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[Updated review]

Akame ga Kill… Oh how I wanted to totally love Akame ga Kill. I really did. The concept was interesting and the first episode showed a great deal of promise. I watched the first few episodes quite happily, enjoying the characters silly antics in between the more serious plot and as time has progressed I began to feel a little betrayed and unfulfilled by the characters in particular. As a general summary, I enjoyed Akame ga Kill overall but felt there was definitely room for improvement.
I can stay silent no longer! So I’m going to try and keep my ranting to a minimum for ... this review. I apologise in advance if I’m not very successful. I’ll also keep all spoilers to a minimum.

Story 6

My original assumption for Akame ga Kill is that the story would be particularly character driven and while this is true in some senses, the failure of Akame ga Kill to develop the characters to an high emotional level and make us (as the audience) totally invested in them means that the story also suffers a little.

The concept of Akame ga Kill is really fun and actually rather simple. A bunch of assassins (Night Raid) fighting against the Capitol and for some reason there are also danger beasts around… which other than giving the writers a reason to create the “Imperial Arms” have no real impact on the story.

The first handful of episodes were generally focused on introducing you to the wide cast of characters which includes our titular character Akame. The introduction of Night Raid in episode one was done exceptionally well and I found myself excited for picking up this anime.

From then on, the series is fairly episodic (up until nearer the end) with a different mission per episode to fight against the Capitol and help to "develop" characters. These missions are always interesting, intense and enjoyable to watch. The action, for the most part and in my personal opinion, cannot be faulted. I’ve noticed a few reviews mentioning the excessive gore, I personally don’t think that this was so out of place and actually quite appreciated it in some episodes. But then I like gore in animes so I’m probably a little biased there…

Akame ga Kill doesn’t delve into anything particularly complex and neither does it take itself too seriously. I personally would like a little less comedy and a little more intensity but I do feel that the comedy helps us to like the characters and breaks up some of the darker scenes. The harem between Tatsumi and all the women in the show is not really needed but can make for some amusing conversations.

I do also feel that at times Akame ga Kill suffers from “stating the obvious” where rather than showing us what a character is going to do, the writers have the characters tell us exactly what they plan to do as they are doing it, as though they do not trust the audience to be able to work it out for themselves. I have noticed this more and more as the episodes progress and it made me feel as though the writers thought “Huh, do you think that the audience will get that Tatsumi feels this way about this certain situation? No? Well lets have him tell every man and his dog about it until we’ve beat them across the head with it so much that it’s lost its affect.” Good shows do not do this, they expect the audience to have enough intelligence to work out things without being told five million times.
Saying all this, I felt like the ending was tied up rather well considering. I was actually not intending to focus so much on the overarching story itself as I feel each separate mission is genuinely enjoyable and reasonably well thought out. I genuinely have enjoyed each and every episode and found them compelling and interesting to watch. However…


Characters 5

Here, in my opinion, is whether this show falls down. Don’t get me wrong, I have characters I really like but as time passes, I was more and more cautious about the characters I felt I could get invested in.

More often than not, I felt like the writers thought “Oh wait! We haven’t killed anyone off in *two whole episodes*! Who should we kill off? Oh I know, let’s kill off X… then Y… Then we can kill off Z. I bet the audience will be so heartbroken!”

No. No. That is not how it works.

There are reasons why some anime characters have the most heartbreaking deaths in history and that is a wonderful thing called “character development”. The problem with Akame ga Kill is that the character development is not very impressive. Sure, we get a very brief insight into each characters backgrounds but this is usually just as they are about to die which isn’t really very useful now, is it? Character backgrounds are to help you really want a character to fight and live, not watch their backstory and be like “That’s super interesting anddddd they’re gone…”

And the titular character Akame is a character that I hardly felt attached to at all. I really really wanted to like her but I don’t feel that she has the amount of screen time needed for me to fall in love with her character. In fact, I don’t think she’s said more than a handful of sentences in a lot of the episodes. She seems to just be there to look good and for Tatsumi’s benefit. Which is a shame because the first episode made me think that she would get plenty of screen time and I would grow to love her just as much. She had such potential! Why waste it?

One thing that Akame ga Kill does do differently is try to make you care for the “villains”, that is to say the anti-Night Raid group working for sadistic General Esdeath. I was pretty excited about this to begin with as I love likeable villains as much as I love likeable heros (case and point, Light from Death Note, Beatrice/Erika from Umineko). However, I find it extremely difficult to like some of these villains that the writers are desperately vying for us to fall in love with. Bols and Kurome are prime examples – they show the watchers the “cutesy” side of their characters (oh look, there’s Kurome eating lots of the Japanese equivalent of what looks to be Jammy Dodgers biscuits, she’s so kawaii) and then you see their murderous cutthroat bassassness and you begin to wonder how on earth you ever thought these characters were “normal”. I think with a little more cautious writing and planning, the writers really could have made up connect with the villains as much as the heroes (something that they do very well in shows such as Shiki) but they just about missed the mark. Which is a real shame because I liked some of the villains even more than some of the heroes.

