Akame ga Kiru

At least Ran is still (forcibly) kept around. I'll do that too because everyone else had been dropping like flies and there's really no way to let go of them that easily. I think something made me feel bad to see in this Crapsack World a stupid MICROPHONE is made into a Teigu; our descendants could very possibly be people who has flipping amazing future/magic technologies and they would never relax to and enjoy anything like today's popular culture.

If you see me I'm on an accidental Archive Binge.

Just binged this manga. On the whole, it's good. Can't say I like the way the Empire is so over-the-top cruel. The work's YMMV page is right: at lot of it seems made to shock the audience in the same way as a Snuff Film.

Otherwise, the series is solid. Over-the-top villains aside, most characters are well-developed; I like the art style and the way the author pulls off fights, and although some elements of the story seemed predictable (I predicted in advance the deaths of Schere, Braht and Chelsea, and that Mine would survive the deathflags), that hasn't stopped me from enjoying it.

Gotta say I liked Esdeath's and Tatsumi's interactions, particularly how it was made explicitly clear that Esdeath wasn't going to be a case of Love Redeems. Can't say I would ship Tatsumi and Mine, but at least they made it to being the Official Couple without any big misunderstandings or regrets about not being able to spit it out. For once, that was mercifully averted.

Also, is it just me, or are Incursio and Grand Chariot Guyver Expies? I haven't actually seen much of that series, but they seem pretty similar.

I think they are more Tekkaman.

If you see me I'm on an accidental Archive Binge.

We 2-cour now.

I'm waiting warmly for the anime. The seiyuu selection was the best it could be I think. Not sure about Akame's boob-job, but that can't be too bad.

My inner hipster's already snarling at the inevitable new fans, but I'm doing my best to keep that in check.

I did naht.

Personally I'll get a ton lfun from watching their reactions when heads start to roll.

They'll most likely get spoiled. This series is REALLY easy to ruin for someone, and I don't doubt that the jerks on the internet will be quick to jump on that train.

Still, I want to witness the Chelsea shitstorm in fullswing if the anime reaches that point. Maybe Schere to a lesser degree.

Personally, Chelsea and Braht we're the hardest for me.

I did naht.

You notice that Braht and Suu have really proud warrior deaths

while Chelsea and Schere have really brutal being butchered deaths?

Chelsea set up one death flag, while Mein was eating them for breakfast and shitting out lazer beams. Really didn't see her death coming before Mein's, it was a merry christmas for me I guess.

Braht's just felt sad because I thought he'd go out in a bigger battle. Digged his poumpador and was sad to see him go down to poison. He could've done some work against other Jaeger members, seemed like a shame he went out the way he did.

I think at one point Esdese even mentioned that he was one of the few people who could go toe to toe with her.

edited 28th May '14 9:22:12 AM by Jigaboo

I did naht.

You know, I've been wondering for some time what's the deal with Mein. There's no way that the author isn't doing this intentionally. So why Mein seemingly Death Flag-proof? Well, If he just wanted to spare her it would be much simpler to just not give her any death flags in the first place. That would also be less likely to annoy the readers and cause accusations of favoritism. So what's the deal?

Well basically, I think we are getting set up to be trolled. I think the author is trying to regain the shock factor death had at the beginning of manga.

What I mean by that is well, the first few deaths were very shocking not because they were illogical or unrealistic but because they died in situation that in most action series would end up with them surviving through some turn of events due to what's commonly referred to as "character shield". Years of reading manga trained us readers to see this type of dangerous "nobody could survive that" situations that main characters get in and subconsciously call the bluff on the possibility of their death, "like you would ever do that.". Except this manga doesn't bluff. Character shields can fail at any moment.

Well, not really at any moment, which gets us to the root of our problem. The author usually sets the death flags well in advance, sometimes at the beginning of the story arc in which they will die. As we kept reading the manga we quickly learned to reorganize those death flags - or maybe just unlearned to ignore them. We could see it coming from mile away, and the death of main characters became such a staple of the series it became expected - it was more shocking if an arc ended with no one dying!

So yeah, the deaths in this series stopped being shocking and unexpected. But the problem is, those shocking, unexpected deaths were large part of what made this series memorable in the first place and what set it apart from dozens other action series. The thrill was gone.

So what was the author to do? Well, he could just start randomly kill characters with absolutely no set-up or foreshadowing, but that probably wouldn't go over well with the fans. A different method was needed.

This is where Mein comes in: Her death is constantly foreshadowed but never happens so people will start ignoring her death flags again. I noticed it too, slowly but surely people are starting to believe that Mein will not be killed off, they are starting to treat her death flags as just another fake out. This is all of course so that when a chapter comes when Mein will not pull through and will simply die everyone will be like: "wait, what?"

This is of course brilliantly compounded by making Mein Tatsumi's love interest. What better way to make sure her death has emotional impact and isn't just businesses as usual.

Well, at least that's my idea. I wonder if it's correct.

Sexism strikes again. It'd be nice if the next time a female character dies, it weren't cringeworthy or just sad, but more awesome.

