Akame ga Kill!

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One of the biggest problems people have with some stories is that it seems like main characters are invincible. That no matter how far back in a corner they are, they always manage to pull a win out of nowhere through the power of friendship or some new ability they just got.

This is not one of those stories.

Akame ga Kill is an action/fantasy manga that takes place a country with a very long history that has only recently been corrupted by the current Prime Minister. He has complete control over the young prince and has molded him into his ideal pawn. Now, this idea has ... been done before, but I have never seen it done to this extreme so well. While similar things like Fullmetal Alchemist have used the idea of corrupt governments well, Akame ga Kill goes beyond just the simple corruption and shows the sins of the world to their fullest extent.

As the name suggests (“Kill” is in the title), this is not a manga to go into lightheartedly. Government sanctioned mass torture, crucifixion, prostitution, assassination, murder, etc. This manga is extremely gory and rivals Elfen Lied in that aspect. However, it manages to pull off all of this amazingly well.

Story – 8/10
The setup for the story of Akame ga Kill is kind like this: take all of the real world society’s problems and amplify them by 20 before putting them on steroids, then give both the good and bad sides 48 mystical weapons called “Teigu” and let both sides fight each other to the death. That’s about as good of a quick introduction of it as I can think of.

Tatsumi, our protagonist, is a boy from a poor village in the northern part of the country. He has come to the capital looking to join the military and earn money for his village. He also came with two friends, but they were separated when they were attacked by Danger Beasts, which are large dangerous creatures that vary in species and power. When Tatsumi arrives, he is taken advantage of by a busty thief (guess how he gets tricked) and left without any money. On top of that, he has trouble getting into the military. He is lying on the side of the street at night in a hopeless condition when he is found by a kind, wealthy girl who offers to let him stay at her house. According to her servants, she has a habit of doing this. At her family’s mansion, the girl’s father agrees to let Tatsumi stay there and even offers to help him get into the military through a connection he has.

However, a mysterious assassin group called “Night Raid” is targeting the kind family that has taken Tatsumi in. Night Raid has been going around killing rich and politically powerful people in this corrupted city. Their ultimate goal is to kill the Prime Minister who is behind everything and, with the Revolutionary Army that they are a part of, return the country to peace.

If you just want to get a feel for how dark this manga is, you need only read the first chapter. I don’t want to give away anything because I think the first chapter is just amazing at how well it sets up the tone of the rest of the manga.

One thing I really love about the story has to do with the Teigu. The Teigu are 48 extremely powerful weapons that were created long ago from some of the most powerful Danger Beasts. They range from a poisonous “one-cut” sword to a cute little dog-thing that transforms into a gigantic dog-thing that has the teeth of a demonic worm-shark-thing to a gun that gets more powerful the more trouble the user is in. Now similar things have been done many times with mystical weapons but there is one addition that Akame ga Kill does that sets it apart from similar situations: if two Teigu users fight each other, at least one of them must die without exception. And the mangaka holds true to this. This creates a much more exciting story when you know that at least one of the people fighting (whether good or bad) will not walk away from the fight alive through some miraculous event.

Art – 10/10
This manga is one of the goriest I have read: blood, bones, intestines, hearts, and people being tortured. While most fights do not always go to the extreme, the real intense ones where someone must die do. And the gore is drawn amazingly. With that dark theme, the emotions of the characters (especially since most characters get extremely angry or sadistic at one point or another) are also extremely detailed. While there are some comedic and fanservice moments, they are few and far between the dark, dramatic scenes. And the few comedic scenes they have are usually a nice, funny change of pace. Esdese’s “unique” behavior (and I’m not talking about her sadistic side), Akame’s love of food, and Braht’s homosexual flirtations towards Tatsumi are all hilarious and really well drawn and executed.

While it does not actually show nudity, the manga does come close at times in some of the fanservice, prostitution, and torture moments. It doesn't get in the way though and for the latter two of the three previously mentioned things, just adds to the dark tones of the story.

The character designs are also unique and interesting. The few color pages show that the characters have one of the widest range of hair colors I’ve ever seen, but even without that, they are all unique. There aren’t any characters that I ever mixed up and mistook as someone else like in some manga with similar looking characters.

Character – 9/10
Akame ga Kill may have the best, most unique, and most depressing character backstories I’ve ever seen. They are spaced out perfectly throughout the manga instead of being clumped together in the beginning so you can remember most of them. Main and supporting characters alike have great and pretty much always tragic pasts. Tatsumi doesn’t have much in his past prior to the first chapter, but characters like Mein, Akame, Bors, Esdese, Schere, etc. have such amazing and memorable backstories that they make up for it. And I’m not saying Tatsumi is boring at all. While he does not have the most creative goals ever, he works hard and is not weak-kneed and afraid to kill like many protagonists.

And those backstories just makes it all the more emotional when characters die (even for the villains). This manga does a great job of connecting the reader to the characters. I won’t talk about the other characters any more than I have because the manga does such a good job of introducing them and I wouldn’t want to spoil any of the backstories.

The only real problem with the characters is that some of the villains, mainly Wild Hunt, are just there to be hated. They do vile and despicable things just to make the audience hate them (and it does work), but to an annoying extent with no motivations or reasons for doing these things other than that they are just disgusting, selfish people. But this is just one problem, and doesn't get in the way of enjoying the rest of the story.

Enjoyment – 10/10
Akame ga Kill is great dark fantasy manga that I recommend to anyone who enjoys violent stories and great characters with well thought out backstories. If you like similar dark manga like Shingeki no Kyojin and Elfen Lied or if you like manga that go into the problems of society like Magi: the Labyrinth of Magic, Death Note, and Shiki, then at least check out the first chapter of this manga. I recommend it all, but the first chapter will definitely decide whether or not you are up for this dark story or not.

Over the time, the term "edgy" has become something that people throw around for just about anything like Halloween candies. Therefore, when people label something as "edgy" these days, the chances are that it's not an appropriate term to describe that something. Fortunately, that term has found a perfect place just recently, and it's called Akame ga Kill. The more of this series I read, the more I'm convinced that the author is working on his 100% run of Shadow the Hedgehog and DMC as he's writing this masterpiece.

The biggest problem with this series already starts with the first chapter- The main character, Tatsumi, ... is a rather generic shounen protagonist who starts off with his two best buddies on some unexplained journey. Unfortunately for him, the group gets separated at some point, and when Tatsumi finds his buddies again in the Capital, the main setting of the series, it's shockingly revealed that they have been tortured to death by the very mean woman, Aria. (Don't bother remembering her name since she's irrelevant) Later, she gets killed and Tatsumi joins up with his actual group. What a fake out! Such a ruse! Deconstruction of a typical shounen manga! Now, what's wrong with this? It seems to be a nice introduction to the grim-dark setting the series seems to be going for, and serves as a possible motivation for the protagonist to stop the corruption that festers the Capital. Well, nothing, really. In fact, that's a good thing. So why did I state that the problem starts here?

Because this becomes a gimmick.

The series really seems to like emphasizing that the Capital just happens to be full of terrible people who seem to take their ideas from Comiket guro doujins. Even when the first chapter establishes this idea already, the author just has to beat the dead horse over and over in order to invoke some sort of emotion from the audience. Unfortunately, it's not very effective by the 10th time, and especially more so when the victims are extremely shallow or just so obviously fodder. The extra chapter later in the series is a perfect example of this- Three random girls, suddenly tortured/raped and dead. (one by suicide) What was the point? Nothing. The villains were irrelevant, and so were the 3 girls. The point emphasized? Uh, the Capital is full of bad people? Wait, that was already established by first chapter. It's really just another half-assed attempt to invoke some sort of emotion from the audience, and it doesn't work at all because it's just really trying too hard and eventually becomes just annoying. The author seems completely incapable of portraying something as "evil" unless some gory scene is involved. This baffles me because plenty of shounen manga-tier antagonists are fully capable of murder- But apparently visually showing that process in detail, despite it leading up to the same outcome, makes it any different?

Eventually, the series introduces a rival group called "Jaegers" to oppose the protagonists. Mind you, these characters, unlike most of the random fodder Monster of the Week villains in this series, are supposed to be actually relevant. Now, how would the author try to differentiate these guys from the rest? Give them the panel time instead of the protagonists, and write them just like how the protagonists are written with random SoL segments. Of course. It's sort of already painfully obvious what the author is trying to do here- By humanizing them, clearly the audience will feel some sort of sympathy for these guys when they die, and question the morality of it all. No, it doesn't work that way.

This is a great example of cherry-picking. Just showcasing some moments of these characters being not murderous psychos does not make them any more sympathetic than the rest. No, all that does is show that these characters are human beings, not some cardboard cutouts with the label "I am evil" attached to them. And the last time I checked, a character being a human (i.e. having emotions and personality) isn't an attribute. It's a requisite to even qualify as a character, so this really doesn't do anything to develop them at all either. And as for the central antagonist the protagonists are supposed to be aiming for- He's some overweight guy in charge of the Capital behind the puppet monarch who has a headgear that vaguely resembles devil horns, which I guess it's supposed to be deep and symbolic. And just like all the cardboard cutout antagonists outside of Jaegers, he has nothing going for him other than the fact that he's a dick. What a fucking joke. Of course, you can argue that maybe later in the series, whatever his motivation might be would be revealed or something, but I think it's already far too late in the series to give him a personality.

