Akame ga Kill! Ep. 18: More pointless characters

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It’s a race between Akame ga Kill! and Terra Formars to see who can bore us more with terribly unimaginative fight scenes. Let’s see what the former has to offer.

— The episode starts off with Tatsumi wishing he could’ve spent more time with his dead allies. Well, I’ll say! We barely spent any time with… with… shit, I’ve forgotten what her name is already! Oh right, it’s Chelsea!

— Hell, everyone was super worked up when Sheele died, but it’s like business as usual with Chelsea. Of course, they have a mission to carry out, but I’m just saying… no one is really all that sad that Chelsea is now gone. That just goes to show you how much of a throwaway character she is.

— Tatsumi says they have to overthrow the empire in order to cut at the root of evil. Eh, it’s hard to say that of an entire empire, only its government is evil and the people are perfect exploited, little angels. Something about this world allows for corrupt leaders to appear. Even if you overthrow Honest, someone else will just rise up and replace him. It’s a mistake to act like evil is a person that you can just kill.

— Oh? Kurome is standing behind Esdeath and others. Has she recovered from Chelsea’s attack already?

— Take a gander at these clowns. There’s an endless supply of groups. Have you noticed that? We have Night Raid, the Jaegers, Esdeath’s former Three Beasts, and now, the Four Rakshasa Demons. Christ, what’s next? There’s certainly another group out there waiting to join the fray, right? Someone said something about a third faction a while back? Anyway, it’s just fucking stupid how these characters keep popping up out of nowhere. It would be so much more meaningful if two groups had struggled against each other from the start of the story. Akame ga Kill! opts instead to kill underdeveloped characters left and right, creating more to fill the void. Likewise, these four demons are total throwaways. Their character designs even scream, “We’re not important!”

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— Apparently, these weirdos are strong enough to defeat Imperial Arms users with out having Arms themselves. Sure, whatever. At this point, the world-building here has gone to shit anyway.

— Turns out Kurome is still feeling the effects of Chelsea’s attack. Even so, I find it funny when people say this story has the guts to kill its characters off. The only people who ever die are the expendable ones. Bols was the next in line, so of course, he would die next. Wake me up when someone like Kurome dies. Or Mine.

— Oh no, Bols is dead! And he had a wife and kid! Sorry, but who in their right mind would give a shit? People act as if having a family automatically makes you a decent person, which is a joke in itself. Yo, the dude was a murderer, plain and simple. Blah blah blah, he was just following orders! Are you seriously going to use that as a defense? Seriously? Yeah, the soldiers at Auschwitz were just following orders. The soldiers involved in the My Lai massacre were just following orders. The soldiers participating in the Rape of Nanking were also just following orders. And I bet all of them regretted their actions after the fact! Yeah, well, regret ain’t fucking good enough. I know this might come as a fucking shock to you, but maybe — just maybe! — you can be evil by simply following orders like a sheep, and all your bad feels in the world won’t make up for it. Think about it.

— Esdeath apparently dissected Chelsea’s body to uncover her identity. What? Then of course, Seryu feeds the rest to her dog.

— Kurome suddenly snaps up from her bed, insisting that she can still fight alongside her allies. As a test, Esdeath does a turnaround kick on the girl. This shit is just hilarious dumb.

— Kurome has her reasons not to withdraw. She believes she’ll be killed if she can’t prove her usefulness. The problem with Wave as a foil is that he doesn’t have strong, compelling reasons to stick with the Jaegers. I mean, people claim that he does, but how can he sit here, witness all these atrocities and not change his mind? Owing a debt is not a good enough reason to stand idly by as mass murderers are free to do what they do.

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— And it’s already too late to correct this. That’s why it’s silly that the story tries to portray the Jaegers as just the other team on the other side. Right from the get-go, the villains are painted as hilariously evil people. As a result, you can’t turn around now and expect me to feel sorry for these characters. You just can’t.

— Case in point, is there a potential romantic connection between Wave and Kurome? Point is, I don’t care.

— Mine tells Tatsumi not to let his guard down, but she screams at the top of her lungs when he goes to get some ice cream. Oh yeah, our assassins are enjoying ice cream.

