Produced by White Fox Studios as 24 episode series, Akame ga Kill! is the anime adaptation of an unfinished manga that follows the exploits of an assassination group looking to overthrow the corrupt empire. While it doesn't even have good writing or the proper foundations, there is no denying that this show takes its audience for a wild ride that is filled with bloodshed and explosions.
Set in a fantasy world, Akame ga Kill! begins with a talented but rather naive swordsman named Tatsumi, arriving in Empire's capital city and dreaming of making a name for himself. He quickly finds himself being stripped ... of his meager savings by a certain feline-looking women called Leona but comes across a wealthy family who decides to graciously shelter him. That very same night, a group called Night Raid hits the household with the intent of assassination. Through a series of twists that exposes the family's atrocities, Tatsumi accepts the offer to join Night Raid and starts on the path towards to assassinating those who they deem to be responsible for plaguing the Capitol with corruption. However as he and his teammates continues their campaign against those who stand in their way, the Empire responses by creating their own unit of elite soldiers called The Jaegers to hunt down Night Raid.
Within each of their own respective arsenals are incredibly powerful weapons called Imperial Arms that were forged in the early beginnings of the empire. From suits of armor to hand-held weapons and gears, the power within each of these Imperial Arms is unique and the main element to the fighting is countering each others power. Tied in with the usage of Imperial Arms, the primary feature that set Akame ga Kill! apart from other action shows is the alarming frequency in which notable characters are permanently killed. As a general rule, when two or more imperial arms users enter into a fight, at least one of them will die giving the show an huge amount of tension when battles do occur.
With a focus of ridding the Empire of its corruption, Akame ga Kill! is a very edgy show with that knows no bounds when it comes to displaying the appalling crimes and cruelty that exists within the series. However, the tone that is given doesn't lend itself to be a mature analysis of the mankind's darkness. More time than not, it comes off as being cheap and I found myself laughing at the sheer ridiculousness of it all. The underlying reasons are mere context and background to the real draw of the show of how the bloody battles unfold.
Characters
For all the horrific violence that the characters commits, the regular cast is a rather likeable bunch. Named in the title of the anime, Akame is the beautiful wielder of the Murasame, a sword that is guaranteed to kill its enemy with a single cut, and is a rather cold individual from onset. Once the series get underway, she does have some genuinely assuming moments and actually cares deeply for her friends but usually adopts a stoic demeanor during operations and for much of her downtime. Tatsumi, being the gullible and starry eye swordsman from the countryside , is the audience's introduction into the rotten and oppressive Empire and the fight bring about revolution. He starts off as fairly generic but develops into a much more powerful fighter with strong relational ties to others. Opposing Night Raid is the head of the Jeagers, General Esdeath, who is a very voluptuous and sadistic women that enjoys the thrill of the hunt. Believing in a very Darwinian principle of the strong devouring the weak, she is a very formidable foe and yet, is a little ditzy when it comes to the matters of the heart.
There are too many other characters to list off and go into details but they all share the common trait of being immensely brutal in their fighting while having comical elements attached to them. They themselves are representative of the strange dichotomy where scenes of slaughter, sexual exposition, and torture are offset by their playful comradery. While they don't having the most compelling back stories or development, the cast of Akame ga Kill certainly doesn't shy away from making their presence known by any stretch of the imagination. I would like to give a particular mention to Akame's VA, Sora Amamiya, for continuing to have an astonishing start to her career. In addition to her main role in Akame ga Kill!, she has taken on no less than four main character roles in Nanatsu no Taizai, Aldnoah.Zero, One Week Friends and Tokyo Ghoul. While her time being Akame has come to an end, I look forward what other roles she can play as she moves through the anime industry.
Visuals
Visually speaking, Akame ga Kill! is an above average effort with a very modern style, vivid colors and a few special effects thrown in for good measure. It does rely on conventional animation when going through its action sequences so there's nothing that makes it stand out in that aspect. Otherwise, the quality remains consistent throughout the entire series which is more than I can say for other series airing at the same time. In fact, one area that Studio White Fox have done a tremendous job on improving is rendering the background. While the manga does a decent job at framing its own surroundings, the additional detail and polish put in really elevates an aspect where the source material was lackluster.
Music
Taku Iwasaki, known for creating the soundtrack to Gatchaman Crowds, Noragami and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, is responsible the music behind Akame ga Kill!. Judging by his other works, he has been consistently been able to produce music that a bit quirky to listen to but still be able to enhance whatever show he works on. For this series, he incorporates a variety of musical styles from jazz to rock to orchestral music and he does a commendable job of engaging the audience with his music, no matter what the scene called for. I especially like the OST being played during the action scenes as a combinations of drums, tribal chanting and rock goes with perfectly with the unhindered primal violence being shown on the screen.
Manga Adaptation
As with almost all adaptation from manga to the anime, some things are bound to get lost in transition and Akame ga Kill! is no exception. Character interactions that gave depth to their relationship are left out but those scenes didn't really contribute in significantly in altering the core plotline. It is only towards the latter half of Akame ga Kill! that readers of the manga will notice that that the rather straightforward adaption will suddenly veer off into the original anime ending territory that leaves behind an entire arc unanimated and takes several liberties with the story. If you are only familiar with the anime TV production, it is unlikely that you would notice much of difference other than the accelerated pacing and build up. At this point, the manga remains unfinished and if the show decided to stay its original course, it would have ended in an awkward state and would have had to wait years before additional material would be available. For a show to tell a complete story in an age where anime shows are mere primers for the source material is a rarity indeed.
Conclusion
In the end, Akame ga Kill! sets out what do what it promises and that is to smother the audience with super powerups, violence and death up until the very end.
Alternative Titles Synonyms: Akame ga Kiru! Japanese: アカメが斬る! English: Akame ga Kill! French: Red Eyes Sword - Akame ga Kill! Information Type: TV Episodes: 24 Status: Finished Airing Aired: Jul 7, 2014 to Dec 15, 2014 Premiered: Summer 2014 Broadcast: Mondays at 00:00 (JST) Producers: Nihon Ad Systems, Sony Music Entertainment, TOHO animation, Q-Tec, Fields, Jinnan Studio, REAL-T Licensors: Sentai Filmworks Studios: White Fox Source: Manga Duration: 23 min. per ep. Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity) Statistics Score: 7.471 (scored by 13127171,312,717 users) 1 indicates a . Ranked: #21292 2 based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #29 Members: 2,092,061 Favorites: 29,333 Available AtResources | ReviewsDec 15, 2014 Recommended Produced by White Fox Studios as 24 episode series, Akame ga Kill! is the anime adaptation of an unfinished manga that follows the exploits of an assassination group looking to overthrow the corrupt empire. While it doesn't even have good writing or the proper foundations, there is no denying that this show takes its audience for a wild ride that is filled with bloodshed and explosions. Set in a fantasy world, Akame ga Kill! begins with a talented but rather naive swordsman named Tatsumi, arriving in Empire's capital city and dreaming of making a name for himself. He quickly finds himself being stripped ... Reviewer’s Rating: 7 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Jan 27, 2015 Recommended I've been looking at some of the other reviews who rated it 3 or 4; however I found it absolutely outstanding. The plot isn't anything out of the box, but it had a very steady pace and wasn't bad in any way. They explain things in the beginning without bogging the show down, and later on they speed things up with new characters and more complicated twists. It's also a very realistic anime. People die. It's not a surprise in real life, especially if the main group are assassins, but for some reason most anime's just make people not die by creating these impossible situations. ... But with Akame ga Kill, it's different. Once you're dead, you're dead. I know some shounen animes where, when someone dies, I don't feel sad - not because I'm not attached to the character, but because I'm just so confused. I just kind of assume that they come back somehow because everyone always manages to come back to life one way or another. By the time I realize that no, they're actually dead, it's kind of more of a shock than sadness. I also really liked the art. The fight scenes were amazing and I love how they show the intensity of their emotions. It felt very raw and very real. Each character had some unique physical quality. Lots of times in animes, I get confused with the names or even faces because they can look so similar. But Akame ga Kill had some really epic designs. The sound was pretty good - I feel the Japanese voice actors fit the characters (not to mention Lubbock was voiced by Kirito's actor ^^) and not to mention the opening and ending songs were some of the best I have ever heard. The first opening was just straight out awesomeness. It's catchy and rock. The second was even better. It had a more bitter sounding quality to it, and showed the sorrow of the anime while still maintaining the really cool action part. The ending songs were the polar opposite compared to the intros because they were more slow-paced and sad, but that was what made them amazing. Characters. I have quite a bit to say about this. Lots of people were mentioning that Akame should have been the main character because her name was in the title, but I disagree. Tatsumi has obviously been the main character. Akame may have been a secondary, but she had no more screen time than any of the other Night Raid members. The entire plot was focused around Tatsumi, and it was mostly in his perspective. Just because a character has their name in the title does not mean they are the main character. The protagonist is the person the story follows after. That's Tatsumi. Akame is the climax. She's the most important person, but that doesn't mean she's the main character. She defines the anime. But Tatsumi is the main character. They are two different things. This is why I understand why Akame is in the title but the point of view is from Tatsumi. As a generalization, I really liked all of the characters. They all had their own individual quality about them and what I really love about the anime is that they also show the antagonistic side. Later on, when you are introduced to the Jaegers (who are the enemies of Night Raid), you aren't like, oh, they're a villain, I hate them all. The story writers show their side, so you know why they are in the Jaegers and not the Night Raid. You understand them and you sympathize with them and you cry as much as you would cry when a Night Raid character when they die. There was this one time where one person person from Jaegers was fighting one person from Night Raid, and I didn't know who to root for because I loved both of them. The one thing I dislike is how they don't develop the characters enough. When the first person died, I didn't really feel anything except some sorrow because I didn't know him/her (no spoilers :D) that well. Especially Lubbock; that frustrated me. I didn't care especially for him because the anime didn't show his personality too much. But later on, they give him maybe ten minutes to show his badassery, and that was when I realized how amazing he actually was. But they should