User blog comment:B214/Akame ga Kill! Episode 23 Review/@comment-1746153-20141214200403/@comment-1746153-20141214204624


 * Sigh* Wall of text incoming.

I mostly referred to everything Ran goes through during the Wild Hunt arc. It showed a lot of his personality, both his twisted side when he tortured Champ (and the fact that he was so obsessed with revenge in the first place, just how far he went to get it) and his selfless side as he protected Kurome (he literally shielded her with his body from Champ's explosion). His death (well, undeath) was symbolic in a way since he was killed by Kurome - a child messed up by the Empire - and his main goal was to change the Empire and he did it for the children. His very existence was doomed because he was pursuing the impossible goal. His death was tragic, and I love tragedy. Not to mention that moment when he stands up and fights/flies after being fatally injured, driven by his controversial resolve (both the desires for revenge and to protect Kurome). Really, him standing up to use Divine Wings must be my favorite moment. While reading that for the first time, I was like, "Wow... This guy sure is tougher than he looks". That said, I never thought him being so revenge-obsessed to be a good thing since no person, even Champ, deserves a brutal torture like that. Ran himself referred to it as he was dying. However, I like it when characters are flawed, controversial, have a dark side to their personality, are mentally disturbed (I'm pretty sure Ran was quite traumatized by seeing those kids slaughtered) and do questionable things. It's what makes them interesting, and this is why I love Ran so much.

In the anime he just stands there most of the time, then has a short fight scene where with some exposition clumsily thrown in. Why was he there at all, again? So yeah... Not that I had any hopes since we knew in advance that there'd be no WH arc in the anime.