OP Sequence

OP: 「SKYREACH」 by 雨宮天 (Sora Amamiya)

「闇を斬る」 (Yami wo Kiru)
“Kill the Darkness”

What appears to be another show about a young naïve boy entering the capital actually turns out to be about a young naïve boy who joins a group of vigilantes that assassinate people within the capital! This premiere suddenly goes from being funny and lighthearted to dark and gruesome within a matter of minutes. A young boy aspiring to join the government named Tatsumi (Saito Soma) finds his way to the capital city and quickly learns that not everything is as it seems. Not only is he completely naïve and scammed out of a bag full of money, but he continues to be tricked by those around him. Unfortunately, he also finds himself in the middle of a massacre within the family home that he’s staying at. He ends up fighting Akame (Amamiya Sora), one of the assassins sent to kill the family, and just moments from dying, he’s saved! He’s saved by Leone (Asakawa Yuu) who invites recruits Tatsumi into the Night Raid and Tatsumi quickly finds the truth behind the family he was staying with.

And oh no, it’s not just the family that he was staying with, but many people within the capital are corrupted. The Night Raid are a group of individuals that kill those that they deem are murderers themselves – and from this first ep, it seems like they mainly target upper-class families and executives within the government. Not to be prejudice but it seems only appropriate that the upper class would have the time and money to harm people for fun… and not see it as morally wrong. It’s very fitting in this setting for people to think of themselves as “better” and therefore entitled to do whatever they wanted to anyone they see as “cattle”. This is why I actually feel gratification when people like the Night Raid (and Dexter, if anyone’s watched Dexter) actually put matters in their own hands to do something about it. Two wrongs definitely don’t make a right, but when there’s no way to stop them and the authority is also corrupted, you can’t let these people roam free. Maybe because I’m a vengeful person in general, but there’s no way I would’ve let Aria and her family go knowing what they did to innocent people… not to mention my friends! When Tatsumi actually slashed Aria himself, I was quite surprised (in a pleasant way) because revenge is something that everyone may want but few have the opportunity to take advantage of.

Plot aside, the animation itself was crisp and fun to watch. The first half of the episode really illustrated the innocence of Tatsumi well with his facial expressions, the exaggerations in certain scenes and it was fairly comedic all things considering. I was even amused (and sad) when Tatsumi sat a full day in the bar and opted to sleep on the streets. It goes to show Tatsumi’s trusting nature and lures the audience in to see what’s really going to happen to him – because not everything is as it seems in the capital. I loved this aspect of the show because it doesn’t take itself too seriously with enough comedy to break the intense moments, but also reveals the truth of what’s to come and keeps you on your toes. The main characters are memorable as well; again, especially Tatsumi who distinguishes himself well from other main male protagonists. He might not be especially great or gifted in what he does, but his perspective on society around him makes it easy for others to influence him (either in good or bad ways). It’ll be interesting to see how he develops.

Overall, I’m impressed by how much I enjoyed Akame ga Kill’s premiere. It was surprising in a good way and the story was told well, such that I got all the important points without feeling lost or confused. In other words, no pacing issues (so far?) and it was genuinely interesting to watch. I’d love to see how this develops if the Night Raid end up facing the Prime Minister or the Emperor and even better if the government gets overturned. If this first episode was any indication, we can probably expect more deaths coming up so don’t say I didn’t warn you – but don’t get attached to anyone anytime soon! In fact, I’m looking forward to seeing how new characters get introduced and written off. It makes the story more realistic and hard to predict.

Bottom Line: @RCCherrie – Wow… #Akame_anime was so kickass =O I love watching vigilantes who kill villains that get away from authority. That’s why I loved #Dexter!

Full-length Images: 03, 05, 09, 28, 31, 33, 41.

 

ED Sequence

ED: 「こんな世界、知りたくなかった。」 (Konna Sekai, Shiritakunakatta.) by 沢井美空 (Sawai Miku)

Preview

122 Comments

      1. @ GoodStuffs

        But if you look at Tatsumi at a glance, you can tell that even when there are people who have preyed on the poor and weak, he is not the kind of guy who would torture people to avenge others. Plus, even when others have done unforgivable misdeeds,that doesn’t give the excuse to do the same to them, which is why when we saw Nightraid assassinate that rich family, they were quick and efficient.

        Dualash
      2. Woah you can tell just by a glance? Does he have his whole character profile on his forehead or something?

