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.
