Thus I stumbled across the Akame Ga Kill! anime series, based off of the manga of the same name written by Takahiro (that's all the Wikis are giving me, so I'm rolling with it). It's based in a fantasy, medieval world in which there is an evil Empire/ Kingdom that is tormenting its poor and only those in line with the Emperor, or those in the Capital, get to prosper. A group of assassins known as Night Raid serve as the forefront for the Revolutionary Army, seeking to take down the Capital and it's Emperor and restore balance to the Force, er, world.
Admittedly, like most anime, it has a simple premise at first glance.
Oh, please, you can't honestly tell me most great anime recently doesn't have a simple premise. "Boy and girl get trapped in a videogame and fall in love" "A stubborn pirate searches to become the most legendary pirate ever" "boy gets blamed for murder of all of his schoolmates and gets thrown into a prison where people fight to the death and everyone there is a nutjob."
See, simple?
However, also like most anime, there is always something hidden beneath the service. In the case of Akame Ga Kill!, it comes in the form of how the world is structured. We aren't given very much history behind how the Empire came about, just that it's there. But what we do get to see are the Imperial Arms, a large set of weapons scattered around the Empire that each possess various skills. Every member of Night Raid has an Imperial Arms, and each one is unique. One is a gun that shoots larger blasts when the user is in a pinch, another will cause immediate death upon scratching someone, another is a long line of powerful string that can be manipulated to become wings or armor.
Imperial Arms were all, too, nothing extreme or out of the ordinary. Most of them took the form of a common weapon, like an aforementioned gun, sword, belt, or even in one case, a ring.
But that one was silly and could have been used so much better and way earlier in the show.
There were a few that were, uh, weird. Like how they would mold with a person or even take the form of a person. Those, though, I can discuss with the corresponding characters.
The show ran for 24 episodes and it remained pretty consistent throughout its run. I felt that it really hits its stride right around the midway point, because it was then that you could really feel the weight and the emotion that was pushing all of the characters forward. A lot happens within, really, about ten or so episodes and it sets the tone of the show.
Does the show get carried away with it? Absolutely, and it becomes one of its faults. I'm not sure if this is a spoiler or not, but it's worth mentioning anyway: a lot of characters fall to their death in the show, though it isn't without warning.
Bulat, one of the Night Raid members, tells secondary character (if you watch the show, you'll know why that is) Tatsumi that in their line of work, people will die and they will have to accept that. And for a while, I took it in stride.
Casualties occurred on both sides and I understood that, yes, within a decent amount of time death would catch up to those who wielded its scythe. But then after episode seventeen or so, there were characters dropping every episode, only one per episode.
So when that happens, where it becomes characters constantly dying, it isn't necessarily that worrisome question of, "Who's next?" It's more like the nagging, "*sigh* Alright, who's next?" Eventually I felt it came down to a process of elimination.
Now having said that, there were still very emotional moments. Again, without giving too much away, episodes 17 and 21 were easily the most impactful of the show.
Heck, I'll say this: after watching 17 I had to take a break from the show following the huge emotional roller-coaster it takes you on. 21 wasn't so bad, but it did give me man-tears. It was rough, I'll tell you that.
However, those moments get outweighed by the fact that people you care about are getting picked off left and right and you have little time to mourn because the show keeps moving on at a great pace, especially toward the end, and you can barely sneeze before another character drops.
Alright, so let's talk about this little show. It begins with Tatsumi who is looking to join up with the Empire, not knowing what dangers await him should he join with them. And, for most of the first episode, you do wonder what is so bad about the Empire that Leone, who we find out is a member of Night Raid, is telling Tatsumi to stay away from them? And there are times in the show that you do forget why the Empire is so bad.
And then you get to the end of the first episode and you are given a very graphic, very dark visual of what the true face of the Empire is. It's definitely not for kids, and it's actually some pretty rough stuff. I've heard that there is even worse in the manga (which the anime did tend to stray away from, particularly in the case of one character), and it's like visually disgusting. Yikes.
But that's another one of the strengths of the show. Unlike most shows where there is an Evil Empire and you're just meant to go along with why they are evil (the usual, the suppression of the poor or the weak or whatever), Akame Ga Kill! shows you and reminds you of why this Empire is evil. Not only are they just horrible people, but they're psychos, killing without a cause. And even if they are, their cause isn't normal.