        Nah for this case these 2 comrades were supposed to be very tight. I mean if they tortured and killed your brother and sister not of necessity but JUST FOR FUN! You really think its cool to let them die a quick painless mercy death??? when your brother and sister that you spent your whole life training with died a really painful slow death for their enjoyment? This is family tight not random poor sap strangers with no attachments. Then ya, just end them…

        Well of course the night raid killed them quick they had no vendetta against them they were just killing them because they were evil that was it.

        GoodStuffs
      3. @GoodStuffs I agree. They are so important to him so why did he just let her die with only one swing? He should have tortured her while he had the chance.

        I remember, the first chapter of the manga was what hooked me up because of the goosebumps I’ve felt after that plot twist. Sadly, after that, it went downhill. Don’t get me wrong, I really like the manga but the goosebumps are not there anymore. I know the author is trying to make it as dark as possible but it’s just not enough, at least for me.

        m0ng
    1. Indeed, we have many unique characters to go along with that.

      Frankly, first impressions can be decieving. Just looking at Tatsumi you would get the impression this is like either Haru Glory (rave master) or Recca (flame of recca); however, one would think wrong. I love anti-heroes that actually finish the job XD

      L002
    2. I was already smelling something fishy when oujosama invited poor guy from the street.
      But boy, didn’t I expect the whole family to be SO rotten.
      Humans are true beasts, after all.
      The main character seems to have right attitude, though.
      It really felt great to see him dispose of that rich bitch.
      He might have found a right place to be. He would be wasted as infantryman, anyway 😛

      ewok40k
    3. if i were him id cut her arms, tongue and eyes off so she cant get helped and throw her deep in the woods covered with bbc sauce to be eated by wolves thats how u gets revenge.

      Retsurai
      1. LOL RIGHTON! CUZ WE KNOWS REVENGE NEEDS NO EXCUSES! for this ep at least unless those rapists still have next of kins alive it ends when their family & guards dead! UNLESSS ARIA HAS a boyfriend orrr that family has brother and sisters that actually cares enough to take on the night raiders! NAHHH its the capital they only care for themselves hahaha

        GoodStuffs
      2. arent we revenging ourselves when we put criminals on jails instead of making something useful with them or just killing them right away would be the logical options. – hannibal lecter said something like this

        Retsurai
      3. Do not take moral advice from an insane murderer, please.

        The concept of imprisonment stems from punishing people for wrong behavior, forcing them to reflect on what they did wrong, and hopefully giving them the opportunity and the environment that would encourage them to reform. Ideally speaking. Understand that neither the world, nor the people in it on either side of the law are ideal, so things can often not work out that way.

        Wanderer
      4. Akame ga Kill villains are, with maybe two exceptions, unrepentantly evil and deserve to suffer horrible deaths. Eventually whole TEAMS of villains will be introduced who will rape and murder children by the dozen on screen. It is absurd, I can’t think of another series in which dudes are just evil for the sake of evilness.

        deVaras
    4. If you like Attack on Titan and Sidonia no Kishi, you will like this.
      Well, if you liked the Attack on Titan CHIBI specials,
      you might like the Akame ga Kill Chibi specials as well.
      Link (http://akame.tv/images/story/01/movie.mp4)
      Unfortunately its only in raw version at the moment…
      I suspect this might be the bonus specials in the BD versions since they have advertised all 8 volumes of the BD (3 episodes per volume) to have some extra footage.

      Techim
  1. Aria being evil was an absurd development. Poor writing really. Sort of like in Frozen when they decided to make the prince evil. “Let’s ignore everything we have done up to this point. We need this character to be evil now.”

    -facepalm

    Rukia
    1. More like the opposite! it certainly drove home that looks can be deceiving! Or WOLVES in SHEEP Skins take your pick! those guys did warn him ! pretty sweet foreshadowing btw!! THERE ARE MONSTERS WORSE in the capital!!!

      GoodStuffs
      1. dang i replied to the wrong comment D:
        More foreshadowing real wholesome good girl dont need A SHIT TON OF SHIT if theyre truely a good person! Its showing shes just another spoiled brat with money… #redflags… and hes poor if she was truely good shed buy him gear or something too but it was only her stuff

        GoodStuffs
    2. I can see why you’d think that, but when you delve into the literal hell on earth that is Akame ga Kill!‘s world, it feels like more of an introduction more so than anything else.

