Akame Ga Kill!: Collection 2

Aired on TVs Toonami/Adult Swim, this is the final entry for this superior “sentai” action series centered on a team of super-powered heroes and heroines. In a corrupted Empire that is simultaneously feudal and futuristic, the Night Raid freedom-fighters are dissident ex-military members and royal assassins who are now determined to end the depraved leadership. Often GMO'ed or cyborg-enhanced with near-mystical weaponry, the team are practically a mirror image of their opponents, the "Jaegers" (the Empire's most elite defenders). In a seriocomic running plotline, boyish Night Raider Tatsumi is romantically pursued by the Empire's dreaded enforcer, the bosomy Gen. Esdeath (your anime word-of-the-day is “tsundere,” a fearsome alpha-female who nonetheless succumbs to a crush like a schoolgirl). While Akame Ga Kill!: Collection 1 (VL-5/16) introduced the colorful ensemble of violent and sexy warriors, this one focuses on duels in which they kill each other off. Even though it is literally cartoon violence, the gore and dismemberment on display are graphic. Extras include a handful of comedy shorts with simplified South Park-esque caricatures of slain characters who complain that the script didn't strictly follow the source comic books. Presenting the last 12 episodes from 2014 in separate dual-language DVD and Blu-ray editions, rated TV-MA, this action-packed and beautifully drawn series is highly recommended. (C. Cassady)