Forgot this one. It’s not great entertainment, but I’m getting into it. The evil general is a totally sadistic bitch. And a babe too. Not for the squeamish though; lots of characters dying, and they’re often pretty girls, who deserve better. In fact, the show is shallow, stupidly brutal, and determined to show just how bad the human race can be, while still maintaining a whimsical nature and trying to be funny.
Ok, I admit it, I’m mainly watching for the lulz, but the death toll makes me wince. Although Akame is the titular character, it’s really following Tatsumi, a young country hick who goes to the capital with two friends (one is the girl they’re both crushing on), but even before they get there, Bad Things Happen. It only gets worse when Tatsumi arrives. He gets swindled by a pretty, boobalicious girl, then rescued by another pretty, but younger noble girl.
I said 'pretty, boobalicious' not 'pretty boobalicious.' But that's true too.
That’s when the Really Bad Shit starts to go down. He becomes a junior guard in the household, but they’re attacked by a band of terrorists called “Night Raid” who indiscriminately kill nobles. He finds out that his “benefactors” are actually sick bastards who like to capture, torture, and kill (or trick, torture, and kill) peasants. Even the young girl is hideously evil. The guards just…went along with it. Tatsumi was going to be their next victim; unfortunately, also he finds out that his friends were the most recent.
Four members of Night Raid, the terrorist/revolutionary group.: Mine (me-nay), Akame, Bulat, and... um, another guy.
Night Raid’s “indiscriminate murders” are actually targeted assassinations, paid for by relatives of the nobles’ victims, which is being done to lay the groundwork for revolution. And boy, does this country need a revolution. The King is a boy firmly under the control of the gluttonous prime minister, and the military’s been purged of anyone that might be honest; their commanding general is the evil, sadistic bitch-babe, Lady Esdeath. The nobles are all corrupt, and their taxes are grinding the country into the ground. Since they’re the largest country, there’s no hope of overthrow from outside.
The short version is that Tatsumi kills the noble girl himself and joins Night Raid, which includes the swindler girl that took him for a ride (It’s not Akame. I said boobalicious.) Tatsumi is fast, a good fighter, brave, and thoroughly outclassed by everyone in the group, because they all have something called an “Imperial Arms”. These are (often fanciful) magical artifacts created at the order of the first king a thousand years ago. One is a giant pair of scissors with a kuma-bear symbol
, for instance. Over the centuries they got “lost” and the revolution is collecting all they can find. As, of course, is the Empire. Of course, Tatsumi gets one himself, but it doesn’t happen until episode 8. They’re managing to avoid at least some of the easy plot tropes, but not all of them.
Lady Esdeath, or should I call her 'Lady Hormones?' She's so taken with Tatsumi's smile, she's going to keep it. And him.
More I think of it, the more I think I’m just watching for the boobage. And the quirky humor, what with characters named “General Liver” “Dr. Stylish” “Seriyu Ubiquitous” “Honest” and “Wave.”
Nah. It's the boobage.
