Akame ga Kill! (Episode 14) – Kill the Giant Dangerous Beast
Esdeath and Tatsumi’s reunion has been interrupted by the masked man behind the appearance of the new breed of Danger Beasts, but before Esdeath can suitably punish him, they are transported to a deserted island far away!
What did you watch?
So, episode 14 of Akame ga Kill wasn’t billed as a part two and it isn’t technically, although it did end the last episode with a pretty big cliffhanger… or mountain-topper… All right then! Anyhow, Esdeath has finally found Tatsumi and it was because she thought he was a Danger Beast from a distance. Luckily, she didn’t attack straight away or Tatsumi wouldn’t have got to experience this episode and it’s one of my favourites. That’s right it’s almost a whole episode of Tatsumi and Esdeath on a tropical island. This counts as the beach episode, right? Also, watch out for spoilers.
What happened?
Esdeath is over the moon to have finally found Tatsumi and is determined not to let him get away from her again. She asks if he’s joined the revolutionary army yet and why he’s on top of the mountain. Tatsumi thinks on his feet and gives what he believes to be satisfactory answers. That said, even if he told her he’d joined the rebels, she would have made it her mission to make him hers so it wouldn’t have made a difference. She loves him and won’t let something silly like that get in the way. Unfortunately, their reunion is interrupted by the man that released the Danger Beasts and before Esdeath can kill him, he teleports them to a deserted island.
There, Esdeath and Tatsumi are attacked by two giant Danger Beasts, similar to Stylish when he attacked Night Raid’s base. Tatsumi manages to kill one of them, further impressing Esdeath and she then kills the other with a giant attack. They spend the day on the island trying to find a way off and slowly getting to know one another. Esdeath tells Tatsumi about her past and how she grew up in a Danger Beast hunting tribe where survival of the fittest was the only rule. She also told Tatsumi about her Imperial Arms and how it had killed every other warrior that tried to use it.
The masked man, revealed as Minister Honest’s son, Syura reopens the portal and allows them to come back, although Tatsumi takes the chance to go through first and hide from Esdeath using Incursio. She follows and is disappointed to find that Tatsumi got away again. As Tatsumi hid, he realised that he would never be able to make Esdeath switch sides and that someday he would need to kill her. Esdeath, however, has not given up on making Tatsumi her’s.
What did you think?
I love this episode. For one it focuses almost entirely on Esdeath and Tatsumi. It showed us that while she’s got a lot of problems if she were to leave the Capital, she could settle down with Tatsumi and be happy. I think he would be happy too. She definitely has a caring side to her which we have seen with her own troops and the Jaegers. I also believe that she genuinely loves Tatsumi and he can see that. That makes his realisation that she is an enemy that cannot be swayed to be that much more serious and not just because of how powerful she is.
What was your favourite moment?
I just loved the moments with Esdeath and Tatsumi on the beach talking. She is insanely confident and seems to put him at ease despite her terrifying persona. It was so cute that she was drawing cartoon images of the two of them together like a highschool girl. This is definitely one of those situations where I can honestly say I wouldn’t have acted quite the way Tatsumi did. Alone on a deserted island with Esdeath! I would have started work on a beach cabin and prepared to settle in. Do it for the revolution. Esdeath would have probably stayed and that would have allowed the revolutionary army to overthrow the Emperor and Minister Honest without one of their strongest warriors there. I’d take that mission.
What was your least favourite moment?
I enjoyed the Esdeath flashback to her childhood and how her tribe were slaughtered, but I found her father to be a very odd character. Even in a survival of the fittest scenario, he came across as incredibly one dimensional. It was very odd considering he had one moment where he questioned himself about Esdeath and her ability to kill without hesitation. Also, I really don’t see how a survival of the fittest philosophy would work with a tribe. Maybe, an individual, but in a tribe, anyone that isn’t at the top is not the fittest.
Who was your favourite character?
One hundred percent Esdeath. I don’t care that she is possibly evil and enjoys torture, she is such an insanely entertaining character and as I said, I would have accepted the mission to occupy her on a deserted island without hesitation. Tatsumi could have won the war, but he was too eager to run away from the beautiful woman that was throwing herself at him… Take one for the team, Tatsumi… He’s so selfish.
Who was your least favourite character?
So, Syura hasn’t been in it much and they’ve done a pretty sterling job of making him out to be a psychotic dick. It’s also incredibly annoying, so kudos to the voice actor for making that come to life. I’m going to mention the manga briefly here and I know I’ll get into it a little more in the manga reviews, but Syura and his team were massively unrepresented in the anime and it was a real shame. He is a complete psychopath and his team were just as bad. Imagine how the Jaegers would have been if they were all crazy… well, if they all had no redeeming qualities.
What have you learnt?
I thought it was really interesting putting these two characters in a different location and situation that allowed them to grow and learn about one another. It was also a great way for us to learn about them. When I think about Lester Dent’s philosophy of heaping more danger on the protagonist, I feel like this applies here too, but it’s more like taking the protagonist outside their comfort zone or putting them in a new environment. Having them in a situation where they are forced to rely on an enemy for help is a tried and tested method for building respect between the characters. Sometimes, they may even become allies and other times, it just gives their final confrontation that much more meaning. I feel that I need to experiment with this method because there is a lot of different ways to implement it.
Other posts in the series
Anime
- Season One
- Episode 1 – Kill the Darkness
- Episode 2 – Kill the Authority
- Episode 3 – Kill Your Cares
- Episode 4 – Kill the Imperial Arms User
- Episode 5 – Kill the Empty Dream
- Episode 6 – Kill the Absolute Justice
- Episode 7 – Kill the Three Beasts – Part One
- Episode 8 – Kill the Three Beasts – Part Two
- Episode 9 – Kill the Lust for Combat
- Episode 10 – Kill the Seduction
- Episode 11 – Kill the Mad Scientist
- Episode 12 – Kill the New Recruits
- Episode 13 – Kill the Hindrance
- Episode 14 – Kill the Giant Dangerous Beast
- Episode 15 – Kill the Religion
- Episode 16 – Kill the Dolls
- Episode 17 – Kill the Curse
- Episode 18 – Kill the Demons
- Episode 19 – Kill the Fate
- Episode 20 – Kill the Pandemonium
- Episode 21 – Kill the Despair
- Episode 22 – Kill the Little Sister
- Episode 23 – Kill the Emperor
- Episode 24 – Akame ga Kill!
Manga
- Volume 1
- Volume 2
- Volume 3
- Volume 4
- Volume 5
- Volume 6
- Volume 7
- Volume 8
- Volume 9
- Volume 10
- Volume 11
- Volume 12
- Volume 13
- Volume 14
- Volume 15
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This episode was one of my favorites as well. It really humanized an enemy and made it much harder to say goodbye to one of my favorite villains. Being trapped with Esdeath on an island wouldn’t be too bad, if you were Tatsumi.
Agreed, it really softened Esdeath’s appearance and I’m still disappointed in Tatsumi for not realising that he had a chance to take Esdeath out of the battle. Just convince her to stay on the island and the casualties of the rebel army would have been minimal. That was his chance to win the war!
[…] and dropping somewhere new where they have to work together to survive. This episode reminds me of episode 14 of Akame ga Kill where Tatsumi and Esdeath find themselves also stranded on a deserted island. It gives you a chance […]