Akame ga Kill! – 05
It’s all fun and games until the airheaded girl gets a knife.
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Well the story didn’t quite get to the part I hoped it would this episode (you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about when you see it), but yay I got the first episode with |
…Boring choices there, Night Raid.
Tatsumi still continues with his balance between badassery and naivety, with him being on the slightly more naive side this episode. He’s still relic-less, and maybe gave up on something great (seeing everyone he knows in their underwear aside) considering the powers he could have had, but maybe giving the main character just about every mind reading ability ever would have made him just a little overpowered. So that was probably a good narrative move there. Tatsumi seems to do well enough with just his sword, so it’s probably best to not try to fix something that’s not broken. …Plus having the main character run around with a third eye might have looked a little weird.
He’s still not over his friend’s deaths, but Tatsumi seems to be finally getting over it thanks to the comfort of Sheele’s glasses boobs caring personality. Instead of him being a badass this episode, we had Sheele’s backstory. So far she’s just kind of been comic relief in the form of an airhead, but she belongs in Night Raid just as much as everyone else, from how ruthlessly she’s able to cut people down in dire situations. Her past wasn’t too depressing though, considering her life’s problems. Being super clumsy isn’t exactly a tear inducing tragedy, and she made the switch from normal girl to killer pretty easily. It sucks that she stopped talking to her friend, but she didn’t seem to have much of a reaction to the news of her parent’s deaths, so in return, it felt like kind of a weak emotional blow.
Moe moe kyun~
Night Raid seems to be causing some panic in the capital. Or at least, the prime minister is worried about them being a threat, which means that Night Raid will be facing more difficulties soon enough. The biggest hurdle will probably be the fact that they’ll be facing the strongest relic. Esdeath seems to have thoroughly whipped the northern tribe in more ways than one with little to no effort, so it will be interesting to see how Night Raid fares against her. She seems to have the same hobbies as 90% of the other powerful people in this series do, if her character introduction scene says anything.
So we’re finally getting into the more complicated sides of good vs. evil that Akame ga Kill! sets up. So far we’ve seen that Night Raid are undoubtedly the “good guys” no matter how much they try to say that killing abusive-rapist-public-official-#729 makes them the bad side. With the introduction of Seryuu’s character though, we see that not everyone they kill was evil 24/7. She respected Ogre (if you remember, he’s the guy Tatsumi offed on his first mission with Akame) as a superior and seems to have been oblivious to all of the people he killed for no reason. As far as Seryuu is aware, Night Raid just killed one of the people she was fond of, and that’s why she needs to take revenge. …Though maybe her character isn’t the greatest example of how the bad guys aren’t all bad. Ogre was still kind of emanating villain-ness from his interactions with Seryuu (or maybe it’s just the fact that his overall design just screams “I AM A VILLAIN”) and her character is… special. I’m really happy with the choice of HanaKana as Seryuu’s seiyuu for the same reason I thought HanaKana was a brilliant choice for Rize in Tokyo Ghoul. Maybe that’s wandering into slight spoiler territory with that statement, but from the preview, her character obviously has a few screws loose.
Yay Esdeath had her appearance. I was sold on Akesaka Satomi as a seiyuu by her performance in Milky Holmes of all things, so I figured if she used the same voice she did as Henriette for Esdeath, the cast choice would be awesome. And it was. So far at least, we’ll see (it will probably be fine). On to more relevant things though, they’re introducing the capital’s side of things, which should hopefully round out the story more. The prime minister is indeed an asshat, but not everyone who supports the capital is totally evil. Only like, 80% of them are. The next episode should involve more fighting (which is most likely where this episode’s budget went) and a crazed HanaKana character.
Fun times.
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: 600-699 and LN Enthusiast with 623 comments
Esdeath is mine. Fight me.
And so much for a powerful Teigu. It can read minds and project illusions to enemies but it can’t see through underwear? Lame.
KanaHana is definitely treading new grounds this season for voicing crazed characters. Last I remember that she voiced was that one in Neptunia, though that’s more of an S character than someone with a screw loose.
I hate Justice(I’m gonna call Seryu with this) with a passion but it will be nice how she would voice her.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
At this point, I think leaking lithium/anti-depressants into the local water supply may help more….
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
…Boring choices there, Night Raid.Knowing Japanese otaku preferences, it is likely the girls will be redrawn in sexier underwear in the Blu-rays.
The Strike the Blood Blu-rays did the same thing:
http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=5177237&postcount=2412
Concidentally, the Blurays have all been selling VERY well.
Esdeath seems to have thoroughly whipped the northern tribe in more ways than one.
I strongly predict soon ero-mangaka will be coming up with domination-themed doujinshi on how exactly Esdeath ‘tamed’ the Northern Hero.(・｀ω´・)
I’d tell you more of what I expect, but then Night Raid would come after me for corrupting the pure minds of the people. (x_x)POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I’ve seen those pictures on ANN before. They were part of an article centering around Hug Pillows.
Ain’t that the truth? During Japan’s Animation DVD Ranking, July 28-August 3, Strike the Blood Vol. 7 was ranked 11 out of 30 with a total of 1,012 copies.
And judging the information from the link you referenced, the 11th volume of the LN is out. Steady sales from various merchandise and another LN volume release. The incentive for a second season of Strike the Blood just keeps getting bigger.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
A megane girl using a relic in the form of scissors to dispatch her targets. Excluding being a glorified airhead, Sheele’s taken over Touko Fukawa schtick and is indiscriminate with her kills. Feeling calm when killing, she’s the type of person I’d keep my eye out for.
Really? I found them surprisingly subtle. Since anime has tendencies, I expected them to have underwear that was more… daring or more to the point, scantily clad. Especially since it’s a usual thing when female warriors are involved.
Poor naïve Seryuu. If she knew who her master really was, she’d feel a ton of shame for praising him so much.
More like that is definitely welcome. Though she’s been typecast for moe, there are some roles that stood because they were crazed characters:
Deadman Wonderland’s Shiro, Monogatari’s Nadeko Sengoku, Magi’s Kougyoku. Her best one so far is Tokyo Ghoul’s Rize. HanaKana needs to do more like these.
POWUH: 800-899 and Mad Scientist with 814 comments
My guess is that Seryuu probably takes some sort of sadistic pleasure in rendering “justice” upon criminals. Hopefully the upcoming violent confrontation between her and Tatsumi will help our naive hero mature a little.
POWUH: Meta Resident with 1692 comments
My favorite KanaHana character is Ichiko from Binbogami Ga! She definitely needs to do more non-moe characters. Seryuu looks like she’s going to be another good KanaHana character. I haven’t been watching Tokyo Ghoul. Should I?
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
The first episode will surprise you for an unusual HanaKana character. 😉