Akame ga KILL!

Episode 19

Multiple super-powered fights go on, with a few smaller conflicts surrounding one main fight. Things get bloody. A little character development is inserted. Then someone eventually dies in dramatic fashion.

This is pretty much the stock description for the more action-oriented episodes of Akame ga KILL!, and it is exactly what episode 19 delivers. That is not meant as an indictment, however, for the series is often at its best in such episodes, and that is certainly true here. As Night Raid carries out its attack to eliminate Imperial spy Borick and the Jaegers play defense, Tatsumi and Mine team up to provide a diversion for the rest. That diversion attracts the attention of the remaining Rakshasa Demon and Seryu, who pursue the pair to a ruin-strewn cannon. As Tatsumi confronts the female Demon, Mine and Seryu reprise their head-to-head battle from episode 5. Meanwhile, in the main strike force, Susanoo and Leone confront Kurome and eventually Wave, too, while Lubbock and Akame go after the main prey and Najenda pays a little visit to Esdeath. And indeed there are some deaths, including one more long-established character finally taking a fall.

The feature fight this time is the Mine/Seryu affair, to the point that all of the other fights are addressed only briefly. Tatsumi's victory over the remaining Demon is relatively quick and a little disappointing, and the Leone/Susanoo vs. Kurome/Wave fight is not shown fully, but if that is the sacrifice necessary to keep the focus on Mine and Seryu then it is an acceptable compromise, for this is arguably the feature one-on-one battle of the series to date. Both somewhat hypocritically regard the other as evil, both bear deep grudges against the other over the deaths of beloved comrades at the other's hands, both are striving to overcome backgrounds where the world once seemed to have rejected them, and both have softer and more sympathetic sides but unleash their full fury and determination here. It very nearly ends up being a mutual kill, too, but Mine's cooler head and actually having a living ally allow her to prevail. Looked at from a more cynical viewpoint, Seryu's story is a tragic one of a girl who utterly loses her way in the pursuit of justice, and such characters are never suffered to live for too long. Her death was inevitable.

One of the most enjoyable points the fight brings up is that, once again, Mine cannot be underestimated any more than the rest of Night Raid. For as fragile as she looks, she can hold her own quite impressively. The byplay between her and Tatsumi, and the suggestions that she might be falling for him, are also a nice touch, as was seeing the trust that Tatsumi puts in Mine by solely focusing on his own fight instead of constantly worrying about coming back to help her. (Think about how rare that is in shonen action battles.) The crowning side achievement of the episode, though, is Najenda's conversation with Esdeath. The way she shows respect for her opponent's ability while also verbally jabbing her about how she's been outmaneuvered is smooth and wicked.

Granted, the anachronistic quality of the series achieves utterly ridiculous levels here (shoulder-mounted rocket launchers worthy of a mecha, and a full-blown missile, too!), but at this point you have to just roll your eyes and accept that pretty much anything could pop up at some point. What matters most is that everything comes together nicely for one of the strongest episodes of the series to date.

Rating: B+

Akame ga KILL! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.