Akame ga Kill! – 06
We pimpin’ now
There it is. Akame ga Kill‘s infamy at last.
Alas, poor Sheele!
It begins.
Let’s get the big stuff out of the way first. So Sheele’s dead. I was wondering when the first Night Raid fatality would occur, and a quarter through the show is as good a time as any. However, you’ll have to excuse me if I didn’t find her demise as striking as it could have been. Just last week we got to her episode as Tatsumi was traded around the gang for training. So having only one episode to really familiarize ourselves with her isn’t a lot of time to fully sympathize with her passing. Don’t get me wrong, it definitely put a damper on the mood of the show as so far Night Raid has been doing as they please without much challenge. And now the tides have turned and they’re down a man with ever-stronger adversaries showing up. But nonetheless, Sheele’s death could have had more impact if there had been more time to show how strongly she cared for her comrades and the place to belong that they gave her.
I’ll spare you the image of her body being munched on.
Honestly, my only impressions of Sheele up until this point were “she’s a clutz” and “her childhood sucks.” The first is just a little character quirk, and the second isn’t exactly useful as all of Night Raid share that trait. More to the point, neither suggests the extent of the feeling of love she apparently had for her new-found family that was stressed so strongly in her last moments. So when Sheele pulled one last trick to let Mine escape suffering a similar fate, it was just the typical righteous sacrifice stuff that you might find anywhere. The emotions we felt could have been so much more powerful with a little more effort, and that made the whole thing rather underwhelming. In the end, Sheele’s death just had a matter-of-fact feel as if its only purpose was to advance the plot by showing that we have to start taking Night Raid’s enemies more seriously now. Which, it would have done no matter what. But the point is it could have done more than that.
Who’s Next?
What will happen to Ecstasy now?
That said, I still have confidence that Akame ga Kill can pull itself together for Sheele’s sake. Ehehe, see what I did there? Ok sorry, I’m a terrible person and I digress. But the last time I criticized the show for using characters as use-and-forget tools with little more depth than a convenient plot device, I was proven wrong. And obviously Sheele’s death will be more important than Ieyasu’s and Sayo’s since she was a real powerhouse. Night Raid have not only lost a dear friend, they’ve also lost a relic. So there’s going to be some serious shifting of power that will no doubt have very real repercussions down the road beyond Tatsumi gazing forlornly at graves and making naïve statements.
Leone’s got Tatsumi marked. Game over man, game over!
Speaking of Tatsumi, we continue to see him get slightly closer to Leone whether he likes it or not. And this is understandably for good reason: she was his introduction to both the harsh reality of the Empire and to Night Raid. But given the amount of attention she’s getting with him, I am starting to worry for Leone. She doesn’t feel like the sort of character to bite the dust abruptly, but knowing the reputation Akame ga Kill has for being ruthless with its characters, a feeling is no guarantee that she’ll survive. Plus, a physique-enhancing relic doesn’t exactly sound like the most powerful thing to have on the battlefield. It forces her to use her body as a weapon, putting it quite literally on the front lines. Which isn’t doing her survivability any favors when everyone else has an extra tool to use beyond their own bodies. Personally, I’m starting to think that every moment she spends teasing Tatsumi is another death flag on her head slowly leading her to a violent and untimely demise. Which would be quite unfortunate, because it’s always fun watching her screw with the rest of Night Raid except for Najenda.
Tactical Throat Gun
Yeah, OK…
There’s also something to be said about Seryuu while we’re on the topic of relics and weapons. Hers is our first introduction to the concept of a living relic, which seems pretty powerful because it can operate with some autonomy, thus effectively turning Seryuu into a deadly two-man tag-team. If you consider a giant man-eating, rapidly regenerating monster equivalent to just one man, that is. But beyond her relic, Seryuu also possesses some pretty funky tricks of her own. I’m not exactly sure how much sense it makes to be hiding guns in her body or how that would even work for that matter, especially considering the one in her arm had to be exposed by her losing said arm first. And I’m not sure what’s more bizarre between that and the gun she had in her throat. But hey, I guess being able to surprise opponents by whipping out guns from nowhere works, so it’s all good. It clearly worked on Sheele, for one.
As I sign off on this landmark of an episode, I have to say that despite the somewhat underwhelming execution of this turning point, I am glad that at least now the show will be changing pace. Five episodes of kicking ass and going shopping is starting to get repetitive, though it certainly hadn’t reached the point of turning me off yet. So here’s looking forward to fights that are more challenging and spectacular. And also to the plot (and body count) potentially picking up now that Night Raid has the nefarious Prime Minister’s full attention.
With this much anticipation, she’d better kill at least one Night Raid member!
About Sumairii
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Tis but a flesh wound, Night Raid!!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
But the pain of loss is the salt setting on the wound.
