Akame has already decided to join the Revolutionary Army and is planning to take Kurome with her no matter what. But first, she wants to try to convince Tsukushi to come with her.
I’m sure most of you know or can guess what happens next.
This volume is three things:
- The conclusion of Akame ga KILL! Zero
- An introduction to Akame ga KILL!
- An advertisement for Hinowa ga CRUSH!
While these all fight for pagetime, it ends up mostly working.
So, as you have probably guessed, Akame must face off with her unofficial family. It’s a blood-filled encounter, and when combined with Gozuki’s ability to grow different parts of his body, a creepy one. And unlike a lot of the other battles in this series, it’s not a perverted one full of sexual assaults and excuses to get naked. Why couldn’t we have more of this in the manga? Then, when Tsukushi arrives, the battle becomes dramatic. Without going any further, there’s a moment here of Akame’s that later mirrors Kurome’s. It really drives home how the two sisters are both so alike and yet so different.
Speaking of Kurome, the biggest question I had was how Kurome ended up on the other side. Kurome hasn’t understood why Akame is insistent on betraying Gozuki, but it’s not like the sisters have been hateful and angry with each other. Here, we see Kurome snap after she’s separated from Akame, who did not leave her on purpose. The art does a good job of showcasing the little sister’s mental state, but I wish we could have seen her reaction immediately when she realized Akame wasn’t around so we could better understand her. The sisters briefly reunite late in this volume, but any further interaction is reserved for the original series.
Which leads to point #2. About half of the volume takes place with Najenda and her assassination unit. About one chapter takes place right after Akame deserts, but then we fast forward a few months later. Both settings include fanservice — of the sexual variety and of the “oh, look who it is” variety. I didn’t think I was going to like how volume 10 didn’t make itself all about Akame’s final battle longer, leaving her bonding with Leone and the others to readers’ imaginations. But seeing everyone just…man, it made me want to run back into the arms of Akame ga KILL! This volume just gives you enough of a taste that you either want to read or reread the original series. The only downside is that we miss Akame becoming accustomed to and/or warming up to this group after losing everyone for one reason or another in Zero.
There is one character (well, two technically, although we don’t see one on-screen here) whose fate is left open, and Takahiro reveals that they will appear in Hinowa ga CRUSH!, the third series in Akame’s story. I don’t think people will rush out to buy that just for these two, but I do think it’s a good idea that the author didn’t write, “Their story continues…” or something and make someone think that Akame ga KILL! will feature them. Even if you hadn’t read the original series, Night Raid’s comedic interactions (not to mention Akame/Kurome) work better as a hook to continue diving into this world than seeing if two characters meet again. Fortunately, most of this is relegated to a few pages here and there and doesn’t distract from the better parts of the story.
So while I don’t really care if that character chases down the person they want to see again, I do hope that fans chase down this last volume of Akame ga KILL! Zero. It shows the ramifications of Akame’s decision, both the good and the bad, and is good as both a prequel and a conclusion.