So while I was busy describing how awfully written the antagonists were and the plot driven by them, I forgot to mention the protagonists in much detail. Well, there's an excuse for that- There really isn't much to them at all either, except maybe Leone, who is one of the first characters Tatsumi meets. First of all, outside of their personality quirks, they aren't given much time to develop as characters. One reason is that some of their would-be panel time is given to Jaegers instead, who are even more shallow. In fact, two of the characters who die later in the series are given some sappy flashbacks (which is an obvious death flag- and this is rather offensive since this shows that the author is at least partially aware that these characters would be too shallow without addressing them before their deaths) and the author calls it a day for those characters- And one other character who dies is introduced much late in the series, only to be killed very quickly. It's like the author couldn't decide to kill off one of the existing characters, so he introduced a new one instead just to make that possible. Again, shallow characters dying to invoke emotions. Nothing could be more forced.

On the other hand, here are some more relevant plot points regarding the protagonists:

There's the whole drama between Akame, the other main protagonist, and Kurome, a member of Jaegers. They're sisters. They also used to work for the Empire/Capital. Akame left because she wasn't brain-dead enough to work for people who treat their comrades like shit. Kurome didn't. Now they're enemies and want to kill each other. Okay. Here's the weird thing- There are few possible reasons as to why Kurome didn't leave the Empire like Akame did. One being that Kurome needs to rely on drugs to survive due to heavy experimentation on her body- So does that imply that she agreed with Akame's decision to leave and that she couldn't because of her physical condition? Considering the fact that they want to just kill each other and neither of them seem hesitant at the idea, that doesn't seem to be the case. Then the other reason must be that Kurome doesn't really care for her own comrades as much as Akame did, and therefore didn't want to bother leaving the Empire, right? No, because she clearly does care for her comrades considering the scene involving her after Bors (another member of Jaegers) was killed in battle. So there's one last possibility- Kurome is being brainwashed to a degree in some form/shape. Or maybe she's stupid and just accepts all the awful things the Empire does. And at that point, it's just forced sibling rivalry. I guess the author really had to check that off from his trope list.

There's also this drama between Tatsumi and Esdese, the leader of Jaegers and the strongest soldier of the Capital. There's supposed to be some sort of romance between the two- No, of course it's not developed well at all. Esdese just outright falls in love with Tatsumi on first sight for literally no reason- What better way to make the main character seem more relevant than forcibly tying in a fairly significant character into it, right? Brilliant, AgK! Truly a sign of a masterpiece in the making.

And the last plot element that warrant mentioning is the Teigus- Most of the time, these are just fancy weapons with special abilities, which seem to be like the requisite for every generic shounen ever, but there is one very important key point about them that I'd like to go over. The author points out that there is not a single Teigu that can resurrect the dead- Basically, this is the author's way of saying "This is not a generic shounen where dead characters can come back to life like dragon ball and therefore deaths are final." However, this is how I see it: "Characters die in this series and if they do, they're likely going to be very irrelevant in the end." Even though this plot point could've been brought up much later in the series, it's introduced rather surprisingly early- Almost as if author is just desperately attempting to show how grim-dark his series is as much as possible. I think the term "edgy" fits in perfectly here.

Overall, this series is just a perfect misunderstanding of what makes a series "mature" and dark- And while it's perfectly fine and possible to make your series mature/dark through some creative writing, inconsequential deaths and completely unnecessary gory scenes leading up to them sure as hell aren't the way to go. So in conclusion- This series is just another overrated generic shounen with completely unnecessary gory scenes and characters to make it seem more mature and dark than it actually is, despite it being an extremely shallow, boring work as a whole. I suppose, in a way, that this series is trying to be really pretentious in that aspect. In the end, it's just one of the flavor of the month series, where after you read it for a while, you quickly lose interest in it because it's far too formulaic and the characters are too shallow to even care for. And then you sort of forget you ever read it in the first place. This is what happens when you focus on one particular trait of your series so much that you forget about everything else that makes a story interesting.

However, even after all that, if you're interested in how this series can redeem itself, I suppose it doesn't hurt to keep up with it. Maybe it will stop shoving forced characterizations, drama, and gore doujin materials down your throat at some point. But I highly doubt that will happen any time soon because this series is all about forcing something up your face while endlessly trying to make a point about how dark and serious it is.

Being a generic shounen manga isn't that terrible of a thing, though it makes the series relatively forgettable- And even then, one could still have a generic setting and make it interesting and fun to read. Akame ga Kill, however, just tries really hard to paddle away from the generic shounen manga territory, while at the same time, not knowing where it's actually paddling towards. So far, it's been a truly revolutionary trainwreck.

First of all, when I picked this manga I though it'll be a typical adventure fantasy, but should still be a good way to kill time. However I'm glad I was wrong...

This piece doesn't look like it at all on the first glance, but be warned it contains a lot of bloody scenes. Men and women sliced to pieces, tortured to death or some other way falling victims to human cruelty in high detail, just like in medieval real life. It does display the world in more mature way, but it's not dark and depressing. Funny scenes and dialogues, interesting characters does lighten the mood ... nicely.

Speaking about characters they are very well-made. Every one of them has an interesting background that is revealed eventually. Protagonist is also nicely designed, he's not some sort of naive idealist who only gets beaten up and defeats enemies by some dumb luck or "nakama powerup". He's still a bit naive and young, but fully understands that he has to stain in blood his hands to reach his goal, he's torn by that but is convicted to do so and does whatever it takes to defeat his enemies even uses dirty tricks. Plus he's capable in combact, not overpowered, but doesn't suck as well to only be toyed by enemies most of the time, like usual protagonists in these mangas.

That being said, battles here are also entertaining, action and top notch artwork ensure plenty of entertainment. And it's especially awesome that scenes are not dragged on like mainstream crap. When the battle starts in a chapter then most of the time it reaches conclusion in that same chapter, same with the flashbacks etc. Author does a great job not making it boring for the reader so far, I really love that.

There are some plotholes which made me to refrain from giving full 10 out of 10. The main one is that the main villain is made perfectly clear, the corrupted prime minister makes the life absolutely miserable for everyone in entire country, so the protagonist joins a group of assassins to take out him and all other trash officials. Thats all cool and OK, but i fail to find the clear reason what's stopping those assassins to simply moving in and taking out that minister-scource-of-all-evil and be done with all that, they seem capable for that, so why have to drag it out moving around randomly killing it's lackeys and simply waiting until all forces will be thrown again'st them only making it harder. I'm sure some reason could be found by speculating, yet such important detail should be made clear in the beginning not left for reader to guess. At least that's what i think.

Overall it's very enjoyable manga with entrancing storyline, and hopefully becomes even better in further chapters.

I see that there is no review of the complete work, warning there will be spoilers.
I started this manga a while ago, the anime didn't do it justice sadly.
However the heart-wrenching story that has become one of my favorite is truly underrated.
The plot begins with a young man named Tatsumi who travels to the capital to earn riches in order to assure his village doesn't starve. He then learns how corrupted the world is when he ventures out into the capital. After a series of unfortunate events he joins a group called Night Raid. They are assassins working with the revolutionary army looking to ... take down the corrupt government running the capital. Every member in Night Raid is equipped with weapons known as Teigu, powerful relics that only the strongest warriors could wield. There are many trials and tribulations awaiting Tatsumi and Night Raid-many of them have a good amount of back story. Each coming from their own hardships-which truly made me empathize with them. Eventually there is a war and from that war rises a new kingdom bringing about peace-which made me feel happy yet sad. The things the characters had to go through to achieve this peace for all the people-inspiring yet empty.



My two favorite characters in this series were similar yet vastly different. The ones that made this story a masterpiece from my perspective were Akame and Esdese. Akame and Esdese have both gone through immense struggles but both came to two different ways of life. Esdese is yin and Akame is yang, one kills for justice but hopes to grow beyond that, one kills for self satisfaction and blood lust with no desire to change. This manga left me feeling sad, empty and having a deep admiration for Akame's resolve to keep on living and aspire to grow as an individual. On the other hand, Esdese's resolve to stay true to who she was until her last breath was remarkable. While I don't agree with her way of life, I do admire her strength and fortitude. She doesn't waiver at the face of death and embraces it-a truly wicked and beautiful character. I wish to see how the rest of Akame's life played out but perhaps the ending the author chose is the most fitting-it lets you imagine her ending.



The art was great throughout most of the manga and I thoroughly enjoyed it, a reboot of the anime likely won't happen but if it does, it will get a proper conclusion this time around.
There are a lot of heart-wrenching moments throughout this manga that made me appreciate the peaceful part of the world I am granted to live in. 10/10 for me, hope you enjoy it as much as I did-but everyone's a critic and entitled to their own opinion.

