「修羅を斬る」 (Shura wo Kiru)
“Kill Shura”

I have mixed feelings about this week’s episode – both good and bad. For the main part, I thought the episode was entertaining once again and true to the Akame ga Kill sayings, a character does not last very long after revealing his or her history. Flashbacks, romance stories and future aspirations should be a clear warning that someone is going to die. The action was nonstop and watching Lubbock take down another opponent singlehandedly was amazing. He’s quick on his feet and he thinks before he acts which is more than I can say about Tatsumi. Lubbock’s Imperial Arm is so diverse that it’s no surprise how he came this far. When we were first introduced to him, I kind of brushed him off as your typical pervert in the group. Now I know he’s much more than that and quite capable on the battlefield… it’s just unfortunate that he was backstabbed (literally). No Imperial Arms is perfect either, so no matter how smart Lubbock was at using his, even he couldn’t save himself from falling out of the sky. I think seeing Lubbock’s death will take its toll on Tatsumi… this would be the second(?) time he’s seen a comrade die in from of him and he couldn’t do anything about it. I’d like to see Tatsumi man up and become a more prominent character these days; after all, isn’t he the protagonist? Although I saw Lubbock’s death coming, it’s still bittersweet to know that Lubbock’s last thoughts were of Najenda. Being dragged into this fight just because you love someone, and then killed before they knew? That’s just heartbreak all over. I feel for you Lubbock, I really do.

Now come my gripes with the episode, or just the general storytelling for Akame ga Kill. I’m not a manga-reader; but I’ve heard that since last episode, the anime has deviated quite a bit from the original story which eliminates an entire arc. This arc revolves around Shura’s gang called the The Wild Hunt and to save you some research and digging, they’re a very brutal group that have no sense of humanity and the arc is probably being skipped due to the amount of heavy censorship that White Fox would have to include. So, simply put, I don’t think that the rest of the story will be completely “anime original” since everything else has been straight from the manga so far. However, adjustments will be made so that the outcomes are the same; at least, that’s what I’m hoping. My issue is then, how they go about that… because right now, I see a disconnect between the last episode and yesterday’s. There’s this giant gap between what happened during the last showdown and the current day that doesn’t bridge in my mind – like, what happened to the fight between the Night Raid and the Jaegers? Why did the group split up again? And where are they? The only part of the story I found comprehendible was seeing Lubbock and Tatsumi in the capital, but that still doesn’t explain why they’re there and what they were trying to achieve with this back-stabbing lady. I managed to piece together the pieces in my mind but Akame ga Kill should be more straightforward than that.

This episode officially introduces Shura (Kimura Ryouhei) who was seen in earlier episodes but then disappeared after sleeping with some girl. At the same time, it introduces another villain – one strong enough to rival Esdeath herself, Budou (Gouda Hozumi). This left me confused because Akame ga Kill has always been a very linear story with one enemy for the Night Raid at a time. It’s unlike them to present two antagonists who don’t even have the same agenda, not to mention the entire team behind Shura whom remain nameless. It was hard to focus on which villain would be the ultimate one to beat in the long run – but it’s obvious now, Budou is incredibly powerful. Then that leaves me wondering, why bring back Shura at all? I understand that they probably wanted to tie the Wild Hunt somehow someway and not leave any loose strings, but it felt so short-lived and only to bring the demise of Lubbock. This was the only part of the episode that didn’t jive very well with me since it felt like such a cop out and at the same time, an unfitting addition. I can forgive this slight hiccup if the rest of the series is still delivered well. Hopefully White Fox will still produce a great finale now that we’re in its last stretch. It’d be a terrible fate for the series if it were to fall on its face now but I shall remain skeptical until I see it happen.