No, I agree. Well, I'd like to think that my character-death senses are more honed than that of others, since I guessed a lot of deaths in advance (see my post above), but I agree on your assessment regarding 'character shields'. It's not that characters are more fragile here than in other series, but rather, they consistently face off against others with an about equal level of power, and that makes things very even.

I'd say, based on everything so far, that Mein will definitely die. The happier a character is, the more agonizing their death tends to be; becoming an Official Couple with someone you love in a world like this is something not many are able to have. Maybe Esdeath will kill her personally, or perhaps it will be a Heroic Sacrifice, but I really feel it will have a bigger punch than any of the others.

edited 28th May '14 10:24:04 PM by Crinias

No rape pls. It's like the author bottled up all the terrible things that could've happened in Majikoi and released it all on this work.

If the manga decides to go the cliche route, then all the author needs to do is have Mein killed with Esdeath directly or indirectly responsible for it. Tatsumi finds out, cue anger power up. Then yada yada.

I'd like to see something different honestly. Depending on how it turns out, it could really stand out.

edited 28th May '14 9:07:13 PM by Jigaboo

I did naht.

Honestly... Akame is gonna be the one that kills Esdeath

since a subtle hint in all of Esdeath's fights is no one has landed the lightest scratch on her.

IDK about Mine... it could be clever build up, but if it is then people will see it coming in a case of "I know that you know that I know that you know"

I guess if it happens, it happens, if it don't, it don't

I kinda want to see Shura's meltdown upon learning that half his 'crack' squad got wiped out in one night cause you know the PM is gonna troll him hard.

Haven't read the last twenty chapters or so but fuck Mein. Not a single fuck will be given when she inevitably gets killed off (because anyone who didn't think this was a fakeout from the beginning does not know this series well enough).

I've got new mythological machinery, and very handsome supernatural scenery. Goodfae: a mafia web serial

Shura and his dad are going to piss each other about whether WH or Rakhshasas got murked faster. Though, does Shura still have his army of zombie-ish monsters?

The writer is saving Mein for about 4 or 5 chapters at least. What worries me is Lionne, maybe plus Rabac.

If you see me I'm on an accidental Archive Binge.

New chapter out. A very short interlude.

@Shlugo the great >> I think you are partialy right, but overaly wrong. Shock factor is gone and author knows it well and that's why he started troll with Death flags. It is not suprising that someone dies, but if you give hang sword of Damocless above every single character you can create long termed tension as you don't know WHO WILL BE NEXT nor WHEN.

Also I would point that after Braht and Schere death no original member died, only new recruits and than attention got shifted to Jeagers. Author clearly hesitate before killing another established character and just keep pilling DF one after another.

As for Mein I wouldn't be suprised if she actualy lived through all of it. If she was killed Tatsumi will hardly hook with someone else so easily there will be no Akame x Tatsu or Leone x Tatsu, it would actualy cheapen death IN UNIVERSE. So unless Takahiro-sensei doesn't plans make major shift in mood and break Tatsumi and his current personality, Mein is safe.

Everyone has death flags and I would add that Mein is by no means less Flag-proof than Rabac or Leone who break at least one (but usualy more) per arc.

edited 2nd Jun '14 4:41:41 PM by Tenzen12

There is still ample bounding space for Akame X Tatsu.

By the way, if the anime starts and someone tells me there is no absolute evil in this story, I'll tear his face off and throw it to that little shit with a flute.

If you see me I'm on an accidental Archive Binge.

Yeah there is "ample bounding space" for Akame x Tatsumi, that's cause their relationship is largely underdeveloped. Only way how that could happen after Meins death would be some at least year long timeskip for Tatsumi pull himself together. Without that there is no chance for such development.

In other hand it's not like timeskip is impossible itself.

edited 3rd Jun '14 1:49:13 AM by Tenzen12

The idea that Mein will survive because she's Tatsumi's girlfriend... well let's just say I disagree. The author won't hesitate for a second to stuff her into a fridge if it suits him.

I think anyone would find it hard to argue that villains are anything short of monsters.

It's not actualy only about Mein. Author will think twice before killing ANY established character, I belive Rabac and Leone are relatively safe too. Tashiro-Sensei doesn't kill indiscriminately for while already.

edited 3rd Jun '14 3:38:36 AM by Tenzen12

I suspect he's just trying to regain the shock factor the deaths used to hold near the start and middle of the manga. At some point, people just kinda got desensitized to what he was doing and he had to work twice as hard to give the deaths more impact. (ie Bohr's family getting the funny bone)

I did naht.

Ha, it's exactly this line of thinking that Tashiro is aiming for right now, I bet. That he won't dare to kill any more established characters. I find this belief way too naive.

Well, this is all just idle speculations of course. All we can do is wait and see.

He'd be hard pressed to top what happened to Bho's family, at least in terms of sheer derangment.

edited 3rd Jun '14 3:57:10 AM by Shlugo_the_great

Or he want us think, thats what he want us thing while not thinking that at all!

Soon or later he will kill someone important, but it will be very carefuly thought move and not based on mere stupid flag.

edited 3rd Jun '14 4:15:58 AM by Tenzen12

I'm fine with Mine dying... aslong as it doesn't lead to some stupidly forced rebound romance of Akame x Tatsumi

Honestly you're all starting to sound like

That was intentional...