In case you couldn't tell from the title of the manga, Akame ga Kiru (or Kill) is about killing and contains so called "dark" content.

"Dark" content has always been desired and as a result also quite prevalent in manga. People enjoy feeling "mature" and "grown-up" in whatever they do; reading manga is no exception.

"Only kids read sissy shounens; blood and gore is for the real mature people," is what I've seen probably hundreds of times on the internet. So when people experience "dark" manga, they usually feel like they've grown up. "No more of that silly kids stuff I used to read, ... I'm a big boy now" is what I imagine many people feel when they read things like Berserk, Monster, and Akame ga Kiru. These days, with the increasing popularity for series like the Fate, Madoka, and Psycho-Pass (thanks Urobutcher), death has become an idea that many authors seem to enjoy playing with as a result of its apparent popularity. While it is not necessarily a bad thing (there are series that do use it well), it is probably Akame ga Kiru's biggest flaw.

Seeing as Akame ga Kiru currently sits at an 8.59 rating as of this review, I have to say that the series is quite overrated, probably because people seem to believe that it is really deeper than it actually is and it gives them the sense that they have matured and graduated from the "casual" material when really this is not as distanced as people feel it is.

Story- 5/10
So the story follows a pretty generic beginning; guy from village sets out with his friends to save the village from the corrupt government, and then it gets pretty brutal. I'll be honest, I was surprised when it happened. The story suddenly takes a dark turn from what seems like a normal fantasy setting and you suddenly realize just what a scary place the world they live in is. It was very promising, however, where it goes from there is the problem.

Absolutely nothing changes.

Just as soon as this manga leaves the realm of shounen, it dips right back into it. You come right back to the generic "hero joins a rebel group and tries to save the world" type of thing. The only difference being a massive amount of killing in the series but even this turns out to be a problem. Every arc starts with an evil underling army group doing bad things to the people and then the great heroes of justice come in and stop the baddies, saving the day. And while the large amounts of death in this series are definitely a step away from shounen, it becomes so repetitive and boring that each death no longer holds any value and is only there for the gimmicky shock factor. And then the series can't even do that right. The series becomes so damn predictable. In each fight that occurs, you know exactly who will die because of the massive amounts of cliched death-flags that they raise just chapters before the fights begin. I was pretty disappointed as going into it after the first few chapters, the gore that had made it surprising and hooked me in the first place turned into just meaningless gore with very little actual content.

And then we have the romance. The latter half of the "romantic" sub-plot just ruins the mood of the show. Really it seems like it is just filler. For a few chapters you'll have this action packed fight with tons of blood shed and killing then suddenly it'll become a slice of life. The randomness of this kills the tension of the show and while it starts off as comedic relief and tension building (which I actually rather enjoyed), it develops into what the authors seem to intend as either a serious romantic plot or just set-up for another "tragic" death.

Art- 9/10
The art may be the series only outstanding feature. The art is well drawn and the fights are well directed. Each fight catches your eye and directs it with the movement of the battle. The art reflects the dark, grim tone the story attempts to create and almost makes up for how badly the rest of the story is written. The death scenes are also well depicted, not hiding any types of gore from the reader and are quite brutally drawn. Characters are all very well drawn, detailed, and all in all it really is very good.

Characters- 3/10
In contrast, the characters in AgK are probably the weirdest and perhaps most horribly done aspect of the manga. By far the most interesting characters are the ones that the story makes out to be the antagonists. The protagonists and members of the protagonist group are mostly flat, holding little to no development, relying on "tragic" back stories to make them seem real. These backstories give little closure and you're really never given any time to sympathize with the characters before they die.

As you go further and further in, it seems like the author just became confused as to who the protagonists were as the manga seems to concentrate more and more upon the villains. Really it becomes about the government groups rather than the flat and boring mc's as you see less of them and more of the antagonists. Wave in particular seems to be a better protagonist than our what we are given. All of our main characters seem to be better supporting characters than they are main characters and I'm really not sure why some of them even exist other than to die a few chapters later in an attempt to make us sympathize for them. As the story progresses, the main protagonist group becomes more of a side-story set aside for relieving tension within the story.

With so much of the manga being wasted on developing characters immediately before they die, the protagonists with their plot armour are given little to no development as a result. With all the time and attention placed upon the dead characters and spread so thin throughout the rest of the living characters, those left alive are uninteresting and one-dimensional.

Furthermore, ALL the characters can be placed into good, bad, and undecided. Well that't not too bad right? Except for the fact that every single evil villain is plain out bad, every hero plain good and for some reason it is only the supporting characters who experience any form of inner conflict rather than our so called "heroes". Every villain is completely sure of their evil deeds and have no problems continuing them; every hero is completely sure of their good deeds and although the story attempts to make it seem like the protagonists are having a tough time accepting the fact that they're killing others, killing them is not a hard decision to make when they are so one-sided with absolutely no redeeming qualities. There is no inner strife or conflict within the protagonists or the totally evil villains and this makes them completely flat and uninteresting. With that, the villains are also impossible to sympathize with (unless you are some type of crazy psychotic killer-rapist hybrid) and the heroes are completely boring to watch when all they ever do is carry out their justice much like your typical shounen character.

Enjoyment-8/10
Despite the low light in which I see this manga, I actually still found it quite enjoyable as far as its action and fighting. This is definitely one of those series you just have to turn off your brain for (similar to Kill la Kill or TTGL). It is very easy to find entertaining and as long as you can handle the overdone gore in the series, you will probably find it fun to read as well. It's just one of those things that although are simple and flawed, are still fun and enjoyable.

Overall- 6/10
I can definitely see why so many people enjoy the series. The art paired with the mood is definitely a good combo, but if you're searching for a psychological series with deep themes or plot, this is not the right manga. There is absolutely no intellectual thinking that goes on when reading this manga. The countless and meaningless deaths paired with the repetitive plot and flat main characters just ruins the entire thing. It's definitely worth checking out and is interesting to say the least, but the constant attempts to make it seem more mature with all the gore really just makes the gore plain boring gore. Its feeble tries to wow you with the deaths gets boring and the underlying "rebelling against a corrupt government" trope has been done better.

It is meant to entertain and does that well, but the story is weak and holds little value, the characters are uninteresting and even pointless, and most of its value comes from the shock that it brings at first but ultimately grows boring as it continues to try and surprise you with the same things. It contains mature content but at the same time does not provoke any thinking and can be mindlessly enjoyed because of the continuous action.

When I first read the summary of the plot, I thought it would be another fantasy and party in an adventure type of work. I was wrong. Many manga summary has the word "assassin", with most of them being either the historical type or shonen type where the protagonist is unwilling to kill. However, this is different. When they say "assassin", they meant it literally.

If I have to give a metaphor, it would be like a Robin Hood based story, but instead of stealing from the rich, he kill the rich and save the poor, as in this story, most of the wealthy one ... are corrupted individual.

This work has gore, although it is not Elfen Lied level. It show scene like torture and one example is the tearing off a face. Thus, if you can't handle those kind of thing, this manga is not for you. However, if you can handle gore, I will say you will definitely enjoy it. The fight scene of this manga is pretty decent and I have no complaint about the art.

In this story, there is several character with their personal armament which if I have to compare, would be something like an average Noble Phantasm from the Fate series. They come in all kind of size and shape with some taking the form of traditional Katana, gun and western sword to absurd weapon like scissors and doll. There is even an armor which might remind fans of Kamen Rider.

The main protagonist is actually likeable. Unlike character like Ouma Shu from the much-hated Guilty Crown, he is decisive. Although the main character group kill evil people, they know they themselves are murderer and are equally sinful, with none of them having a personality like Light Yagami. The antagonist of this series, the majority of them have warped mind and it is from them you get the gore, albeit, an enemy who have similar personality to the protagonist have appeared recently.

When I read to about 10 chapters or so, I thought: "Wow, is this another Gen Urobuchi work or something?". The reason being, the author doesn't hesitate to kill off his character so you can expect death here and there due to the heavy amount of death flag triggered. The story is pretty basic so I won't comment on it. There is also comedy in it like most shonen manga and a hilarious love comedy from the recent chapter.

In the end, if you are looking for a manga to enjoy or kill time, Akame ga Kiru won't be a disappointment. But if you are looking for series like Highschool DxD or Rosario+Vampire (Ecchi), I am afraid this is not what you want. There is fanservice but in moderation and close to none.

The beginning of the manga is litteraly the same as the anime, but I really liked the ending.
I don't want to spoil the story so I'm not going to talk about it.
The ending of the manga is really another thing compared to the anime.
That was one of the main reasons I liked the manga.
I'm not an expert in ''arts'' of mangas, but I can say that it looked relatively good.
Especially the eyes of ''the bad guys'' when they're pissed off.
My favourite character was, of course, the main character: Tatsumi.
I really liked how the ending finished for him unlike the one in the anime.
He made me ... really stunned at some points and that's why he is my favourite character.
I really enjoyed reading the manga because I like how, they are '' merciless''
with the characters.
You will understand what I mean if you read the manga.
Anyways, akame ga kill is one of my favourite mangas that I ever read.
That's why I recommend it.

