AKA: Akame ga Kiru!, アカメが斬る!
Genre:Action, Dark Fantasy
Studio:White Fox
Episodes:24
Seasons:1
Available On:Hi-Dive
This show has got to be one of the most disrespectful shows I have ever watched 😂I’ve never seen so many characters just get demolished so easily. These are supposed to be the strongest assassins and they just were…..disrespected heavily.
Akame Ga Kill is the first show on my list from my ‘Core Reviews Challenge’. The easiest way for me to get through was just going alphabetically. The show had been on my list for a few years and I managed to watch an episode. I just never returned back to the series 😂Finally, I’ve made it through all 24 episodes, and what a ride it was. One of the reasons I enjoyed it was because of the gore. When it comes to blood, gore, and fighting, sign me up.
I’d like to note that the show was available on Crunchyroll but after their very confusing merger with Funimation and then most of their Sentai Works shows being purged to go on Hi-Dive, I almost didn’t know where to watch it. My fault for waiting so long I guess!
We get to enjoy a new studio this time and it comes from White Fox. If you watch Steins; Gate, Jormugand, The Devil is a Part-Timer!, Re:Zero, or Goblin Slayer then congratulations you’ve been watching their works for a couple of years now. They are a small studio having been founded in 2007. Steins; Gate and Re:Zero are their most successful productions but for me, The Devil is a Part-Timer is the only one I’ve watched before.
Tatsumi travels to the Capital with his friends Iyeyasu and Sayo to earn money for their poverty-stricken village. He gets separated from them and gets swindled out of his money and then taken in by a noble family. He discovers what’s truly going on in the Capital and his tragic journey begins.
After a few instances, he decides to join the Night Raid, a group of skilled assassins. During his time he discovers even more secrets about the empire, learns about Imperial Arms (powerful relics which are used as weapons), and captures the eye of Esdeath, the leader of The Jaegers. The show then becomes a tale of right vs. wrong as the Night Raid looks to expose and free the city of the empire’s grip while The Jaegers believe it is the Night Raid who are causing the injustices.
There were an array of characters who contributed a lot to the plot but these were my standouts.
Tatsumi
He’s the main protagonist of the series. In my opinion, he’s pretty bland but you know the women love him for his innocent-looking smile. His main goal was to change the ways of the corrupt empire after his friends ultimately became victims themselves. He doesn’t really go through significant character growth for me. He just manages to get some nice powers.
Akame
I was confused in the beginning because I thought the show would be about her. I mean the show is named after her. She was mainly used as the second protagonist and her storyline was basically trying to find her sister. Out of all the members, she was my favorite girl boss. I also loved her huge appetite. Her Imperial Arms was Murasame. It had the ability to kill any living thing down with a single cut.
Lubbock
Okay, I mainly loved him because he was so adorable and cute. His Imperial Arms (Cross Tail) was also nice too (the ability to manipulate wire threads in various ways). It sounds boring but he had some nice kills. He doesn’t have too many “crazy” scenes but I did enjoy his last fighting scene. Also, his conclusion is one of the only ones that stays the same as in the manga. It may have gone differently but the result was the same.
Bulat
Bulat was another favorite of mine for a number of reasons. First, they hinted at him being gay a lot. Of course, since it’s anime it’s not said but heavily implied. In one scene Leone, another member pokes fun at him and tells Tatsumi that he is gay and Bulat just blushes and tells her not to “give him the wrong idea” so…..
I was a little happy about that. I do wish they would have just said it explicitly but that would take a miracle. Another reason was his Imperial Arms was very cool. It was an armor that covered his whole body called Incursio. Without spoiling too much for new viewers, Tatsumi will later acquire it. My final reason for loving him so much is do you see the hair?
Kurome
She’s Akame’s little sister and her spitting image. We do get to learn about their upbringing and see why the two are determined to find one another and battle. Kurome’s main goal is to kill Akame. Even though she’s a tiny little thing, she doesn’t hesitate to kill and her Imperial Arms is really OP. It’s called Yatsufusa and it holds puppets which are controlled corpses of people she’s killed.
Esdeath
A fan favorite. She was, for all intents and purposes, the main antagonist of the show. Her reputation was that of a ruthless general under the empire. Throughout the show, we see just how twisted she really is. If anything she’s like what Seryu was trying to be but x 1000. Also unfortunately for Tatsumi, she fell hopelessly and deeply in love with him. It was more of an obsession. Her imperial arms was quite unique. She had the power to manipulate and create ice from nothing. Now, I simply didn’t understand why they couldn’t just get some fire for her but apparently, she was just too strong.
Wave
He’s my personal favorite from the Jaegers. Honestly, it was like having a second Tatsumi. He was just as naive and honest. His character was vital because he represented what people outside of the capital were like. A lot of them had no clue what was really going on and wanted to travel there due to the glamour and rumors. Initially, he thought Night Raid was evil because they were assassins. He’s thrown off when he meets Tatsumi because he believes he’s a genuinely good person. Interestingly enough, even his Imperial Arms is similar to Tatsumi’s. It’s called Grand Chariot and is basically an attack version of Incursio.
- Decent fighting scenes
- The plot was easy to understand
- Differs from the manga so endings are completely different
- Characters being killed off without a good reason
- Graphic death scenes (if you’re not a fan of those)
- Writing gets a bit stale and “lazy”
So I had a few issues with this show. I did feel like they were just killing people off left and right without any meaning. By the end, I felt unsatisfied and felt like they were axed just because they breathed. Also, this is one of those shows where they pull away from the manga a lot. I don’t understand why but the ending is so different from the manga and doesn’t even really explain why. There weren’t that many memorable characters. Most of them were generic in my eyes (still enjoyed them though) but none that I could just use as an example to watch the show.
For the most part, the series focuses on Night Raid, a group of highly trained assassins who oppose the Empire and its corrupt ways. All throughout the show, we’re actually shown both sides; the “heroes” and the “bad guys”. I felt this was interesting because we got to see why the “bad guys” were “bad” and why the “good guys” were “good”. The main example was with Seryu. She thought she was serving justice but really she was just a psychopath who murdered people if their views didn’t align with hers. I don’t know if that was their intention but I was heavily attached to the Night Raid.
I had high expectations since most of the feedback was pretty positive. However, it just fell flat for me. So, I’d have to give this show a rating of
🍙🍙
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