EPISODE REVIEW: Akame ga KILL! EPISODE 21

Seems we just can’t get past even one episode of Akame ga KILL! nowadays without another main character falling as we approach the end of the season.

Execution day has arrived in the capital, and Esdeath has taken it upon herself to put Tatsumi out of commission for the entire city to witness. In a last-ditch effort, the remaining members of Night Raid embark to rescue Tatsumi and regroup at their base. Unfortunately, Commander-In-Chief Budou is also standing guard at the execution ceremony so it won’t be an easy mission. Destruction ensues and blood spills as we witness more of the one-on-one fight action that Akame ga KILL! is so well known for. Of course, in rescuing Tatsumi one of the members of Night Raid was doomed to perish, and it might’ve not been who you were expecting– Mine.

For the past couple of episodes, we’ve been seeing some romantic flicker between Mine and Tatsumi, despite how little it had been sprinkled into the plot. Ever since Tatsumi rescued Mine back in Kyoroch, she’s been doing the usual tsundere routine around him and trying to refuse the fact that she might be in love with Tatsumi. For some, it may have been easy to brush these hints aside since apparently every girl in Night Raid except for Najenda is in love with our righteous protagonist. Lately, the plot’s been moving so quickly that there hasn’t been much time for romance to blossom between characters, and so this relationship between Tatsumi and Mine feels a tad rushed. However, things between them have certainly progressed since their initial meeting which just created feelings of mutual hate and dislike for one another. Also, it was a HUGE testament of Mine’s power to see her take down Budou on her own in a duel of pure, no-bars-held strength. Even Tatsumi couldn’t win against Budou’s broken electricity-based attacks, but Mine won by the skin of her teeth.

Speaking of Budou, it’s somewhat disappointing to have seen him die so soon after finally seeing him in action last episode. It’s almost like every new villain the show introduces immediately has a stamp on them that reads an expiration date of one or two episodes. It would have been nice to see him develop as a character and maybe even turn against the Capital’s figureheads or take over the positions of power at one point, considering his righteous attitude and affinity for recognizing warriors with great strength. Regardless, he may have been too powerful an enemy for our league of assassins to handle, since Budou defeated one and nearly killed another in an equal fight. It’s a wonder who they’ll replace him with next.

Speaking of broken abilities, we’re brought to the other featured fight of this episode– one which many fans have been waiting all season to see– Esdeath vs. Najenda. Najenda chooses Susanoo as her weapon of choice, while Esdeath continues to use her horrifying demon ice powers. We get to truly see how Najenda uses her new Imperial Arms in battle, and Susanoo’s trump card move is revealed as the “Magatama Manifestation,” which both manifests a giant chakram-like ornament around his back and acts as a mirror for reflecting projectiles. However, it feeds off of Susanoo’s user’s life force, and using it repetitively is a severe risk. However, Esdeath has a trump card of her own, the trump card of all trump cards really. Her power is (can I get a drum roll please)….. “Makahadomo”– the ability to fucking FREEZE TIME AND SPACE. Yup, she literally stops the flow of time and counters Susanoo’s attacks, then stabs him in the chest. With an ability like this, it’s kind of hard to believe Night Raid has any chance at winning now. Makahadomo’s only drawback is that Esdeath cannot use it more than once per day, but what’s stopping her from just finding Night Raid’s hideout and finishing them off tomorrow? At any rate, Esdeath moves time again and destroys Susanoo, much to everyone’s understandable shock. Thankfully, Najenda takes the risk and uses Magatama Manifestation a third time, regenerating Susanoo and having him fight off Esdeath while the rest of Night Raid escapes, saying goodbye to another loveable member of the team. Which means we didn’t lose just one, but two members of Night Raid this time. Fuck.

The episode ends with Mine and Tatsumi sharing their first, and last, kiss by the sunset. Mine knows she’s not going to make it, so she takes this last opportunity to confess her feelings to Tatsumi. All you Akame and Esdeath ‘shippers out there, hang up your flags. Especially Esdeath fans; I don’t think Tatsumi’s gonna fall for her now that one of her allies took out Mine. The anime adaptation has also reportedly begun to differ more drastically from the manga, so with three episodes left to go speculation on where the plot will head, or who will die next for that matter, has gone completely up in the air. Next episode will finally end the sisterly feud between Akame and Kurome, so we can definitely expect more of the chaotic action sequences that fans love so much.

SCORE: 9.2/10

-Andrew (Head of A7)