Title: Akame ga Kill Vol. 8
Author: Takahiro (Story), Tetsuya Tashiro (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Publication Date: October 25, 2016
The Story
This was another volume that was, practically, a battle from beginning to end, but rather than it being one battle, this volume covered many battles all at once. Both Night Raid and the Jaegers arrived in Kyoroku, the city of peace and where their target Bolic resides. Esdeath was sent to protect Bolic, but Bolic had protection of his own already in place in the form of the four Rakshasas… people who are capable of taking out Teigu users with their bare hands!
They must not be too impressive because all four of them died in battle rather easily in this volume. So much for my predictions in my last review about there not being anymore short battles! Despite the battles being short, we got to see Lubbock fight seriously in this volume and it was quite impressive that he was able to take out two of them by himself! Akame disposed of one and Tatsumi disposed of the last in a rather unbecoming and unconventional way, but it got the job done, nevertheless.
In addition to the battles with the four Rakshasas, Seryu joins the battle and takes on Mine. I felt that this was the perfect match up given that Seryu was the one who killed Sheele way back in the beginning of the series. Seryu’s blind rage for justice was her downfall as Mine was able to overcome her and finish her off. This brings the Jaegers down to five! Speaking of the Jaegers, we even saw that the attack from Chelsea had done way more damage to Kurome than she let on. While she remained strong in front of Esdeath in fear of getting kicked out of the Jaegers and being disposed of, she was extremely weak behind closed doors. Wave discovers her like this and vows to work harder….. then disappears for the rest of the volume!
It’s evident that this battle is far from over in the city. Esdeath already learned of Seryu’s death. The ending of the volume was kind of somber as the children who Seryu was playing with before came back to see her only to see that she was nowhere to be found. It is kind of sad because as whacked out in the head as she was, if you weren’t her enemy, she was as sweet as could be towards you. I’m sure she meant the world to those children and now she’s gone. On the other hand… good riddance!
Characters
There really wasn’t a lot of character development here. The four Rakshasas (Ibara, Mez, Suzuka, and Heihachi… er I mean Shuten) didn’t really have that much of a personality to them. The fact that they died off so quick without showing us too many of their abilities was also rather bothersome. Ibara could bend and stretch his body, Mez could produce copious amounts of sweat (ew), Shuten could harden his body and Suzuka can get crushed by rocks! Seriously, Suzuka did nothing and died to Tatsumi bringing down the building around her.
The biggest development here was a rather humorous one. It furthered the Tatsumi x Mine ship with the head priest telling them that they were bound by a red thread, which made them blush and deny any feelings towards one another, but all of that seemed to be backed up when Tatsumi rescued Mine after her battle with Seryu, saving her from Seryu’s self-destruction. Mine was pretty grateful for Tatsumi coming to her rescue. Even though she scolded him for being a little late, that smile on her face said it all! They really do make for a cute pair!
Final Thoughts
The four Rakshasas seemed like nothing but cannon fodder and their battles seemed very filler-ish. I guess it was done to build more tension between another inevitable Jaeger vs Night Raid battle and it doesn’t really make sense to pull the trigger on it right away since we just had an entire volume dedicated to it. Esdeath and company are still in the city along with Night Raid so this conflict is far from over. Also, Bolic still remains alive and Night Raid shouldn’t be going anywhere with their target still breathing.
Volume nine may set the stage for another clash between the two factions as The Jaegers are the only ones left to protect Bolic! Can’t wait to see what happens as Akame ga Kill has been a very exciting series thus far!
Be sure to follow me on Twitter @TheAnimePulse
You can also check out other The Outerhaven reviews on your favorite social media networks:
Subscribe to us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/theouterhaven
Subscribe to us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheOuterHaven
Subscribe to us on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/theouterhavennet
This item was provided for review by Yen Press
