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Akame ga Kill! (Volume 5)

Akame ga Kill Title

Tatsumi might have escaped from the Jaegers, but Dr Stylish tracked him back to Night Raid’s secret base and is planning on using his army of super-soldiers to bring them down in a stylish way!

What did you read?

This is volume 5 of the Akame ga Kill manga series and it covers the action that happened in episodes 11 and 12. There’s also a pretty sizeable chunk that that didn’t make it into the anime and I’ll go into that in detail shortly. Sadly, there’s not much of General Esdeath in this one, but there’s a notable increase in Leone time, so I guess that makes things all right. Anyhow, let’s get into it.

Akame ga Kill Volume 5 Cover

What happened?

Dr. Stylish attacked the Night Raid base with his army of super-soldiers, all of which he’d modified in some way with his Teigu. Every one of them had a purpose and had been developed to suit that need. Most were expendable pawns, but then they had been convicted criminals on death row and saw this as a chance to live on. They attacked at night and managed to get past Lubbock’s defences. One even took down Leone with a sneak attack.

Within seconds the base was crawling with Stylish’s men. Night Raid had only just woken up and most were still a little hungover from celebrating Tatsumi’s return. That didn’t stop Akame from slicing through the intruders. Tatsumi exploded out of the base and found himself face to face with someone wielding Sheele’s Teigu. He tried to take it back, but Stylish had done his homework and assigned his team accordingly. Mine saw Sheele’s Teigu and stepped in, blowing the attacker away.

Stylish wasn’t done yet, however, as he attempted to poison Night Raid and then blow them up by detonating his super-soldiers. It looked like it would work until Najenda flew in on a giant Danger Beast with some backup. Susanoo leapt into action and obliterated the remaining forces. Stylish had one last trump card and turned himself into a giant danger beast. It took all of Night Raid to bring him down, but they managed it.

With the location of their base compromised, they disappeared into a region swarming with Danger Beasts as the revolutionary army found them a new base. There, they could train, recover, and get to know the new members, Chelsea and Susanoo. Meanwhile, news of Dr Stylish’s disappearance hit Seryu hard, but Esdeath comforted her and swore that she would get her chance at revenge.

Akame ga Kill Volume 5 Dr Stylish

How was it different from the anime?

At the end of this volume, there was a side story which was completely omitted from the anime. It followed three girls who were brought to the capital to become servants but ended up being sold to a group of twisted perverts who did unspeakable things to them. Two of the girls didn’t last long and the third sought the help of Night Raid to stop the evil from happening to others. Leone accepted the mission and took the entire team to deal with them. This was a very dark arc and I could see why they would leave it out. It was, however, a great example of just how sick the Capital had become and why Night Raid was needed.

Akame ga Kill Volume 5 Leone Attacks

What was your favourite element?

I mentioned it in the anime, but flying sea creatures are just too cool and seeing Najenda standing on top of one in that badass pose was epic. The entire battle with Dr. Stylish’s super-soldiers was a lot of fun, but Najenda swooping in at the end just put the icing on the cake. This is how you do one-eyed, one-armed, edgy characters to be sure. To be fair, I think they did well to fit all of this volume into two episodes, even with the extra arc left out.

Akame ga Kill Volume 5 Najenda

What was your least favourite element?

Firstly, the extra arc was a great addition to the volume and did a lot to really show just how sick and twisted the Capital had become. It was incredible seeing Night Raid burst in and make every one of them pay for their crimes, but that won’t take away the horrific views of what they did. I love horror movies with unbelievable monsters and all the over the top nonsense that comes with them, but I really don’t care for anything that seems a little too possible. What they did to those girls was disturbing and just seeing it made me angry. I guess that is the point though as it left me cheering on a group of murderers.

Akame ga Kill Volume 5 Leone

What have you learnt?

With storytelling, one of the most important things is to get some sort of emotional response from the reader. As soon as they start to feel something, you’re that much more likely to keep them reading. It can, of course, go in the other direction too. If you make something too disturbing or a character too annoying, they are just as likely to put the book down and never look at it again. As with everything, it’s about finding balance. I think that’s one of the really interesting things with Akame ga Kill having the Jaegers. Both sides are killers, both sides have likeable characters and annoying characters. It definitely gives the series balance.

Akame ga Kill Volume 5 Danger Beasts

Other posts in the series

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