When I first started watching anime after DBZ, I wanted to find a shorter series of animes that were not longer than thirty episodes. I came across Akame Ga Kill, made by Square Enix, and the episodes are around twenty minutes each, but they keep you intrigued until the very end. I had actually binge-watched the whole series in one day. This anime makes it on the list because it has one of my favorite concepts: special weapons.

Source: Hulu

Background

The setting takes place in an empire for most of the show. Tatsumi is the main character and starts as an ordinary warrior trying to enlist in the army. He then gets scammed out of all of his money by a member of Night Raid, which is the organization he eventually joins. When Tatsumi is searching for his friends that were taken in by a corrupted wealthy family, he finds them dead or dying in a nearby shed behind the mansion. Night Raid shows up and knows about the corruption, but Tatsumi kills the corrupted daughter himself. Night Raid likes what they see, and force him to join.

Imperial Arms

The whole idea that makes the show interesting is the use of weapons called imperial arms. An old king had all of the strongest warriors and spellcasters to craft the most powerful weapons to protect the kingdom. There are twenty-three imperial arms in total. Everyone in Night Raid has one but Tatsumi, but when “Bro” dies, he gives him Incursio, which attunes to his body shape and transforms.

Source: Amino

This imperial arm is as an armor type made from an S-class dragon. Whenever Tatsumi used it, he gets a full suit of armor and a spear to fight. This armor is one of my favorite imperial arms because whenever he summons the armor, he shouts “Incursio” as loud as he can and brings the armor forth.

My Personal Favorite Imperial Arms

While Incursio is one of my favorite imperial arms, some others top it. For example, Mine’s Pumpkin gun is incredible because it is a weapon based on the amount of danger the user encounters. If the user is in life-threatening danger, then the imperial arm can make craters in solid concrete. It has a lot of range as well, with Mine being named the “genius sniper.” She once took out a target from a place so far that Tatsumi could only see him with binoculars. Another weapon that deserves some recognition is Akame’s Murasame sword, which is named the “one-shot.” With just a tiny cut, the poison will kill the affected person. This weapon basically makes the user an assassin because they can get in and out without being noticed by even the person killed.

Plot

The unique thing about this anime is no character is safe from dying. It seems like every episode a main character dies and the group is accepting of it. They signed up for the job knowing that death was going to be apart of it eventually. The plot is linear, though, because the viewer can pick out the evils and understand what the final battle is going to be because of the goals of Night Raid.

Who Can Watch This?

Anyone who loves weapons and faced-paced action will love this anime. I will warn everyone that this has a little bit of blood and gore attached to it. Not like Hellsing Ultimate, but it is there. I would say any high school kids and above should find it appealing.  I love the animation style of the anime because of the crystal-clear visuals and fight scenes. Every time I tune into an episode, I love watching the experts use the weapons. Since I binge-watched the anime in a day, it kept me entertained. Go out and watch every single second of this brutal anime!