have done that from the beginning. What they do is they give them their background story and kill them off, but they don't actually show them with their own personality much. That was the only thing I disliked about the development of the characters. Some people say that the corrupted greedy villains in which Night Raid assassinated were too unrealistic, and that they were all sadistic and inhumane. But those people weren't the point. All of those evil people - they didn't matter. They were just there to show to the audience why Night Raid is right and the capitol is wrong. What matters is the emperor, a little boy being manipulated by the prime minister (who is also important), the Jaegers, and Seryu. Those are the real antagonists. And I feel they portrayed those key people very well. I already explained how the Jaegers were relate-able. And Seryu is part of the Jaegers, but she's honestly a whole other category, because she's worse than the prime minister and the side-villains combined because of her wrong sense of justice and the lust to kill. The emperor is naive. We can understand why the capitol is why it is. And the prime minister is really the only true villain, who is clever but at the same time absolutely powerless. They elaborated on those points very well, and I think that's all that matters. Now for the characters themselves. Tatsumi irked me sometimes because he was just so happy-go-lucky in the grimiest situations, but he was a pretty okay protagonist. Akame is the blunt, awkwardly social person that is able to erase her emotions when the time comes to kill. Bulat is the awesome gay dude who is basically the older brother who you idolize because they're so strong but happy at the same time. Chelsea is the older sister that annoys everyone on purpose and loves to prank people. Leone is the bold and fierce and the carefree. Lubbock is the perverted but also somehow knows compassion and can get serious when it comes to fighting. Mine is the sensitive girl that insults people to hide her embarrassment, the kind of person that names her destructive Imperial Arms 'Pumpkin'. Najenda is the chill and the cool. Sheele is the quiet, shy, mostly talent-less, and clumsy. Susanoo is a dedicated and loyal friend who corrects your moral mistakes, not to mention he is a weird housewife with OCD. Bols is the creepy-looking but really sweet nice guy. Esdeath is a psychopath who loves owning people, things, and lust. Kurome is Akame, but more ruthless. Run is logical and calm. Seryu is the devil. Dr. Stylish is the creepy mad scientist with weird fetishes. And Wave is basically a really annoyingly naive Tatsumi. I spent a lot of time on the characters. But they deserve it because I needed to clear up some misconceptions. One last thing - some people disliked the humor. But I loved it. Akame ga Kill is not a dead serious anime. Yes, people die, and yes, it's sad, and yes, it's gory. But the humor is also dark and there are some dry humor as well. These people are literally assassins who have seen the deaths of their loved ones, living in a corrupted world, yet they can still laugh and joke around. If you're going to watch this show, you need to start watching with the fact that the humor isn't forced and unnecessary after a sad part - it's to lighten up a death because that's just what they do. They make you cry then make you laugh then make you feel bad about laughing. You may find it inhuman to be able to joke after witnessing so many deaths, but if they can't find happiness in the little things, how can they live with themselves? Because that's how they live. Despite the negative reviews I really loved this anime. It's one of my favorites because of the characters, the action, and the humor. I would definitely recommend. I know, that if I haven't seen this before and I saw all the negative reviews, I would probably not watch it. But this is me countering all of those and saying you should watch it, because you should experience it for yourself, and decide yourself whether or not it's good. Reviewer’s Rating: 10 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Dec 14, 2014 Recommended Akame Ga Kill should have been called Akame Ga Controversy. With it deviating from the plot of the manga, loads of the original fans were outraged and called for White Fox's head. But as someone who hasn't read the manga, and probably won't for a while, I'd like to call Akame Ga Kill a small success. It succeeds in it's small niche of being the Game of Thrones of anime, and if you watched this while it was airing and didn't get any spoilers --- tell me your secrets, as this review will be completely spoiler free. Story(6/10): The story begins as a young swordsmen ... named Tatsumi leaves the village he grew up in in order to send some money or support back to it. He plans to join the Imperial army when he is intercepted by a busty blonde that tricks him out of his money(that he was flaunting). Eventually, he has to sleep on the streets when a young, wealthy lady offers him a place to stay, which he accepts. Later on, you realize that people with even the kindest of demeanors and looks can be the wickedest, and this is when Tatsumi meets the infamous Night Raid, a group of assassins that specializes in the elimination of evil and corrupt denizens. He joins them on their mission to better the world as he is violently thrust into the world of fighting, bloodshed, and loss. In Akame Ga Kill, there are weapons known as "Imperial Arms" that are age old tools that were created to help balance the world. They're extremely powerful weapons of destruction that are present throughout the anime, and all Night Raid members have one in their possession, as well as the Jaegers, introduced later as the main force that will oppose Night Raid in the story until the brutal end. But as lavish as this all sounds, it falls short of anything really spectacular or even above average. The story/plot is just good enough to propel the whole anime forward, but it has problems throughout, such as it going for too much shock value, and trying to force watchers to feel emotions that just aren't there. But in all, the plot was pretty decent. Art(10/10): If there's one thing Akame Ga Controversy does right, it's the art. Not even manga readers should be able to talk smack about it. It's vibrant, colorful, and remarkably fluid, including the animation. It's an eye orgy the whole time, and its probably the best thing about Akame Ga Kill. Sound(6/10): I'm going to be honest. I didn't always notice the music playing in the background, if there even was any. There were moments when it definitely amplified the moment, but most of the time the whole soundtrack was pretty forgettable. Though at the same time, it's nothing to talk down on either. Character(7/10): The characters, a lot like the art style, were unique and likable. This connection of liking, or even loving for some, is essential to how the anime toys with your feelings and emotions, as it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that characters will die, and a lot will suffer before hand. However, for more than a few of the characters, I thought they didn't get nearly as much development as they should have, and it made their deaths much less impactful than they should have been. Other times, the death flags were so obvious that you just start crying even before they die. An extra 2 episodes to make 26 for character devlopement would have gone a long way Enjoyment(10/10): I'm a pretty nit picky person, but surprisingly, there wasn't much to nit pick at in this anime. Everything just clicks and works fine from start to finish. Although I will say this is probably the simplest anime of the year and offered no depth whatsoever, but at the same time, that's not what Akame Ga Kill aimed to be. This isn't Serial Experiments Lain. This is your standard over-the-top Action anime, up there with Seven Deadly Sins and Bleach. And Akame Ga Kill excels perfectly in this area, and I didn't struggle at all with watching any of it. OVERALL (8/10): Akame Ga Kill is a contender for anime of the year in my book, but still has serious competition to compete with. If you read the manga, you probably won't like this adaptation at all, and will give it a poor score. Should I read the manga to see how much better it is? Maybe. But as it is right now, Akame Ga Kill was a fun, spoiler-ridden ride that'll be hard to forget. Although the Story and Sound is subpar, it makes up for it with excellent attention to Art, and a nice and colorful cast of characters. If you're debating whether to watch or read this, I'd say to definitely watch it first so you don't end up hating it while you watch it. And I probably would have liked this anime a bit more if I wasn't spoiled every day, but you my lucky reader, who hasn't seen the anime, probably won't have it as bad as when it was airing. In all, Akame Ga Kill is a fun ride if you're willing to excuse some bumps along the track. It's not a master piece by any means, but if you look at it at just the right angel, you might find something I did not. Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Jan 18, 2015 Recommended *Spoiler-free review* I'm not sure why it was panned by a lot of reviewers, but I actually enjoyed Akame Ga Kill. It's certainly not perfect but it did some things that were executed fairly well in my opinion. I can see why people had a problem with how a lot of humor was written in the episodes as it can mess with the pace. I saw the random bits of comedy as just that, comic relief. I did find some of it distracting or just simply drawing out the episodes, and at some point, the series started to really feel like it was just ... dragging. Other issues that I had was it has the makings of a harem anime (which I generally despise). I'll leave it at that. So the low down on each category: Story: It seemed simple at first. Then it becomes convoluted as most stories go, and at some points it becomes predictable. My biggest peeve is that the story wants to go one direction and builds up to it, just to get COMPLETELY quashed leaving the viewer wondering what just happened and why. Another big problem I had is that it's called "AKAME ga kill," not Tatsumi. The story focuses primarily on Tatsumi, while granted is far more interesting than Akame's very plain yet sometimes quirky demeanor. But the show tries to keep reminding you that it's about Akame, but you never really know why. The story flatlines about 10 episodes in, picks up, then flatlines again. So if you watch this show for the story, don't expect anything mind-blowing or innovative. While I had no problem with the pacing (apparently a lot of people said it went all over the place, I on the other hand thought Kill La Kill was much more all over the place), the mood does change a lot and sometimes you're not sure if they're about to insert a gag or not. Art - I really enjoyed the character designs and the costumes. Yes, there's fan service, women are generally very well-endowed and the animators have little shame in showing off their assets as well as practically a few mandatory skimpy scenes, but again, at least they don't have entire episodes devoted to bikinis and swimming. The fight scenes I thought were animated well. They're not absurdly lengthy and not many instances that I noticed of recycled shots. Sound - Nothing to really write home about but I enjoyed most of the voice acting (especially Leone's), the first intro song Skyreach was great, the music is generic background music to match the mood of the show. Nothing much else. Character - They built this story around a bunch of tragic characters for the most part and let their stories unfold as needed. It gave the viewer a reason to care about almost every character in the show, even the antagonists. They even take the time to flesh out the antagonists and really humanizing every character and why they became who they were. By the end, if you invest in the show a little bit, you might find yourself caring about the antagonists as well. This is where I thought the show actually did shine and kept me watching. Enjoyment - I actually liked the comic relief bits. It does ease up towards the end of the show and becomes less distracting but all-in-all, I thought it was good enough. In conclusion. don't expect knock-your-socks-off action or deep storylines, but if you watch the show as-is with no expectations and keeping an open mind to random acts of silliness, you might enjoy the show as much as I did. I could still do with less Tatsumi. Reviewer’s Rating: 7 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Jan 5, 2015 Recommended When I was watching Akame ga kill I will admit I couldn't wait until the next episode every week (I have mini alarms on my phone that tell me when the episode is about) All in all the story was amazing and there where more than a few tears shed during it. You get so attached to the characters and all you want is for them to succeed, I loved there goals and there outlook on the era and life everyone was living, doing everything they can to help thou's suffering around them and bringing forth the true justice. Reviewer’s Rating: 9 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Feb 8, 2015 Recommended This anime had a really good start. Great fight sequences. It had a unique premise. The main character had a pretty generic feel to it. But it felt so rushed towards the ending. I haven't read the manga but my friends tell me that it's a lot better. They don't skip a lot of things. There are a lot more characters and it hasn't ended yet. The show was good. They didn't make you feel like the story was one-sided like most animes. It wasn't the heroes it wasn't the villains. They were just fighting for what they knew was right. The series did get annoying every ... now and then when they had to describe everything and I mean everything during a Fight scene. But other that that i think it was a good watch. Nothing too special. But it was a nice watch. I recommend to watch it if you didn't. It won't live an impact after but it won't make you feel like you wasted your time either. 