Akame ga Kill!

I heard about Akame ga Kill! in an anime in 2014 review. Labeled "the edgiest anime ever", the show had my curiosity.

The show is extremely dark and sad while having comedic moments and lighthearted fun. These themes aren't exactly well balanced and some may have trouble taking the who serious after it turns from extremely light to extreme dark. This is really the show's only major flaw.

The best feature of Akame ga Kill! has to be the characters. A wide variety of characters is presented. Each character, protagonist or antagonist, is giving a healthy amount of development and each is easily enjoyable. No antagonist is "too evil" and mostly of them are in the moral grey area. Most characters are given special powers. There is a decent amount of balance in powers, but some are weak while others could be considered overpowered.

The action sequences are masterfully done and simply beautiful and progressively get better as the show goes on. Romance is mildly touched on, but certainly not a major theme. The plot and the setting is great. The setting matches the plot and characters well. The pace of the show speeds up as the show progresses which some might welcome while others might not.

The show's imbalance might not agree with some, but the show is certainly worth the view. Prepare for dark and violent themes, extremely sad times, and a good helping of your typical comedic anime moments.

Right away, it is lost that it is not an anime for children, with a heavy theme about necessary murders and political idealization, weapons with magical powers appear but very well contextualized without losing their meaning. Throughout the anime we follow the growth of the main character and his companions, strong motives, terrifying scenes of the human capacity to do evil, and everything is completed in an unusual end. Whatever you think you know or guess about the ending, forget it and wait.

This anime tells the story of a young man that comes to the capital to make money and save his village, but instead joins a group of rebels that want to overthrow the government because it is too much corrupted. The story goes around this group of people, their training and their missions, and it doesn't deeply describes the society, nor the setting, which are interesting. You just need to know that the society is corrupted and the rich take everything they want from the poor. It does a great job visually, and the music is also well suited, and it is perfect for those who seek an anime with adventure, fights, a tiny bit or romance and a slightly dark athmosphere. The characters aren't deep but they are all different, and their backstory is explained, making it easier to become affectionate to them. As I mentioned, the atmosphere is dark, but it has some funny moments (perhaps too many). One of the things I liked the most was the fact that it isn't obvious whether a main character will die or survive, which makes the story less obvious. On the other hand, the sadness caused from the death of a main character is soon replaced by a sense of anger, because too many of them die, and you end up wondering whether it was necessary for the plot or just a cheap way to make you feel bad for the others. Nevertheless, when I think about it I still have sad/bitter feelings for some events that happened to some characters, and these after-feelings aren't often found in an anime.

Some things could have been done much better, like spending more time in developing some characters or making sure to describe the setting more deeply, and it I didn't like the fact that when someone dies, in the next episode they're almost forgotten and only mentioned casually when needed for the story. In the end the only problem with this anime is that it is a bit shallow, and it could have been really great if only it was spent some more time in the writing.

I recommend watching it because it does its job of carrying you away in a different world and making you live, for a little while, the lives of these people, in a world far away and far easier than ours. For this I give it an 8/10, that could have easily been a 9 or even 10 for the reasons just mentioned.

A perfectly well told story. Each episode is shocking, with spectacular battles, stories with which everyone connects. All the characters are unique, interesting and with well-defined personalities.

Akame ga Kill is absolutely fantastic, especially the characters. In this anime, we are granted a very realistic immersion into their war. There are heroes on both sides, and everyone has their own reasons for fighting - justice, revenge, money, power, love. It becomes difficult to see some of the capitol soldiers as "bad guys", because their motives are so relatable. However, this show is not lacking in its representation of sick, twisted villains that we wish only existed on TV. Nothing is sugarcoated, (don't watch this anime if you have an aversion to blood and gore), allowing us to suspend disbelief all the more and form strong emotional connections to these fictional characters. Be warned, to pick a favorite is to live dangerously. This show is a must-see for any anime fan. 9/10 stars.