Title: Akame ga Kill Vol. 7
Author: Takahiro (Story), Tetsuya Tashiro (Art)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 224
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Publication Date: July 26, 2016
The Story
The largest scale battle thus far in this series has taken place and it was pretty epic. The battle spanned the entire volume so there wasn’t much “story” to be had, but we did get some character development and some deaths on each side as predicted so I’ll touch upon that in the characters section.
As for the battle itself, it was a great plan of Najenda’s to feign splitting Night Raid into two groups, thus drawing Esdeath to do the same. While Esdeath, Run and Seryu went one way, Kurome, Bols and Wave went another. The latter group ends up getting ambushed by the entirety of Night Raid. Wave gets sent flying early, but he survives, leaving Bols and Kurome. Kurome unveils her power to control 8 corpses she had killed previously. They contained two danger beasts, a former general, a former bodyguard, Kurome’s former partner and a couple of brainless muscle.
Night Raid couldn’t seem to get ahead in this fight until Najenda gave the authorization for Susano’o to use his ultimate trump card. By using Najenda’s life force, he can empower himself to incredible heights, but it only has three uses before Najenda, herself, would die. Susano’o helped dispatch Kurome’s puppets which forced Bols to self-destruct his Teigu, hoping the last would wipe them out. Bols survived, but was tricked by Chelsea on his way back to Kurome. Chelsea ends up killing Bols. Weakened from the battle, Kurome retreats and Chelsea disguises herself as Bols in an attempt to assassinate her. Chelsea thinks she had successfully assassinated Kurome, but she revealed herself as still alive. She counterattacks and as a result, Chelsea is killed by Kurome’s puppets.
The manga ends on Tatsumi following a blood trail into town only to see Chelsea’s head on a pike. The Jaegers are down to five… Night Raid is down to seven.
The manga and the anime are still in alignment so far and it was still sad seeing Bols die. Chelsea dying was a bit of a shock still because he was one of the newest members of Night Raid. In terms of power, she was the weakest so it made sense for her to die first, but still… whether it was in the anime or the manga, I felt it was too soon for her. Next volume looks to be a cool down as both teams are regrouping. The aftermath of the battle will be pretty heavy for both sides so it’ll be interesting to see where it goes from here.
Characters
Bols’ death was handled a little bit better in the anime. Mainly because with a television show, you can draw out some of the more important scenes, put some nice music to it, etc. It felt a bit flat in the manga, but it’s a manga… there’s only so much you can do. Bols was a family man through and through and despite his line of work, he was a gentle soul who cared about people. He only did what he had to do to support his family and the fact that he was trying to crawl back to them on the verge of death was a pretty emotional moment. He always knew one day he would be punished for his sins so the assassin in him accepted that punishment, but the humanitarian in him just wanted to live for the sake of his family. Tragic hero/villain (depending on how you view The Jaegers) is probably the best way to describe Bols. You couldn’t but feel sorry for him.
Through Kurome, we get a little more of her and Akame’s backstory. The two of them were part of 100 children bought by the empire for experimentation. They administered drugs to them in order to turn them into lethal killing machines. They also cultivated them to erase any kind of doubts they may have about everything that was being done to them and about the people doing it. This fits into Akame’s story of escaping and wanting Kurome to come with her and Kurome refusing. Although it’s not stated here in this volume, it’s pretty apparent that whatever drugs she was given influenced Kurome more so than Akame, resulting in her decision to stay and brand Akame as a traitor. I’m also guessing the drug has something to do with Kurome wanting to eat candy all the time. Little by little were getting the pieces to the puzzle.
Chelsea’s backstory was the biggest death flag so far. She didn’t stay to confirm Kurome’s death and on her way back she remembers her past. How convenient right before Kurome shows back up and kills her, right? I understand this is a manga where characters are not going to last long, but there needs to be a better way to not make an impending death so obvious. Oh well, RIP Chelsea… your personality was one that people were just getting warmed up to. Could have been a fun character.
Some close calls with Leone and Mine, though. Glad they pulled through. Also like how Mine is becoming less and less of a true tsundere and more along the lines of just someone with a short tempter. That kind of personality fits her better, in my opinion.
Final Thoughts
After volume after volume of short battles, it was refreshing to see an entire volume dedicated to such a huge battle. I can’t imagine there being small battles or quick assassinations from here on out. The Jaegers are sure to regroup and launch another offensive and we still have Shura from last volume wandering about. Not surprised that he didn’t make an appearance here since this battle was dedicated to Night Raid vs The Jaegers. I’m sure we’ll see more of him soon enough. There’s also the issue with Bolic and his plans to assassinate the religious Lord as well.
Lots of things left to happen in this series and Volume eight looks to be cool down to set up the next big struggle!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
