Akame ga Kill! (Volume 11)
Wild Hunt is still reeling from their recent defeat to Night Raid and the Jaegers. You’d think Syura would settle down and take it easy, but he’s got bigger plans and the loss of a couple of members isn’t much of a bother!
What did you read?
All the fun and games from volume 10 continue in this one and if you look at the two covers side by side you may notice that they form one picture with Mine and Tatsumi together. It’s the only one that isn’t a stand-alone cover so that’s interesting in itself. Of course, you have to put volume 11 on the left and volume 10 on the right, just in case you were looking at it and wondering what I was talking about. Most of this is completely different from the anime, but you can see parts that they tried to incorporate. This should be good!
What happened?
Esdeath has been recalled to the Capital after the failure of Wild Hunt, leaving her forces to face off against the barbarian hordes. Meanwhile, Tatsumi and Mine are officially a couple and Lubbock isn’t happy that they are flaunting it in his lonely face. He wants them to help him with Najenda, but then she just overheard the entire conversation…
Minister Honest is disappointed in Syura, but throws him a lifeline in the form of Suzuka from the Four Rakshasa. She has some very interesting information which could change things significantly. From her fight with Incursio, Suzuka knows what Tatsumi looks like and Honest is expecting him to enter the Capital. This information does prove to be useful, as Syura is able to locate Tatsumi and transports him and Lubbock into the Palace.
They try to escape but with Budo and Esdeath on location, both are captured. Esdeath is quick to try to claim Tatsumi whereas Syura begins to torture Lubbock to get information about Night Raid. Lubbock refuses to talk, even when Syura crushes one of his testicles. The next day after having spent the night with the information that Tatsumi isn’t being tortured, Lubbock offers to talk. However, when Syura’s guard is down, Lubbock pulls a thread from his throat and snaps Syura’s neck. He manages to use Syura’s Teigu to teleport away, but only gets as far as the courtyard where he runs into Izou and it’s not pretty.
Tatsumi is unwilling to join Esdeath and as such faces the death penalty. Esdeath resolves to perform the execution herself. Mine, Akame, Leone, and Najenda make plans to intervene, knowing that it’s a trap, but also that it would not help the revolution should they sit back.
How was it different from the anime?
So, obviously, there’s still a lot more to Wild Hunt in this episode. One of the most important characters from the group is Dorothea, the alchemist. She had plans to meet with Dr Stylish, but has now been challenged to pick up his work by Minister Honest. She also has Cosmina’s body that she is experimenting on. I don’t want to spoil anything yet, but she has a big part to play in the final part of the story.
We had the scene where Lubbock and Tatsumi are captured and it was so much better in the manga. The scene in the anime was troublesome for so many reasons so it was great to see it all make sense. Sure, it prolonged Lubbock’s demise, but it made sense and was that much harder to watch. And, of course, it was Izou from Wild Hunt that made the final attack and not Lubbock’s Teigu mysteriously running out of thread.
We also got to see the beginning of Tatsumi and Incursio evolving into one. This element got left out of the anime completely and it’s annoying because it explains several things that happened and it gives Tatsumi a big power boost at a pretty hefty cost.
What was your favourite element?
I still love the whole Tatsumi and Esdeath dynamic and think that it is the strongest part of the story. Seeing her struggling to deal with the realisation that Tatsumi is a member of Night Raid was interesting. I love that despite that she didn’t give up on him. It played into her character and gave her the chance to show off how far she was willing to go to get what she wanted. The fact that she had planned on making it look like she’d killed Tatsumi and then claimed his body speaks volumes. It’s hard to say what they would have done to Tatsumi, but it didn’t matter as long as she could have him. Her reaction to finding out that Tatsumi had a girlfriend was another great moment.
What was your least favourite element?
Seeing Lubbock endure Syura’s torture was hard to watch. The physical aspect of it was brutal, but I think the psychological attack was more interesting. Syura tried to make Lubbock turn on Night Riad by pointing out the Tatsumi wasn’t being tortured. If anything he was probably having the time of his life with Esdeath. He wasn’t, but it was a believable ploy. The hardest part about all of this was when Lubbock fought back and killed Syura. He escaped from the cell and ran straight into the Izou, a bloodthirsty maniac with no regard for anything of anyone. Just when you get your hopes up, they get cut down mercilessly.
What have you learnt?
Knowing that this volume came out well after the anime finished, it’s interesting to see the smaller details that almost made it into the anime. Sure, they weren’t done as well as in the manga, but it makes me think about all the scenes in a story where I’m left feeling frustrated that it didn’t really work. Could I take those scenes and make them better, incorporating them into my own work? If nothing else, I could look at the scenes of my own stories and see if they would work better by expanding on them and changing things around. Stories really are a fluid-structure that can shift and change to fit the situation.
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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Great moments from Lubbock. I felt like his character really got to shine while he was being tortured. Gave me a James Bond kind of feel with the torture. It was a lot more satisfying of a character death for me than the anime.
I found the Tatsumi and Mine angle pretty interesting that they were the ones to get into a relationship. There were definitely other angles to go.
Also the Esdeath with Tatsumi interactions were golden as always. The tragedy of Esdeath wanting something she couldn’t have, when she had everything else she wanted made her feel like a more vulnerable and believable character. Despite her incredible military success, and overwhelming power she never really had a chance with Tatsumi since she continued to serve the Empire. Her wish for Tatsumi was pure, although the rest of her character was villainous. Still one of my top villains. It has nothing to do with her plot, I promise (mostly).
For sure, Lubbock kind of got shafted in the anime with his death, but then the whole introduction of Wild Hunt was a completely forgettable moment anyhow.
I never really bought into the Mine and Tatsumi relationship but it did make things harder for Esdeath and finding out that Tatsumi had a girlfriend was a tough pill for her to swallow.
I would have preferred it if they had ended season one of the anime with the assassination of Bolic and then played the Wild Hunt card in the second season. With those crazy characters it would have made for a far more satisfying conclusion and shown us more of the Wade and Kurome dynamic.
Right the Tatsumi and Mine felt forced in some regards. My favorite is how they had kids when Tatsumi is a dragon. I can’t really imagine how that works, but then again I just kinda let that one slide.
I also agree with you about getting a second season, because Wild Hunt was a pretty interesting arc in the manga. Also agree with more of the Wade and Kurome dynamic, that was pretty good.
My understanding is that the ending in the anime was the original ending Takahiro had planned but changed it when the anime didn’t get such a favourable reaction. It’s a shame, because I felt like them all dying was the right way to go.
If only the anime had kept all the other details and the war with the rebel army had been more than a couple of people storming the castle. With another season they could have really made the battle into an epic.