely overpowered…

    ewok40k
    Reply

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