Finally, after so many volumes, Akame ga KILL! Zero starts showing Akame leaving the Empire. It’s been a long time coming even if it isn’t as rewarding as it should be.
One of my complaints of this series is that her closeness to her allies makes it hard to believe she would leave them. Akame has been unhappy at points with her missions (and she still is), but she also loves her sister and their friends. So when she loses another one of her comrades in this volume, it would seem like her resolve to take down the Revolutionary Army would only get stronger. However, the deaths of the children she has been training with affects her more, and it’s at this point we — at last — see her meet Najenda.
Now, perhaps I’m remembering wrong, but in Akame ga KILL!, I thought after Akame set out to kill Najenda, she convinces Akame to switch sides, and that’s that. The good news is that Akame’s desertion is not as sudden as I had thought. It’s after a tough battle with a certain guy with a pompadour hairstyle that she’s offered a spot on their team. Akame doesn’t officially decline or accept the offer, but she immediately sets her mind to convincing Kurame and company to also leave the team. She does reveal the truth about the medicine to her sister, but Kurame is determined to stay. Perhaps the next volume will go deeper into Akame’s thoughts, but I wish we could see her struggle with the thought of perhaps having to turn her blade on her friends one day — or even sending them to their deaths by no longer having her skills on their side.
In Takahiro’s postscript, he writes, “The story really starts moving after this point, so the chapters move along quicker too.” That’s so true. Before this, the manga is just more battles and recovering from battles. Then the manga pace picks up, and even though Akame’s decision to fight the Empire is not instant, it’s still faster than I would have liked. However, Zero has suddenly realized it’s crunch time to finish off the series, and Akame’s decision is more like getting a new job offer than a soldier (assassin) rebelling.
On the bright side, I loved seeing Night Raid again. After all, they manage to get one of the Empire’s strongest warriors to aid their cause, so of course they exude charm. But to look back on them knowing what fate has in store makes their attempts to court Akame more powerful. Unfortunately, it’s still jarring to see Toru’s version of these characters versus Tashiro’s. While he has gotten better (particularly in action scenes), Toru draws flatter faces and still has to end the volume with a boob grab and a kick that was saved from being explicit thanks to pants.
But chances are that if you have spent eight previous volumes with all the adult images, you probably will barely blink at this relatively tame ninth one. Plus, nothing else really matters now that the series has shown the life-changing encounter between Akame and Najenda. It’s what I’ve been waiting for and overrides much of Akame ga KILL! Zero‘s flaws.