      Ryan Ashfyre
    3. Completely agree. Even more laughable than that was how stupidly evil the family was. I mean, yeah, the nobles have to be truly despicable to justify the Night Raid as the heroes but that was just ridiculous.

      Eugene
    4. Although the revelation may be too sudden, it’s exactly how sudden it was that really made an impact. The fact that they were being so kind for the first half of the episode was to trick the audience into genuinely believing that they were well-intentioned and kind people. But there were already several hints of how corrupted the capital was, especially when the soldiers at the start of the episode mentioned how the people there were “worse than monsters”.

      Even when Tatsumi was scammed by Leone at the bar, it didn’t actually seem too bad of an action. Sure, she deceived you and took all your money, but that probably only makes the audience think “ah, so that’s what they meant by the capital being unsafe.” Even so, it wasn’t too big of a crime, especially when it was portrayed to a comedic effect. That scam set the standards of what “unsafe” meant, and the standards aren’t particularly high. Aria’s family suddenly being revealed to be extremely sadistic and cruel had the value of completely shattering the audience’s expectations, because they were mislead by how mundane the scam from earlier seemed.

      There probably wasn’t much foreshadowing (if any), but the reason why I believe their sudden evilness to be justified is because of how realistic it potentially is. The show puts us in Tatsumi’s perspective, and we are lead by his thoughts. As a result, we perceive the family to be completely innocent and kindhearted. Remember how it was said that they lured people from the countryside with their “generosity”, and then subjected them to their torturous experiments? That’s exactly the role Tatsumi was originally supposed to play; and that’s also exactly the role the audience are supposed to be mislead by.

      The lack of foreshadowing is completely understandable, but it does not make the revelation seem badly written in any way. In fact, I honestly believe that the shock value would be slightly lower if the author left a few hints here and there about the true nature of the family, because it would make the audience think “ah, I thought it was suspicious; so that’s what was going on behind the scenes” instead of “no way, they were actually evil all along?!”

      thesnnitro
    5. “Let’s ignore everything we have done up to this point. We need this character to be evil now.” – cause that’s how this sort of genre stuff works? I know it’s not supposed to make sense, and it’s just there to trick you so the sudden character twist is a lot more brutal.

      a box like hippo
    6. I was actually feeling wary of that situation from the start and was waiting for the family to turn out evil, but wasn’t sure what to think as it went on like that.

      sealouse
      1. Yeah I wonder if they will include that one part in the manga where
        Show Spoiler ▼

        that part makes
        me rage for days, i had to watch cat videos to calm down lol!

        lol
  2. Being the anime I’m looking forward to this season, I’m actually very pleased to see how the first episode turns out. Hopefully the rest of the episodes will be as good as this one.

    PS: I take it this series will have a weekly coverage, Cherrie?

    1. HA…Hahaa… >_>

      No, I wasn’t planning on covering it actually (don’t throw rocks at me!) because I had another section of RC that I wanted to work on these next few months. Given how well the first episode went though, we’ll see how well received it is before I commit =X
      (I sound like I have commitment issues but I don’t, I swear!)

  3. When you’ve watched anime and/or read manga for long enough, there aren’t too many series you can claim to have sent a literal chill down your spine, to have characters that you honestly, dearly hate and wish death upon, to have taken you into a world that’s far and beyond anything else that you’ve ever experienced before.

    That, my fellow commentators, is Akame ga Kill! and it’s one of the series I’ve been looking forward to the most this season.

    To put it into context, you know how movies like Final Destination and Saw are like an exercise in creative ways to kill people? Well, Akame is like that, only it’s an actually entertaining exercise in human corruption taken to the extreme. It has murder, rape, betrayal, torture (LOTS of torture), and a sense of mercilessness in both its story and execution that, even when you think things might actually turn out okay for once, they rarely ever do.

    That said, if watching Elfen Lied made you feel squeamish, then you’re probably going to want to steer clear of this as you haven’t seen anything yet.

    When all’s said and done, the anime pretty much follows the manga panel for panel; and while that’s fine in my book, it also reminded me how Akame takes a while to find its bearings; though once it does, it never really falters, IMO.

    One notable problem though, and what some might’ve been outright turned off by, was how Tatsumi was… well, basically okay after having just seen two of his friends having been tortured and killed right in front of him. Unbelievable, right?