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: So our new antagonist didn’t last very long… But why would #AkamegaKill bother introducing two then? Ugh not a fan of the new guy >_<

 

Preview

87 Comments

    1. Indeed, to be frank, this is one of those anime where you would think anyone can die at anytime, including the main character. On the noticeable turn of events
      https://randomc.net/image/Akame%20ga%20Kill/Akame%20ga%20Kill%20-%2020%20-%20Large%2030.jpg
      https://randomc.net/image/Akame%20ga%20Kill/Akame%20ga%20Kill%20-%2020%20-%20Large%20Preview%2001.jpg
      So it seems that, exluding Tatsumi, the remaining survivors of Nightraid are all girls. That may be one prospect Tatsumi may look forward to. However, that is if he survives. Frankly, I won’t be shocked of Tatsumi dies, this is title AKAME ga Kill so the main character is supposed to be Akame, not Tatsumi.

      https://randomc.net/image/Akame%20ga%20Kill/Akame%20ga%20Kill%20-%2020%20-%20Large%2033.jpg
      As for him, ………I don’t know what to say, little lost for words. I do have to agree with CHERRIE on how short lived Shura’s part was, but my hunch why he was brought up was because the author’s just wanted to please the fans by making the Prime Minister make this face.

      Anyway, finally is Esdeath. I would find it impossible to understand what kind of woman is she, if she really does go along with everything. It is easier to imagine her breaking Tatsumi out of jail and eloping with him. But going along with Tatsumi’s execution………I have really no idea why on earth would she be so loyal to that fat pig of a Prime Minister.

      L002
      1. The thing about Esdeath is that she treats allies well, but enemies without any mercy or whatever. She’s a firm believer that the strongest deserve to rule how ever they wish, be it good or bad. If the Prime Minister were a decent person, she would obey whatever command, regardless of how great it contrasts her desires. If you actually look at her record, she has NEVER laid hands on an innocent ally. However, if you are related to an enemy, she will do away with you, just to make a point.

        ion62
  1. is very sad all the changes that they made.
    I like the show a lot, but I wonder who are they targeting with all this changes.
    I strong believer that you should keep as much as the original material as possible or are they planing to do something Like Claymore that was good but at the end with the original ending, I wonder if shows that do this had good revenues. for me personal the end of the show have a great impact how I view the shows over all.

    oscuda
    1. A concise list of notable things that have been changed/omitted between this episode and the last –

      Show Spoiler ▼

      DS
      1. You forgot some other things, though I’m not sure if they were skipped this or the previous episode.
        Show Spoiler ▼

        dean
      2. You also forgot

        Show Spoiler ▼

        ion62
    1. for that matter, if anyone wants interested in the story and wants the proper canon continuation, not this made up shit we had in episode 20, start at chapter 39-40 of manga, that’s where the anime deviated at.

      Dwarg
  2. I am a bit torn between the changes the anime has made this episode. While I would like to see the anime be fully fateful to the manga and Lubbock’s proved himself quite badass until the end and we got to see Shura humiliated, I kind of don’t mind that some of the stuff that happened during the wild hunt arc which I won’t go into because I don’t like to talk about it, but anyone who has read through that arc in the manga can probably guess what I am talking about. I also wonder what the will do with the rest of Wild hunt now that Shura is dead.

    Jacky
  3. I am not a big fan of the anime original story Akame ga Kill has taken. The past few arcs and scenarios have been extremely faithful to the manga, why start the changes now? Are they not confident if left on a non-conclusive ending, a squeal will not be well received in the future? There is just so much story the author has intended that have not been explored upon and now we have 4 episodes to wrap up a story with quite a bit of depth and lingering questions.

    Now I can only hope that the White Fox have something truly amazing in mind to round up what have been an enjoyable ride. Their previous adaptations of Jormungand, Hataraku Maou-sama, Steins;Gate and Katanamonogatari have been quite faithful to their source material and they were all pretty amazing in my opinion.