Saying all of this, by no means do I want to put anyone off watching the show, all of the characters have interesting traits and character flaws that will always keep them interesting to watch. After moaning about the lack of character development, I realise that I do actually like the characters even if I do not feel invested enough to care how many the writers kill off. My favourite character who was killed off caused me to want throw my TV out of the window in response as it was a truly emotional ending and I could see that the writers had built up to it beautifully. So it can be done! But seriously, stop killing off a character an episode and expecting us to bawl our eyes out over it. As a viewer, I became immune to the deaths of the main character and my friend and I began to place bets on who will be next to go…

If you do, like me, prefer deeper characters where if they die you will want to beat the writers over the head with something heavy, I would advise looking elsewhere.

Soundtrack and Art 7

The art was pretty enough. It wasn’t anything particularly special but the character designs were interesting. Very bright colours which are often contrasted with darker sketchier moments for more intense scenes. This seems to happen a great deal in the fight scenes. Though a few people seemed to feel the sudden change in art style was out of place, I rather like it.

I adore the soundtrack. The OST is simply wonderful from the OP and EDs to the background music. It never feels out of place and fits in well with the action and especially the more serious moments.

Overall 6

Alright, alright. I know I promised not to rant and I got a little carried away.

Despite my little rants about character development, I have genuinely enjoyed watching Akame ga Kill! I really have. The episodes have all been enjoyable and despite not feeling particularly as invested in the characters as I would have wished, I like them enough to understand their motivations and enjoy each episode separately. It is quick moving and no one episode is quite the same. So watch the show, but be careful not to let your expectations run away with you after the first episode!

This review does contain spoilers.

As you can see, I did not rate this anime very highly at all. I actually stumbled across this because I wanted something “happier” and “cuter” to watch as I’d just finished a really deep intense anime. I am actually quite partial to romance anime and have watched some of the big ones such as Ef: A Tale of Memories, Clannad, Kanon, Air, etc.

This anime is not happy. It is not cute. It is sadistic.

The Recommendations list compares Itazura na Kiss to Clannad After Story which is by far one of my favourite animes. This is mostly due to ... the fact that the story itself continues after high-school and into future life. That is where the similarities stop. This is NOTHING like Clannad – it is not deep, it is not well thought out and though it might be sad, it is sad for the wrong reasons.

I actually got over half-way through the anime till I realised that I genuinely could not continue. As a woman, Kotoko’s stupidity in love offended me and Irie’s cold and disgusting nature made my skin crawl. Of course, I’m perfectly fine with everyone else’s opinions and I have seen many 9 and 10 ratings for this anime but here are my thoughts on the matter:

Story – 5
As I mentioned above, I have watched over half way through the anime and I enjoyed it to begin with. The story was amusing and the characters were fun. At first. I did notice that Irie was cold but I thought “Hey, maybe there is a reason for this and they can build on it later” so I continued. No. Not at all because it only gets worse and as the relationship between Kotoko and Irie began to grow, I began to get more and more disgusted with the story.

Characters – 5
I actually quite like Kotoko – she is funny and sweet and seems genuinely caring. However, I cannot forgive her masochistic love for Irie. “Oh he’s kissed me so he must really love me.” Let’s be fair to her, she does try to move on but Irie then miraculously decides that he loves her and MUST have her. However it makes me very sad that she can actively overlook his cold and cruel nature and only make his “cute” actions important.

I despise Irie – I cannot find one redeeming thing about his nature. He is a genius but only because he has a photographic memory and not because he works hard. He doesn’t love Kotoko – even when their relationship inevitably blossomed, he is still cruel to her. I found myself praying that the anime would do something spectacular and Kotoko would fall for someone else, leaving Irie in the dust. No such thing happens.

I mean really, is that the sort of relationships that people want? A man who is cruel to the woman they love. Humiliates her in public for his own pleasure. Kisses her when she wants to get over him and then pretty much tells her “Try to get over me now.” It is cruel but Itazura na Kiss doesn’t seem to focus on how cruel it is and only that Kotoko loves him because he’s so “cool”. Really? Is cool all that matters?