    Can’t really argue with that, but it’s also indicative of a larger theme in Akame’s world. If its characters stopped to weep and grieve every time something horrible happened to them (which… happens more than once and with varying degrees of suffering), there would be no end to it. Now that’s not to say that this is what happens every time, ‘cause it isn’t, but when it does come up it’s just one of those things that you have to get used to.

    All in all, it’s a pretty damn good ride for what it tries to accomplish. You’ll rage, hate and maybe even feel some sympathy once in a while; which, coming from a genuinely apathetic guy like me, is pretty high praise. ;D

    Ryan Ashfyre
    1. IS THIS PRETTY MUCH THE ANIME GAME OF THRONES? OH NOES WHICH MAIN WILL DIE NEXT? or they be too unstoppable? and dont die? its just the side characters that you somehow feel sorry for but kinda seem expendable like his 2 comarades from back in da country?

      GoodStuffs
      1. If you want to spoil yourself, then go read the manga. All I’m going to say is…

        Show Spoiler ▼

        Ryan Ashfyre
      2. except one though, she’s a complete mary sue in the manga which start to make the story boring,
        it doesn’t matter what anyone throws at her she’ll just breeze through them like nothing which gets
        annoying real fast, hell in the latest chapter she can even stop time with no repercussion what so ever,
        the only down side to it is it can only be used once a day!

        lol
    2. Can’t really say I share the same feelings.

      With all the death, tragedy, blood, pain, misery, despair, corruption they’ll probably want to throw at us,the way everything is presented doesn’t give the show a dark tone at all if you ask me. Like,what’s with all the silly,comedy moments right before or after someone is cut in half? Not to mention that the way people are killed is way too flashy for me to take it seriously. Compared to the way Tokyo Ghoul presented itself,this was a walk in the park.

      I’m not saying Akame go Kill won’t be a fun show,just not one to be taken too seriously. At least,that’s what I got from this premiere. Thing is,it seems contrary to the way many people talked about it.

      MgMaster
      1. Well, I don’t take Tokyo Ghoul seriously at all, but that’s neither here nor there. I don’t take Akame ga Kill! seriously either, though I do feel it’s more of a fun ride by comparison.

        Ryan Ashfyre
      2. Seems so. Was just trying to adjust my expectations here. If I know I’m not supposed to take it seriously,which seems to be the case,then I’ll be able to enjoy it more instead for what it is.

        MgMaster
  4. The hype was worth it. I’m looking forward to seeing what White Fox can do in the future, now that they have shown that they can properly adapt the source material.

    Jif
  5. For god’s sake, please tell me you guys are going to catch this one! As a fan of the manga since the beggining, I would LOVE to see you guys doing that.

    And, if the premiere was a bit shocking for anyone who didn’t follow the manga, behold, because the future is holding much more awesome and gruesome content Show Spoiler ▼

    Higure
    1. Show Spoiler ▼

      for me I despise her to the core, I’d rather see
      her be dealt with the same way she did to those poor souls and more, but alas she’s a mary sue so non of
      those will ever happen.

      lol
      1. That’s fair and understandable. Not sure if it counts as one, but I’ll spoiler tag this:

        Show Spoiler ▼

        StrenX
  6. Even with all the hype surrounding this I’m not feeling it so far. The jump between slapstick comedy and serious dark grimfest was too stark here as though Akame ga Kill doesn’t know what it wants to be, comedy or tragedy. Nowhere was this more pronounced than at the end where within seconds we jump from naive protagonist to total serious execution of sadistic young noblewoman. Although it was clear something was up beforehand, there was little buildup and no emotional involvement on the part of the audience, how can you feel something for something all but taken out of the Herschel farm arc in The Walking Dead when it’s given precious few minutes of actual explanation?

    Now with that said it is clear from those familiar with the series that Akame ga Kill is following the source material very closely with this opening chapter admitted to being not representative of the series as whole. Plus since there is 2 cours to work with (24 episodes IIRC) there is more than enough time to build up to what many state this series to be. Definitely going to need at least 3 episodes to see how Akame ga Kill will turn out, but considering the lack of censoring if the comedy can be toned down then I’d say this should be a pretty good bit of bloody pulp fiction for the summer season.

    Pancakes
    1. I had the same feeling.

      I was initially enjoying it, but the jumps between mood and pace were too much. The show was all over the place and doesn’t handle the transitions very gracefully. If they had just gone with the humor to disguise the show and then dropped it once the dark stuff happened, maybe, but trying to shoehorn the funnies in after playing the “fooled you!” card isn’t doing it for me and almost seems a bit insulting for some reason.