"Akame ga Kill" is perhaps one of the more gory and dark mangas I have read up to date. With basically GoT styled killing of characters, this shounen turns into a bloody manga in the end.

Mild Spoilers Beware~~~~~~~

Story:
The story itself starts out pretty promising, with Tatsumi joining the Night Raid, determined to exterminate all evil from the Empire. Then you get introduced to Teigus, 48 powerful weapons. The plot isn't too dull or cliche for the most part as with "death flags" basically every fucking chapter and everywhere, characters seemed to be dying once per few chapters. Towards the end tho, more weird ass evil ... ass sick ass characters are introduced just to kill them off. Like really? (this is talking about Wild Hunt) Anyway, the final chapters finally got pretty intense again, with main characters getting hurt, fighting Esdese/Esdeath , and Tatsumi transforming into a motherfking dragon. But even though it was not really a typical "shounen" powerup moment, I really didn't know how to feel about it. But yea, the story did kinda end up stereotypical with the "good" guys winning by a hair's breadth and getting close to 0 acknowledgement for it.


Art:
Pretty damn good. Fight scenes are absolutely gorgeous, gory, and full of movement. Teigu looks cool as fuk too. The characters themselves don't seem to age, other than Tatsumi. But yea, Esdese's facial expressions are really good too. Not much to say other than GOOD.


Character:
Well many characters were fleshed out just so that when they died it would feel more emotional. And that was alright I guess. I'm glad Tatsumi pretty much stayed true till the end with his attitude. But Esdese... ;_; ....... I wish she was less sadistic lmfao cuz I really like her. Where's the Esdese x Tatsumi as promised???????? nooooooo
Anyways, the other characters were easily identifiable with easy to tell personality differences.


Enjoyment:
Yea I guess the beginning and end hit me the most. The story basically went to killing mode during the middle of the story so.... it wasn't really enjoyable. But the start with the setup, and the end with the epic battle was damn good.

Overall:
Yes, I will still be rating this as my 3rd fav anime/manga (1. AoT 2. Fate series in general) Why? Going past the bloody gory shounen, it is a tale of sticking to what you believe in. Tatsumi stuck out till the end. Esdese stuck out till the end. Akame, Leone, Najenda, Lubbock, etc, etc everyone did.


Come for the gore, leave with (some) feels.

Akame ga kill is a manga series that tries to be too many things, while not firmly committing to being anything, seemingly intent on ignoring every positive aspect it has going for it in favour of edge, hollow character development and a directionless story.


Story:
This set-up seemingly possesses potential for portraying morally ambiguous themes about power, utilitarianism and real-world parallels, but instead settles for being a shallow good versus evil narrative set in a medieval world with magical weapons and blood. These themes are abandoned due to nature of this series’ tone and minimalistic world building, with every character sorted into one of three categories: the ... bad people who kill innocent people because they can, the Good Guys who kill bad people because it’s good, and the innocent people. The story essentially focuses on Good Guys fighting Bad Guys to save Innocent People, with every characters being painted boldly in one of these three colours. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing; simple stories can be impactful if told well. However, Akame Ga kill’s simple nature is contradicted by its gruesome tone and narrative; horrific events occur, but never manage to appear impactful due to cringe-worthy attempts at levity. If Akame Ga Kill was aiming to be a proper dark shonen, it would have been more prudent for it to have followed suit with Evangelion and Attack on Titan by showing the more human, comedic side of the characters and militaristic attitudes in different settings, with sufficient time in between to ensure natural tone progression. In Akame Ga Kill, however, these sides contradict each other, with the humour taking place in serious circumstances, suggesting that Nightraid laugh at rape and murder, and the serious parts taking place in casual settings, implying that the characters are actually morbid and affected. Hence, in this case, the levity serves as a way of making the characters appear inconsistent, rather than multi-faceted.

The poor attempts at levity also affect the pacing and plot progression. A good example of this was when Tatsumi was placed in the enemies’ territory, presenting him the opportunity to learn about their motives and intentions, but instead all that he gets to learn is that the villains are as inconsistent and shallow as he is. Once again, in a light hearted show, this would be acceptable, but in a dark fantasy setting where the villains kill and torture people for fun and heads are mounted on pikes, such frivolous time wasting conflicts with the tone. Additionally, the action scenes are as unnecessary as the comedy scenes, and about as well managed. Well-constructed action can serve as a device to give the characters depth, as I stated in my Fate Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works (2014) Prologue review. In this case, the characters move and attack with little individuality or character, always opting to attack the “henchmen” instead of the “Boss”. This mix of poorly handled levity and action, juxtaposed by a dark tone and imagery, results in an inconsistent and ineffectual narrative that has little identity or memorability. Like Btooom! and Elfen Lied before it, it relies on shock factor and misogyny to desperately earn the audience’s interest, despite clumsy theme execution.

Characters:
The awareness of the general public is never clearly presented; many are murdered in cold blood over the series, but civil unrest within the capital is never clearly articulated. If the series were to express that different states are segregated, inhibiting the flow of information, then this may be excusable, but given how easily characters can travel and how explicit the government’s deplorable actions are, there is no reason why the public shown be so clueless and silent. The “bad” guys are given little depth or reasoning, with most of them being presented as either cruel sociopaths or idiotic youth who know no better. Most of them are monotonously one-note, predictable and dull, their only interesting feature lying in their teigu. Their character designs do not help them come across as imposing; in spite of serving under the same group, they do not sport commanding uniforms, instead opting for campy costumes that would look ridiculous even on the set of Batman and Robin, contradicting their intended image. The exception to the rule is Esdeath, the fully-grown Yuno Gasai (Mirai Nikki), whose charisma and presence overshadows all other characters on both sides. The being said, she is not a well written character, spontaneously shifting between being an oppressive war lord and caring commander with little consistency or believability. The governor and his son are the most 2-dimensional, serving as flat figure-heads for evil, and the innocent civilians are simply there to be raped and murdered to anger the heroes.

Tatsumi is perhaps the blandest of the cast, being poorly established as a do-gooder who doesn’t mind killing and undergoing little convincing character development. The other members of Nightraid don’t fare much better, with the manga’s title character and our scissor-wielding Sheele being the most snore-inducing. The others have minimal substance, their characteristics consisting of a basic desire to “kill things” and the odd personality quirk. Given their capacity as assassins, the writer could have investigated how taking lives has affected them psychologically and physically, but instead the author seems content to paint them as the “good guys” and leave it at that. Within the context of the story, where they are required to kill over and over again, this seems like a huge missed opportunity. Additionally, there is negligible chemistry between these characters; Akame does not parallel or juxtapose Tatsumi in any conceivable way, Esdeath is too spontaneous to relate to anyone and any attempts at character interaction feel contrived and copied. Like the story, the characters should have more depth, but are the same stereotypes we’ve seen a million times before, just soaked in blood.

Art:
Much like the story and characters, the art style is sketchy, unrefined, and forgettable though to its credit it is more firmly committed to being a simple fighting shonen with bright colours than its story or characters. The character designs lack identity, with Akame coming across as a dull, emo version of Saber and Leone looking like fan-service character rejected from Fairy Tail. Tastumi is a cut-and-paste protagonist and the quirky Nightraid companions and jaegers look like they were pulled out of Power-Rangers. The fights, while occasionally entertaining, are undercut by a poor sense of direction and minimal impact due to low-detail backgrounds and confusingly designed settings. Overall, the art in Akame Ga Kill fails to stand-out, isn’t the series’ most glaring fault.

In conclusion, Akame Ga Kill is a pale, forgettable manga series that attempts to set itself apart through half-heartedly attempting to be a dark and serious manga, in spite of its shallow world and characters and lacklustre art and designs. If you’re looking for a legitimately mature anime, I highly recommend checking out Hellsing Ultimate or Fate/Zero.

To say I’ve grown a hatred for anything White Fox produces is like saying that more than half the English-speaking aniblogging community are Asian. Despite the fact that I usually try to give anything a chance regardless of studio or whatever as long as the premise appeals to me, White Fox has a bad record – four years long – of taking premises I like and fucking them up to the point that I get more enjoyment from watching a one-eyed man do pole dancing. I probably wouldn’t have minded so much if it wasn’t for the fact that I seem to be alone in ... my feelings for this studio, mostly because White Fox is riding the Steins;Gate train longer than KyoAni rode the Haruhi/FMP one. Thankfully, nowadays people are starting to join me in my White Fox hate bandwagon mostly because they stopped pretending to try with their premises, and I have yet to see a season preview that went “bunny girls drinking coffee? Sign me up!”

But apparently the fans seem to think they’re back on track with their recent acquirement of Akame ga Kill, a manga that apparently has a reputation for being bloody as shit, which of course got me excited until I found out that bastard son of Madhouse was adaptating it. And let me tell you right now, when a studio has gotten to the point that they can kill your hype for something just by attaching their name to it, something has seriously gone wrong somewhere.

