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Anime Unknown #5- Akame ga Kill

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We interrupt British Invasion month to bring you this special, and long overdue, Anime Unknown review. I said that I was going to try and alternate but I don't watch enough stuff that could be considered all that obscure unless I've heard about it from somewhere. So, you're gonna see a lot of these just far enough under the radar anime unless they're requests. Akame ga Kill is a great series and in fact it's everything I expected it to be and more. I took one look at this and expected some ass-kicking, hich octane action with a really fascinating world and maybe even a few creative characters. What I got...was that and oh so much more. I'll try to keep it spoiler-free since I really think you should go into this series completely blind the same way I did but if you only want to know my opinion, here: it's a really, really damn good series and you'll probably really enjoy it. Okay? Now, on with the review: 

Plot- the series is about a young man named Tatsumi who leaves for the Capital, and encounters a very friendly noble family. This is where the floor completely drops out; I'm treading pretty carefully here since this is TECHNICALLY spoilers for the first episode, but it's part of the catalyst for the rest of the series so I don't have a choice. The nobles are attacked by a small band of assassins who reveal the nobles' true intentions of torturing and murdering Tatsumi like they did to his friends (who'd followed him on his journey). The assassins, known as the revolutionary band called Night Raid, decide to induct Tatsumi into their ranks and join their cause of assassinating the Emporer's corrupt right-hand man Prime Minister Honest. From the very first episode, I kinda got a lot of Sanchez Chronicles vibes from this and I'll give a series an instant free pass just for reminding me of my own work, but AgK really works for it's praise and I'll get into that in the next segment.
Characters- Akame ga Kill has some of the richest, most fascinating characters I've seen in quite some time (then again, I still haven't seen Death Note, Cowboy Bebop, and/or Attack on Titan in their entireity so feel free to chew me out in the comments for that), and the series manages to pull off Grey vs. Grey Morality better than I've seen a lot of series (anime or otherwise) try and fail to do; they actually really make you sympathize with the forces fighting against Night Raid--while we, the audience, know them as sympathetic and well-intentioned anti-heroes, everyone else has been told by the Capitol that they are criminals intent on sparking all-out anarchy--but it makes it all the more heartbreaking when either a member of Night Raid dies or a member of the opposing sides die (yes, SIDES; they actually fight off at least two other, similar organizations that basically serve as government-sactioned/evil versions of Night Raid, but it's far more original than I'm making it sound). This is where the biggest spoilers come in, so I'll have this part bleed into another segment.
Enjoyment- I don't know if I made it clear enough, but I LOVE Akame ga Kill and I was really looking forward to seeing this one play out all the way to the end. The fight scenes are sublime, the animation is fluid and beautiful, and the details in the characters' designs and weapons are simply amazing! I'll get into the weapons in a minute, but I just want to address the elephant in the room; again, this is also technically not a spoiler but I'm really skeptical about how to tell you about this series without bringing up this crucial detail: EVERYONE DIES!!!! I don't mean like Hamlet or one of those shows that just has the ending "Rocks fall, everyone dies, the end!" I mean, throughout the entire course of the anime, nealy every single major character on Night Raid, the Capitol, The Jaegers (that's the anti-Night Raid I mentioned earlier), EVERYONE dies by the end. They even bring new characters into Night Raid like Chelsea and Susanoo, but there's only, like, three people left standing (I'm almost positive I've spoiled more than enough but at least I won't say who).
Creativity- I'm kinda starting to feel like maybe creativity is a bit redundant in anime, since most of the anime that really hit it big are all "Go Hard or Go Home!" in just about everything to the point 7/10 in anime has just become the bare minimum to even get on the scale. If I had to say what the second greatest aspect of this series is, after the characters, it'd undoubtedly be the world that it creates. Sure, on the surface is this your typical shonen Medieval action series, and you could probably name about a dozen of those in your sleep; what makes this one stand out: the Imperial Arms. In total, they are 48 ancient relics of insurmountable power created by the first Emporer (basically, they're Devil Fruits in weapon form). However, not all of them are weapons as there are some that aren't used for combat or even some that are living creatures. Though, all of them are really cool abilities and the ones in the manga are actually even more insanely cool than what we get in the actual series. 
Execution- Akame ga Kill is a series that is definitely worth your time, and at 24 episodes you can just breeze right through it overnight. I'm not exactly calling it the greatest thing in anime history or a huge milestone (I'll get to something truly spectacular when I get the chance to talk about Deadman Wonderland at some point) but I'd say if you want more of this series, I'd check out the manga or the prequel series Akame ga Kill! Zero (honestly, at least it's better than Soul Eater Not)

Final Score: Plot (6), Characters (9), Enjoyment (7), Creativity (5), Translation (7), Execution (8)= 42
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Brendabrandon's avatar
i love this show.