The final battle begins!
Creative Staff
Story: Takahiro
Art: Tetsuya Tashiro
Translation: Christine Dashiell
What They Say
The Night Raid takes its last mission!
The final decisive battle begins as Esdeath attacks the Revolutionary Army! Does only slaughter await those who have infiltrated the Empire…? Find out what happens in the penultimate volume!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
With this volume, the final battle kicks off, and it covers a number of fronts over the course of the book. The big one to discuss is probably Esdeath and… I don’t know how I feel about her presence here. In theory it makes sense that she needs to be the big final threat, because she’s the one left and she’s always been overwhelmingly powerful. But with that said, it kind of feels like it goes TOO far, with her literally waging war with an army on her own! That makes for some cool moments, but it’s also just a bit much, too.
One other key element is the various assassinations that need to be carried out. I actually like this bit, as it ties in well to the theming of the series and just makes sense that it’s important to not let all the key players slip away in the confusion. And I also like that these VIPs aren’t really fighters and go down fairly easily. Though that brings me to the biggest frustration with the volume: Akame and Leone split up at the very end, when the time comes to kill the minister and one other guy on their list. They even acknowledge that they’re not supposed to, and are just doing it to take care of things a little faster. And it really does feel like Leone is loudly saying “please let me go die!” and when things naturally go poorly, it just doesn’t feel earned or impactful like the previous deaths in the series. (And even if this is somehow a fakeout despite seeming fairly decisive, this turn of events still feels cheap and unearned.)
The biggest thing, though, quite literally… is that the emperor brings out a Teigu that’s essentially a giant mech! It’s just a real monster, and certainly makes this feel like a decisive battle! Even with all their power they’ve amassed, can our heroes possibly take it down with their diminished forces?!
In Summary
So, for the most part, I like this volume. We’ve entered into the final battle with plenty of action and a huge scale to boot, and it really feels like it. Though with that said, I do have two issues of note with the book. Firstly, Esdeath is just plain too powerful. I can see how we got here, and it’s not like it’s actively terrible, but it really does feel like it’s gone way too far. The other, worse example, though, is that the characters make a decision that just feels entirely illogical, driven more by the needs of the plot than anything else. It just really cheapens out what should have been a powerful moment, which sucks as it really didn’t need to be that way. Other than that, though, there’s still a lot to love here, and I’m definitely still excited to see where the final volume takes us.
Content Grade: B+
Art Grade: B+
Package Rating: B+
Text/Translation Rating: B+
Age Rating: Older Teen
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: April 24th, 2018
MSRP: $12.99
