Story: 6
Yeah yeah screw the story. I give it a 6.
My impression for the story department is just “fine”. The story follows a pretty formulaic build up for the first few parts, here we see our MC got into trouble, betrayed, and then invited into Night Raid. Then the introductions of our Night raids members for the next consecutive chapters, up until the point where we witness the first DEATH among the Night Raids members (I won’t spoil hey). That is probably the part where the story seems to attract the most attention, at least for myself. Death does seem to play a big part in how the story is going to develop from now on, if my hunch ain’t wrong (we keep seeing the numbers counters of Night Raids and Jagers left). So if you are one who doesn’t mind death of a character, or has little attachment to one, this manga might be a choice for pick up.
Art: 8
Now let me put down a few notes here. The pilot chapter wasn’t exactly great in details, shadings or background but don’t let these put you off. It gets better. What really impress me in terms of this title’s art style is that it improves over the chapters! It’s pretty obvious if one pay attention to it. Another thing I’ll mentioned here as well is that while the art for first few parts of the story was heavy and detailed, it changes over the chapters as the story develops, for better or worse it’s your call here (I only notice the definite changes in drawing style when I reach the part where Tatsumi and Wave went on the tree monster hunting,).
At first the drawing style I can only describe it as being heavy. It was a little too dark with heavy shadings and background. Sometimes it makes it hard to read the fighting scenes without focusing your eye to make out where the arms/head or where the attack is, that is my only complaint here. However all these suit the story surprisingly well, with the gore theme to this title, bloods and swords (and of course dismembered bodies..), they were a nice fit. Continue onwards until chapter where (at least the part where it was noticeable for myself) Tatsumi and Wave were fighting the tree monster at mountain, I realized there were much less shading, more whites and the use of more screentones. This change make the fight a lot easier to read, it was clean while retaining the detailed characters drawing, but in return it may have lost the dark mood to the story.
Character: 9
Characters in this title is probably the one of the highlight, I love all the characters (except prime minister, and his lackeys and son perhaps). What is truly intriguing here is that while there were characters, collectively divided into 2 sides; Night Raid and Jagers; both opposing each other, there weren’t exactly a bad guy among these 2 (again, except for the prime minister). What is justified for one may not be for another, it’s about the narrow view and perspectives one could only see so much.
All the characters are interesting. We have a good-boy-at-heart Tatsumi, mischievous Leone, quiet but caring Akame, Tsundere Loli Mein, Rabac that keeps the team going, Susanoo the good bro and Najenda the handsome woman. All these characters are from the Night Raid, and what ties them together is their ability to kill and assassinate. The other members I’ll mention are Schere, Braht and Chelsea but I wouldn’t go into details for these three for now as to not spoil you anything important. They are the main anchors that moves the story afterall (though a little weak for Chelsea part, and a little distasteful).
What I mentioned so far are the members from Night Raid, but even Jager from the Imperial had amazing casts of interesting fellows. My favorite is Seryuu (crazy, pyscho that takes justice to the extreme end, well just try and notice her face when she’s fighting, it’s really awesome) and of course Esdese, a beautiful sadist even portrayed in her own name: “S”adist “desu”. To give you a little spoiler as to what spices up the enjoyment in reading Akame ga Kiru (after chapters 17), Esdese is the strongest woman in the empire, and shortly after fall flat in love with Tatsumi. It reminds me of Luffy and Boa Hancock from One Piece haha! This mismatched coupling, their mushy moments, I enjoyed every part of it. (FYI Esdese is taller than Tatsumi… and probably older as well) All but of course, they are from two different faction, and I believe there will be time when they must face off against each other, we’ll see.
So I love all the characters, all interesting and with unique design. The only part I’ll further address here is the way the girl’s face feature are drawn, especially the eyes. They are all pretty similar: take note of Akame, Mein, Esdese. If not for the recognizable hairstyle and physique, I’m thinking it may be hard to differentiate between them.
Enjoyment: 10
If anything, Akame ga Kiru is one manga that you can enjoy despite all the plot holes and disturbing development. I find myself enjoying looking forward as to see how the characters will develop from now on, rather than the story itself. For one, there isn’t much to say about the story, but the characters make it interesting. With the good arts and drawing it comes with, I say enjoyment you could find yourself in this manga is top notch. The best part about (for now, and for me) is TatsumixEsdese, the fighting, and deaths to some extent. I am aware that it’s disturbing how DEATHS would make a good manga, but hey it works for the first 2 night raid who died (I feel my heart dropped like hammer for the first death, and you know what that means to a manga that could incur such emotion).
Overall: 8
I’ve only read 35 chapters so far, so there are definitely more to add into account for what may occur from now on. One thing though is that the manga hasn’t lived true to its name yet, Akame ga Kiru (which may translates to Akame is Slashing or Slash! Akame, Akame = Scarlet eye). It seems to me that there may be more to be seen from Akame in the future, which is the one thing that has been bothering me for a while now since we have yet to see much development from her. I hope you may find this review helpful, and sorry for any mistakes in writing this (it’s my first review ^-^)