Still, it’s a good premise, and most of White Fox’s “mistakes” have been dependent on the source material they were adapting. Plus, that recent trailer looked kind of cool. So maybe this will be good? Maybe this will be the one anime of theirs that actually works out well? Maybe my manga-loving buddies have similar taste to me for once? I do like people getting cut up.

Curious I was to discover what all the fuss was about that I jumped into the manga, and the process and result was a bit of a disappointment. I was only able to read six chapters of Akame ga Kill. Partly because I was reading the manga at work and they kind of frown on that sort of activity, and partly because anymore than five pages of this f*cking thing would get me more riled up than an Indian person watching Slumdog Millionaire. I guess I could have read some more during the weekend, but here’s the thing: I don’t want to.

This thing is anime-joke heavy. And yeah, I know that’s kind of a shitty critique when I’m reviewing a manga and all, but my point is this: Akame ga Kill is supposed to be about the horrors of some kingdom with blood and guts and people getting beheaded right? It’s supposed to be serious whilst having levity to appeal to a more mainstream audience who can’t handle stuff like Oyasumi Punpun, right? Then why the hell is the main character feeling sad about the deaths about people he cares deeply about in one page, only for the next page to be the assassins dragging him in a comical fashion whilst he goes “No! Let me go! Let me grieve!” like he’s suddenly in a Shonen Jump manga?

I could understand if this thing was going for a comical tone with some serious moments, and I’m not much of a fan of grimdark stuff with no levity these days, but it feels more like someone combined a deep serious seinen manga with Soul Eater and the result is terrible. The other option is to use black humor akin to Black Lagoon or Akira, but the only time it got close to that was when the main dude nearly got his head blown off by that sniper chick. And it just turned into a lame teenage rant fest after that, showing that this thing doesn’t have any idea how to do tone.

But that’s not the only problem this stupid thing has. Akame ga Kill makes the classic mistake of taking a cool concept and doing its best to ruin it down to the basics.

When Night Raid – the assassin group that serves as the main characters in the story – is first introduced, the story gives off this vibe that they’re a bunch of amoral assassins that go around killing people regardless of whether they actually deserve it or not because…well…they’re assassins. I was hoping that the story would play off the pros and cons of the trade in regards to killing people who deserve it and getting innocents in the way in a sort of Gunslinger Girl-fashion. Nope. Turns out Night Raid are a bunch of Robin Hood-like figures who are the last line of hope against this EVIL empire and their EVIL ways. So basically, they’re just good-hearted mercenaries who are justified because everyone in town is corrupt. Their methods of killing are never questioned and they’re never really in trouble with the public. In fact, the manga SUPPORTS their “kill people without remorse” methods and it’s disgusting.

That wouldn’t be bad by itself if the story played it right. Even Leon the Professional had rules and all. The difference is that Gary Oldman was the person contrasting him in that film whilst all Night Raid have to face a bunch of generic thugs who are so try-hard that it hurts. The guys they fight are basically just a bunch of schoolground bullies who want to crush someone’s head because crushing someone’s head is fun. It’s like watching a whole army of D-list villains from a superhero comic.

So basically, the assassins are pure good guys whose motives aren’t in question and the people they’re fighting are pure evil who commit 80s ultraviolence antics? That’s got to be the stupidest misuse of inserting morality in a cool concept since that godawful Hell Girl series!

As for the fight scenes, it’s hard to say with still pictures, but concept-wise, it’s nothing different from your usual Shonen Jump mildew aside from the fact that people die brutally at the end. Unfortunately, that’s the only change. It’s like someone created a good ending for a story, but forgot to put in the good middle that justifies said ending.

In summary, going by what I read alone, Akame ga Kill is basically Zvezda World Conquest if it took itself more seriously and ironically ended up even more childish. Some people have told me that the manga goes into Linkin Park-esque “oh we’re showcasing how horrible life is. Feel sad. FEEL SAD!” about thirty chapters in to the point that makes the second half of Now and Then Here and There look like, um, the first half of that show. Whilst I doubt the anime will actually get to those parts unless it’s more than a cour, I can’t even get to when the manga “turns to crap” because the beginning is crap too. Shitty tone. Shitty characters. Shitty way of moralizing its concept. The works.

So much for a good anime by these White Fox guys. Now let me go check out that Amagi Park manga.

Only my second review so I would love some thoughts on my review and what I could do to improve ^^ thanks!

So Akame ga Kill! huh? One word which sums up this series? BRUTAL. There are some scenes which are very uhh hard to take in. Gore is everywhere and even extremes like r*pe. Youn knw what it is. You have been warned this series isn't just hero fights villain and hero wins. No no far from it my friend.

OK so at first I was extremely reluctant to pick this manga up (or search up on manga sites) and read it, I mean looking at ... the cover photo it looked extremely unappealing.

Man, no wonder they say never judge a book by its cover.

Akame ga Kill! takes place in a country where, well everything is pretty much corrupt and a group of assassins are pretty much killing everything that is corrupt (Extreme basic storyline). Some people may think oh, another one of those mangas huh? PASS~~~ but guys (and girls) I advise you to actually stop and read this Mona Lisa cause damn, its pretty awesome.

Story - 10/10

Sure its everything you've seen before in plenty of manga's and anime's, but Akame ga Kill really takes this mature, fantasy action theme and really works wonders. The story revolves around Tatsumi the main protagonist who is "forced" to join the assassins guild Night Raid. With all members having a magical weapon called a Teigu we can see some bad-ass scenes during the course of the Manga. However the author is like includes a twist to the story as when two Teigu users fight against each other, only one lives. And sometimes the one who lives isn't who you want it to be. This not only make the story extremely gripping but you know that this isn't some manga about rainbows and unicorns where the hero and his friends always come out on top. At times you'll laugh from the funny scenes and dialogue, but at times you may take want to take a moment, pull yourself away from the computer screen and go cry in the corner like a little baby.

Art - 10/10 (Dayum)

The art in this manga is extremely well done. Everything from chopped heads, liver, blood, torture, and weird (when I say weird, its really weird) scenes are done to perfection. Not a lot of manga series are able to do this, but the art of Akame ga Kill! is really able to bring out the emotions you should be feeling for that particular scene.

The dark and gritty moments are superb but even the funny scenes used to relieve a bit of the stress you've built up reading the manga (which is a lot) is beautiful. The bits of fan service and comedy scenes are really brought to perfection because of the art, and really what more could we ask for?

Characters - 10/10 (OH WHY TT)

Characters. Well what can I say, the characters are really unique in their own ways and you might really become attached to them
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AS LONG AS THEY DON'T DIE SOME HORRIBLE DEATH (Susanoo bro fist people - you wil get it later :D). We have Tatsumi, boy from poor village trying to make some money for the village we never see again, with some fighting abilities lalalalala pretty much your standard protaganist. The members of Night Raid and the members of the the Jaeger's who were made to destroy Night Raid by the capital are really what allows the story to flourish.

We have Akame, (OH AKAME ga Kill! man who woulda thought) a black haired beauty who is bad-ass, kills people with even the smallest of cuts thanks to her Teigu and eats meat like 500 lions. Just what you want in a girl.

Mein, a pink haired cutie with a tsundere level over 9000 with a gun which gets stronger whenever she gets in a ''pinch''. Pretty bad-ass in her own way.

Esdese a sadist who is OP as hell but is hot so we can let her off. But man jokes aside have you seen her torture people? And those 3 followers of hers are not right in the head I tell you.

So many more character so unique in their own ways but guess you will have to read the manga to find out more :3

Enjoyment - 10/10

A great read whenever you feel like having something tug at your heart (not in a good way), with enough gory and weird scenes to satisfy people with uh a variety of fetishes. I can even say there is a bit of romance in this. See things for everyone! The moment you start reading I assure you, you will not be able to put it down. So i advise you to never read this during exams. Its a different kind of torture. A must read for anyone who likes violent manga or who are just ok with everything, fans of manga such as Shingeki no Kyoujin will love this. You would have to torture me to make me stop reading this.

So what have we learnt today? Never judge a book by its cover and I am not right in the head for enjoying some of the scenes. Jokes aside Overall this gets a 10/10 for everything from me and I'm sure it will for you too.

I saw the anime that came out a few years back and I remember enjoying it, so I decided to check out the manga due to my friends recommending it and I enjoyed this manga so much more than I remember enjoying the anime. Like a lot more.

I will say this though, this manga may not be for you. I'm not saying that to come across the, "I'M SmArTeR ThAN u cUZ I rEAd MoRe ManGA" guy. I'm saying this because it's as the kids say, built different.

Outside of Esdeath, who has become one of my favorite villains in anime and manga after this ... readthrough, the characters in Akame Ga Kill don't really stand out. Take for instance, the protags of this manga, Night Raid. I like each of them and their quirks, but I don't LOVE any of them. They're like the standard generic group you'd find in a shonen series. It's not like that's a bad thing, but it's not like it's a great thing either. At least in most cases.

