Akame ga Kill! – 23

With just Wave and Run still standing between Night Raid and Onest and the Emperor, AGK!’s milieu has become a much smaller and lonelier. But Wave is, er…wavering, and we already know Run’s designs. Also, this is the last two episodes, so it’s good there aren’t too many people milling around. It was also fairly certain someone would die…but who?

After one final Night Raid mission briefing, Tatsumi, Akame and Leone blow right into the ornate but flimsily-constructed Imperial Palace, and none of the guards put up much of a fight. But they’re not here to fight grunts or kill unnecessarily.

The guards won’t stand down until Run himself dismisses them. While he’s all for rebellion, he wants it done bloodlessly, from within, or something. Sorry Run, the ship has sailed on that! Still, he bars their path, but Leone is able to occupy him enough to let Tatsumi and Akame slip past and head to the throne room. This is it!

With just a handful of palace guards around Onest and the Emperor, this looks like it’s going to be a cinch, but of course, it isn’t. Night Raid and the Jaegers may have had their Imperial Arms, but through the puppet Emperor, Onest has THE Imperial Arm: Shikotazer. Trump-cardier and trump-cardier…

Backed into a corner and with the rebellion literally at the base of the throne, Onest directs the boy to harden his heart and assert his authority through force. Shikotazer rises from the wreckage of the shoddily-built palace, possessing the ‘Power of God’, which is to say the atom, apparently, and starts firing devastating (though hopefully not radioactive) volleys all over his own beautiful capital, burning and killing hundreds. Nice job, kid.

Onest’s hold on the kid is as ironclad as Shikotazer’s armor, and Tatsumi is soon overwhelmed, but then Wave shows up, having made up his mind. Actually, pretty sure Onest made it for him by attacking innocent people. Wave is a soldier, and soldiers protect the weak. Even if the Emperor is a lost cause, I’m glad Wave ended up on the right side. Though man, he sure ‘saw no evil, heard no evil’ for a long time!

The Emperor begs Tatsumi and Wave to give up (not sure why, since he’s fine blowing everything and everyone else up), but Tatsumi obviously perists, driven by his desire not to let those he’s lost down: Sayo and Ieyasu; Sheele, Bulat, Chelsea, Lubbock, and Mine. They all died so Tatsumi could be here and finish the job.

He awakens a new stage of Incursio, golden and winged, and blasts a hole through Shikotazer’s weakest spot, blowing numerous holes in his own body in the process. His wounds are made worse and ultimately fatal by his final selfless act: slowing the descent of the defeated juggernaut to save a group of bystanders frozen in terror.

Akame is not happy that Tatsumi breaks his promise not to die, but she just doesn’t understand how death flags work. She also isn’t aware of the title of the show she’s in, because this isn’t Tatsumi ga Kill!. The final battle was always going to involve Akame, and her opponent will be Esdeath, no doubt just as pissed off about Tatsumi dying…if he’s really dead…which he probably is.

Ookami Shoujo to Kuro Ouji – 10

Ookami was in a giving mood this week. We got a break from ominous new characters and fresh internal/external threats to Erika and Kyoya’s relationship. It’s Erika’s birthday, and while Kyoya seems a little put out at first, he puts in the effort and has a good showing. After all, it’s not like he’s getting nothing out of this; he likes to see Erika happy, so he’s not going to screw up this time.

It may not be much (plus he doesn’t have to lift a finger to plan anything for her date) a sea change from the ‘there’s nothing wrong with me, it’s the world that’s wrong’ attitude. Hanging out with Kakeru and now a newly-reformed Nozomi (who make a great duo) has worn him down; he now knows it’s better to be honest with your feelings and do whatever it takes to make someone happy. It’s part of what love is.

Which is convenient, because when Kyoya asks Erika what she wants for her birthday, Erika says simply, ‘love’. Eavesdropping on her chatting with Ayumi, he learns that for Erika, that means telling her, straight up, “I love you,” and meaning it. Kyoya doesn’t have an issue with meaning that anymore, he does love her, but it’s the actual physical act of saying it that provides the only measurable conflict in an otherwise blissfully perfect date that follows.

Likin’ Erika’s new ‘do!

 

Kyoya’s mates clued Kyoya in on something that he adheres to when it comes to interacting with Erika. It’s not about going through motions to placate her, it’s about being natural and wanting to do and say the things he does…which he does, he’s just shy and bashful and has gone so long without acting like a normal emotive human being. Heck, Erika is the one who yanked him out of that abyss to begin with, so while he looks and sounds stiff at times, there’s no doubt he’s enjoying himself too.