      Hapry213
  7. I was a bit worried of how the anime would handle all the violence, but after this episode I was amazed of how loyal the episode is to the original manga, capturing the brutality of the world of akame ga kill is, if anything, the main point that was needed for this series to be good, if anything we can only expect that some things may be tone down but I see no problem
    as far as it keeps the core essentials of the manga.
    I can only say to anyone who’s going to watch this series is that you’re in for one hell of a ride!

    Ded_Ghost
  8. Heres my biggest problem: First you got the naive boy, who goes to this town where he makes terrible experiences. Both his best friends, known since childhood, are brutally murdered and he is so angry and sad, that he kills the murderer himself. And just one second later, all those emotions go “pouf”, never been there. I really want to like that show, but I just DONT GET IT. Doesnt anyone else have a problem with that??? It feels like all the drama was just for introduction purposes but you cant do it like that!

    Libélula
    1. From the preview, it looks like the next episode will work on that a bit, but regardless there’s not much justifying it since it’s pretty much exactly what you said. For all intents and purposes it was an introduction.

      Once you get far enough along into the story though, it makes some sense that if Tatsumi had just broken down emotionally and killed Aria in a fit of rage, it really would’ve conflicted with what needed to be done in order to make the story work. Spoilers aside, a lot of stuff is going to be happening really soon and if Tatsumi doesn’t go into it being able to handle stuff like that pretty much right off the bat, the whole thing would just turn into a mess.

      It doesn’t quite make up for him suddenly being okay with his dear friends’ deaths, but between the lesser of two evils… well, what are you going to do?

      Ryan Ashfyre
    2. This was my problem with the episode too. For all the talk of this series being dark, I felt like it wasn’t dark enough when it needed to be. Tatsumi making some comedic half-hearted protests as he’s being dragged away ruined all the gravitas of what should have been a transformational scene. If they had kept a dark/serious mood through to the end of the episode that would have been more impactful IMO, and actually fit the actions being played out. Not saying Tatsumi should immediately have become crazily bent on revenge (a la Eren Jaegar), but at least he should have been in shock/depressed/struggling with both his friends’ deaths and having his understanding of the world turned upside down. The tone makes it tough to take any of the drama seriously.

      spike
    3. Were you even watching the right show? Tatsumi wanted to bury his friends, but was dragged away, his emotions didn’t just went up in a puff of smoke, he had to react to a new situation: Being forced into joining Night Raid.

      SnooSnoo (@ShinJiwon)
    4. Don’t think his emotions went “poof” but more like, what do you expect him to do that in that situation? He’s being dragged away to join the Night Raid rather forcefully… and he doesn’t even have time himself to digest what’s going on. I’m sure he’s still angry and that’s why he’s going to join the Night Raid from here on out. To be honest, I think if they suddenly dived into his emotional state and made him all angst-y and emo, that would’ve ruined the pace of which the episode was going. It seems like it follows the manga pretty closely too (from what people are saying) so I think the ending was done on purpose to wrap up the introductions and to show you where the story is headed.

  9. “If this first episode was any indication, we can probably expect more deaths coming”

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Anybody looking for realism to the story will probably be disappointed, I think. That said, in a universe where everybody is at least a little (usually much more) twisted, the characters and story are consistent and highly entertaining.

    StrenX
  10. Out of curiosity, what’s up with Amamiya Sora the VA for Akame getting so many main roles this season? Did her performance as Kaori from Isshukan Friends did a number to the producers of anime? Not that I’m complaining, her voice is very sweet to listen to.

    Maggotr0n
  11. Ok, so far first episode does not disapoint. Was quirky about what they would do with the first ep. Hope they can keep this up.

    Together with Tokyo Ghoul these 2 adaptions carry my highest expectations >_< just hoping i won't regret.

    .Mero
  12. If you want to see the dirty disgusting side of humanity WATCH this anime this will make you doubt any person who offer’s you kindness….. And don’t judge a book by it’s cover !

    Truth
  13. I wasn’t feeling it to be entirely honest.
    To me, Akame ga Kill tried so hard to be “dark and edgy” that it became comical… and not necessarily in a good way. I’m not entirely sure whether it was the over-the-top violence and gore, or the incredibly high-paced reveals and “twists” towards the end which caused the timing to be completely off that caused it, however. The absurd contrast between the “dark” stuff and the attempts at comedy aren’t helping either.
    Basically, and I’m sure I’ll get a lot of flack for this, to me this felt like a teen’s vision of what a “mature” story is. The only thing missing is naked boobies.

