Akame ga Kill / First Impressions

OP2 Sequence

OP2: 「Liar Mask」 by 真山りか (Rika Mayama)

 

「教団を斬る」 (Kyoudan wo Kiru)
“Kill the Religious Organization”

Finally! The confrontation we have all been awaiting for has arrived… only at the last minute which leaves us all with a cliffhanger.
My initial thoughts of the episode were pretty much repetitive of what I’ve been saying for the past several week. It’s another cool-down period discussing plans of attack, some character development and some background story. We get a peak of what Chelsea is capable of, which is nothing short of what I was expecting from her. Her ability to hide and even change into other mammals will definitely prove to be an asset. Also to my point in previous episodes, her Imperial Arms isn’t very fit for head-on battles and I don’t see how it would help her if Wave and Kurome discovered her. Luckily they didn’t and I expect that it’s her riding away to lure Esdeath into thinking that the Night Raid have separated (at the end of the episode) as well. I think Lubbock is accompanying her though so that leaves two Night Raid members vs. three Jaegers. Seryu continues to be psychopathic as always and I find that her actions no longer surprise me by her distorted definition of ”justice”. Even Wave is beginning to see that his views of the capital are changing and not everything is as it appears to be on the surface. People need to start thinking for themselves and stop blindly following orders because they trust that someone else is making the right decisions. I’m glad that Tatsumi had the balls to step up and do something about what he witnessed in the capital; if nothing else, that’s what I would give him credit for in this show.

The meat of this episode for me was actually hearing about what the Night Raid intends to do now and what their plans are with the Revolutionary Army. There’s a lot of fast-paced details thrown at you in a span of five minutes, but the jest of it is – there is a religious organization (known as the Path of Peace) that will have an uprising against the capital. The Night Raid (and Revolutionary Army) wants to attack the capital at the same time on different fronts, but there is also an undercover advisor working within the Path of Peace slowly drugging members. The Night Raid have been assigned to also assassinate this undercover advisor who works for the Prime Minister (this individual’s name is Bolic). Najenda also wants to take out the Jaegers at the same time and plans this diversion to take them out in groups. They ended up confronting Wave, Bols and Kurome, who is undoubtedly the strongest member asides from Esdeath herself; with an Imperial Arms that allows her to summon the dead. Crazy! I thought her Imperial Arms would be closer to Akame’s, but clearly someone is a little OP. I also don’t like her attitude towards seeing her sister and her calmness in battle makes me more anxious. Seeing Wave disappear so quickly as a bit disappointing, but I think for good reason. Either he’ll miss the fight completely or he’ll come in the nick of time to see something that changes his perspective on the Night Raid and/or Jaegers. I’m hoping the latter, but there’s no such thing as hope in this anime anymore so let’s just see what happens.

There’s always been this comparison between the Jaegers and the Night Raid, but it becomes very obvious now with the new OP and ED. The new sequences still focus quite a bit of time on Akame even though she doesn’t feel like the “main girl” in this series anymore. It’s not that I don’t like her, it’s that the author doesn’t give her a large enough role for an anime named Akame ga Kill. Perhaps the ending foreshadows more of what’s to come and there will be a more centric arc on Akame and Kurome’s relationship.. till death due them apart. Neither songs really catch my attention at the moment, but that might change as I hear more of it week after week. The previous ending song (Konna Sekai, Shiritakunakatta.) really grew on me at the end.

Author’s Note: Sorry for the late post everyone. Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all the readers in Canada. Hope you all had a lovely long weekend =)

Bottom Line – @RCCherrie: #AkamegaKill is finally getting to the good stuff! I wanna see some battles! #akame_anime

Full-length images: Because I know this is why you came.

 

ED2 Sequence

ED2: 「月灯り」 (Tsuki Akari) by 雨宮天 (Sora Amamiya)

Preview

41 Comments

  1. Strange that the new OP/ED songs didn’t catch your attention. I thought this OP song was better than the first…and this new ED song is a better showcase of Sora Amamiya’s voice. Not that she was bad when singing ‘Skyreach’, but she seems to suit sadder, slower songs better (remember the Isshukan Friends ED??).
    Still, it’s a matter of opinion =P

    Aki-Chan
    Reply

      1. Its a good thing they’re not really alive, Show Spoiler ▼

        If they bring true resurrection as a possibility in this show, I think it will go downhill quickly.

        Kami
        Reply

      2. If an apple could transform into an orange, and I was eating that orange, then what was I eating? This is too complicated to explain.
        I was actually trying to say cat girl, but there isn’t any image reference, so a cat image is fine.
        You know Chelsea can transform into everything, right? cat or cat girl. The key point is “everything”, not the cat.
        btw, why do you think cat is for THAT………? how do you usually treat cats?

        os
        Reply

  6. Dat Opening!

    Anyway, I will be honest with you guys and say it right straight. I do not like this kind of episode in Akame ga Kill!, for the same reason why I disliked those Mood Whiplash (trope!) episodes in Hamatora.

    Here is a quick and by no means professional “review” of mine:

    I’m also reading the manga, and it seems that this “awkward” moments are quite common (lots of “not really funny jokes”, or maybe it is just not my kind of comedy and I’m being an asshole right now for bashing it). AgK! sometimes tries too hard to be edgy and dark (it got progressively a LOT better, chapter after chapter things start to get in the mood I expected them to be from the beggining), and letting those moments altogether with the serious ones is almost like Gokukoku no Brynhildr way of doing things (except it is not that apelative, neither has too much moe).

