Tag: yatsufune
Akame ga Kill! – 17
This week we say farewell to the Empire's most lovable town-burner, Bols. He blew up his Imperial Arms last week, so we knew even if he survived that, he wouldn't be long for this world. But aside from all the atrocities he committed for the Empire, he remained a decent human being to the end. He knew what he was doing was bad, and would pay for it one day.
This was that day, as Chelsea disguises herself as an injured little girl and exploits Bol's big heart, stabbing him in the back with a needle as they hug. As dumb-looking a character as he was, I'll always prefer guilty villains like Bols to mindlessly evil/sadistic ones. The Jaegers are composed of both types, and yet it's funny how they can still all sit at a table and enjoy a meal together just like Bizarro Night Raid.
One of the Jaeger's psychopaths, meanwhile, is Kurome, but we learn there's a damn good reason for that: she and her sister were victims of a deplorable crime. With only two corpse puppets left, she makes a tactical retreat in the present, and remembers when she and Akame were first snatched up and thrown into a beast-ridden forest gauntlet with more than 100 other children.
Kurome only survives because Akame…and vice-versa, but then the sisters are cruelly separated. Kurome's master experiments with drugs to boost her attributes, while presumably Akame's master didn't. No doubt the sisters drew further apart, to the point that when Akame finally defected, Kurome was fully indoctrinated, believing her sister wasn't just betraying the Empire, but her as well.
While armless and exhausted, Leone lives to fight another day, as does Akame, Mine, and Tatsumi. Najenda and Susanoo are also fine, as is Lubbock, who informs the others what the only unaccounted Night Raid member, Chelsea, is up to: she's going after Kurome.
Chelsea is able to convince Kurome she is Bols, having learned his personality through Tatsumi's exposure to the Jaegers. She's also able to stick Kurome with a needle, just as she did with Bols. Kurome goes pale and collapses. Everything seems to have gone swimmingly for Chelsea, who works to rid the world of depravity…
…Which is ironic, because had she used a less elegant, more depraved means of killing Kurome — like beheading her or destroying her heart — she would have actually succeeded in killing her. Kurome, who deals with animating the dead all the time, survives the needle. She herself is extremely weak, but she still has Natala and the gunner lady puppets, who chase Chelsea down, destroy her Gaia Foundation, slice off her fingers and arm, and shoot her in the back.
All those times Chelsea warned herself of going soft, and she turns out to be right. She screws up royally, and unlike Leone, doesn't get a second chance, which is annoying, because Chelsea was frankly a far more compelling character developed in a fraction of the time Leone's been around. And for the record, both Bols and Chelsea get equally somber, contemplative death scenes, despite being on opposite sides of the conflict.
In a final insult, Natala beheads Chelsea, who lost because she didn't do the same to Kurome, and her head is stuck on top of a spike in the Capital, which is how Tatsumi finds out she's dead. He's lost beloved comrades before, but that doesn't make him any more prepared for that horrible sight. So Bols and Chelsea are the first casualties of the war between Night Raid and Jaegers, with Leone and Kurome narrowly escaping demise. So…who's next?
Author magicalchurlsukuiPosted on Sun, 26 Oct 2014 Categories Akame ga Kill!, Anime Reviews, Summer 2014Tags akame, akame ga kiru, assassins, アカメが斬る!, backstory, beheading, bols, boss fight, chelsea, corpse puppets, flashback, gaia foundation, imperial arms, jaegers, kurome, leone, mine, najenda, natala, night raid, seryu ubiquitous, sisters, tatsumi, yatsufune
As Night Raid and the Jaegers clash in various new combinations, AGK returns to what it does best, big, bold, bombastic yet stylish battles. There is a ton going on this week, with only Lubbock and Wave sitting out the action, and sides made even more complex by Kurome's "collection" of corpse puppets, all formidable warriors she'd assassinated in the past, including her own childhood friend Natala.
Thus sub-group of one-shot baddies, both humanoid and bestial, is as diverse and colorful in both appearance and skills as Night Raid and Jaegers themselves, and are the initial barrier keeping Night Raid from taking on Kurome directly. Some get more backstory and screentime than others, but the bottom line is, most of them are tough enough to hang around for most of the episode.
Frankly, there are so many different combinations of face-offs in the simultaneous battles that it would be a major pain to list them all out, but suffice it to say the episode stays fresh because of the sheer variety of combat going on, and the numerous times a Night Raid member will shift from one target to another one that's a better fit. They all strive to match their unique Imperial Arm power to the weakness of the opponent in a particular time and place.
The urgency and seriousness of these battles is helped by the fact we've lost Night Raiders in the past, and everything from limbs to garment integrity is lost at various points in the action. But everyone gets to shine, striking and dodging, landing what they intend to be coups-de-grace, only to find their opponent slipped away for found another edge…or if one of their allies interrupts.
One of the funnier battle "cross-overs" coming when Najenda, disgusted her former trainer and general is still moving around despite the fact she beheaded him, goes in to Overdrive and launches him into the air. The body hits the beam of the Destoghoul just as it's blasting Susanoo's arm off (though unlike Leones, it reappears instantly, since he's, well, an Arm.) It's a small but funny gesture that conveys the sense that All Of This Is Going On At Once.
Another instance of clever use of character ability, personality and timeliness under certain conditions, Chelsea, who is hidden most of the time, uses her makeup kit to take the form of a tribal elder one of the puppets won't attack, opening him up for a fatal needle to the brain. She took the risk to protect Tatsumi, whom she's developed feelings for.
But after one foe is downed, it isn't long before another has to be dealt with. Susanoo brought the PAIN thanks to Najenda unlocking his secret "Madman" power, a life-threatening option, but the only way to quickly dispatch the Destoghoul.
After she defeats her gun-toting opponent, Mine is ambused by a giant toad and swallowed, to burn up in its stomach acid, but as Kurome gloats, Mine blows enough holes in the thing to escape before the acid does too much. Mine then makes the very unreasonable, but very Mine demand for Tatsumi to somehow help her without looking at her.
Yes, I liked that even in these tough battles, there's still the occasional exchange of wry banter or joking around that we've come to expect of AGK, though there's less of it than usual, and even in this it throws a curveball, as in the moments Leone lets her guard down watching Najenda fight, she loses her frikkin' left arm to an opportunistic, ruthless Kurome. Keep your eyes on a swivel, guys!
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention how long Bols manages to stick with Akame and later Akame and Leone. He even calmly asks Akame why she became a rebel, and doesn't argue with her right to feel the way she does…it just doesn't change the fact his job is to incinerate her. But when his corpse puppet guard goes down, it's two-on-one, and his Imperial Arm is severely damaged by Leone biting it, he tosses up his turbine backpack and Detonates The Entire Episode. Talk about ending things with a boom! Keep it up with this AGK. You're in your wheelhouse.
Author magicalchurlsukuiPosted on Sun, 19 Oct 2014 Mon, 20 Oct 2014 Categories Akame ga Kill!, Anime Reviews, Summer 2014Tags akame, akame ga kiru, assassins, アカメが斬る!, backstory, bols, bomb, boss fight, chelsea, corpse puppets, destoghoul, esdeath, imperial arms, jaegers, kurome, mine, najenda, night raid, rebellion, seryu ubiquitous, tatsumi, wave, yatsufune3 Comments on Akame ga Kill! – 16