Characters obviously play a big role in a story's enjoyment, so while reading I was a bit confused. I was enjoying this series a lot more than I thought I would and I didn't really have a solid reason to point to as to WHY I was enjoying it. But then I realized that instead of any of the characters being the main character, the world itself was the main character.

See what I mean by constructed unordinarily?

The world in AGK is a horrible place, it shows a lot of gruesome stuff and at first it came across as just being edgy for the sake of being edgy. But after realizing that the world is the main character, I didn't see it as such anymore.

All the edgy stuff that happens in the manga are things that have shaped the characters in it and continue to shape the characters. Which sounds simple and stupid because, DUH obviously a world would shape it's characters. But in AGK it's different.

In most manga when characters are effected by the world, that goes to their own development as a character. Take for example Naruto, at the start of the series he was all alone, so his dream was to become Hokage to become acknowledged by the people in the village. The hardships he was presented by the world went to developing him as a character.

But in AGK, each character's backstory isn't just used to help flesh out their character, in fact each character's backstory is very simple and to the point. It's primarily used as development to help flesh out the world of AGK. Each character has been effected in different ways by the world, and some characters accept it and are molded by it. And others reject it and fight for their freedom.

Once I realized that, I enjoyed this series so much more. It's what made Esdeath such a fantastic villain for me, but I'll hold off on dropping a character analysis for her since we're talking about the series itself.

Now that brings me back to this series potentially not being for you. If you read this and thought, "Sailor that is some of the most fake deep shit I've ever read in my life." Then it's probably not for you and that's ok. Once again, I don't wanna be an elitist ya know?

As for me, I loved this story because of that. And despite a few minor issues I had with it, the ending was so satisfying to see play out. It was a nice little cherry on top.

I was sitting on giving this series an 8, but after some thought I decided on 9. I had a lot of fun with this and if you're interested, give it a shot! I hope you enjoy it too!

Have you ever read a shounen, fighting manga and all the good guys seem to never die and always have it good? I'm sure many of you have. When I read the earlier chapters of shounen manga such as Naruto, Bleach etc I knew for a fact that there was no chance that the main characters would die during a fight scene. Well, that's not the case for Akame ga Kiru. In this manga, main characters, side characters, good guy or bad guy anyone dies and it could happen at any time. This also builds suspense because you have no idea what to expect in ... the next chapter and who will die next.

This series involves torture, corrupted governments, and very brutal deaths. When a character dies it's not just "ooooh you stabbed me I see the light", they die very ruthlessly such as having their arms and limbs cut off before finally meeting their demise. Of course not all the manga involves death and misery some comedy relief is thrown here and there to lighten the mood. There is also hints of romance and a very strange relationship between the protagonist, Tatsumi, and one of the antagonists.

The character are all very interesting and all have dark pasts that leads them to where they are now. The protagonist, Tatsumi, is very balanced, not a loser and not an arrogant prick. He doesn't hesitate to kill when he is fighting the enemy and is very ambitious towards ridding the capital of corrupt inhabitants. Not only the protagonists are likeable but also the antagonists. There is this one chapter in the story where Tatsumi is forced to mingle with the opposing forces and learns that many of them are people with good intentions and that if they didn't meet with bad circumstances they would be "good friends". As mentioned in the previous paragraph many characters die so it would be bad to become too attached to one. In one of the recent chapters my favourite character in this series died and I was traumatized the whole day. So yeah, a warning.

In a battle manga have you ever looked at the fighting scenes and asked yourself, "what the fawk is going on?" If so, rejoice because you can understand what is happening 100% of the time during a battle in this series. Each battle is done very nicely and involves tactics and brute strength. In many battle manga the fights are usually 1 on 1, but in this series assassinating and group killing is pretty common, which is what they are supposed to do since they ARE assassins.

Overall, this series has never failed to entertain and brings about a depressing and tragic story with likeable characters and very intense fight scenes.

Morality isn't black and white. Akame ga Kill is an action tragedy manga that does this concept justice.

Plot: 9

Akame ga kills follows a boy named Tatsumi who is suddenly recruited into a group of assassins known as Night Raid. Night Raid is a rebel group that will take down the corrupt Empire at any cost.

One of the most prevalent things in action shounens today is the power of friendship and willpower. Akame ga Kill is a manga that just completely brushes that aside. The main characters are always doing whatever they can to help the other during a battle, but friendship is not enough. ... A lot of characters die. Are they actually still alive? No. Do they get revived? No. Were they at least generic characters? Far from it.

The characters that eventually die are actually given proper depth beforehand. Something most shounen manga, that decides to kill characters, lack. Akame isn't just meaningless action and deaths. We have plenty of scenes portraying back-stories, goals, etc. Things so that when the characters do die, it likes you just got hit by a truck. You learn of their past and feel close to them, but then it all comes crashing down. That is how you do tragedy and that is what Akame Ga Kill does.

Along with tragedy, the action is one of the story's main selling points. The action is plentiful and brutal beyond your imagination. It is extremely vivid. Characters are torn limb from limb, blood is everywhere and there are even hints of rape. The action is exhilarating and thrilling yet grotesque and disturbing.

Akame ga Kill isn't dark and tragic all the time. We got romance and comedy too. The romance does a pretty good job at making deaths hit even harder. We do have your light-hearted version though, like casual flirting and what not. The comedy is definitely nice as it allows for a break from the usual heavy atmosphere. Jumping from one dark scene to the next isn't good for the heart, so the comedy is a good way for us to have moments of warmth and content.

In a nutshell, Akame ga Kill is a tragedy-filled shounen with stimulating action, heart-breaking drama, and occasional comedy & romance.

Art: 9

The art is amazing. That's really all there is to it. The fights are vivid and detailed. The backgrounds and characters are nice too. You shouldn't have a problem with the art.

Character: 9

This is where the concept of "Morality not being black & white" comes in. In a majority of the manga, it is fairly easy to differentiate the good from the bad. Merely because the good guys do typical good things and the bad guys do typical evil things. However, in Akame Ga Kill, the line isn't that easy to find, it may not even exist.

From both sides, we are given characters that you can sympathize for. The characters are so well-written that you realize it's not a matter of being good or evil, both sides are simply fighting for what they believe in. No side is truly right. When a story gets you to understand that, then you know just how great the characters are. They even managed to turn generic character tropes into something so much more. The tsundere character of the story isn't annoying like the over-violent ones we have today. We also have your flirty big sister character, she actually has much more to her personality. She's cunning and strong. That's just a portion, you'll need to find out the rest yourself. Lastly, we got your protagonist who is usually supposed to be crazy altruistic. Thankfully, Tatsumi isn't. He is kind, but he's not afraid to kill those he sees as evil which is just awesome. Protagonists could learn a thing or two from him.

All in all, aside from the straight-up evil people, the characters are well-written and well-developed. Yup, all of them. Those who are on the protagonist’s side as well as those who aren’t. This is one of the few manga where I feel genuine sympathy for characters of the opposing side.

Overall: 9

Akame ga Kill is a complete package. You got action of epic proportions & disgust, heart-wrenching deaths, glorious characters of both sides, comedy to lighten up the mood from time to time, and a small pint of romance. Sick of fairy tales? Akame ga Kill is right up your alley.

* Warning: No direct spoilers but may cause the series to lose impact*
The starting plot is as one would expect. Whilst it's not very generic it does follow the guidelines for adventure/fantasy stories - protagonist makes allies to share an adventure by winning their trust in a fight.
Plot development:
9
The story is very good. It's unlike all the shounen manga where the characters will get out of the situation no matter how perilous it is. We are reminded that people are still people; they can die by assassination, poison or other means. We know the main character will survive (it wouldn't be much of a ... story otherwise) but every other character's safety is questionable. Whilst this adds a lot of impact to the story it does leave it feeling rather grim the more you read it. whenever I read an action story I like to find myself thinking "how are they going to get out of this situation?" however in 'Akame ga Kill!' I find myself thinking "who's going to die next?". It's wrong to compare to different stories but I'll do it anyway. The way in which one piece (SPOILER for anyone who hasn't read watched it) kills off Ace is very good because no one had ever died before. We all thought he'd get out of it alive. If Oda had went around killing characters like George RR Martin, that death would have lost far too much impact. Characters in 'Akame ga kill!' are disposed of far too easily which is my major problem with the story. Despite that (and the extremely rapid increase of skills in the main male protagonist), the story is very well done - there's a tense atmosphere surrounding all of the battles and it's questionable if the protagonists are safe even in their secret base. The enemy is fearsome and the abilities which the characters possess are well thought out and interesting to see in action.

Art:
8
The art is good in all areas. It's nothing special (except for maybe giant beam blasting dinosaurs made of bones)or memorable but it's by no means bad. Nothing really leaves major impact but all the weapons and armor are nicely drawn and the action scenes are good and easy to follow.

