Akame ga KILL!

Episode 15

Though Akame ga KILL! began its second cour with episode 14, this episode marks the debut of its new and updated opener and closer. The former, “Liar Mask” by relative anime newcomer Rika Mayama, features Night Raid and the Jaegers almost equally backing a bold new song, while the latter, “Tsuki Akari” by first OP singer Sora Amamiya, is a gentler, prettier number featuring Akame and Kurome exclusively. Both are at least equal to the originals in quality, and at least they don't continue to feature deceased characters. . . Well, until some of the current crop start to die, of course, and given the direction events are headed by the end of this episode, a couple of upcoming deaths seem inevitable.

Now that the humanoid Danger Beasts have been dealt with, the Jaegers' attention is fully on Night Raid, but so is Night Raid's focus on the Jaegers. The Revolutionary Army is finally ready to make its move, and to do so it plans to take advantage of an anticipated uprising led by the Path of Peace religious group. An attack by western tribes is also going to be coordinated with the uprising, and groundwork has already been laid for sympathizing outpost commanders to cooperate and allow the Revolutionary Army to approach the capital from a different direction. The main obstacles are a capital spy in the Path of Peace that may be trying to disrupt the revolt and the Jaegers, and that means luring the Jaegers out for a fight and splitting their forces. First up is to confront the team of Kurome, Wave, and Bols. Even with Wave quickly knocked out of the way, the unleashed power of Kurome's Imperial Arms demonstrate that she and Bols alone will still be no pushovers.

Any viewer knew that a direct, massed confrontation between the Jaegers and Night Raid was inevitable, and it looks like episode 16 will start that in earnest. Though episode 15 could be said to merely serve as the set-up for that, it also serves the greater purpose of establishing the overall plot direction for probably most of this season and firming up some character trends. Bols is turning out to be a surprisingly deeper and more interesting character than he first appeared that he might be, as he fully accepts that he's done some awful things, and that the enemy might target him specifically because of that, but he isn't about to go into self-punishment mode because his family still gives him plenty to live and fight for. Seryu's descent into madness is pretty much complete, which Waver is definitely not blind to, and Tatsumi shows further signs of having turned the corner on accepting that trying to save/reform everyone is at best impractical and at worst impossible. Unsurprisingly, Chelsea seems to be falling for Tatsumi, too, so the faint whiff of a harem aspect to the series still lingers.

The fan service also kicks up a bit here, too. While it is still pretty tame, most of the female Night Raid members are pointedly shown in bikinis and shot selections seem to be emphasizing characters' chests and/or full body pans as much or more than ever before. Bloody violence is limited to one early scene, although that one scene is quite graphic.

Even with the minimal amount of action, episode 15 nonetheless offers a very solid addition to the series. The course seems to be laid out for several more episodes of bloody fun.

Rating: B

Akame ga KILL! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.