“Akame ga KILL!” is a manga that began serialisation in March
2010, and ran till December 2016. I read it for the first time not too long
ago—July 2018—and as someone who keeps coming back to it, I’m qualified enough
to review it [I suppose. Dear reader, do bear with me]. It’s an extremely
impactful manga [as is obvious from the title itself, and those who’ve read it
will agree with me], so I absolutely must
talk about it. I shall do my best to be fair and consistent throughout.
This I solemnly swear.
In a nutshell, the manga is about a teenager named Tatsumi,
who arrives at the doorstep of a vast city known simply as the “Capital”,
intending to make a name for himself as an Imperial soldier and aid his
poverty-stricken village. However, he quickly realises that the Capital is far
from the dreamy, rose-tinted haven he figured it would be—while the countryside
is dying, the Capital is blooming with decadence and is the centre of the rot
seen throughout the nation. Furthermore, he encounters a group of [mostly]
female assassins known as “Night Raid”; he is recruited by them after they
witness him ruthlessly cutting down a girl, Aria, who tortured and killed his
friends. … Sweet for him to be surrounded by beautiful and extremely powerful
young ladies, right? [Just kidding, sorry].
“Akame ga KILL!” is about radical change. Night Raid is only
one of several groups fighting to destroy the flawed hierarchy they live in—
the Prime Minister, Honest, and his cohorts have made the nation a living hell,
while the young and rather emotionally vulnerable Emperor is simply a puppet.
[Talk about irony… seriously, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I
learnt that the Prime Minister was called Honest]. Fortunately, or
unfortunately, Tatsumi finds himself swept up in this revolutionary wave. What
makes this manga stand out? I’m going to be very honest here. Nothing makes it
“stand out” as such—after all, this isn’t the only manga talking about dissent.
It has been called “a dark social commentary”, which I agree with, and it’s a
great read for anyone interested in the study of human nature, but the plot is
laughably bad at times and quite cliché—like any girl who’s had a traumatic
past turns into an assassin? How does that make sense? Let’s face it—every one
of us has been through trauma at least once
before, right?
One of my hobbies is reading about revolutions and the
socio-economic conditions that prompted them, so “Akame ga KILL!” [mind if I
call it AgK?] is something I used to be super enthusiastic about.
… It is promising, yes. But it fell short of my expectations.
It’s more of a character-based manga than a plot-based one, and
I must say, the characters are excellent.
Especially the Empire’s Strongest, General Esdeath, and the deuteragonist,
Akame [she can be pretty cliché too, but her characterisation is good, and the
creator, Takahiro, evidently put a lot of thought into it]. Yeah, the title is
misleading; Akame isn’t the protagonist, Tatsumi is. It’s almost like a
bildungsroman, the way it depicts Tatsumi’s immensely satisfying personal
growth. Honest is so well-sketched that Takahiro has succeeded in making me [as
well as every reader, I dare say] hate him deeply. Oh, and about Esdeath—I have
a love-hate relationship with her [ah, the tragedies of a teenager’s life!].
She’s one of the most graphic female antagonists in the history of manga and
anime. Special shout-out to one of Night Raid’s most crucial members: Lubbock,
an unsung hero. They owe him more than they can ever repay; his character arc’s
a real tear-jerker [but I won’t narrate it here. Go check it out yourself].
Esdeath’s personal six-member fighter unit, the Jaegers, are
pretty much up-to-the-mark as characters, too: especially Wave [one of my
favourites], who serves as a great foil to Tatsumi [he really was simply
Tatsumi 2.0 in the beginning, but he greatly evolved as a character later. I’m
so proud of his development]; Kurome, Akame’s creepy little sister [… I
actually kinda relate to this girl]; and Run, an extremely promising young man
who learnt a lesson the hard way—do not try to tear down a system from the
inside, no matter how messed up it is. That’s a naïve way of thinking, and
there was no way he would have succeeded, even with his guts and formidable
intelligence. He’d have had a good chance of success had he joined the rebel
army. The poor guy paid for his folly with his life. I really appreciate Takahiro’s portrayal of
strong-willed women—we’ve obviously got Esdeath, who’s a major thorn in the
rebels’ side, but we’ve also got the extremely bad-ass girls of Night Raid—they
don’t need a man to swoop in and save them! Indeed, they frequently outshine
Tatsumi [and every other male
character]. Female power!
My biggest issue with AgK? In spite of everything I just said
about the characters, the manga only spans 78 chapters, and it’s difficult to
establish a connection with the cast at times. How do you expect me to connect
with a girl who literally dies in the ninth chapter? I mean, the clue is in the
title itself, so I was prepared for extremely graphic deaths, but Takahiro
makes it a point to kill off my favourites. I take it as a personal attack.
[Perhaps it’s my fault for getting attached to them…? Maybe not. I’ll just
blame it on Takahiro].
Conclusively, it’s a manga that actually explodes with
potential, and is good for a quick read. The art scenes are extremely
beautiful; especially the focus on people’s eyes—very expressive. If you’re
looking for an extremely logical or sensible plot, I wouldn’t recommend reading
it. If you cry easily and are scared of the dark [like I used to be], you
probably shouldn’t read it. However, if you enjoy reading about assassins, or
you’re studying History, Sociology, or Psychology [and just desperately need to
kick back and read something that’s not too long], go ahead and read it! If you
don’t really like it [or my review], take it with a pinch of salt. That’s my
take on it.
Thank you! I hope you liked my review!
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