Character:
9
I would like to talk in depth about all of the characters in this series but that would take too long. The characters are good, there's not a single bad character. They're all funny and original. What I like most about the characters is that they are very good despite lacking background stories. And if they do reveal their background stories, their explanation only last around 2 pages. The main character is really staple. Nothing too special about him other than the fact that he has a talent for murder (which I hope is expanded upon later on). Akame is definitely the most interesting of the characters; at first she appears to be a typical tsundere character but that turns out to be completely false as she only has a deep love for her comrades and hopes for them to stay safe at all times. Her background story is good and she is also very useful in gag scenes. The emperor/prime minister are the real antagonists of the story but Esdese is the one that I'd consider (at the moment) most like a real antagonist. She's frighteningly powerful and owns a very unique Teigu (special weapons in the story). Not only that, but she falls in love with the main male protagonist. That was really well done, it's given me lots of laughs. Her true combat prowess is yet to be revealed but I can almost guarantee that someone will die when she does.

Enjoyment:
9
As much as some things in this series do get on my nerves, I can't deny that it's a very intriguing read which makes you hungry for more. It's one of those manga that when you start reading it, you will finish it.

Overall:
9

Upon seeing Akame ga Kill's picture, you may believe it to be another generic shounen adventure story... and you're right. However, there are many other factors contributing to a great manga.

One big factor in contributing whether or not the reader likes a story is influenced greatly on how predictable it is. A typical shounen manga would be so predictable that it's easy to predict exactly what happens: the bad guys get close to "taking over the world," but they're going to lose to the heroes anyway. It's possible they may even join the good guy's side. Akame ga Kill! challenges this concept, and surprises the ... reader by continuously having very unpredictable results within each fight. You may even question who really are the good guys and the bad guys.

...That being said, Akame ga Kill! is definitely a rare and great find to read for those who enjoy shounen manga. The first chapter blows up and throws so many twists that it makes a good highlight representing the series. Give it a try, and if you dislike the first chapter, I wouldn't recommend reading the manga.

The art used in the manga is rather intense, meaning, if you can't handle gore, try staying away from this manga. The gore is drawn in brilliant detail, and it's actually pretty heartbreaking, but at the same time, commendable, to see people die in such a brutal way (especially so if he/she was one of your favorites).

The gore, although abundant, does not happen for no reason. It's the unique characters who make this manga really stand out. Their ideals are so extreme and twisted that it's almost uncanny. It's really easy to either hate or love someone in this manga. And just when you think you hate someone, the character may show another side to them that makes you question your own ideals.

Though a shounen, this is definitely one that has a darker background than most. There are scenes that are really repulsive due to the sheer torture characters go through. Even some generic shounen aspects like legendary weapons (teigus) are twisted in such a way so that they are meant for torture and death scenes. It's questionable whether or not these sadistic ideals were held by the author due to how brutal some scenes are...

So it's a good thing people can enjoy such a thing like this.

And although I've definitely made a point on emphasizing the dark side of this manga, that doesn't mean it's completely depressing! The "shounen adventure" trope definitely shines through, but is overshadowed by it's other dark characteristic for sure.

I definitely had a good time reading this manga. It's probably one of the few mangas I've read with a lot of gore. After reading Akame ga Kill!, I can say a shounen manga with gore and unpredictability formulates pretty well.

a short intro - this is my first review, i didn’t choose akame ga kill because it's what i wanted to review most, but because it was something i felt i could review. In general I’m going to be more critical of the manga in this review because i feel that are plenty of reviews that can point out the positive aspects, but let me preface this by saying that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and if you already read the manga and disagree that’s fine, but if you haven’t and are still on the fence about reading then i suggest you take ... what i say into consideration when deciding. Or not. Whatever. So let’s dive in:

Story:
The story in akame ga kill is rather straight-forward, the empire, which for some reason goes unnamed is plagued with corruption because of the prime minister who controls the empire through the emperor - who is a child, for some reason… but you don’t really need a summary MAL already has one, I’m just here to point out some things that bothered me that would, at least for me, deduct quite a few points. The plot can best be summarized as this: there are bad people, night raid kill them so a revolution can eventually happen. the general plot of akame ga kill isn’t really the main focus, since, speaking as someone who read the first 51 chapters of the manga and then continued to read it monthly, i can’t really remember much about the plot other than night raid having to kill someone because their shit. one thing i notice frequently in manga, this one including, is something i call ‘short burst effect’ - it's when you start reading a new manga that already has quite a few chapters out, and you get psyched, you feel something, i don’t if its dopamine or whatever, the point is the series seems great, you can’t wait to read the next chapter and you can because its already out and you give it an 8 or a 9, however, once you finish reading and are left with weekly/monthly releases you have more time to calm down, read something else, think harder about what you read, and that’s when the flaws you didn’t notice because you were so psyched - rise up, and whether or not you still want to read it after that short burst period, when you have to wait weekly/monthly is what ultimately to me decides whether any running manga is really good. Unfortunately, after reading 51 chapters and having to wait a month for the next chapter i found something lacking, and after a few months i notice a lot more flaws with this series now than before, most of which are in the characters.

The characters:
As i said, akame ga kill's main plot isn’t exactly revolutionary, so that means it should have really good character, right? Well, not exactly, the characters are by no means bad, they’re quite varied personality wise, and there were a few that i quite liked, however a while before I started this review i looked back at the characters and realized something odd, there didn’t seem to be a single characters who couldn't be summarized in two sentences, maybe three at best. and that’s the third biggest problem i have with the characters, they’re not nearly as fleshed out as they appear to be, with most characters getting a couple of pages in a chapter about their past, which doesn’t necessarily have to be a deal breaker, but when your show is pretty much nothing but murders, you got to try harder than that to make them sympathetic or likeable. the second problem i have with some of the characters, and not only the main ones, is a lack of motivation, yes there are characters with genuine motivation behind their actions, but it seems to me that the series relies too often on the 'crazy' card - why does a character do this? Because their crazy, or just cause, why does this character like to murder or torture - because that’s how they were born and that would be fine if it was only one or two but quite a few seem to have no motivation to be an asshole other than they were born an asshole(you got to wonder what incestuous gene pool all these characters are coming from).
I get that one of the main themes is corruption, but corruption isn’t some bizarre disease or plague, its people, and without proper reasoning behind it it just doesn’t seem to make much sense. and lastly, my biggest problem with the characters, and the show as a whole is main character death, yes if you didn’t know yet akame ga kill is known for killing main characters, and i don’t have a problem with that, on the contrary, if done properly it can lead to some real heartfelt moments, and some might argue that there are, but for me this problem corresponds with the first two problems, the characters aren’t nearly as developed as they seem to be, and as a result i just didn’t really care whenever someone died, because they died before they got any proper development and the other characters seemed to shrug it off in 2 chapters, sure it was still there, but there was no change in the characters overall, and they only seemed to remember they care whenever the plot brings it up, I’m not saying they have to be emo or something, but they should at least be a bit more serious or something, the characters all together seem to behave the same all throughout the series, and their behavior initially feels incongruous with the setting, its odd to me that this people can joke around and be generally normal people among themselves, but then suddenly cut people in half without flinching or caring.

The art:
It’s pretty good i guess.......
Oh fine, akame ga kill's art IS pretty good and i generally like it, but, and this is probably the least important point here, the art to me doesn’t match the tone the series tries to set, it tries to be dark and gory at times but the art is just so polished and precise that it just falls flat.

In conclusion:
Despite its flaws i find myself in a position of being on akame ga kill's side because it might not be the best, or even as good as other hail to be its a step in the right direction, because i get the sense that it’s at least trying to be more about the characters and dark themes like what is justice? and killing for the sake of justice, now if only it could implement them well that'd be great, but if you’re looking for a fun series to read all at once and not think about too much you can certainly do much worse than akame ga kill.

Ok, so yesterday, I discovered the most amazing manga of all time. Do you know what it's called? It's called Akame ga Kill. Everything about this manga was so amazing that I could not stop reading until I caught up. That took 6 hours and I had to procrastinate so much homework. For some reason, I wanted to compare this with Attack on Titan and I have to say this far out competes AOT. So this is why:

Story (10/10): This story is about a guy named Tatsumi who wanted to join the army to save his village, however, after he gets robbed, he ends up ... at a noblewoman's house. A couple days later, that noblewoman gets assassinated and the terrorist group, Night Raid tells him to join them. I have to say this reminded me of Guilty Crown but Akame ga Kill is so much better. What's also really good about this manga is the way it blends different genres together. This manga encompasses so many different genres such as: comedy, romance, action (obvious), tragedy, adventure, and fantasy. There are some moments that make you laugh out loud, and other times that are really sad and depressing like Attack on Titan.
Another fact that sets this apart from other manga, is the lack of plot armor. For those that don't know, plot armor is like something that prevents the important people from dying no matter how much danger they're in. For example, Fairy Tail, no one ever dies because they're "important" to the story line. However, in this manga, the author does not care and he kills characters off. This is probably what makes Akame ga Kill so unique.
Here is where I compare AGK and AOT. The story of AGK is much more interesting than AOT. In AOT all they're trying to do is to get to Eren's basement to find out the secret of the titans. In AGK, it's about an assassination group trying to fight through waves of enemies to get to the corrupt king. Maybe it's just me, but I think that AGK is much more interesting.