    But overall, up to this point (More or Less halfway throught the entire thing), I would give AgK! at least 7,5/10, and would also point out that it has been a great adaptation so far (I kinda expected a little more from the OST however Show Spoiler ▼

    Off topic: Still, seeing the level of violence in AgK! again and comparing to Terra Formars recent ridiculously censored epidodes is kinda sad. They really couldn’t find a good slot in a good channel for those “features” to be exposed, I think :/

    Oh well, based Crunchyroll will do something about it, so it’s not that important anymore.

    Anyway, keep the good job with these weekly reviews, Cherrie-san.

    See ya, guys.

    danpmss
    Reply

  7. Death Flag: The Animation is back. Who will die this time? (Seriously, even Kurome asked the same question at the end).

    Despite its shortcomings, if there’s one thing I like about this series is that there are always things happening. The plot doesn’t stop (and people die). Also, I liked that Tatsumi pointed out that using a religious movement to attack the capital wasn’t the epitome of goodness, and how Najenda explained that the alternative was worse. Contrary to other, supposedly more “realistic” shows, here the “good” guys are aware that they are glorified murderers.

    By the way, remember that many people thought that this would be a beach episode after watching the preview? Well, at least there were the promised swimsuits :p

    Mistic
    Reply

  8. Kurome’s sword makes sense when compared to Akame. A sword that brings the dead back vs. a sword of instant death.

    I wonder what would happen if someone is stabbed by both at the same time…

    Did anyone see the latest theater? Oh, my little crazy Seryuu…

    Grahav
    Reply

    1. Kurome’s sword doesn’t exactly “bring back the dead”. Actually she can only bring back those that she killed with it as her puppets. Also there is a max number that I don’t remember right now.

      So to you’re question, she likely won’t be able to bring back whoever is stabbed by both of them since Akame’s sword would likely deal the killer blow

      Juan
      Reply

  12. Ok, first I will apologize because imma go a bit off topic a bit since I don’t have a clue on how to send PMs (if there is even one but I can’t seem to find it).

    Cherrie, you recommended Barakamon to me (Monthy Impressions) and I found it to be a very fun and refreshing ride. I thank you for that because I had no intentions of watching that prior to your recommendation. Just thinking about how I almost missed such an amazing show made me shiver.

    I think you’re watching Shingeki no Bahamut GENESIS (at least it says so in the fall 2014 schedule). It saddens me that no one is covering such a great show. After watching episode 2 I thought, don’t you think it deserves to be covered by someone at the very least? Yes, I’m pointing my finger at you! Well, at least if you have any free time anyway (:

    IMO it’s gonna be a really big hit. The art and animation are awesome, the characters are interesting (I actually feel like watching Lupin the 3rd and Detective Zenigata in a fantasy setting). It exceeded my expectations so far, and I’m sure there are a lot of others who feel the same way too. It may be a bit too early to say that this will be the real deal for this season but I’m putting my bets on it.

    TL;DR – Pleaaaaaaaase cover Shingeki no Bahamut!!!!!!!!!!!!! At least have someone do it. It’s too awesome to get left behind.

    The Story You Don't Know
    Reply

    1. No, we don’t have a PM system on RC’s website unfortunately. Div doesn’t like the spam and you can imagine all the emails he gets… o_O
      You can always message me personally through twitter (@RCCherrie) or my RC email (cherrie@randomc.net) =)

      I’m glad you took my Barakamon recommendation and watched it. One of my favorite “feel good” shows of 2014 ^^
      As for GENESIS, I am watching it indeed… but I’m not going to give a full-blown review of it here since it’s not the appropriate post. I have a policy for myself of not blogging more than one show a day since (as you can tell by the timeliness of THIS post) creating one post is already time consuming as it is. Unfortunately I’ve already at the cap for what I would consider a “full season” for myself =( I would hate to commit to more shows knowing that I have a busy year-end ahead of me and it only disappoints readers. I’ll still be doing the Monthly Impressions though so you can always catch up with my thoughts there.

      Here are my two cents: GENESIS is by no means my favorite show this season, but I can see the appeal of the world-building and fantasy aspect of it. The MCs are also fun but different and it reminds me a lot of old school anime with the character designs and the sense of adventure. Since there’s no real “source material” for the plot (I don’t play the games), I like how it’s more original and has potential to be great.

      Cherrie
      Reply

  15. https://randomc.net/image/Akame%20ga%20Kill/Akame%20ga%20Kill%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2034.jpg
    We need that Dragonzord power now!
    *trumpet noise*
    https://randomc.net/image/Akame%20ga%20Kill/Akame%20ga%20Kill%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2035.jpg
    *roar*

    https://randomc.net/image/Akame%20ga%20Kill/Akame%20ga%20Kill%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2032.jpg
    Let’s kill the Jeager. But first, STRIKE THE POSE!

    https://randomc.net/image/Akame%20ga%20Kill/Akame%20ga%20Kill%20-%2015%20-%20Large%2022.jpg
    *Tatsumi intensifies*

    Terrorhunt
    Reply

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