POWUH: Meta Team and PreCure Mastah with 9203 comments
Yep RIP Sheele I will miss her because I always found her to be quite interesting and cute, but yeah you are not alone in feeling that it wasn’t as dramatic of a death due to the fact we didn’t get to know her or have many episodes dedicated to her; however the shock factor is set that ANYONE can die and that is why I really enjoy this series and I know of one more death to come but ill keep that to myself.
As for Seryuu the only thing I can say is you will see more body modifications later on! I just can’t wait till everyone sees the other team of people led by Esdeath and I have a feeling that most of the viewers will find that group to be a bit more interesting than Night Raid…at least I think they are more entertaining.
Dat Hanazawa Kana wow seriously 10/10 best voice work from her! I really don’t know what it is about her voice, but when you hear it coming out of an insane character it just works so damn well! I guess because we are so used to hearing her as a moe chick that these other roles end up being refreshing <3
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Dude I want to hear a HanaKana version of Light’s infamous laugh in Death Note.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
While we’re on the topic of VAs, I did find Noto Mamiko really appropriate for Sheele. Her slow and calm voice really fits the ditsy girl image.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
List of crazed Kana Hanazawa characters:
Seryuu Ubiquitous (Akame ga Kill)
Nadeko Sengoku (Monogatari Series)
Ichiko Sakura (Binbougami ga!)
Iris Heart (Hyperdimension Neptunia)
Roka Shibasaki (Darkness Mode) (D-Frag)
Shiro (In Wretched Egg mode) (Deadman Wonderland)
Kougyoku Ren (When engaged in a fight she begins to enjoy) (Magi)
Rize Kamishiro (Tokyo Ghoul)
You’ve got hand to HanaKana, she’s adept at crazy as she is with moe. Obviously she’s grown tired of playing the latter.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
But she’s awesome when she does both at the same time….
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
They did it i.i I forgot to remember that people fuc*ing die in this sh*t. They made us believe that it’s not because a character had the spotlight on one episode that she would die on the next, just to catch us off guard. Well played, Akame ga Kill. Also, that was the longest death scene ever, goddamit -.-‘
I know Sheele was not a really fleshed out character (wait, she is… haha -.-‘) but she was still lovable and she was supposed to be Tatsumi’s safe haven, someone he would lean on when he needed, and she just died. Urobutcher must me pulling the strings of Akame ga Kill somewhere, seriously.
But that absolute justice, damn. She’s just way too broken. She must have lost a lot of people she loved before making it to the imperial guard. And Hecatoncheires/Koro was another sick creature. He just sat there, munching on Sheele’s body. That was just cruel -.-‘
Well, I’m waiting to have my heart broken again very soon. Let me brace myself here.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy Sheele’s character and I thought the hug she gave him at the end of the previous episode was very sweet. But all that was again within just one episode.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
I wish Sheele had had more time for us to get to know her better and so her death would have more impact on the viewers. I can see why hers had to be the first death and why it had to be now. Despite Tatsumi having lost his two childhood friends, he needed to lose someone else to shock him and make him realize just how serious and dangerous this shit is. It’s a necessary step for him to lose his romantic illusions regarding the battle against the Empire and for his maturing. And losing the companion who was a kindly mother figure to him provides the greatest shock.
So story-wise it makes sense that Sheele would be the first of Night Raid to die. Now Tatsumi can spend the rest of the series growing into the badass he needs to become.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…in bed she bangs you…
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
Bad pun! Bad, bad! But she gives a new meaning to a blow job.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
You lose if she shoots her load before you do. There, I said it.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Aw, that just kills the whole mood. 🙁
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
“Blow” being the keyword. There’d be nothing left when she’s done.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
As if concealing a gun in someone’s throat isn’t bad enough. What terrible foreplay!!
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
So the losses on home turf have arrived. Let the feels begin because I’ll be reliving Attack on Titan type anxiety. To be honest, I didn’t think much of Sheele, never found her that interesting despite her background but her death scene, especially in front of one of her friends hit hard. RIP megane girl. My peeve after such a tragedy was that dog relic nonchalantly snacking on her arm. Damn insensitive animal. Have some respect for the dead! It’s clear other members are going to follow one after the next but who I don’t want to see killed is Leone. That blonde’s grown quite a bit.
Last episode’s preview spoiled Seryuu was going to at least be out of it but she went complete batshit crazy and to have Kana Hanazawa is glorious. Her misguided idealism of justice is focused on Night Raid as a whole yet I can’t imagine how she’d react if news that Tatsumi is the one personally responsible for her master’s death crosses her path. What’s baffling is how she’s able to conceal inorganic weapons in her body with no signs of physical modification whatsoever. A gun coming out of her throat… That I can’t leave alone. And when the hell did she get fangs? Must be the crazy’s doing. Regardless, she sadistically severed one of Night Raid’s bonds. That’s a nail in her coffin so here’s to hoping the story makes good on the episode’s title and “Kill the Absolute Justice”.