    I’ll give it a few more episodes, it’s a two-cour show after all, but my expectations aren’t exactly high after this premiere.

    Tsugumi Henduluin
    1. hahah teens dont think “mature” at all… this is more like YEEE BLOOD & GORE… KICKASS. Sweetnesss. Maybe youre the one thinking too mature buddy… its anime relax, enjoy youre the one over thinking it… I really hope you arent those people that rag on movies like tranformers goin omg too many AWESOME SPLOSIONS cause robots shouldnt shoot each other and blow shit up right??

      GoodStuffs
  14. The OP sang by Amamiya Sora….the one who sang “Kanade” from Isshukan friends?!!? w/ the sweetest voice <3

    Wow, the ending turned out disastrous and bloody but nice move Tatsumi!!

    a little correction Cherrie, the ED is sang by Sawai Misora (she also sang Kill la kill ED) not tatoo. Sawai actually composes and writes lyrics herself but arrangement was done by tatoo.

    berrish17
  15. This show is so edgy, I cut my hand on the .mkv.
    Seriously though, this show is at best decent. It’s been hyped as hell by two factions though.
    1. The faction that thinks gore and violence makes a show good. The torture in Akame is pretty much shock value, all the time… for no reason. The bad people torture innocents. So far, even in the manga, there’s no actual reason for this. They are all just evil. Except for one character that does not take pleasure in torturing, but does it anyway. Which brings be to…
    2. The masochists in love with Esdese. She had no actual redeeming qualities, and is a total Mary Sue. She’s borderline unlikable, but because she’s hot, nigh invincible and tortures people, she’s popular.

    Please don’t compare this to Attack On Titan and Knights Of Sidonia. Sidonia especially is MILES better then this.

    dmonhiro
    1. Looking past the blood and gore and the suffering that comes with the body count, Akame ga Kill is really good at breeding a kind of dissonance in which everyone you want to like in the series (including Esdeath, I know, crazy), has something that they would lay down their lives for which would otherwise be commendable, but simply doesn’t know how to bring their dreams to fruition and instead throw their lives heedlessly into the bonfire of misunderstanding and sometimes hatred. Show Spoiler ▼

      However, I don’t think writing in a morality twist in which the “good guys” are forced to question their stance towards the world is particularly difficult, or even desirable these days, considering how common that theme is now. If anything, I think it’s better that we are straight up told that everyone is a bit evil and everyone is a bit messed up in the head – albeit to different extents. Everyone knows that the empire is corrupt, and the question is how they deal with that information in living their lives. That is what intrigues me so much about this series, rather than seeing it devolve into a bunch of moralistic blather

      Jif
    2. wow , that’s spot on , you really win with the analyse war here, it actually true that the reason of all the violence have never been fully explain and they are just using the terme EVIL Blood and gore to make this manga popular, you even win with the masochist love Esdese, people are indeed easy to read. Although I like this manga becuase the fighting and weird logic , I hate Esdese and her team she is borderline evil and i truly hate her, there are so many show that depict all the violence better like Snk(manga current chapter TokyoGhoul , Berserk, claymore, blacklagoon and one of my fav Gun paddler) Akamekakill is still fun to watch, the graphic and story is still good, but calling it the BEST is just exaggeration or “never seen better”.
      In conclusion , dmonhiro knows what’s up! but i will still watch the show, I hate Esdese but i also love her.

      PeTdo
  16. I thought you were only blogging Sailormoon! :OOOOO I’ll be following you for sure this season~ This will be good, if they continue being faithful to the source material.

    Kyosuke
  17. The source material has some pretty disturbing scenes, so will they adapt that as well? This series is really, really good but I wonder if the series will be toned down so much that it’s quality will suffer.

    legwkio
  18. After seeing this first episode i’m not really optimistic since it’s pretty clear they are already rushing (at least to me as an anime viewer). I find it hard to believe that our MC simply got over his close friends deaths so quickly. This looks like another one of those shows that’s going to try to seamlessly mix in the comedy with the tragedy but I really find it hard to take shows like that seriously. People in a life or death fights making gags like that is just……..ugh.