— The girl then blushes because Tatsumi has matured. How has he matured, though? Because he’s focusing on the mission! Wow, such maturity! I guess that’s a good enough reason to start liking the guy!

— Then we get a naked Najenda in the middle of the episode, because fanservice is cool, and Lubbock is dumb enough to think that performing a mission well will make a woman throw herself at him. Unfortunately for him, his actions are obvious enough that members of the Four Rakshasa demons have taken notice of him. Lubbock could die next, but I’m not sure if he’s more expendable than Susanoo. I guess we’ll have to wait and see. But eventually, all the other guys will die and leave Tatsumi alone with a bunch of hot female assassins. How convenient.

— Later that night, fights break out across Kyoroch. Akame runs into some trouble of her own, and hell, her would-be assassin even knows her! Too bad he’s not remotely fearsome, because it looks like he’s wearing boy shorts. As for Lubbock, he tries to play dead to avoid having to fight, but when a cute girl is about to die, he decides to risk both his life and his mission to save her life. What a hero!

— Yo, doesn’t Lubbock’s Imperial Arms remind you of Terra Formars’ Akari?

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— It’s just too bad these fights don’t look remotely cool. I mean, shit, if your arms can stretch out that long, why are you just targeting her front?

— Naturally, the only damage that Akame sustains is to her outfit. This way, you get to see her delicious side boob. Anime just gotta anime.

— Then even though the bad guy had had an advantage up until now, he stupid charges at Akame out of nowhere and gets himself cut down. Even worse, the animation is terrible.

— Out of nowhere, Run tries to do a surprise attack on Akame, but when it fails, he just flies off.  Nevertheless, I don’t know why he didn’t just help the last guy fight Akame. But hey, that’s just how these stories are. Characters are never smart, and fans will always defend their actions anyway.

— Every fight’s the same. No matter who it is, these characters just throw punches out at super-speeds even when they fail. Again, sure, Dragon Ball Z popularized this. But again, that was over two decades ago. It’s time to innovate, but Akame ga Kill! is not the show to do such a thing.

— Then of course, because the anime has no imagination, the fight is interrupted so that Lubbock can explain where his Imperial Arms had come from. Yo, the thread used to belong to a majestic beast from the eas–…. snore.

— Two members of the Rakshasa Demons are down already. Yep, truly expendable.

— Next up? A girl who fights with her heavy sweat. Then she becomes a blur of blue and green stripes. Yeah, I don’t even know. In the end, it doesn’t matter anyway; Lubbock kills her too. So that’s three down. Oh hey, Lubbock even makes sure to finish the job. Chelsea could’ve learned a thing or two from him!

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— What has Tatsumi and Mine been doing, you ask? Oh, just this and that.

— They then run into the founder of the Path of Peace, who encourages the two of them to become a couple. Yo, don’t give them any ideas. They might just take you up on that offer. Plus, it would be so passe for Tatsumi to get with the tsunderekko.

— Elsewhere, Borick addresses a young girl: “Remove your clothes. I’ll cleanse you with a special ritual.” Welp. I have no clue why this scene is even important to the story. It’s not, obviously. Anyway, the episode ends with Esdeath swearing to crush Najenda. Ho hum.

13 thoughts on “Akame ga Kill! Ep. 18: More pointless characters

    1. Anonymous

      ^ me too haha. I dropped the Manga during this arc, it was just too retarded. . .and this:

      “And it’s already too late to correct this. That’s why it’s silly that the story tries to portray the Jaegers as just the other team on the other side. Right from the get-go, the villains are painted as hilariously evil people. As a result, you can’t turn around now and expect me to feel sorry for these characters. You just can’t.”