    Flappy
    1. Change is good. Whenever a story tries to be original, I always see comments about how they’re saddened that they didn’t stick with source material. We watch anime, even ones that are based off source material that we already saw, because we want a different outlook of the story right? We want to see if the animated version could give us something more; Something that could let us appreciate the story in a different angle.

      Originals can give us that. Let’s give it a chance and see things to the end. They’ve been doing well so far, no matter what they give us it’ll still be another fun few weeks.

      To viewers that have read the source, faithful adaptations leave us fulfilled, but it’s the twist and turns of original adaptations that could give the extra edge to make it truly memorable.

      -flCer

      flCer
      1. Couldnt disagree more. First of all, I dont want to see if the anime could give me something “more” and a different angle. I wanne see the story come alive, with voices, with sounds, with animation in its literal sense. Even if youd call this medium-inherent changes a different perspective, there is one crucial difference to what you mean: Its a different perspective ON THE SAME STORY – you even said that too and didnt realize it. If I watch anime, I still want to see the same! story animated. Or else I always get the feeling we’re watching fanfiction, and I just cant take it seriously anymore. Of course, it might work if you havent read the source material before. But normally it doesnt. And if you read the source material before theres always this small feeling of “thats not really how the story goes”.
        So I always think its better to end with a cliffhanger.

        Libélula
      2. Nothing against change in particular, just that it came way too late into the series in my opinion. For anime original endings are usually coupled with anime original build up. By adapting the source material faithfully to this point is usually a build-up and development towards the source material’s intended ending and hence the pacing of each story arc. Thus I felt some jarring issues when this episode aired and hence question what do the studio and the source material author have in mind.

        WHITE FOX has never let me down so I still look forward to being pleasantly surprised for whats to come.

        Flappy
    2. When something is based off of an unfinished source material, then there’s not much choice then to make changes unless the source material is close to finishing anyway.

      From what I’ve read people say since episode one, the manga is still ongoing and the anime has been covering quite a lot each episode to where it’s almost caught up to the source material already. (Correct me if I’m wrong.) At the very least, it’s better for them to have started the anime original changes now, while there’s still a few episodes left to give them room to do so and possibly make it work.

      Otherwise, the studio would either have to…

      A.) Create sudden extreme changes in the last couple episodes and throw everything off, most likely resulting in unhappy viewers all around.

      B.) Wait who-knows-how-long for the source material to create more stuff before restarting until they catch up again, and repeat.

      C.) Create a lot of anime original filler material, which would probably split viewers; one half liking the extra material to showcase other things while others would feel the series is dragging.

      HalfDemonInuyasha
  4. They totally butchered Lubbock’s epic moment, that was the secondmost awesome scene in the manga (Mine’s escapade is the best).
    As to why they’re doing this I’m guessing that they can’t include the character expositions that come along with the wild hunt arc and expect to be able to make an anime original ending so they just decided to ditch the whole thing, kinda disappponting.
    If they don’t animate Mine’s scene I’ll be fuming.

    Justpassingby
  5. If this so called “wild hunt arc” is not relevant to the main plot, Then the changes they made can be forgiven. Otherwise this is a genuine adaptation crime that has no excuse, even considering the stupid censorship issue.

    Helvetica Standard
    1. Here’s the relevant points of the wild hunt arc Show Spoiler ▼

      Justpassingby
  6. I was constantlt asking myself what happened in the last episode with the weird structure of the latest ep and the major gaps. It stuck out like a sore thumb that something was missing in between. It’s a shame they couldn’t execute better when skiping an arc from the manga (especially if wild hunt was not relevant to the plot).

    Miaminights
  7. well i can see this eventualy happening after all the original material (manga)as of this moment doesnt have a deserving ending for the season if they went through with the manga it will just give us a huge cliff hanger. anyway lubbock’s death is milder here.

  8. Shura died way too quickly considering he was only really introduced and reveal this episode. He was a great hate-able villain (along with his insane group of perverts, Wild Hunt), which helped flesh out some other characters *coughwavecough*.

