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.
