Apr 1, 2015
What's there to say about Akame ga Kill, arguably the most hyped anime of Summer 2014 that hasn't been said before?
Not much, but I'm going to waste your time anyway.
There is already a summary of the plot up above, so I'm not going to waste your time explaining what it's about. Simply put, is Akame ga Kill any good?
Not really.
It does a lot of things wrong. that's for sure. The story is simple and easy to follow, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but when it's polluted with bland characters, over-the-top cartoonish villains with no motives other than just to be assholes, and the fact
...
that the anime takes itself too seriously makes for a somewhat lackluster watch.
The show tries WAY too hard to be all dark and edgy and gory, then completely ruins the mood within seconds with fanservice of out of place comedy. It's not cohesive and frankly, it's annoying. Make up your mind of what tone you want to tell your story in! This does get better later on, but it still is jarring and doesn't make up for the fact that it existed in the first place.
Speaking of gore, this series is rather infamous for its brutal depictions killings and torture. While it is fun to look at, it really serves little purpose in the plot, as this show would do fine as just another battle shonen. The gore and violence is just a cheap gimmick enforced by the author to look cool and edgy, but really it just comes off as overdone and cringeworthy at times.
The characters are shallow and lack development, save for Tatsumi which does receive some form of development. Most characters die right when they get their backstory revealed or when they have a large amount of screentime dedicated to them, so it's painfully obvious what's going to happen most of the time. In short, most characters are flat and consist of overdone archetypes (busty teasing onee-sama, token pervert, token flirtatious gay man, token quiet girl, token tsundere, token klutz...you get the point) and the rest die too quickly for you to even give a shit. The villains, as mentioned before, are terribly handled and cheesy with MAYBE the exception of Esdeath. They're completely one-note and solely exist to garner hatred from the viewers. One may argue that this is the whole purpose of a villain, but an effective villain must have motives and goals to strive for to explain why they are this way. Villains in Akame ga Kill are just doing it for the lulz, to put it short, and are overly sadistic and cruel to constantly remind you that they're EVIL and they RAPE and KILL PEOPLE. Now HATE THEM!
The characters are voiced well, with fitting seiyuu with great acting, as usual. My only complain is that I want to punch Mine whenever she opens her annoying tsundere mouth, but I'm sure that's the entire 'appeal' of those types of characters anyway. The soundtrack is simply great, nothing less expected from Taku Iwasaki, by far one of the better composers in anime today. Varied soundtracks implementing many different cultural and exotic melodies and instruments make for a truly atmospheric watch.
The animation is nothing special, as per usual for White Fox. Though it is getting better in later episodes (for some reason..isn't it supposed to be the other way around?), but or the majority of the time it looks like some anime from 2007, with a bunch of simple primary colors with barely any shading and undetailed character models all wrapped together with a generic anime art style. It's nothing terrible, but it's not great either. Mediocre is the best word to describe the art.
With all of this negative talk, you'd think I pretty much hate this show. And you're half right. It's objectively a poor story with bland characters, generic art yet great voices and music. However, the fight scenes and the gore all make it very entertaining to watch. One would argue that this series is one to turn off your brain and not think too critically of, but since it takes itself very seriously with its premise and battles, I'd say it's deserving of my criticism.
Overall, Akame ga Kill is really just another battle shonen with extra gore and rape thrown in to seem cool and new. If gore and violence is your sort of thing, go for it. If you're easily entertained, go for it. Just don't expect anything memorable or revolutionary.
STORY: 3/10
ART: 5/10
SOUND: 8/10
CHARACTER: 3/10
ENJOYMENT: 5/10
OVERALL SCORE: 4/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 4
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