    This episode was pretty much a HUGE string of coincidences with Tatsumi running into one of the assassins which makes her obligated to save him. And what are the chances they would be taking out that rich family the EXACT night he was lured there? Oh and let’s not forget that gift the old man gave Tatsumi managing to save him…………it’s just……………..COME ON ANIME YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT! That’s just horrible writing imo. If the show wants me to take it seriously at some point but is going to make light of death in such a crude way I’m not buying into it. Is this going to be one of those shows that will try to insert a random gag after someone gets cut in half?
    I find that kind of humor to be utterly repulsive.

    leatherhead333
    1. true, he wasnt over it the only beef is that he gave that girl such an easy out. Didnt you see he was dragged away… not wanting to leave his friends like that! she should have at least suffered alittle more…

      GoodStuffs
      1. He was protesting the idea of joining their group. Not that he wanted to go back to his friends. Not to mention he was doing it in a comedic fashion which considering the context doesn’t make any sense. I’d be much more depressed if my childhood friends just died right before me. So i don’t see how I’m supposed to relate to this guy at all.

        leatherhead333
  19. Crap, it felt REALLY RUSHED. I really liked the characters and all, but more time is needed for exposition. As someone who’s a huge fan of the manga, I really hope they pick it up next episode.

    bakakubi
      1. actually, you’re right. I went back and read the opening chapter again, and the pacing was quite similar. I guess my biggest gripe is the delivery. I feel that certain parts could’ve been done way better i.e. the part where we found out the girls true sadistic nature.

        bakakubi
    1. I hear you on it being felt rushed but I think thats what they trying to do… be face paced and SMASH you in the face with that twist at the end so youll be like WHAT JUST HAPPENED I WANT MOAOOOR. Well it worked for me. But Im starting to worry if what others say about the series tapering off… will be true. Ehh.. its anime dont take it so seriously if it sucks stop watching if its continue watching keep it simple 🙂

      GoodStuffs
  20. well this was certainly an odd one. what started out as a bit of a adventure comedy in the city turned into a grim, depressing, and vile story about a sadistic family that ended on a comedic note. I see a lot of you are saying the story’s being rushed, though I enjoyed this episode overall even with the jarring tonal change. I saw a comment saying this was getting 24 episodes on the site I watched it, if so, maybe they’ll slow down the story pace? either/or, I’m looking forward to next week!

    a box like hippo
  21. I wonder how many female viewers of this show will exist if they decide to do a faithful adaptation of chapter with the girl pretending to be happy over being used as a dog’s sex toy to break free from her captors.

    I can’t wait to see people still watching whilst complaining about its dark themes.
    Better yet, bringing moral/ethics discussions into it.

    Giorno Giovanna
  22. This episode felt really dis-jarring that i literally shook my head at the last 5 minutes or so. One moment the audience is supposed to feel sorry for MC’s dying friends and in the next moment it turns goofy with some slapstick comedy going about. Unfortunately, that’s not how my brain processes. I also found the “women shop too much” joke on the start a bit lame. This show would’ve been better off if it just focused on being dark and edgy like Tokyo Ghoul.

    Amiluhur
  23. https://randomc.net/image/Akame%20ga%20Kill/Akame%20ga%20Kill%20-%20OP%20-%2003.jpg WE.. ARE.. THE GINYU FORCE!

    My anime original senses are tingling, I don’t know if the order in what happens was changed a little bit or something was left out. I’m pretty sure the manga started with Tatsumi traveling with his friends first before they got split up.

    Either way it looks like we won’t be getting a copmletely faithful adaptation, and i don’t like that. Compared to Tokyo Ghoul’s first episode, this one looks terrible.

    They’ll probably go for 10-13 episodes too. Sigh

    magoiichi
      1. I’ll keep my expectations low with some restrained optimism, hoping that we’ll get to some of my favorite parts of the story. Maybe 20+ episodes will do without it feeling rushed.

        magoiichi
  24. It definitely wasn’t what I had expected but in some ways that may not have been a bad thing. I’m still on the fence about whether I want to commit to this fully but so far.. not so bad.

    Index
  25. I was prepared for it, but I thought the animation was pretty poor here. The lighting and colour was off, and it looked pretty pedestrian on the whole. One of the things I liked about the manga was that it had a pretty good stylish flair, which I think they mostly failed to replicate. It did improve drastically once the fighting started though, which is a good sign. I thought the music was pretty good too.

    whemleh
  26. Pity Aria had some mental problems with her hair. She looked almost like Roka from D-Frag (minus the twin tails and height) and I was hoping she would turn out to be a good chap.

