Weekly Review: Akame Ga Kill!
Akame ga Kill is another one of those anime shows that I honestly had no idea existed. Well, in a way I did. Every time I was looking for a new anime to watch, my brother would yell at me to watch it, saying, “Have I ever misled you before?” Eventually, I gave in; and thus began my adventure in the world of Akame ga Kill. I didn’t expect much, in fact, I didn’t even know what it was. All I knew is that it was supposed to have some great action scenes.
Why don’t I walk you through the first episode? At first we see a couple of travelers being attacked by a monster, they are saved by a young man named Tatsumi. Now, based on how easily he dispatched the monster, we’re assuming Tatsumi is pretty strong. He is heading to the capital to enlist in the army and send money to his poor town. In fact, he was traveling with two friends, but they got separated, so he hopes to meet them in town. It is at this point that the travelers he saved warn him about the people there, but he takes it with a grain of salt.
On his first day in the capital, Tatsumi is rejected from the army and all his money is stolen. This is when a good young woman takes him in and allows him to stay with his wealthy family. Tatsumi is finally convinced that he has found a descendant group of people in the capital; then, he attacks Night Raid. Tatsumi manages to catch up with the girl and a guard outside a barn on her property, this is after the girl’s mother and father had already been killed. This is where Night Raid catches up with the group; thinking that he is doing the right thing, Tatsumi tries to defend the girl.
Within two seconds, you realize that these Night Raid people are on a completely different level than Tatsumi. This is when the real surprise comes in. Since he is not the target of him, Night Raid decides to show Tatsumi why they are killing this family. They open the barn door to reveal a slaughterhouse. Hanging in the middle is one of Tatsumi’s friends, killed by torture. In the corner, inside a cage, is his other friend, obviously also tortured, who dies shortly after seeing Tatsumi. After seeing his friends brutally tortured to death, Tatsumi kills the girl. That’s when Night Raid decides that he should join them and practically kidnap him.
Now, I don’t know about you, but that just took a full hundred and eighty of where I thought the story was going. I almost couldn’t believe it was happening. The story had gone from kind of funny and carefree to bullshit: people are being tortured and they’re dead. That’s the kind of show this is. You think it’s all fun and games, and then bam, something unexpected happens that makes you cry.
This show is pretty unique, the only other show like it I think is Attack on Titan. Now, before you say that they have nothing to do with each other, I would like to say that they do. Frame armor. You know, the mysterious thing that keeps the main characters alive? Yes, none of these programs have it. Akame ga Kill has even LESS plot armor than Attack on Titan. Which means that not even the main characters are safe. So, it’s pretty hectic every time a fight starts. This is amplified by the anime explaining that whenever two Imperial Arms (powerful weapons) users fight, one must die. So every time you think, oh god, is my favorite character going to die?
That being said, there are still some comedic moments. Like the whole love thing between Tatsumi and Esdeath. If you don’t know, Esdeath is a bad person who is madly in love with Tatsumi, of course, she is also the deadly enemy of Night Raid. Even on a show like Akame ga Kill, they have time for a short swimsuit episode. By now I think it’s almost mandatory in all anime shows.
However, what makes Akame ga Kill truly special is the moral gray line the show has. The enemy forces don’t really look like the enemy. In fact, the show goes out of its way to show you that they are human too. So when it comes time for the “good guys” and the “bad guys” to fight, you hardly know who you want to win. Honestly, I was sad with almost every death on this show, besides the cannon fodder, fillers we don’t care about.
The only bad side of this show is towards the end. They incredibly speed up the ending, almost spewing deaths like frag grenades just to get to the end. For example, Tatsumi’s death in the anime seemed a bit… forced. Not to mention, Mine’s death also seemed a bit strange. Either way, the ending screwed things up, but it was still good. The final showdown between Esdeath and Akame was a truly impressive battle worthy of the final fight headline.
Overall this is a good show. It moves away from the norm that there are good and bad. It also proves that anyone, and I mean anyone, can die at any time. It’s like an anime that has a bit of reality to it. Pretty impressive, if you ask me.