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.
Alternative TitlesSynonyms: Akame ga Kiru! Japanese: アカメが斬る! More titlesInformationType: Manga
Volumes: 15
Chapters: 80
Status: Finished
Published: Apr 22, 2010 to Dec 22, 2016
Demographic:
Shounen
Serialization:
Gangan Joker Statistics Ranked: #12552 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #47
Members: 178,247
Favorites: 9,030 Available AtResources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 10 / 52
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Your Feelings Categories Jun 21, 2014
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, ... Jul 9, 2014
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 ... Jan 1, 2014
I have been interested in this manga for a long time. So I've decided to finally read it. To say I am dissapointed is understandement.
Story As far as story goes, nothing original, except that author is not hesistating killing characters, while it in moderation could be good, this manga certainly does not moderate it. Because of that, characters-wise the manga greatly suffer. 5/10 Art ... Oct 6, 2022
I watched the anime, it was an easy watch, but was intrigued to know the anime had an original ending and even more to know the manga had already ended sometime after. So I dived into the manga... to find out it it barely manages to be above average.
Anyway, this is my review for the whole manga: .::Story::. The goal from the protagonist from the very start is pretty clear, and it stays sharp focused on it till the end: destroy the evil empire. At first its very entertaining, but as it goes on, it feels pretty stale as there aren't much surprises in this department. ... Sep 13, 2022
TL;DR: It's better than the anime, but not by too much. Whatever score you gave the anime, you'll likely find yourself scoring the manga 1 point higher.
This review is written from the perspective of someone who came into this manga after finishing the anime. If you're curious about weather or not to read this, then it depends on what you thought of the anime. If you thought the anime was decent but felt that it tried to be too edgy at times (especially starting from the 2/3rd mark) then you'll find the manga executes the story beats to a much better level than the anime. ... Apr 15, 2024
This is one of the most disappointing manga I've ever read.
Because it has so much potential! It starts very strong. Great characters, interesting and intriguing world you get suddenly thrown in and there is just much going on. The story starts to unfold and then... Everything goes down the drain. EVERYTHING. The plot points that were interesting get completely abandoned. Every questions you started to build up stays unanswered. Evil guys come and go out of nowhere for no reason. The most interesting character that literally gives the name to the serie (Akame) gets benched and only comes up when she's needed to bring out some new ... Dec 11, 2017
For some reason, anime fans tends to flock towards grimdark series that put on the facade of being mature. Akame ga kill could of been a good story if the writer knew how to handle concepts such as morality, world building and proper characterization. There are three big reasons why this manga is an utter failure.
THE LACK OF MORALITY - Given that the main characters are assassin's who kill those they believe to be evil monsters it's only natural this manga would have a gray sense of morals. However, the narrative seems to want readers to believe certain villians ... Jun 20, 2019
LIGHT SPOILERS:
Akame ga Kill, praised for having balls to kill off characters and gore, etc, is overrated. Do you mourn and grieve the death of everyone who gets killed in the news? No, because you don't have much attachment to them. I felt like I was watching the news whenever a character dies, like meh, I feel bad but nothing I can do about it... wtf? I want to be off the rails, I wanna be infuriated against a fictional character. Esdeath is sending me very mixed signals and I honestly don't remember the rest of the villains. You have a corrupt government rivaling an entire ... Jul 30, 2019
Disclaimer: I've only read four chapters/one volume, and thus if any changes are made resolving my issues with this manga in sequels to the first volume (I seriously doubt it, though), I am unaware.
I want to let you, scrolling through the reviews, know the two reasons that I dropped it, which I will address below. 1. It goes against my morals as a Christian. 2. The characterization of Bulat as somewhat predatory because of his sexuality, as well as his sexuality being used for laughs, is a trope I'm sick of as a bisexual guy. ... Jan 11, 2022
Akame ga Kill!
To make it clear in advance, yes Akama ga Kill has some differences in the manga and yes, the manga is better than the anime, as is the ending. Akame ga Kill is a manga that tried a lot of things and honestly more than it could pull off. War, atrocities, corruption, character deaths, abilities, backgrounds, action, ambitions, so much the manga has devoted itself to, but very little of it has been a success. In the end, what was Akama ga Kill able to convince with? Only with dynamically designed fights and the characters. Believe it or not, the manga had a ... |