7-8/10 Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Dec 20, 2014 Recommended to the people out there reading negative reviews, not all of them are wrong, this is a pretty cliche anime when it comes down to the details, and the storyline goes along with a lot of common motifs for hero gets stronger as he progresses and all the women around him all in love with him due to his virtuous spirit. yes it does encompass those but you cant help but fall in love with the series. i decided to start watching this a couple days ago because the series ended and i am a huge binge watcher so i thought i would give it ... a try because i wasnt sure what step to take next but i am really glad i did because this story touched me. not only was it entertaining but it moved me even after it was over. im not saying this is the best anime out there or that it is a horrible anime either, i think its just an absolutely amazing story that you should give a try if you are interested in the genre or even if the title caught your attention. id say if a second season came out i would definitely watch it because i absolutely loved this anime. people say the anime is not true to the manga because the manga is not yet finished and that they should have made it more like the manga; i personally think the producers did a fine job making it end the way it did. this was one hell of a watch that i enjoyed from start to finish because it was splendidly told from start to finish and the art was great the characters were lovable and tragic at the same time showing how quickly things can change. but if you want to kill time and be entertained nicely with some battles and anarchy then this anime is definitely the way to go. this was my first review ive done but since i finished it not long ago i felt the need to give a voice to how just this anime is because i loved it Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Apr 26, 2015 Recommended First of all, let me say this is my favorite anime. And it doesn't look like it's gonna be replaced anytime soon. So, please keep that in mind when reading this review. When I first started watching this series, I didn't know anything about it. Like, I didn't know the story at ALL. Like, nothing. But this series was calling me, and so I watched the first episode. Ok, it was fine. I liked it. But then I didn't watch the second one for some time. I don't know why. Maybe that was because it was my first gory anime, and it kind of surprised me ... (then I got used to the gore and didn't mind it in the slightest bit). But as soon as I watched the second episode, I was lured in. I wanted every next episode to end; just so I could watch the next one. Story- 7/10 I won't tell you guys the story of this anime, because it's all in the synopsis. There is one thing to say about the story, and that is WASTED POTENTIAL. Oh my God. I really loved the world AgK created, and I kept regretting that it wasn't developed as much as it could have been. Same for the Teigus, otherwise known as Imperial Arms. I would have loved if a few episodes were spared to explain exactly where they came from. The plot isn't very complicated, but I liked it very much. Something in it pulled me in and did not want to let me go. I wish they cut out some of the Jaegars vs Night Raid fight scenes to concentrate more on the world and the planning the "Revolution", which, in the end, did not satisfy me at all. But the story was fast going and smooth, and that is why it gets a 7/10 Note: I know this anime has a filler ending, but that does not bother me in the slightest. Thank you for your understanding. Art- 8/10 Sound- 9/10 The animation in AgK isn't something you see everyday. The fight scenes were very nicely animated, but the way the characters were animated kinda bothered me. It made them look like flat, generic idiots. The moments when that didn't bother me, was when they were dying. I personally think that is really cruel, like the creators went "Oh, yeah, we don't care about your animation for the whole show, but we gotta make you look nice on your death bed!" Literally. What also kind of annoyed me in the characters, was that each of them had their own color that they were identified with They were goddamn ASSASSINS and the part when they were standing all together made them look like Power Rangers, with “the pink one”, “the green one”, “the yellow one” etc. I used to really dig that, but nowdays I'm like "Nah". 'Kay, on to the sound. OMG, some of them OST's sound so sad, they make me clutch my heart and go "Time for a feel trip". The main theme, "Fallen Heroes" was so... Gah, it was just plain amazing! All the seiyuu's did great jobs. Each voice fitted the character perfectly, and because of that anime, I found some seiyuus that I will definitely enjoy hearing in the future. Even the ones, whose voices sounded like nails on chalkboards, or fake, or annoying as hell. Characters- 7/10 Ah, the characters. They’re nothing you haven’t seen before. In Night Raid, our main group of protagonists is complete with: the loli, the pervert, the big sis, and so on. Most of this anime’s characters had really schematic personalities. Neverthless, I got TOO attached to the characters on both sides of the “conflict” and cried on deaths of both allies and enemies alike. I even cried when the characters I hated most died, simply because I got attached to them after the first 3 episodes. Also, my favorite character EVER is from this anime. I’m not even gonna get started on how much I love Leone as a character. Some of the other, interesting characters included Esdeath (the fan favorite), Akame (the less popular fan favorite), Najenda (who is liked by nobody, and that is sad and unfair). The lack of character development in this anime is acceptable, because it’s this kind of anime, that character development is nice, but if it’s not there, that’s fine too, you know? I didn’t notice the lack of character development, and when it finally occurred to me, I was like “Oh. Kay, whatever.” Enjoyment- 9/10 This anime as a show isn’t something that stays in your memory, it isn’t one of those shows like Naruto or One Piece, that is so good everyone watched it. But that doesn’t change the fact, that usually the worse shows are the more enjoyable ones. And Akame ga Kill is hella enjoyable. With your simple plot, nicely animated fights, beautiful OST’s and your touch of bad, but still laughable comedy, this show is enough to entertain you for the 24 episodes you will spend watching it. Yes, some parts can bore the life out of you, but there’s no denying, that every anime, show, has those parts and that is inevitable. Akame ga Kill fits the criteria of an enjoyable shounen (this coming from a girl). Like mentioned above, the plot of AgK is pulling in, despite its simplicity. Overall- 10/10 Before I close this review, I want to note that my score is based on the fact that this is my favorite anime. And sure, it does have its flaws, but still, I love it, it’s something that reached somewhere inside me, and that is why I give it a 10. I think that is what most people do, because if something made its way into your heart, then you don’t see or don’t mind its bad side, even if it’s very obvious. But that aside, Akame ga Kill is an enjoyable show, good action, with a touch of bad comedy (But on the other hand, Fairy Tail comedy has only a slightly higher level than AgK, and we still laugh on it! Or, I do, ‘cos I have no sense of humour.). I would recommend this show to anyone who likes bloody action shows, dark fantasy and… colourful characters? Reviewer’s Rating: 10 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Jun 8, 2015 Recommended "Everyone has their reason to fight" Akame Ga Kill. Akame Ga Kill. After I finished watching it and had already moved on, I realized that it was THE anime of the season. Maybe not because it was good but because it was talked about because everyone had their own opinions. STORY: 6 The story starts off setting the tone with deaths everywhere but that is to be expected with this anime. It then goes on to have this kid to join a group of assassins out to set the world straight. Strangely the story is told from Tatsumi's point of view even though the title of the anime ... is Akame ga Kill. If you read the manga don't expect this to be the same. As someone who has only watched the anime I found it unreasonable that the show decides to near the end [SPOILERS] kill off everyone. Some were killed because they were ganged up upon and some simply because their skill set could not win versus their opponents but at the end people just started dying. They just. Did. There also was a small romance thing that i'm not going to talk about because it only lasted a few episodes before the "great flood" came and wiped everyone out. ART: 7 The art wasn't bad. It was actually "good". When watched in HD you could see how much work they put into the art with the blood sprays everywhere and the character sweats. The characters were designed to fit their personalities which was actually a really good job by the studio. The backgrounds and settings were well drawn as well. Not breathtaking or anything but definitely not bad. SOUND: 8 The voice actors are sooooo goood. There are a couple of scenes where Tatsumi and Bullat just make you clench your fists and scream with them too. Anime usually don't elicit physical reactions from me but the sound and everything really just gets you into it. CHARACTER: 6 I hate to say this but everytime a character in this anime has a flashback...they're about to die. The anime tries to give you a quick deep throat of character development and try to give you feels for a character before they kill them off. The romance part of this (there was a romance aspect?) was rushed, the characters are all rushed but the one thing I do have to give them credit for was that they actually had a huge cast of characters and near the end the evil side (There was two seperate groups in the anime basically a "good" and a "bad" side) had almost as much development as the good side. I found the "bad guys" to be more intresting than the good guys because they had alot of things that made you reconsider whether or not they were truly bad guys. One of the bad guy had a beautiful wife and child and that was one of the most touching characters :'( SEXINESS: 7 So you might be like, "You get turned on by blood?" well No. Ew. But there were a couple fan service scenes in the anime. Of course you can't have an anime without a bunch of girls going to the beach, and the characters in this anime in general at points were all wearing some pretty um "intresting" outfits (not all the time rip). Even the guys. The characters themselves I know some people have a crush on. Akame? Esdeath? Leone? I'm a part of the small Chelsea crew :3 ENJOYMENT: 9 Yo what the hell is this? You had all this trash talk on it but you gave it a 9? I enjoyed it! Would i rewatch it? Hell no. This is more like a 1 time fling and the ending to be honest wasn't exceptional. (Although the way he went out was pretty sick. That make no sense? watch it :D) The fight scenes were actually hella good and the setting wasn't that cliche. it was pretty cliche. But hey It's definitely worth watching if you have nothing to watch. If you do have something to watch though, this could prooooooooobably wait. OVERALL: 8 Ok guys. You can say it was trash but really? Ok maybe. I can see the trash aspect of it but you could definitely have stopped watching at any point you were done because there were parts of the show that repeated itself. As I said before this is definitely worth the watch if you have nothing to watch simply because the show keeps moving. That might be a bad thing but you can't really be bored because Oh look she's dead. Oh no he's dead. Oh what she can die? This is one of the shows where if people say it's trash I don't always fight them but to anyone that has come here actually looking for thoughts on if you should watch it or not. Go for it! Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Feb 25, 2015 Recommended Does a show have to contain blood, death and tragedy to be considered "good"? I recently started to ask me that question. Why do shows like Shingeki no Kiyojin and lately Akame ga Kill! experience such a hype? What makes them so valuable? Are we just wanting to see people die? Apparently yes. Taking into consideration the cinematic value of these shows, there must be something else than just good story-telling or well written characters. Something apart from the factors that make a good show, something that these hyped shows have in common. Which is in many cases violence and tragedy. Not wanting to discuss ... human nature now, I want to write a review that considers this and therefore only features my honest opinions. I'll try to avoid heavy spoilers! STORY 7/10 The story of Akame ga Kill! is not a very deep or experimental one. Roughly summarized: We have our usual suppressing kingdom under which the poor have to suffer. And we have the rebels, the heroes, the main cast or whatever you want to call it on the other side of the coin. They name themselves Night Raid and fight against the government as assassins by murdering the corrupt, also fighting their "main enemy", which is kind of an autonomous counter organisation that works under the kingdom called 'Jaegers'. Although this is not a very new or fresh concept, I don't dislike it. The happenings weren't random and you were able to see, what certain battles effected and how little events more or less influenced the situation on the whole. I also kind of liked the fact, that nobody was safe, since Akame ga Kill! doesn't seem to care about the importance of certain character. That built up tension on the one hand, but created sort of an carelessness towards the loss of characters on the other. All in all, I think the story was a good one. In short: Coherence + Tension o+ Enjoyment + Universe o Creativity - ART 7/10 To be very honest, during the first few episodes I was flirting with the idea of giving a 6, or even a 5 here. The animations were -from time to time- just not more, sometimes even less than "fair". And especially in anime that focus on fighting, I want to have epic and fluent animation. Also, I even now believe that the art style isn't more than a fair 6, too. It is nice and clean, but doesn't do anything memorable or unique. As the quality gets recognizably better throughout the last half of the series and provides the epicness and the fluent and nicely done animations I was missing in the first half, my rating in the end is a 7. In short: Art o+ Artstyle o Animations o+ SOUND 8/10 As so often, there is not much to say here. Both packages of OP and ED were great, the songs were fitting the atmosphere of the show, they were dark but didn't sound too depressing. The soundtrack was a good one, too, it never attracted negative attention or appeared distracting. Kinpaku, the third track from the original soundtrack especially was very outstanding and unique. Also, the voice actors were well-chosen and did a decent job. All this leads to the final rating of a 8. In short: OST o+ OP+ED + Voice actors + CHARACTER 8/10 Yes, eight out of ten. Despite the fact, that the characters are really stereotypical, they are actually well-written, at least as good as can be expected under the circumstances. Nearly all of them have more or less relatable motives and goals and all of them can be likeable in their own way, also no character was really annoying. Another thing I liked about Akame ga Kill! was the very thin line between "good" and "evil". The methods and values of both of the two sides can be raised to question equally. Who is to decide what is right and what wrong? Is assassination, taking a life sustainable, if you kill according to your own sense of justice? Turn people into enemies, just because they support other methods, values or convictions? Can people that stand against you automatically turn into your victims, not taking their precious life into consideration? All these questions play a role in Akame ga Kill!. To give an example for this controversy: Many of the characters I liked most are part of the 'Jaegers'. Also, one of the deaths that touched me most was the death of one of this same group. As you know my point of view now, I think you are able to relate to my rating on this point. In short: Authenticity + Coherence o+ Uniqueness o- Development + Char. Design o Enjoyment 8/10 I did enjoy this show. I cannot say anything else. I know other reviewers did not, some even hated Akame ga Kill! and I can totally relate to what most of them say. But I don't think Akame ga Kill! was bad. I like to determine the rate of enjoyment by observing my behavior while watching. For example, how often I paused the video and did something else, or how badly I wanted to watch the next episode after finishing one. By doing that, I'm simply forced to give an 8 at this point. In short: How badly did I want to watch + the next episode How often did I pause and did o+ something else Having said all this, I want to revert to what I asked myself in the beginning. I'm aware of the fact that many people indeed watch certain shows to watch other peoples suffering, either intentionally or non-intentionally. But I don't think that splatter and dramatic losses are enough to make a show "good" and ,as a function of this, make them experience quite a big hype. Yes, Akame ga Kill! features lots of these things and yes, they are an undeniable big attribute of shows like this, but there is more to it. I think Akame ga Kill! is a good example for this. Therefore I come to the overall rating of: 7.6 , which is mathematically rounded up to an overall rating of 8. ............................................. I hope you liked my second review. I'm aware of the fact that my english is not exactly brilliant, but I'm trying my best as a not-native speaker anyway! :) Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Dec 14, 2014 Recommended Note: This review is from someone who has not read any of the manga and will not contain any comparisons to it. The opinions are formed purely from the anime. (Also spoiler free). I hate how MAL lays out reviews. For example, it is easy to click on any anime, go to the review tab, look at the score in the statistic section or the first couple of reviews, and dismiss it as complete garbage without even watching it. I think there should be a sticker or something added to the top of the review that says "Worth your time to watch and form your ... own opinion," and I believe Akame ga Kill would deserve that sticker. Now this solution obviously has its flaws because many reviews tell you if you should bother watching the anime or not (which is usually the point of reading a review, right?), but it does counter the situations where relatively "good" anime are given bad raps because most of the reviews rip it apart for plot holes, rushed story, bad character development etc. There are many anime that may have these problems but can be incredibly enjoyable at the same time (which is the point of watching anime right?). I believe that Akame ga Kill deserves to be given a chance by the average anime watcher who may or may not care about its shortcomings. (Still love you MAL) Story:8 Read the synopsis and you will get a brief glimpse into the world of Akame ga Kill. Although like most synopses, the summary definitely does not do the anime justice. A general overview of the anime reveals a typical shonen plot where the protagonist (Tatsumi) is put into an adventure situation to achieve a goal. Further into the anime you realize this is true, but the story carries a dark twist to it. Without revealing too much, I will say one thing: The anime introduces the concept of death, and fairly well if I might add. This is important, because many shonen anime try to stray away from this concept and I felt this was a nice touch to the overall story of Akame ga Kill, and definitely set it apart from many anime. From a pure anime watcher's perspective I enjoyed the story and can honestly say I was at the edge of my [sofa] for many of the episodes. Although for a couple of the last episodes the story did feel a little bit rushed/disorganized regarding many character's "outcomes," and I know many people were not happy with that. However, based on the series as a whole (Which should be the determining factor of the story's score and not the last few episodes) I believed the anime wrapped things up nicely. Art:8 I am by no means an expert in animation or character design, but I can honestly say I really enjoyed how the characters looked and the fight scenes. The animation dropped in quality in some episodes (like in many other anime) but nothing that genuinely irritated me. The fight scenes were epic and the OP and ED displayed top-notch quality. The colors were vibrant and the environment was visually pleasing, which is always a plus for me. Sound: 8.5 Honestly the BGM is good, but nothing spectacular or memorable. There was one guitar riff during the entrance of Night Raid that I really enjoyed but that is about all I remember. The OST was also heavily reused for many fight scenes and other dialogue scenes. However, Akame ga Kill scored big points for sound in its OPs and EDs. I loved every single one of them and didn't skip any. My personal favourite is OP2 "Liar Mask" as I believe it lived up to the anime's epicness. The OPs also did a good job of hyping me up for the start of the episode, which I believe is an important factor of Anime openings. The ED songs definitely did a good job at portraying the bleak and gloomy atmosphere given off at the end of many episodes, and as a pianist I thought the piano was put to good use. The character's voice acting was also top notch in my opinion I enjoyed all of the character's laughing, crying, and screaming :) throughout the series. Character: 7 Akame ga Kill provides a great variety of characters that you probably shouldn't get attached to. It actually might be hard to get attached to the characters at all, but that is mostly due to fitting this vast story into 24 episodes. The 24 episode limit definitely capped a lot of the character development, and I felt this could have been done better. However for what episodes they had, I believe most of the characters were fleshed out to the best of their ability given the time limit. Most of the characters were also very likeable and had their distinct traits that made them memorable. Although in terms of character development it was mainly displayed in only a couple of the main characters. All of these problems could have been addressed by making the anime longer or adding another season, although from what I understand, the sales were too low in Japan to permit a second season. This is a disappointment as I believe that Akame ga Kill could have definitely improved in this area by providing more character back story as well as development. I also didn't really enjoy the typical shonen aspects of the characters such as the "humorous dialogue " thrown in every episode. I believe a more serious tone projected by all of the characters would have made Akame ga Kill a lot better, and definitely would be more appropriate for the overall theme of the anime. Enjoyment:9 Finally, the most important factor out of all them, enjoyment. These last couple of seasons have provided many enjoyable anime and I am genuinely happy about that. It shows that the medium of anime is not dying (yet) and can still provide some top-notch shows. During the airing of Akame ga Kill I found myself impatiently waiting for each episode’s release, because something awesome usually went down each episode. This shows that Akame ga Kill did something right, especially since I was incredibly busy (and still am) with uni. This feeling is what I want from anime shows and I can safely say Akame ga Kill achieved it. Honestly the enjoyment level for this anime was at a 10 for quite a bit of the series, but was held back in the last few episodes. I really wanted put this at a 10 because I enjoyed most of the anime quite a lot, but some blatant plot rushing and some "wtf moments" brought the score down by one. Overall enjoyment is still at a MAL rating of "great." Overall: 9 Now if you look at the math of the total of the scores it averages out to 8.1, but I gave the series a 9. This is because I always weight enjoyment much higher than the other features of the anime because as I previously