Akame Ga Kill – “Kill the Authority” Review


Tatsumi has crossed paths with the assassin group known as Night Raid, how will the young man cope? Read on to find out.

After burying his friends Sayo and Ieyasu, Tatsumi gets a tour of the Night Raid facility from Leone. After a very “persuasive” argument, Tatsumi agrees to join Night Raid and is put under Akame’s care for training. When Leone receives news of a job pertaining to the killing of a military officer, Tatsumi accepts his first mission as a member of Night Raid.

AGK 2

Now that we have been introduced to the violence, the second episode of Akame Ga Kill takes a more normal pace as Tatsumi starts his time with Night Raid.

Leone gives him a tour of the groups secret facility, showing him the different areas and his soon to be comrades: Bulat, Mine, Shelle, Lubbock, Akame, and the groups leader Najenda. It is through their tour we get a closer look at the group: Bulat’s manliness (despite Leone’s claim of him being gay), Mine’s superiority complex (at least when it comes to Tatsumi), Lubbock’s perverted nature (he’s introduced trying to catch Leone taking a bath, Shelle’s bluntness and Akame’s standoffishness. Interestingly enough Shelle tells him that since he knows where their hideout is he’ll be killed if he doesn’t join (although Najenda disregards that and tells him that he won’t be killed, but he will be put in their mines to slave away).

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Tatsumi agrees to join Night Raid when they reveal why they do what they do: they aim to kill the corrupt Prime Minister and establish a democratic state (Night Raid is also revealed to be a subset of the Revolutionary Army). One thing I will give the series is that it doesn’t glamorize what Night Raid is doing. Tatsumi joins Night Raid under the assumption of upholding justice but he is immediately laughed at. Leone and Najenda explain to him that it is more “Divine Punishment” than justice and that no matter how they color it, what they do is murder. This is a take most series like this don’t follow with all of the time, but it sort of loses itself a bit when you think about the reason they do it is a form of justice.

Tatsumi and Akame spend some time together and we learn a bit of her past. Akame, along with her younger sister, were apart of the Empire before Akame was persuaded by Najenda to join Night Raid. Akame herself is a bit odd, mostly having deadpan reactions and blunt dialogue, but she does show a sweet side when she sees that Tatsumi returned safe from his mission.

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On to the mission, after Mine, Bulat, and Lubbock leave on a job of their own, Leone receives a request from a woman requesting to kill a military officer named Ogre and a government official who pays him off. This gives another glimpse of the dark world when Leone reveals the woman who requested the job may have engaged in prostitution to get the money to pay for Night Raid (possibly contracting a disease). Tatsumi succeeds in killing Ogre in a pretty decent fight that shows his resolve for his mission (although he does resign to killing too quickly).

The second episode of Akame Ga Kill is a more comfortable ride than the first, easing into the violence (which isn’t as prominent as the first episode). We get a good look at Night Raid, as well as how Tatsumi into the group as the show progresses. Next time, Tatsumi teams up with Mine.

Sidenote: There is an entire scene missing from when Tatsumi joins Night Raid and his first mission. In the manga, a group of bandit attempt to attack the Night Raid base. Tatsumi fights one of them but before he kills the bandit, Tatsumi is fooled by a sob story about the bandit only attacking to save their village. Tatsumi is nearly killed before Akame saves him, this shows him that he can’t hesitate which is how he was able to kill Ogre quickly.  It was a nice development scene so it was a shame that it was cut from the anime.

OUR RATING
8
+ Good action scenes + Night Raid is a diverse group - Cuts corners at times - Entire fight scene missing