    Budou was super disappointing too. The art and animation for him was just horrible. I really hope his Teigu Adramelech’s power was an anime original, because that lightning power was horrendously weak regarding how it was hyped in the manga and compared to Esdeath’s creative ice powers (which the anime did not even showcase the OP Ulti).

    I understand needing to end the anime conclusively, but I would have been fine with a manga faithful cliffhanger ending plus an OVA when the manga ending is finished.

  9. I’m not saying that deviating from the source material is always bad, but here they are clearly precipitating and mixing events to close the anime. Even if a sequel was not planned a this point, it would have been better to let the door open with a cliffhanger or a teaser. I know this may be frustrating but I’d rather see a Kyojin-like ending than another Claymore-like ending.

    anothercat
  10. It seems the pace has quickened manifold, just to make space for few final episodes to bring about a fully fledged anime-original ending. Not a bad thing per se, but it leaves storytrlling sometimes a bit inconsistent, namely the missing conclusion of the meeting between Najenda and Esdeath last episode.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    As for the Shura and his gang, Show Spoiler ▼

    Still the broad outcome is similar to manga at its present point, allowing free creation of anime original ending and manga to continue its course independently later.

    ewok40k
  11. As it’s been said, it makes sense for the anime to skip the gore in the Wild Hunt Arc… although that makes Shura and his lackeys incredibly disappointing one-episode enemies. And Budou’s introduction was shortened too. He lacked gravitas here.

    And I’m with Cherry about the GIANT GAP that is disconnecting the episodes.

    Do people remember Najenda’s plan in episode 15?
    https://randomc.net/image/Akame%20ga%20Kill/Akame%20ga%20Kill%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2012.jpg

    Well, the manga explained that, indeed, the religious organization staged a rebellion. Then, the Western nation invaded. The government had to send Esdeath to the western frontline (that’s the scene about her freezing those enemies in this episode), and then the Revolutionary Army attacked from the south (that’s what the ministers are discussing at the beginning of this episode). Only Budou’s Imperial Guards are able to halt their advance… for now. Wild Hunt is created to stop any fifth-column from rebelling inside the capital too.

    The lack of those explanations made this episode much less cohesive.

    Mistic
    1. That makes more sense (thanks for explaining! ^^)… because I’m like WHAT…?? Where is everybody?! lol =S I wasn’t too thrilled to see that everyone split up and then a bunch of key characters were off on their own. Hopefully it’ll come together next episode and we’ll see some continuity because it’s so disjointed right now.

  12. And here are the upcoming episode titles:

    Ep. 21: Kill the Despair
    >Ep. 22: Kill the Little Sister<
    Ep. 23: Kill the Emperor

    Ehhe, not just this horrendous adaptation of the events of the manga, but they are even trying to kill the best girl? White F(ail)ox please…

    Neuth
  13. Well, guess Lubbock didn’t survive his death flag after all. Poor guy.

    I’m not a manga reader, so I don’t actually mind them deviating from the source material to make a more conclusive ending. God knows I despise ‘read the manga lol’ endings, so them pulling an Arpeggio is fine with me.

    Execution left something to be desired though. Shura was a pretty lame villain who got killed off pretty quickly, so even though I didn’t know the source material, I could just feel something was missing there. Pacing felt a little rushed too, maybe it would’ve been better to set up this final ‘fight in the capital’ arc a bit more directly (or basically, use a breather episode after the stuff from last ep). Oh well, let’s see how they handle this from now on.

    Dvalinn
    1. If they truly wanted to be anime-original, I think they could’ve made Shura the “ultimate bad-guy” at the end and totally kept Budou out of the picture. That way Shura could’ve been given his own time to “develop” and the audience could have more time with him to understand his craziness or whatever. Unfortunately, that’s why I think they’re still TRYING to stick to the manga but they’re just skipping this arc and trying to tie off loose ends. That’s why it’s rushed and confusing and at the same time, Shura is just… there and then not o_O

      1. Skipping the arc is one thing but they’ve also tampered with some other things which has messed up the continuity. Show Spoiler ▼

        If they try to get back to the manga story line I’m not sure how they’re going to fix that if at all. Oh, and if they do, there is a very good reason why they keeped Budou around which should be coming up soon.