    Sakamoto
  27. Ok guys, remember not to spoil the anime-only people how this series is so bad, it’s so fun to read and agonizingly wait for every chapter every month.

    Anyway the studio is doing the manga good JUSTICE. It’s like how I imagined it except one small detail: in the first PV of AgK, Akame is noticeably animated with so much frame the flow of animation is smooth. But when the series finally aired that quality of animation didn’t appear. So sad. I thought we’ll finally have our first ever, non-3D, high-framerate, HD anime series ever that would look good watching in those modern LED TVs. I guess dreaming of the future can only go so far. Meh.

    TheMoondoggie
  28. Having read the manga, I missed on the shock value this time and the episode didn’t seem that special to me… This makes me very, very sad. I think Akame ga Kill if any series out there is the one that’s at its best the first time you read/watch it.

    Anonymosity
    1. TRUE…buttt when they animate faithfully to source material isnt still better to seee it in action? even if you know whats going to happen still different to hear the characters voices and all the blooood haha

      GoodStuffs
  29. That was fun. I wasn’t expecting much with a title like that, but i was blown away. Some of the character designs kind of remind me of RWBY. Good soundtrack too.

    sealouse
  30. A little piece of extra information:

    The author of Akame ga Kill is Takahiro. His former works include “They Are My Noble Masters” and “Majikoi” 😉 … quite a change of pace, though some of his preferences and quirks still shine through.

    Mentar
  31. Just when I’m falling for Aria, when I felt sympathy for Aria’s mother’s death, that truth!! It is so shocking I’m finding the series fun to watch!! I just love series that plays with your heart. The truth is as cruel as the real world lol, you just can’t judge a person you just met.

    Tsukiyo
  32. I gotta say, I feel like the plot plus the turns of events a very cliché. Especially how villains will completely changed their characters out of the blue (from innocent to pure evil, *points at the villain girl*) just to plot out that she’s beyond saving. It feels rather shallow. I kinda wish there was more development behind the characters, well, I guess I was expecting too much?

  33. As a person who reads the actual manga, I gotta say that the premiere wasn’t as good as the first chapter of the manga, from which the material of the first episode was taken from.

    First of all, it would’ve been better if that “intro” thing were the plot was introduced, was placed before the scene in which the Earth Dragon comes popping out of the ground. *This is the first thing I noticed that was done wrong from the manga*

    Secondly, the gore/horror was toned down a bit. At the torture chamber, we got – if I can even call it that – a glimpse of the ‘true’ face of the imperial capital, where in the manga, there were mutilated bodies *with as much as detail the art had in the beginning chapters*, and Sayo’s corpse was actually more close to being tortured. Seeing as in the anime it only had dirt, it was as if she was just let there to starve.

    In addition, the scene changing, where you go from one scene to the other was badly executed. That kind of sudden change works in the manga, be it by using rectangular shapes *don’t know the actual term or how to explain it otherwise* or just sudden change of page, it really doesn’t make it look bad at all. In the anime, just an eye-catch would’ve done the work – different matter if it was good or bad, but still much better than having it shown to you plain. Also, in the last scene, where Leone was dragging Tatsumi, it wasn’t told quite well that “Tatsumi actually wanted to bury his friends, but Leone dragged him out of his will and said that she would bring the bodies later”. It’s true that Tatsumi didn’t react at all *might say from shock and it makes sense*, but it’s not like he didn’t care.
    Show Spoiler ▼

    To conclude, it wasn’t the premiere I was at least looking for. On one hand, I was happy that it had very few understandable censoring, but it kinda made a fool out of the manga’s first chapter. Then again, it’s a dark shounen series, which is mostly known for it’s brutality in a very corrupted world. Nobody has time to sit and think really deep about stuff, unless it’s something very important as a coup d’etat.

    Kev9
  34. Coming in blind watching the first episode, my first impressions were “generic character designs, generic hero male protagonist with generic boobs obsession, generic opening”. Boy was I wrong. I can’t wait for the next episode already!

    Heroman010
  35. I’ve been reading this manga since chapter 1. TBH, the characters looked better in the manga than they do in the anime.

    The animation however is almost perfect and it seems like they’re definitely going to do the story justice. I can’t wait to see these guys plan to do the crazy fights that come up later.

    TitanAnteus

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