Akame ga Kill! (Volume 8)
With Chelsea’s death fresh in Tatsumi’s mind, Night Raid arrive at the home of the Way of Peace religion with their sights set firmly on killing Bolic, the Minister’s puppet. Unfortunately, however, the Jaegers have already arrived.
What did you read?
Volume 8 of Akame ga Kill covers the events in episodes 18 and 19 of the anime. That’s all of the Four Rakshasa and Seryu versus Mine. I’m expecting a lot of action. We should also start to see the manga moving in it’s own direction as the anime was released in 2014 and this volume was first published in 2013. Some great stuff is coming. Not so much with this one, but it’s starting.
What happened?
Night Raid arrived at the home of the Way of Peace religion with their goal to assassinate Bolic, the minister’s puppet who has been secretly trying to gain control of the the religion. Without him in the way, the revolutionary army expects there to be an uprising which is when they’ll make their move. Honest is all to aware of the threat the Way of Peace poses to his rule and has sent Esdeath and the Jaegers to make sure nothing happens to Bolic.
Bolic is surprisingly unworried, especially as he has his personal bodyguards, the four Rakshasa Demons. With them hunting Night Raid, Esdeath decides to sit back and see what happens. Run stumbles upon Akame and attacks, but when he realizes she’s trying to lure him closer, he decides to leave and report to Esdeath. This gives Ibara, one of the four Rakshasa Demons the chance to finish the fight.
Lubbock has been scouting the town when he is attacked by two of the Rakshasa Demons. He fakes his own death, but when another spy gets caught he gets up and fights, buying her enough time to escape before he turns and runs. The Rakshasa Demons race after Lubbock, but with his Teigu and all of his cunning, he manages to defeat them.
The fourth Rakshasa Demon has accompanied Seryu in tracking two more members of Night Raid. Seryu decides to go in all guns blazing, but even she wasn’t prepared for Pumpkin’s firepower. Tatsumi goes after the fourth Rakshasa Demon to make sure she can’t return with backup. He manages to get back to Mine just in time to save her as a defeated Seryu activates her self-destruct sequence.
How was it different from the anime?
In the anime, Akame fights Ibara and then Run, but in the manga it’s the other way around. I don’t think it matters either way, but I think the manga sequence flowed a little better. The fights were far more epic in the manga which was surprising as you’d think the animation would bring it to life. I feel like more panels were committed to each fight, especially Mine versus Seryu. There was also some minor world-building details like the leader of the Way of Peace being a human-Danger Beast hybrid.
What was your favourite element?
It has to be the fight between Seryu and Mine. The artist must of have so much fun drawing Seryu with her range of expressions and demonic smile. It was relentless and felt far more real and detailed than the anime. Sure, it didn’t have the musical score to aid the rhythm, but it was pretty compelling all the same. There was a minor change here too in that the fourth Rakshasa Demon was running for help and didn’t attack Tatsumi and Mine. I also felt like that worked better and made more sense as to why Tatsumi was fighting her somewhere else.
What was your least favourite element?
There was a much longer dream sequence at the beginning of the volume where Tatsumi saw his fallen friends once more. It was hard seeing them all again through Tatsumi’s eyes and remembering the fun times they had together.
What have you learnt?
Now that I’m starting to see differences, it makes me think about how easy it actually is to move scenes around. It would be a good practice to do with my own writing to see if the order I have things in is the best fit for it. Sometimes, a small change can make a big difference and if it makes the pace flow better then that can only be a good thing.
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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