  14. RIP Lubbock. For a second I thought he’d survive just to spite the obvious death flags they were raising, but nope! The episode did jump forward a lot, but I was able to keep up with what was going on. Didn’t really mind Scar getting knocked off either, he felt like a side show compared to the Minister.

    About the faithfulness to the manga, as an anime-only viewer I’m not too upset about the changes they’re making. To me, Akame ga Kill is a fun, cheezy bloody action show. Neither the plot nor the characters are complex enough to make me think that much has been lost by them skipping forward, since they seem to be maintaining the core of what I find entertaining. Yeah it kinda sucks that they’re skipping stuff, but I’d rather have a conclusive ending than another “read the manga” cliffhanger that never gets a second season.

    Hochmeister
  15. These changes makes no sense. If they are gona skip the Wild Hunt arc I dont understand why they needed to change the way Lubbock died, or the whole scenario that led to it for that matter. That backstabbing girl didnt evne exist in the manga, and the way Lubbock went out in the manga feels more accomplished that really put emphasis on Lubbock’s cleverness.

    I dont know there this series is going honestly, half this episode are anime original but the direction with Tatsumi in prison seems to be the same as the manga. I’ll have to see how they decide to wrap this up.

    YanDaMan
      1. Yeah, that isn’t clear… but you can put two and two together. The walls are paper thin, they gossip about each other all the time… and they aren’t exactly discrete people that hold back their emotions. They yell at each other for crazy antics left and right… of course gossip happens about EVERYONE and everything.

        Drasca
  16. Honest’s Face
    What if…I HAD no son???

    And for those griping about ‘unanswered questions’, missed story, or not making sense and the like, why not let the questions be asked first before inferring that there might be questions to answer in the first place? If you know what’s going to happen, you can understand why they’re doing it like this.

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Arakan7
  17. I honestly hate this show and love this show at the same time. Lubbock’s death really pisses me off. I liked him, and I could tell watching this as an anime only viewer that it was different becasue it was totally rushed. And I don’t mind the changes except for that gap… but I was really hoping that not many more members were going to die even though I know they are.

    King
  18. I liked the episode.

    The manga had great fights but made Najenda a total incompetent for a decision she made. As she said in the anime, I’m not stupid enough to go head on with Esdeath.
    On manga Show Spoiler ▼

    Some of the changes to Game of Thrones from the books to the tv show actually worked better in my opinion, as the author a member of the writing team I consider the changes a rewrite so am fine with them. Wonder how much the author of the manga is involved here.

    I do think the cutting of things probably not shown for censorship reasons did make the story disjointed this episode. Show Spoiler ▼

    RedRocket
  19. Lubbock was definitely the perfect counter to Syura’s ability, however. I don’t think any other Night Raid would have survived his trump card (except perhaps Mein if she fired a beam through the portal); I think that’s the highest amount of praise you can give him. Definitely one of the stronger members in Night Raid.

    Kami
  20. Haven’t watched since like…ep 17.
    I just know that sure as hell isn’t how Lubbock dies in the manga.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    I just decided to comment because I learned that Seryu died already…where the plot was at prior to the AOE…Seryu should have made it well into season 2 if they had decided to make another one.
    Seriously..Lubbock literally died like…2 chapters ago. What’s with this change of plan? Skipped a lot of stuff.

    Kabble
  21. I love this change it just went straight from point C to point X to the recent chapters. At least, I wont have to wait once a month for the manga to end now. Saves time no more damn waiting, the duel between Pink and Blue is at hand.

    pedobearmatt
  22. Impel Down Hippo

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