Art (10/10): I have no complains about the art of this manga. The artist effectively utilizes its spaces to convey different situations. Compared to AOT, it's like comparing the Mona Lisa to a first grade's paintings. AOT has absolutely horrendous drawings that sometimes its unbearable. The only reason that I'm reading it is because the story line is good.

Characters (10/10): Besides the interesting story, I think that the characters in the manga is what makes it stands out among other manga. Most manga just focus on the main character and their development. In this manga, they're multiple characters and each has their own development. Each character is unique and has their own reason to be in the Night Raid.
I know that I've said this, but I have to say again, people actually DIE in this manga. Not just the enemy, it's realistic in the sense that no matter who it is, they CAN actually die. This is what sets it apart from other manga.

Enjoyment (10/10): This is by far the best manga of all time. I honestly cannot believe that I've not discovered this soon, and that so few people have read it.

I would HIGHLY recommend anyone that likes action manga. I'll say this again, this is the BEST manga of all time.

This is my first review ever on this site. I don't usually do reviews, but I felt compelled to write about this manga series, Akame ga Kill. I read this after hearing about how dark it was. But Akame ga Kill only proves that dark and edgy does not necessarily mean mature in tone.

STORY 6/10
The first chapter starts off with a generic beginning that showcases the talents of young hero Tatsumi, a boy from a small village who seeks to earn money to save his hometown with his friends. He's innocent to urban life and is quickly elucidated on the nature of the Imperial ... Capital, which is on all accounts, corrupt, a theme which the author goes through pains to beat the reader over the head with. The first chapter is promising, despite the clumsy ways of showing the sins of the Empire. The story goes downhill from there. Akame ga Kill boasts a "dark tone" by killing off main characters. While the "Anyone Can Die" trope can be a respite for fans that have grown used to seeing entire shonen manga end without killing core main characters, Akame ga Kill boasts these character deaths in a way that cheapens the story. The deaths are constantly signaled to the reader through an overused writing technique that I won't mention in this review for the sake of keeping the manga unspoiled. Outside of the character deaths, the story is insipid in its direction and structure. The assassins are the good guys and the narrative completely justifies the actions of the protagonists, by making the antagonists completely irredeemable. There is no room for the reader to criticize the actions of the protagonists because we are being spoon-fed the reason as to why we must root for Tatsumi and co. I also think this manga could be better served to show political intrigue slightly more intricately. I know it's shonen, but a manga about political corruption, turmoil and rebellion should exhibit some cases of in-world politics, somewhere along the lines of Magi. The little political intrigue that is shown is to showcase the ruthlessness of the Minister, which again cheapens the overall tone of the story. The humor is also generic. Tropes like trying to peek at the girl's bath or Tatsumi's behavior when looking at Leone's breasts are just two examples of overused tropes.

ART 6/10
The art is well-drawn, but not particularly unique. The character design is not at all special. It seems that the artist is just drawing stock anime characters and fantasy beasts. I don't understand why Tatsumi is from a rural village, but owns a stylish sweater vest. Tatsumi himself screams "generic shonen hero" just from his design. Akame can literally replaced with thousands of other long, black haired, waifish swordswomen in other manga and you wouldn't miss her. Perhaps the most lazy character design is the Minister. He's a fat, greedy, gluttonous, pig of a man, always drawn with food in his mouth or with an evil grin. And this stereotypical art style pushes the Minister to be the symbol for all of the corruption in the Empire. It's as if the artist felt that the heavy-handed message from the actual writing wasn't enough and decided to push further and make his appearance unlikeable from just a glance.

CHARACTER 3/10
Among my many complaints about the characters and their interactions, my biggest is the lack of Akame as a character in the manga. All we're told is she was an assassin for the Empire and defected for her own personal justice and she likes meat. But as the titular character, even if we're not afforded a flashback, I feel no sympathy towards her. She's a quiet, cute girl who only shows up to handily defeat the enemy. The only bit of humanity we see in her is crying over comrades or thinking about her sister, but everyone else has those same instances too. I guess what I'm trying to get at is that Akame does not pop. She's a trump card that cries from time to time, but is supposed to be the titular character and I simply have been given no reason to care about her. As for the other characters, there all pretty much stock characters. Mine is haughty, headstrong and uptight, but has a "sympathetic side". Raba is the pervert of the group and is jealous when female intention isn't directed towards him. I will say that Raba as a fighter was a pleasant surprise to me, simply because of his style of fighting. He's still a character you don't take seriously until you see him fight. Najenda is the cool, calm, and collected captain with battle strategies and back-up plans for everything. She has battle wounds like every other captain. Leone is the spunky girl who is not afraid to flaunt her sexuality. All in all the protagonists are flat. Chelsea comes closest to being something more than flat because of her world outlook. In contrast, the Jagers, the antagonists group, while having some generic characters (a justice crazy girl and a mad scientist) do have some interesting characters. Bors' love for his family and regret while serving as a soldier isn't special, but at least makes him slightly more interesting than the others in the manga. Wave, who is the Jagers' version of Tatsumi, is interesting to watch because of his interactions with Jagers. He and Tatsumi have the same sense of justice, but Wave must bear with corruption of the Empire to fulfill his duty and honor someone from his past, which is not much different from Tatsumi.

ENJOYMENT 7/10
Despite my complaints, I enjoy the manga for the fights and the powers of the Teigu. I also appreciate the teamwork between both Night Raid and the Jagers. While their interactions often fall into bland territory, I do like the feeling of going into a battle and not knowing who will make it out (except for Esdeath because she's unbeatable). I also enjoy the name-scheming of attacks, particularly Susanoo's moves.

OVERALL 6/10
While the story and art could use a little more effort, I do appreciate what the author is trying to do by putting two ideas of justice against one another in a battle to death. Akame ga Kill is nothing new, but it is something enjoyable to pass the time.

Spoiler-free:

Akame Ga Kill is a dark fantasy shounen battle manga that bites off more than it can chew with its ideas that leave the reader feeling unsatisfied at the end. Although the art for the fights can be gorgeous at times, the fights themselves fail to deliver on the hype. The core group has great character moments that give strong emotional payoffs throughout the course of the story, but the bloat of having such a wide cast really holds the story back. The manga’s titular character, Akame, gets a lot of the story’s spotlight, but strangely enough we mostly experience the story through the eyes ... of Tatsumi. This results in her being the “chosen one” but not narratively for the reader as we experience the story from Tatsumi’s point of view. Overall, the narrative really fails to do the heavy lifting necessary to explore its dark fantasy ideas while still having the story fill its niche of being intended for a shounen audience. It tries to do both at the same time and ends up falling flat because of it.

Spoilers:

Positives

A large and varied cast of characters with their own unique backstories and abilities
Strong art, especially when it comes to high impact moments
Interesting political drama between the various factions in the world
An interesting concept of a story

Negatives

Akame Ga Kill tries to do too much and that is where its shortcomings are exposed. The world is huge, but we see almost none of it. The cast is large, but a huge chunk of them die off without giving the reader time to build a connection to them. The fights are set up in a cool way, but they rarely last more than a few pages and leave little impact. One of the biggest flaws narratively is Akame’s murasame blade. The idea of a one hit blade on paper seems very cool, but the fights involving her feel so trivial that Akame just becomes a Mary Sue character to resolve any conflicts. The author fails to really give her any interesting fights where she is forced to really struggle, except the Wave and Esdeath ones. Speaking of Mary Sue’s, what even is Esdeath. Throughout the entire story, has she even faced any struggles really? Her ice powers can freeze time, change the weather conditions of an entire region, and create an entire ice army without showing any strain on her strength, besides comments made by her opponents. Her unlimited stamina just makes any fights she participates in feel all the more pointless as she essentially can’t lose. Funny that the only way to kill off the Mary Sue’s was to run them into each other. The moral question that was introduced much earlier on about how the nature of Night Raid meant that they existed in a moral gray zone where they had to do abhorrent things to combat those who commit even more abhorrent crimes is basically completely ignored immediately after. The villains are portrayed almost comically evil as to assuage any guilt their deaths may cause. The few members of the enemy faction, the Jaegers, that do get characterization really don’t present a compelling case to support the Empire’s side. It really doesn’t help that the characters that are supposed to represent the “good” of the Empire are either not really bad people like Wave or Kurome or just raging psychopaths like Seryu and Dr. Stylish.
At the end of the day, Akame Ga Kill really shot itself in the foot by trying to incorporate dark fantasy elements while staying within the boundaries of the shounen genre. We hear a lot about the atrocities that happen, but they are never shown, rendering them weightless. Night Raid does get some solid characterization that do make their deaths feel impactful, but contrast that with the slew of villains we meet one time and get foddered away to build up another character. Another quality that bogs it down is the predictability of the story where the outcomes of events and their consequences do not come as a surprise. In conclusion, the manga does have some interesting aspects that make it a solid read, but its clumsy storytelling and inability to really commit to telling a feel good shounen or a depressing dark fantasy leaves it feeling undercooked.