mentioned, I believe enjoyment is the most important aspect of watching anime. So if you put the numbers into "J-YO's MAL score Algorithm" --> You get 9. Akame ga Kill is an action-packed series, that steps out of the boundaries many shonen anime's have bound themselves in. Although it is held back by problems many anime face today, I believe it is definitely worth your time if you don't mind violence, gore and some fan service. Go into the series for pure enjoyment/entertainment and it will most likely provide. It gets my sticker of approval that says "Worth your time to watch and form your own opinion." (I hope MAL implements it) Reviewer’s Rating: 9 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Jan 7, 2015 Recommended Shout it out with all your spirit: "INCURSIOOOO!!" - Bulat Akame Ga Kill is best described as an action-comedy flick thrown into a set a hilariously interesting characters in a dystopian world filled with blood, gore and various other atrocities. While I thoroughly enjoyed all the animated action sequences and characters, I was sorely disappointed by the plot. I'll explain further below, but for now... TL;DR Story: 5/10 Art: 10/10 Sound: 9/10 Character: 9/10 Enjoyment: 10/10 ... Overall: 8/10 (rounded down from 8.125) Good points: + Great, adorable female main character (Akame) + Very extensive supporting character development + Wide range of various supporting characters + Excellent art and animation + Excellent music and background tracks + Great action sequences + Touching, emotional scenes + Good comic relief and humour Bad points: - Unoriginal, typical shounen male lead (Tatsumi) - Lack of plot depth and twists - Some incoherence in key plot lines - Some unnecessary plot lines Story: 5/10 The overarching storyline is kept short, crisp and simple: A group of assassins, Night Raid, murdering "evil" people who have done hideous and bad things, all in an attempt to rid society of all evil. Of course, the ultimate goal is to assassinate the main antagonist, the emperor's right-hand minister within the government, from whom all evil stems from, and in so doing (somehow) change the world. In the process of formulating a plan to kill the main antagonist, Night Raid trains, toughens up, and goes through a series of missions to earn money, hone their skills and eventually reach a stage where they can challenge the capital directly. The plot is hence split into 3 main plot arcs - the first introductory arc lasting until episode 8, the Jaegers arc from 9-17, followed by the Revolution arc from episode 18 to the end, though there are some standalone episodes like episodes 14 and 22 which do not follow the plot exactly. We begin our journey by following the obvious male lead Tatsumi, who makes his way from his hometown, a poor village in the outskirts, to go to the capital to earn money. After getting swindled and encountering Night Raid, he learns the dark evil that the capital reeks of - namely rich aristocrats torturing outsiders for entertainment, extorting of money from the poor, framing the innocent to get away with crimes, you know, something like the capital from the Hunger Games. Tatsumi then joins Night Raid for the rest of their assassination missions onward, killing evil people over and over again at least for the entire first arc. The plot gets really exciting, though not exactly intense from the start - because there's always room here and there for moments of comic humour present in classic shounen titles. Along the way as the missions one by one get completed, we see a gradual increase in the difficulty and danger level that our protagonists put ourselves in, and after a while, we even begin to see some of the supporting cast dying off late into the first arc. (+1 for development, +1 for excitement) By the end of the first arc, I was thoroughly confused at where the writers were trying to get at. On one hand, because of all the gore, the sudden deaths and the crazed looks that the evil characters keep giving, it seems like they were going for the "dark" feel, but almost immediately after, there are slapstick comic relief moments such as Tatsumi's open fly, Akame asking for seconds, Lubbock getting punched in the face for peeking at Leone, and Najenda trying to be charming. By the end of the show, I was convinced that the writers didn't bother putting any more depth into the plot than what I have basically summarized earlier. There are no plot twists - and wait for it - there are no attempts at a plot twist either. Then we go into the second arc when things start getting really interesting. Plot-wise, nothing changes save for the fact that now Night Raid is being hunted down by General Esdeath's team of Jaegers, and throughout the arc, everything points towards a final showdown between the two sides of Imperial Arms users at the end of the second arc. Instead of Night Raid being on the offensive, for the first time, we see them operate defensively, at least once, during Dr Stylish's haphazard and careless all-out attack on their fortress. Also, it starts to get very cool when you being to see all the different Imperial Arms abilities used in combat - really creative and really varied set of skills and powers. (+1 for interest) After that pretty much comes the showdown between Night Raid and *half of* the Jaegers, which became a long drawn-out battle where it ended with a 1-for-1 trade. It's not even half of the Jaegers because Wave got blasted off into the middle of nowhere in the beginning of the fight, and for stupid reasons wasn't able to get back into the fight. But the anime has already established Wave's apparently uselessness when it comes to fighting his team, so I can forgive that. Even though the anime literally broke the fourth wall and told the audience, "The final showdown is about to arrive," there was never really a 6-on-6 or 5-on-5 showdown ever, it was mostly 5-on-2, 1-on-1, 2-on-1, small skirmishes like that for the next few episodes. After many subsequent battles, both sides lose around half of their teammates before we enter the next revolution arc, where I think that plot does finally show some semblance of depth. For one, it becomes more and more painstakingly obvious that Night Raid and the Jaegers are not necessarily in a Good vs Evil kind of relationship - they are simply two entities who are forced to fight each other based on their circumstances, both think they are doing the right thing. Next, the idea of revolution comes into play, but the anime downplays this part of the plot so much that it seems they wanted the audience to completely forget that a revolution is going on, which was kinda disappointing. There is some talk and banter about how the revolutionary forces have come about, but there is little development about any intentions after the revolution, like who's in charge or how things are going to work out, or how things are going to change. This was a huge plot oversight and was never mentioned even at the end of the anime. There were actually so many themes brought out in this anime - things like justice, war, peace, sacrifice, the morality behind killing - but all of this was basically left to the audience to contemplate on their own. The anime gives no actual insight into any of these. The one theme they did keep bringing up though, is the social darwinistic notion that "the strong eat the weak", by courtesy of our dear tsundere General Esdeath herself, the epitome of a warmongering psycopath, and by the final battle, we begin to see how this shouldn't - and should never - be the case (courtesy of Akame). (+1 for some depth) I have to point out that the anime at least, managed to bring the entire conflict to some form of epic resolution, though on the revolution side, I really don't think it even bothered to explain anything that happens after the revolution - new government, policies, new laws - none of this was even mentioned. It did however, put a fitting end to all the annoying antagonists, so I would have to give a point for that. (+1 for acceptable resolution). On the coherence side, I would say that the anime has done fairly well - especially in explaining all the different quirks and abilities of Imperial Arms and their users, also in explaining the origin of Imperial Arms in the first place. However, there are some key places where coherence falls short. A key plot point that was used multiple times throughout the show was the idea of Danger Beasts. In the first episode, Tatsumi is shown killing a Danger Beast for the first time, and subsequently Night Raid and the Jaegers did at one point in the second arc join forces to eliminate hordes of evil Danger Beasts. Not to mention Najenda "taming" a flying Manta Ray Danger Beast when she came to Night Raid's reinforcement during an assault on their hidden base. Unfortunately, despite being quite central to the development of the plot, the origins, abilities and status of Danger Beasts are never mentioned at all. I especially needed some explanation as to why Syura went to let all those genetically-enhanced (something like that) Danger Beasts rampage and kill people, but all Syura said was "Because it was fun." I know Syura is just an asshole to humans, but that's not a good explanation anyhow. It's also a lame and unnecessary part of the anime, which makes me kind of designate that particular two episodes as a "filler". The next key plot point is the particular "overheating" property that apparently only Mine's Pumpkin has. Mine first mentions this only in episode 19, which is by the way, super duper late into the plot, when explanations regarding Imperial Arms and their usefulness/strengths/weaknesses are long overdue. And guess what, she only happens to mention this at a point of her fight against Seryu when she is in mortal danger - oh the cliche dramatic moment to suddenly unveil this possible "overheating" of her Pumpkin. Still, I bought it, at least until the subsequent few episodes where it clearly shows Mine firing her Pumpkin at Budou, using rougly 2-3 times the power level she was using the fight Mine, and the Pumpkin does not "overheat", it instead simply "breaks apart" rather than overheating. So, I don't buy this at all. The anime never gave proper explanation of how much Pumpkin could take before overheating - it never even shows Mine ever considering the fact that it could overheat until it did, conveniently, at episode 19, and this overheating property was immediately dropped in the subsequent few episodes. What utter rubbish. I know it's for the drama, but please try again, because later on when Mine tries to escape from the suicide blast, she once again, after walking fine all this while, trips over absolutely nothing and falls to the ground. *shakes head* There are also a couple of minor plot holes that don't affect the plot whatsoever: The backstory of Akame and Kurome sounds fine up until the point where they split paths. The anime mentions why Akame chose to revolt against the capital but it fails to show any scene of how Akame "tried" convincing Kurome to join her. As sisters for so long, it seems unlikely that they would split suddenly just because of a "sudden realization". Akame would probably have spent more time convincing Kurome, more than anything, and Kurome should have, as a sister, been a lot more open to the idea of fighting against the capital. After all, they are supposed to be alike and the excuse of "not abandoning" friends is a lousy one, since after that, Kurome switches her entire set of teammates anyway. The anime features an incredibly interesting Shambala Imperial Arms (used by Syura) that has the ability to teleport. In episode 20, Syura and Lubbock are both safe on the ground before Syura opens a portal to another dimension (which, aesthetically, looked like outer space to me) and banishes Lubbock. At this point though, Lubbock pulls Syura in together with him, and, while the portal is still open, manages to defeat Syura and both of them return back to the capital - but this time they are several hundred metres in the air instead of on the ground. Perhaps the Imperial Arms does not work like Portal's portal guns, but there is still absolutely no explanation for Shambala randomly teleporting its targets into the air after coming back from another dimension. In episode 8, Nyau, one of the "Three Beasts" under Esdeath's commmand, was shown talking out loud to Tatsumi and Bulat while playing his Imperial Arms flute at the same time, as he activated his "Secret Ability". I know he's an Imperial Arms user, but even then, there's no way he has breath to both speak and play his flute simultaneously, so that's a no-go. Hence, so while the plot excels at generating interest and excitement, it lacks quite a bit of depth and overlooks certain key plot points. Art: 10/10 Animation: 2/2 - Absolutely amazing actions sequences that really have you at the edge of your