Though that's not to say Night Raid is really a bunch of good guys, as they are killers too. But are they truly evil if they fight for the freedom of everyone? There's a morally grey area within Night Raid, whereas with the Empire you know for sure that these guys are horrible, horrible people.
Looking at you, Seryu...I hated her, I hated the freaking sight of her on the show. So bad.
We follow Tatsumi's adventures for most of the show as he bonds with all of the Night Raid members, learning their pasts and what their dreams are. He actually forges some pretty powerful bonds withe everyone pretty quickly, though with Mine it takes a little while. Definitely he gets along best with Mine and Akame.
Akame, as you can probably guess by the title of the show, is indeed our main character, though oddly enough she isn't given very much character and she only comes into the fold majorly toward the end of the show. Her Imperial Arms is pretty OP, as it is the one that can instantly kill after scratching a single person. I won't spoil her backstory, nor her greatest adversary, but just know that it's pretty interesting. Her character development, while not too much, is still a good enough amount to satisfy us.
There are other members of Night Raid, yeah, like Mine, Lubbock, Leone, but there are others I either can't mention or just can't say due to spoiler-y reasons. Really it's tough to discuss most characters without giving away plot elements anything beyond the fourth or fifth episode, as big events start happening around that time.
The main villain of the show is I suppose General Esdeath, though one could argue it's either the Emperor or Minister Onest, who is actually the one controlling the Empire with the Emperor as a figurehead. Esdeath, though, is one of the characters with a strange Imperial Arms. She can control and manipulate ice, or freeze everything (seriously, everything), but her Imperial Arms is sort of fused with her body so the only way to destroy it is if you kill her, but, it's still pretty weird.
She was extremely OP, though, able to take out entire armies at a time without breaking a single sweat. Most of the time I just wondered how the Revolutionary Army was going to even get passed her, let alone the actual Imperial Army.
The show has two openings and closings, and in my opinion, the second opening is better because it fits the tone of the show better, and the closing is cool because it majorly features Akame and another pretty unique character. The music of the show itself is pretty good, the battle music very good and in sync with most of the fights. The comedic music fits in well with those elements as well.
Oh, yeah should probably mention that: the show can actually be very funny. Because of how well the members of Night Raid get along, and given some of their character traits (such as Akame being able to down everyone's food without blinking), there are some very great bits of comedy, which helps alleviate all the drama and action that happens around the show.
The action is very fast-paced and powerful, too. There are a few moments where you wonder, "Wait if that broke their bone then how come that didn't kill them?" but it's forgivable in a show where people use scientifically-tainted with hints of magic to fight an Evil Empire.
Overall, this is a good show. Great? Well, it could have been, but too way too many unnecessary steps for us to feel gloom and doom that it just got a little silly. I don't say this often, but there were too many deaths for me to really start caring by the end of the show. The first few were impactful but after that I couldn't really feel it. The beginning of the show is satisfying and it all wraps up nicely, giving little room for sequel and you know where pretty much everything stands.
The biggest complaint people have are the differences from the manga, and some are even calling for the creators to pull a FMA-type reboot, in which they redo the show up until the significant changes and keep it with the manga. Personally, I wouldn't mind that. If it makes for a better show, all the power to them. But if not, I'm fine without an "Akame Ga Kill! Brotherhood" show (that's not a real thing, it's just a name I saw tossed around).
However since I didn't read the manga, I have to go with what I know, and what I know is that this is an interesting, action-packed, and funny fantasy show. Hopefully we see more of its type, with better execution, next year.
This does not spell the end of my 2014 anime reviews, however. I have one more left in my pocket, and it's one that I am through the roof excited for. Next week, we travel to New Planet Vegeta to take on the mystery, and the almighty power that is: BROLY: THE LEGENDARY SUPER SAIYAN!
AAAAAAAAAHHHHHH YYYYYEEEAAAAAHHHH!
If you want to stay up to date on when I post, follow me on Twitter @seanovan13 and on Instagram @seanovan10. Thanks for reading!
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