      Yeah this is just ridiculously stupid, but I bet our friends over at “Moe is awesome” blog is just gushing over this “omg whatsherface’s sister is so cute! so moe! its ok that she was introduced sitting on a mountain of townspeople corpses that she built (you know from killing innocent townspeople) she a cute anime girl!! so Moe! she’s GOT to be good now I feel sorry for all these people”

      As I read the manga I was thinking “Really?! The author is seriously trying to make us feel sorry for the villains he betrayed as so mercilessly bad in the FIRST PANEL they were introduced? Does he really think we’re that stupid”? Then I thought of how the “assassin” protagonizt chick died (died due to plot induced stupidity) and I thought. . .”yeah he really thinks we are that stupid” then I stopped reading the manga.

      Reply
  1. BoyTitan

    Actually enjoyed Lubbock’s fight. Her power was not super sweat but mastery of her body.when she was a flash of light it was her using super speed. The reason they explain their powers so much is because 1 member is still alive and they all have the exact same powers. Even America had incendiary squads. Hell the guy from five people you meet in heaven was part of one of such squads. Only members of Jaeger’s truly evil is esdeath and the girl with a warped sense of justice. Series still has flaws the actual villains are just tastelessly evil for no reason.

    Reply
    1. E Minor Post author

      Her power was not super sweat

      Was still a power.

      The reason they explain their powers so much is because 1 member is still alive and they all have the exact same powers.

      Still don’t need an explanation because their abilities are self explanatory.

      Even America had incendiary squads.

      That doesn’t excuse anything. America is just as guilty, then. I can’t list off every single atrocity in history, though.

      Only members of Jaeger’s truly evil is esdeath and the girl with a warped sense of justice.

      Following orders still makes you evil. Yes, I believe Wave is evil.

      Reply
      1. BoyTitan

        Just to be clear what do you define as evil. To me evil is misguided intentions like a Hitler or courrpt person with a warped sense of justice. Or some one straight up evil that enjoys harming others.

        Reply
        1. E Minor Post author

          There are degrees of evil. Wave might not be as bad as Honest, but I’d argue that he’s an evil person for being complicit in their crimes.

          Reply
        2. Naota

          Pretty much. I’d say willingly following the orders of someone you know enjoys killing and/or torturing people qualifies as evil. It’s not like the Jaegers are mislead or blind to what their superiors (and comrades!) are really like, so why obey these people unless you really do condone their actions?

          Reply
  2. Pia

    I’m sure for the writer of this trash, this is the filler after last week “monumental fight” were two characters lost their lives, he/she needed to slow down the events.
    Too bad last week Jeager vs Night Raid hyped battle was a fraud with two cheap and meaningless deaths.

    Reply
  3. BoyTitan

    Forgot to say for everything I liked about Lubbocks fight which was a fight that highlighted the combatants different strengths and weaknesses,gave each demon different styles even tho they had the same ability and had strategy. Akame fight sucked and was the exact opposite. All she did was stand in one place and block then cut her enemy to bits. That is a typical Akame fight except for Bols who she couldn’t get close to. The maker of this series can choreograph a decent fight so I really don’t understand why Akame and a few other fights have managed to suck total ass.

    Reply
  4. IonCaron (@IonCaron)

    “I know this might come as a fucking shock to you, but maybe — just maybe! — you can be evil by simply following orders like a sheep, and all your bad feels in the world won’t make up for it. Think about it.”
    The only controversy with this statement comes when people think of soldiers in current day terms. Were Israeli bombers evil for what they did to Gaza? Were U.S. troops evil for–
    “YOU DON’T SUPPORT THE TROOPS?!! YOU FUCKING COMMIE SCUMBAG DIE IN HELL!!!”
    _Anyway, yeah. I see your point, but I guess like everything it depends on the baggage one brings to it.

    Oh, and HAhaha! Are you kidding me?! They introduced a “badass” team only to have them die in the SAME EPISODE?! Not even DBZ was that bad and it had teams flying in and out, left and right.
    Priceless.

    Reply
    1. Pia

      “Oh, and HAhaha! Are you kidding me?! They introduced a “badass” team only to have them die in the SAME EPISODE?!…”

      Well to be fair, the samurai looking chick of their team is still alive, I guess the episode wasn’t long enough to kill her too.

      Reply
  5. don blake

    sorry to be the guy that read the manga but has general budou appeared yet and has esdese yoused her super OP ability

    Reply

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