What’s so great about the date is how astonished Erika is that Kyoya is being so nice, fully expecting him to flip out at any moment about one thing or another, as before. It makes her happy just to be with him doing these things, but even happier that he’s mostly past such immaturity.

Still, not overtly showing his love (or stating it) throws off a nosy little girl who asks Kyoya straight up if he loves Erika. Kyoya freezes and his face scares the girl off, requiring an apology to her mother.

Kyoya’s inability throughout the day to tell Erika “I love you”, despite a few golden (and more silver and bronze) opportunities to do so isn’t even that huge of a conflict here, as we were pretty sure at some point Erika would give him the in he needed: hearing her say she loves him, so naturally and earnestly, while standing in a busy street, was that in, and Kyoya uses it.

The pretense of saving her from traffic, along with the bright headlights and engine noise, provided enough cover for the shy, bashful lad to say what needed to be said. And doggone it, Erika HEARD him say it!

And that’s what made this episode stand out despite following the well-worn ‘guy/gal has trouble saying I love you’ date episodes: sure, there were the usual false alarms and redirects, but in the end Kyoya said what needed to be said, which he’s smart enough to know was the most important thing he could do for Erika on her birthday. She asked for love, after all.

Cross Ange: Tenshi to Ryuu no Rondo – 10

One reason I handed off Gundam-G review duties to Zane was that there was just too much going on, none of which made enough sense me to care, whether it was the endless parade of proper nouns or the endless arbitrary political machinations. Ange doesn’t make sense either sometimes, but it’s telling a far more cohesive tale that has actually drawn me in.

It’s also uncomplicated: by making the Norma out to be monsters, something not all of them are by a long shot) the arrogant, prejudice masses of mana-using humans are the real monsters, as demonstrated at the evening public whipping, mocking and hanging Ange must endure for basically causing ‘mild discomfort and unhappiness’ for a few people.

Franklin: This is for you.

Yes, the people, including Ange’s former classmates, her brother, and even her little sister, are nothing but spoiled, petulant, hyper-sensitive shitstains and there’s nothing redeemable about them, nor is there meant to be anything redeeming about them. Uncomplicated.

Tusk also swoops in undeterred by any air defenses and actually takes his sweet time rescuing Ange like we knew he would.

The show doesn’t bother mussing its hair about details like ‘Ange did murder dozens of people’ (the scum deserved it), or ‘Tusk’s hoverbike is oddly quiet enough for Ange to give a “Fuck You” speech to the crowd’, and ‘its exhaust is cool enough not to burn her siblings on her way out’, or ‘Tusk buries his face in Ange’s crotch, making this kind of his running gag (which is terrible). Uncomplicated.

Never mind how Ange and Momoka found the cabin attachment to Tusk’s paramail while he was unconscious, I think this is the question we all most wanted answered this week. While Tusk doesn’t have a satisfying answer, we must assume he either has extremely bad (or possibly in his case, good) luck, or is actually a pervert who targets Ange’s crotch any chance he gets.

In any case, the joke is only used once, and our dealings with Tusk are thankfully limited to the first half. The rescue was ultimately swift and uncomplicated. And don’t say Jill doesn’t have a sense of humor, because when she locks Ange up for desertion, she has her share a cell with the also recently-recaptured (never mind how) Hilda.

The balance of the episode are the two proud and tenacious women licking their wounds and laughing at their own pathetic stupidity, believing they could simply go back to the world like nothing changed. These scenes built up more reluctant camaraderie between Ange and Hilda, who in the end agree to form a loose accord to take on and destroy that world full of bullshit for fooling them both not once but twice.

Of course, things won’t be quite the same at Arzenal, either, which didn’t stand still when Hilda and Ange deserted. Now they’re broke, possession-less, and at the bottom of the food chain. Chris takes over Hilda’s role taking over for Zola, which is an interestingly little twist as she always seemed so passive. But being betrayed changes people.

Salia and Ersha, Chris and Roselie; these are women who came to Arzenal as babies and have never seen the other world, let alone ever considered there was a place for them there. As such, none of them can quite fathom why Hilda and Ange did what they did.

Their isolation has also left them children on an emotional level, albeit children forced to fight. They put their trust into Ange and Hilda, and won’t forgive their treachery easily, if at all (Vivian already has).

Or maybe it will just take an episode. You know Ange; it likes to keep things…uncomplicated.