Akame Ga Kill!, Volume 2

In this volume we find out about teigus, the powerful weapons the members of Night Raid wield, our heroes face not one but two demented villains, and Tatsumi finally must admit that Sayo and Ieyasu are dead. Okay so naming the weapons teigus totally throw me off because whenever anyone said it I pictured Tengu instead of Teigu and now every time I look at one of their weapons there's a Tengu's face on it. Such a nitpicky thing I know but it really drove me nuts! I think at this point we can safely say that Takahiro is an absolute master at creating absolutely twisted, demented, and utterly inhuman villains. Both in terms of the art depicting these villains and their stories. Female villains especially. Both Aria and Seryu appear to be completely normal, well-adjusted, and even sweet young women when they are first introduced. We find out pretty quickly though that they are the exact opposite. What makes them so terrifying though is their complete confidence in the fact that what they are doing is not only right but some twisted form of justice. I am still really enjoying the uniqueness of the teigus as well. So far this really makes this story stand out. Night Raid isn't just fighting an evil Empire they are fighting an evil empire with weapons that can turn one person into their own one-man army. This allows Takahiro from falling into a kind of trope of having overpowered heroes. While yes they are overpowered, the people they are fighting have the same advantage and since each weapon has its own unique ability our heroes have to adjust their strategy every time they face a new teigu. I'm giving this one five stars, however, I am starting to worry that the rushed feeling I had watching the anime will also happen reading the mangas. Night Raid faces not one but two teigu wielders in this one *and* we lose one of the members of Night Raid. It's only volume 2. That is a pretty quick progression from Tatsumi literally just joining Night Raid. Still holding out hope though. And one other thing that kind of bugged me is that Tatsumi apparently had been holding out hope that his friends, one of which he saw missing a portion of their body and the other who dies literally in his arms, may be able to come back to life. While this is certainly a portion of the grieving process I felt like it kind of came out of left field that he had been harboring this hope. There wasn't any indication in volume one that he had even been thinking something like this. It didn't really detract from the story but it was definitely used as a plot device that I think could have been handled in a different manner. Overall, I'm still looking forward to reading volume 3 even with my complaints.