seat. Aesthetics: 2/2 - I really love the character art and design, and I loved how the art especially for Wave and Tatsumi were used specifically to show how similar they were in nature. OP Sequence: 2/2 ED Sequence: 2/2 OP Sequence 2: 2/2 (Bonus points) Beautiful OP and ED art - is worth a watch! Sound: 9/10 Generally, all the OP and ED themes are pretty solid, although I didn't really like the second OP Theme. OP Theme 1: 2/2 ED Theme 1: 2/2 OP Theme 2: 1/2 ED Theme 2: 2/2 Background Music: 2/2 - Very well choreographed, suited the themes very well - from comical to dark, to quick paced action. Character: 9/10 Now we move onto the most important part of this anime - since they really didn't bother with plot depth - and also because the anime really spent a lot of time developing the back stories, personalities and quirks behind many of their characters. I personally think this is where the anime excels at - and I'll explain why below. We start off with Tatsumi, the main character, who is basically just your typical cliche shounen hero thrown into a very varied and interesting set of supporting characters. Tatsumi has a strong will of heart, a strong sense of morals, ideals and determination to follow through everything he does. He also manages some character growth throughout the show - and this is mainly through the deaths of many of his comrades. He starts to realize the meaning behind why he fights, more importantly, who he fights for. (+1 for growth) Unfortunately, his character is uninteresting because it's just too cliche, and while he has some backstory, it isn't particularly unique in any way. Then we have our favourite, with an anime named after her, Akame, the badass Musamune wielder who slashes her enemies down like flies. Her cuteness and huge appetite only makes me adore her so much more, and her killing instinct in battle is just awesome to watch. (+1 for being adorable) Of course, she comes with a sad, tragic backstory that explains why she's an assassin, even before Night Raid, of course. She's also the only one who is a legit assassin, the rest are just a ragtag bunch of people who hate the capital. (+1 for character development) Unfortunately, throughout the anime, her character doesn't change much. She doesn't get as much screentime as Tatsumi, regrettably, and at times where she should grow, it's just scenes of her crying (for Kurome, for her fellow comrades) but nothing in her actually changes - she's still the same old killer assassin we all love, but I guess that's okay. Arguably the best character in the show has to be Susanoo. He's not even human, he's just an organic Imperial Arms but damn, this guy can do all the household chores, can build a house, can fight and take down a massive mega-level Danger Beast. He's basically Superman. He also says all the important inspirational lines that his fellow comrades need to hear. (+1 for all-round awesome character) Anyway, on the antagonists' side, we have the very interestingly evil Esdeath - who on one hand seeks destruction and war, and on the other seeks love in the form of Tatsumi. We start off by hearing all the insane rumours about how she destroyed the entire northern continent, but she's also longing for love - or more like, longing to experience the feeling of love. Her beauty is as apparent as her scariness but unlike the ice that proceeds from her Imperial Arms, she's passionate like a fire and makes not 1, but 2 all-out attempts to make Tatsumi fall in love with her (which involves aggressive seduction). Definitely one of the most multi-faceted character I've encountered, because while she seems cold on the outside, she's actually very warm on the inside - up to the point where she went to comfort Seryu after the death of Dr Stylish, in a rather humourous shoujo-ai moment that Wave witnessed. (+1 for multi-faceted nature) I would like to, at this point, mention Wave though, because he is a lot like Tatsumi. He's also kind of the cliche character who tries to do his best at everything but somehow or rather, by accident, seems to pathetically fail at everything. But it's not entirely bad because Wave comes to a realization at the end (as does Run, but his was more subtle) that his duty is protect to people above all, regardless of whose side he is fighting on. Throughout the anime also, Wave is shown constantly being disturbed by the actions of more insanely evil comrades like Kurome, Esdeath and Seryu, and it's no doubt he was the most likeable character within the Jaegers. (+1 for character growth) At this point though, I really want to stress on how well this anime ha brought out the characterization and back story of so many of the supporting characters, both from Night Raid and from the Jaegers, that really made me not want any of them to die (which was not possible). While there were some annoying ones like Seryu Ubiquitous (naive, stuck-up, justice believer) and Kurome (living in Akame's shadow), I thought that most of them really stood out with their character back stories. On the Night Raid side, there was Bulat, a former fighter in the capital army who is kinda gay but also ends up being Tatsumi's main mentor. There's Najenda, the mysterious mastermind who once fought along side Esdeath and hence knows how powerful she is. Najenda has some brief moments of characterization where she mourns for Susanoo which I thought was especially touching and shows how much she cares for her comrades - even at the part where she agreed with everyone to save Tatsumi. (+1 for variety of cast) Sheele, Mine, Lubbock, Leone and even Chelsea are also very interesting and amazing characters, just that their particular back stories were not very fleshed out. Chelsea's in particular, was only mentioned in the exact same episode when she died, and it felt slightly too rushed, and made it too obvious that she was going to die. Still, because of the effort put into the development of their personalities, I could really feel the emotion put into all their dying scenes. On the Jaegers' side, we definitely can't forget Bols, the man whose face was disfigured so badly that he hides it from everyone else. Bols is the epitome of "Don't judge a book by it's cover" and he even has scenes of him and his wife and daughter in the anime - no other character was shown to have a family like his. Bols also constantly tells Wave, "I'm not a nice man, I have killed so many people in the past." But we all know that Bols is actually really nice deep down inside, he even died helping people. (+1 for uniqueness) At this point I have to mention the annoying Seryu though. While she doesn't have much of a backstory, she starts off by showing the audience that she's a nice girl who helps Tatsumi find his way, saying that she "upholds justice". But it becomes so painfully obvious throughout the anime that her hatred towards Night Raid is nothing to do with justice but everything to do with exacting revenge for her fallen comrades. The anime showed that Seryu is merely ignorant of her own actions and intentions, making her look like basically a complete lunatic and shizophrenic psychopath, which I thought was just sad. Also, her particular weapon set is just confusing - she has Numbers 1-10 which are all different assortments of guns that somehow attach to her limbs of her body when Hecatoncheir bites her? Her method of activating her weapons just makes no sense whatsoever. We also have the Emperor, whose name seems to be as irrelevant as he is throughout the entire anime. Nothing is known much about his personality, but he is anyway just a pawn used by minister Honest, who is honestly just the most annoying useless antagonist ever. Honest is an old man who is supposed to represent this inherently evil behind the emperor, but the only really way you can tell he's evil is because he keeps eating portions of raw meat all the time randomly in the anime. Everything else about his manipulation is kind of implied, and his characterization is pathetically shallow. We know he's a bad guy, and that's about all we know, we do not know where the current Emperor or minister has come from. As such, character development was pretty solid for this anime, with a wide and varied cast of supporting characters whose back stories are mostly valid and emphasized upon. Unfortunately, the main character Tatsumi is slightly too unoriginal for my liking. It would also have been much better also, if Akame had more screentime and more presence in the plot. Enjoyment: 10/10 I have to say that I really enjoyed this anime. :) It had a good balance both humour, emotion and excitement that really makes the show a thrill to watch. There are some pretty funny running gags in this anime: 1. Pretty much every awkward scene between Esdeath and Tatsumi (especially the scene when they were both in bed) 2. Every scene featuring a half-naked Bulat 3. Every time Kurome puts her hand on Wave's shoulder to remind him of his uselessness 4. Every scene with Bols being unexpectedly nice and friendly and many more.. (+2 to comedy) The amount of pumped up action in this anime doesn't disappoint either. From fast-paced fighting sequences involving close combat fist-fights, sword fights, to bigger weapons like guns, rifles and even magic-based weapons, the battles are well choreographed and full of great animated effects. (+3 for thrill) This anime even does well in the emotion department, from all the touching scenes involving the deaths of various supporting characters, to all the mourning, crying and the beautiful music to go along with it, definitely strikes a chord somewhere. Some may criticize that the audience gets desensitized to all the deaths because of the sheer amount of them, but I think it isn't too overboard and it's probably one of the few animes that gives a realistic figure as to how many people would die and how quickly in such high-risk battles. (+2 for emotion) And they really brought out those character emotions very well, so I can't discredit that. Pacing wise, the anime was pretty good. There wasn't a moment where I felt bored, and I simply wanted to keep on watching, because of the great visuals and action scenes. (+2 for pacing) This anime also receives a bonus 1 point for not having any filler episodes. (+1) Overall: 8.125/10 All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Akame Ga Kill because of the amazing cast of very interesting characters, the creativity and design of the many different Imperial Arms and all of the great action packed into the 24 episodes. Reviewer's Post-Review Comments: A lot of people have criticized this show for having "grossly underdeveloped characters", but I honestly beg to differ. While there is not one character who "stood out" amongst the rest, it was clear that there was a lot of effort put in into fleshing out many of the supporting and main cast characters - even if their backstories seemed "similar" or "cliched", it's commendable that this anime bothers to at least mention all of them, unlike so many other animes out there which completely leave out backstories of supporting cast. Also, many people have singled out specific characters that they hate and hence drop their character ratings, but I believe in awarding merit for all the characters that were lovable and were well-developed. In fact, there are many likeable characters in the show, many of them with lovable personalities and very particularly interesting back stories, regardless of whether they were main or supporting cast. Finally, many people criticized how the anime juxtaposed its comic and emotional scenes, and disapproved of how the comic relief really drew away from the sad emotions that they were feeling - but that's exactly the point of the humour. The anime doesn't believe in spending 1 entire episode, or half an episode, mourning for a loss comrade - it believes in moving on courageously, despite all the horrible pictures of death that were painted and all the wails of despair. Instead, I thought that this fit very well into the overall balance of the show - not too heavy and not too light hearted either. It was this particular comic-emotive balance that I thought Akame Ga Kill really excelled in. Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Dec 17, 2014 Recommended I waited till people are done with all the negatives reaction, because I disagree with them. I really like the anime and I will explain why I liked it. Warning. It can contain spoilers. I started this anime when it was just airing the second episode. I didn't know what to expect. I didn't know the story or even what genre. When I start watching the anime it was about the boy Tatsumi. That was with 2 friends on their way to the capital to join the army. But the other 2 friends were earlier and get captured by a rich family. The family also invited ... Tatsumi and when the family got attacked by Night Raid you were introduced by the person called Akame. Because of the title, I know it was more about her and that Tatsumi would die by Night Raid. It was a nice twist for me that triggered to continue for me. Within Night Raid you met a few people. All those people you will become attached to. Everyone even the person who hate this anime has a personal favorite in Night Raid or The Jeagers. Both thinks they are fighting for good (at least some of the bad side thinks that). But what is the good side? That is for you to decide. The Jeagers that is working for the Kingdom or Night Raid for the Revolution Army. Yes it was a good vs evil thing. bla bla. It was nice balanced. The both parties were tied to each other and you didn't know which one was stronger. The overpowered weapons they used are called Imperial Arms. These weapon have to fit the person who holds them and they are in different variotions. Like Weapon type, Armor type or even "biological" types. There where in total 48 and I was suprised a lot were showed (26). The others could be destroyed or not part of the anime. But they showed a lot and I loved it for it. Story was all in one place. All around the kindom. But it also showed how big it was. I like the story of Akame and the others of Night Raid and The Jeagers. So I give it a 9. Art was very normal not ugly not to good. Not much to complain as long it fitted the anime and it did. Art = 8. Sound was reasonble. A little quiet sometimes. More music was welcome. But maybe the quiet also fits the anime. That is more for you to decide. Sound =9. Characters = 10. I loved the background and how attached you can get to them. (HUGE SPOILER) I was in tears when Mine died. She is my favorite. A friend of mine like Chelsea. Like I said. I really Enjoyed watching it more then anything. So that's a huge 10. Because the other things like the Art and the Sound are slightly worse. I give it Overall a 9. And I hear a lot that it was total different from the Manga. But I didn't read it and I have no intention to. I rate this on my perspective from the anime! You can hate or love me for that. But if you didn't read the manga. I suggest the anime. Reviewer’s Rating: 9 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Dec 1, 2015 Recommended Where do I start with this anime? Akame Ga Kill is probably in my top 5 anime. It is a fast paced, action-packed anime with a pretty great story and was incredibly enjoyable to watch. The storyline was different to that of normal 'good versus evil' and showed the good and bad qualities of each character, even focusing on some of the 'good guys' as being 'bad guys' and vice versa. However the story itself was the typical, corrupted, bad guys trying to take over the world'? Let's kill them all! Apart from the cliche plot it was thoroughly enjoyable and I was hooked from ... the first episode. The characters were all very different, with incredibly different backgrounds and personalities. One thing about this anime I was confused about was the hype around Esdeath. Yes, she was a bad-ass character who could be pretty 'cool' (sorry for the pun). She was also very complex character wise in the way that she acted, the story about her past and her ambitions. However she was, in my opinion, very over hyped as to me she was quite the typical villain in most aspects. All in all the anime had amazing art, the soundtrack was incredible, the characters were quite complex (apart from one or two) and it was really enjoyable to watch. I would recommend it to anyone out there looking for a complex, interesting and dramatic anime full of action, tons of fighting scenes and a pretty boring main character (but it's alright because the other characters make up for the boringness of that one character). Reviewer’s Rating: 9 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Feb 1, 2015 Recommended WARNING: THIS IS MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS (especially for last 5 episodes), ALSO THIS IS MY PERSONAL OPINION. ALSO THE SCORE I GAVE IS ONE OUT OF TWO REVIEWS, I SPLIT IT INTO TWO, IF YOU READ THE FULL REVIEW YOU WILL KNOW WHAT I FEEL ABOUT IT TAKING INTO ACCOUNT THE MANGA. Now with that said, this was an extremely difficult anime to review and watch. I will review this twice, once as if the manga never existed and once as an adaptation of the manga. As an anime without taking into consideration the manga: The animation is fluid, but the art is fantastic as well (ofc it ... can't compare to the fate series ^^). 10/10 I personally loved the music, especially the battle music. Although they did use the same track throughout the anime, which was only a problem if you binge watch it all in a row. 8/10 Characters are well thought out even if they are killed off soon after introduction, this enables the audience to feel connected to the character and so the death is more impactful because of it. unfortunately after around episode 19 the anime does not follow the manga and therefore the author was not responsible for the development of the story and so it fell short in both story and character development. I did enjoy the quirks that each character had. 7/10 Enjoyment, again until episode 19 it was a solid 9 even 10/10 but after that turning point it stopped being fluid and the characters actions did not reflect their personality and wtf was up with the super saiyen incursio in episode 23..... 7/10 overall rating for anime without consideration for manga: (8/10) Now here comes the rage as a fanboy of the manga; Animation and music is the same as above. The scores only change due to episode 19 onwards deviating from the main story completely and destroying the anticipation and dreams of many fans. Characters and story, we didn't see any of the conflicts between the minister's son's group vs night raid, and the way Lubbock dies and his fight was just an overall disappointment compared to the manga, which showed his resilience until the end and an epic trump card which shows how much of a badass he is even though he doesn't get as much screen time as the others. The fight with Akame vs Kurome was just lazy script writing trying to end the conflict in the simplest and shortest way possible. The fight was well animated but thats all, it didn't show the power of either party fairly and so was fairly anticlimactic. Great general Budo was build up to be at the same level as Esdeath or even stronger and yet he dies after barely one episode of fighting against Mine/pumpkin, although they both were killed off, again this was in order to fasten the pace because the studio wanted to end the series. Also I got a bad feeling about the manga because of this episode(chapter with Budo fight was not released when episode came out) luckily I was only half wrong(not spoiling the manga) How they ended the series is what annoyed me the most, the "super" imperial arms that can only be used by the royal bloodline is so fukin cliche and how the brainwashed child comes to terms with his mistakes is bullshit. How incursio evolves into super saiyen 9000 in order to destroy the "super" imperial arms then dies, dafuq. The final fight vs Esdeath and Akame was expected (since they were the only two alive... except for Najenda except she can't fight for shit, and Leone was chasing after the emperor) but the ending was fukin stupid, the sword that kills you by a single cut which was used as a joke because Akame had to be careful when cleaning her sword, can now turn the user into a super powerful beast if cut????? uh, I don't think so. And the after image of her bloodlust??? common I could have come up with a better excuse then that. How Akame takes the blames for everything because she is part of night raid and so she is used as a scape goat, but Najenda, the boss of night raid, can take the position of rebuilding the empire because no one knew of her existence right?? sigh. Forgot the mention, WTF is up with the Jaegers change in alliance, this is again since they didn't want to have a fight since that costs money and time they just decided that the main bad guys are now good guys coz talking to them has worked so well in the past-.- Anyway I could ramble on for ever so let me be frank, I give the rating for this anime a 4/10 due to my enjoyment crashing down since I read the manga and it not following the story. BUT to be fair, the studio did not have the budget for producing over 24 episodes and the manga was incomplete so I understand their decisions, its just that it was done so tactlessly and in a lazy way I can't help but feel angry. IF U WANT TO FULLY ENJOY AKAME GA KILL READ THE MANGA!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for reading up till here if u did, 'prreciate it. Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Dec 14, 2014 Recommended Cliched Fantasy , Political Anarchy , Assassination and Action is all Akame ga kill is about ; Or is it ?? To start of , i have watched this series since it first aired on the 7th of July having moderate hopes of enjoyment for the sake of fun and semi-objective time consumption. The show starts of with a bold solid episode that captivates the viewer and intensifies the story right from the beginning. The main character Tatsumi is just another brainwashed hero of his village that goes on a journey to help his people from a corrupt state. On his journey he gets enlightened to be ... the hero of true justice and freedom by falling and joining the hands of rebellious regime called Night Raid , run by expert assassins with unique weapons and plans to overthrow the emperor to eradicate corruption and liberate civilians. I can start of by talking about the weapons or rather the ''Imperial Arms'' , they are a magnificent addition to the show. They exhibit power , strength and Magic concluded from the world of akame ga kill's danger beasts. What truly bugs me is that i was never satisfied by how the weapons were presented or even how did characters acquire their Imperial Arms and whenever discussions about Imperial arms were existent they were just vague and shallow throughout the show. The characters in this show are shallower than the shallowest water you have ever seen or not seen in your life. No one is interesting , no one is unique , everyone has his own perspective of justice and defends it wholeheartedly. When the show progresses you would obviously realize that both fighting parties are fighting for the same cause which is justice , losses from both sides drive the viewer to ''JUST KISS EACH OTHER ALREADY'' moments , if those characters just had a little chit-chat in a bar they would come to terms and peace would instantly exist and the show would end peacefully with no losses, a happy ending basically. As i said before this show is bold , so you could expect the unexpected , it has awkward harem moments , a comedic relief which isn't always successful , sudden dramatic scenes and intense action sequences. You later on could deduce a specific pattern the show proceeds by repeating the above stuff over and over again but gets less impactful on the viewer the more it gets repeated. Akame ga kill is the type of show that doesn't focus or elaborate about the minuscule details it presents , and when something happens or is about to happen it will actually happen and nothing can stop it!! What seems surprising or rather unexpected is how the characters and the world are so Cliched and have been countlessly repeated in a gazillion shows and still have a unique tweak to it. The outstanding pro and con at the same time is the risky twists that are integrated into the show's progress . Give Akame ga Kill a try , you would be pissed , amazed , amused and a witness of great action but you will never be disappointed to a certain extent. Watch it if you like Action / Fantasy / Tragedy /Comedy(not really sure). Thank You for reading this shit. Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Nov 28, 2015 Recommended While watching akame ga kill it was obvious to me at least that it is a WWII allegory. I know that the amount of gore and two dimensional villians might make it seem like the story is lacking, but I think the mangaka purposefully wrote it this way to make his allegory and the characters representative of this allegory stand out more, so that it will take notice more. Most of the characters do not represent a particular country and it is more about the ideas that countries had at the time, some countries still continuing those ideas. Multiple characters represent Japan, because Akame ga ... kill is an anime, and it is about Japan's wrong train of thought during WWII and also the change that was necessary for them to go through, that the author thinks America has yet to experience. The main "evil," or antagonists in the anime are Esdeath, and the Prime minister. Esdeath wears a nazi-esque uniform and is representative of fascist idealist countries during WWII which would include Germany and Japan. The Prime minister represents the emperor's advisers during WWII. The Emperor's character is a child in Akame ga kill, a metaphor for his incapability to rule properly and how he was a puppet ruler. In an ideal fascist society, everyone is capable of both muscular and mental strength, making the society function a lot more smoothly. However, for many people the strength required for military personnel is simply not possible. The characters Kurome and Akame wear schoolgirl uniforms and are at one point forced to become assassins for the capital. This is representative of male university students who were drafted during WWII, and were forced to become trained killers. One of the main religions in Japan is Buddhism, in which Killing even a bug is a horrible thing. Both Akame and kurome were made female characters to make their weakness more obvious, especially with kurome who is twelve. In a fascist society people who are naturally weak do not do so well. In Japan during WWII, weak or injured men who could not complete the drills during their months of training properly, were promoted, then told that they were to become kamikaze and die for their country. The men would then try to desert, or somehow escape their situation. The men were usually found by their comrades and killed. In the anime, akame decides that the capital is wrong in their thinking and that she can no longer kill for them. She deserts, but before doing so she tries to convince her sister to come with her. Kurome does not go with her because she believes both her and her sister will be captured and murdered by Esdeath. Kurome who is scared she will be murdered by Edeath, who is a firm believer of the survival of the fittest, frequently ingests steroids in order to hide her weakness Both Akame and Kurome represent the spirit of the Japanese people, who during WWII, were suffering. Akame represents a couragous person who could make a difference if they stood up to the authorities. Kurome is representative of a weaker person during WWII, who for whatever reason cannot escape her situation. The opposite of Akame isn't the character Kurome, but the character Wave. Before the war he is a sailor and thus the emergence of the capital(Japan) as a fascist society does not effect him in a negative way, so he does not see how the people are suffering. He states at one point that he does not understand why Kurome is scared of Esdeath. Wave is probably the character most likely to save Kurome from her situation but instead, like the rest of the jaegers, he becomes part of her nightmare. A relation not to be ignored in the anime is the similarity between Wave's armor grand chariot and Tatsumi's Incursio. Tatsumi and Wave's beliefs are almost identical, which would naturally include the way Wave is drawn to the military and battle. Both of them originally came to the capital planning on rising in the ranks of the military. The first episode and what happens to Tatsumi's friends is representative of pearl harbor, and in the end when Tatsumi is stuggling to save a little girl represents how America sees other countries today. In the last few episodes the word Imperialism is said several times, speaking of the emperor and his actions taken to expand his country, and also of tatsumi. Although Tatsumi is able to realize that Esdeath is evil, unlike wave, it is only because he is on the opposing side. All the other members of night raid, including Akame, have a moment of silence after they kill someone, during which they express sorrow. However more similarly to members of the Jaegers and Esdeath, Tatsumi does no such thing, and is still expressing rage afterwards. Another hint that Tatsumi, although he is the MC, is not a good guy, is that Esdeath is attracted to him. The rest of the members of night raid represent a multitude of things including La resistance, Najenda, those who were persecuted because of their race during WWII, Mine, and Leone who represents poorer countries during WWII who also suffered. Najenda is missing her right arm because the eastern side of France was taken by Germany during WWII. Mine's name is German and also mocking of Tatsumi(America) who has a relationship with her. Akame ga Kill is my favorite World War Two Allegory and although it is sad, it is important to watch, also the soundtrack is bomb. Reviewer’s Rating: 9 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Dec 15, 2014 Recommended Akame Ga Kill. Just the title is enough to catch your attention. When I first heard about this anime, I was fairly new to watching Anime as a whole. This review might look biased because of how inexperienced I was, but it doesn't necessarily mean I was blind to not see what faults the Anime had. Now onto the Review. Story(5/10): The story is simple to follow. Tatsumi, a young teenager, is on his way to the capital to earn money and save his village. While this concept was dropped four episodes later, and didn't reemerge until the last episode, I knew it wasn't the basis ... of the story just by watching the first episode. The real plot is that the capital was filled with corruption and unnecessary evil, and it was Night Raid's job to purge the capital of that evil. While the story was rather true to it's roots, it had quite a lot of pacing issues. Even though their main objective was to eliminate the evil within the capital, the story jumped quite often not leaving you with any time to evaluate what was happening and their progress to taking down the capital. Characters die almost every other episode, and it leaves a rift where you'd think that the disappearance of that certain character would have an effect on that certain sides strength. Take for instance, when the were discussing how to defeat an overpowered character, they assumed that it would take 10 or so characters with special weapons called "Teigus" to defeat. Definitely not the case. That is where the story has it's inconsistency, it also likes to deviate from the intense action and heart wrenching moments, and add some comedy which really isn't necessary. Art/Sound(8/10): The Art and Sound are at the least commendable. The dark atmosphere was intensified due to the soundtrack, and fights are all animated pretty well. Characters look like they were done nicely, and the voice acting matched perfectly with their characters personas. There are some times where you might not notices the soundtrack in the background, but to where it matters most, it helps intensifies some scenes by it being present. Characters(6/10): Characters are what make a good story. You can have imagined the best story possible, but it only really shines when the characters are there to keep it interesting and moving forward. With that said, Akame Ga Kill characters don't differentiate themselves from typical Anime stereotypes. They look like they're unique and different because of the art and what they typically wear, but on the inside there isn't much difference between character types. They are at least interesting to a certain degree. Their relationship with each other and how they interact with each other is entertaining. An issue however is that the producers of the anime decides to kill off characters too quickly, leaving no time to grow feeling for the characters. There are some characters you'll care for maybe because you just like their personality, or maybe you just think they're cool, nonetheless it'll be hard for you to actually "care" about a character. Enjoyment(9/10): Here's where it may sound like I'm being biased, especially since I didn't score the Story or Characters to highly. I don't hate the Anime, not by a long shot. This is one of the first one's I watched, but after getting more experienced with Anime, I see the faults that it tries to hide. I had a great time watching this Anime, and would likely watch it again in the future. The plot doesn't seem all that interesting after you're a couple episodes in, and you notice how the characters aren't very unique. You can however expect it to at least be an entertaining series which you'd want to continue moving forward. It may not be on par with the best out there, but it's definitely something worth your time. Overall(7/10): It's a very solid Anime, it could have been better if the producers gave it more time for characters to develop, it would increase the impact of the story significantly. I do understand that they had to restrict it to 24 episodes, but they went about it the wrong way. Instead of introducing more and more characters, they should have stayed with the original members and worked with them, rather than send them to their deaths early without any character development. It is still something that can be enjoyed even with its flaws. Reviewer’s Rating: 7 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Jul 23, 2015 Recommended This review may contain spoilers so read at your own risk. Overall: So I'm going to go against the general opinion here and say that Akame ga Kill! is not as bad an anime as some make it out to be. It is certainly flawed, but nevertheless enjoyable. Story: While not the most original of plots, Akame ga Kill! offers an interesting story where it's interesting to see how everything will turn out. One thing to note is how the series takes a dark turn. While not the lightest of stories, the first few episodes mainly revolve around assassinating targets and Tatsumi's often comedic interactions within the ... assassin group (though sometimes it is inappropriate and unrealistic). However, it becomes much deeper when the Empire decides to take more action against Night Raid, which causes things to become much more troubling for them. There is a large amount of death and carnage at this point, with surprising character deaths and outcomes. However, after episode 18, the anime takes its original route regarding the conclusion of the story. This, as many others have said, is too rushed. Conflicts are resolved way too easily and the pacing is too fast. However, that was only 25% of the story, the other 75% is interesting and engaging. Art: The art is absolutely gorgeous, from character designs to background, Akame ga Kill! offers a variety of colours to suit the mood from bright and vibrant to dull and dark. Character designs are well done, though there is oversexualization in some parts, but overall, the art is excellent, and the animation is fluid and never unneccessary. Sound: The soundtrack is very fitting, with distinct tunes, though it's not something that stands out. The first OP is very catchy, and the second OP seems darker, which reflects the transition of moods in the anime. The voice acting on the most part is good, especially Akame's during a certain scene. Character: Here is where many have shown disapproval. While it is true that the quick pacing of the series makes it difficult to get connected to characters, this is a 24-episode anime, and death is something to be expected as the plot thickens. One thing I found interesting is how the anime showed that despite the Capital's corruption, there are those in there who maintain benevolence, showing that Night Raid's actions aren't always 100% justifiable. However, this did not get touched upon very much, which is disappointing. Another disappointing factor is that the villains seemed simply evil with no depth to them other than enjoying causing carnage. On the other hand, I enjoyed how the anime conveyed the theme that everyone is ultimately human, shown by Akame's emotions and Esdeath's love. Enjoyment: Despite its flaws, I feel that the pros of this anime overshadow the cons, and is in general a very enjoyable experience. Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? Nice 0 Love it 0 Funny 0 Confusing 0 Informative 0 Well-written 0 Creative 0 Show all Jan 27, 2015 Recommended Before you watch the anime, you can use my review as comparison to what you imagine. Akame ga Kill is an anime tells about a kingdom in that world is full of corruption, unjust, genocide. With all of wrecks, the main character, Tatsumi wants to revolt the kingdom joining a guild called Night Raid. How is Tatsumi and Night Raid efforts to destroy the old kingdom? The art is really good, White Fox Studio is really adorable to interpret such kind of world. The fighting animation is really good, so I give it 8 out of 10. Both opening and ending soundtracks are really good and ... fit to the such of theme of the anime. The development of the characters inside is really strong, influenced by any aspects inside the plot. You can see how a certain character develop both emotionally and ability. I really enjoy the series, but somehow the ending is quite disappointed for me. No intention to give spoiler though. If you like a bloodshed-genre anime, Akame gak Kill is really suitable for you. Reviewer’s Rating: 8 What did you think of this review? 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