Despite being disappointed in the two main characters, there were actually a lot of redeeming characters who I did love and were the main characters not so unlikeable, I may have stuck to this longer. Honourable mentions go to Irie’s mother, who is a particularly fun character in parts, and “Kin-chan”.

Kin-chan – Kin-chan was actually my surprise favourite in this anime. I didn’t expect to like him but he loved Kotoko for who she was – no matter if she was stupid or not, he would love her. He wanted to be with her and “make her smile”. I would have been happy if Kotoko had run off into the sunset with Kin-chan and restoring my faith in women.

I’ve noticed a lot of reviews are happy that Irie and Kotoko stay true to themselves and that their personalities do not alter but this relationship is seriously flawed. I could not invest in it like I could in Clannad or Kanon where the romance literally brought me to tears. There was no fangirling from Ayu or Nagisa that I noticed and yet Kotoko… Urgh, just no. Please find a man who loves you for who you are and does not judge you on your intelligence.

Art – 6
It was a pretty average art style. Pretty but nothing particular special. I liked some of Kotoko’s outfits and felt that she was always cute and colourful.

Sound – 6
I wasn’t fussed on any of the opening or ending songs but the music throughout was pretty good and fit well with the atmosphere.

Overall – 5
While there were parts of this anime that made me giggle, more so for the first few episodes as the anime progressed, I realised that I was wasting time. I would rather rewatch Clannad or Kanon where at least I can feel that it –is- a romance and I can invest in the relationship. These shows show men who treat their women well and love them for who they are no matter what. It was painful to watch and this is someone who happily sat through School Days despite hating the main guy. Unlike the guy in School Days, it does not seem like Irie is going to get what’s coming to him. If you want real romance, look elsewhere.

I was a little disappointed by the story behind this manga which had actually started out so very well. A story about a jilted girl with a chainsaw at school instantly gravitated me towards the manga and while I thought I could figure out how it would end, I was wrong. Usually I would say an unpredictable ending is a good thing and yet in this case, the ending felt disjointed and out of place as though two different people had written separate halves of the story and then stuck them together at the last night.

Story - 4/10

The story behind this manga is probably ... the real weak point. It started out very well - a girl and her boyfriend and she has a bestfriend who is connected to her soul. Considering that I have read a lot of Higurashi manga, I was excited by this concept and looking forward to the dramatic creepy and gory "slasher" parts but I felt that the plot got lost in itself when it decided to follow a road of aliens.

I think the story may have actually be -more- successful without the strange sci-fi element where the beginning was very enjoyable and was building up so well.

Art - 8/10

The art was well done and it was easy to differentiate between the characters. The bloody-gore scenes were done well but weren't as horrific as maybe they could have been.

Character 6/10

I felt that the characters were the strongest part and I wish they had focused a bit more on them. I particularly loved the best-friend connection between the two girls who had been in past lives together. I felt they could have built on that even more and used it to further the plot as it would have made for a very interesting ending.
The main protagonist perhaps needed a bit more of a thought process to build up to slaughter-time but all in all, she wasn't a terrible character in the end.

Enjoyment - 5/10

Despite it's flaws, I did enjoy reading Saitama Chainsaw Shoujo and read it all in one sitting as it was short. It did feel a little rushed in places and the manga might have benefited from more of a build up and more evidence of the main character's jealously as her decision to get the chainsaw out seemed a little out of the blue when related to her personality.

Overall 5/10

Part of me wonders if this manga was written to satire other manga of its kind. To sort of say 'Hey here's a normal story and now for something completely unrelated...' It doesn't live up to other horror/gore/slasher manga of its kind. However, if it indeed -was- satire, it made it's point well.

I was actually very excited when I heard about a new Higurashi. I have been a die hard Higurashi fan since I watch the first series and have now almost read and watched everything that even sllghtly related to Higurashi.

Considering how disappointed I was with a large proportion of Kira, I was trying my best not to get my hopes up for this OVA but upon seeing the trailer, I found it difficult not to. It looked serious, it looked exciting; Rena had her cleaver and Keiichi is armed with the bat. What's not to instantly get excited about?

In general, it was an interesting ... episode and longer than your typical episodes so that it is about the length of a double episode. It did however have a few flaws that with some careful thought about the plot could have been easily smoothed out.

This may be an obvious point but you should have watch series 1 and 2 before watching this.

Story: In general, the story is interesting. It deals with the 'Outbreak' (unsurprisingly) of the "virus". I will avoid going into too many details but it deals with the action from external groups and more importantly the reaction of the villagers themselves. The plot-line is very reminiscent of the original Higurashi episodes. It is dark, there is plenty of violence and you can see the connection between the club members.

Character: With a couple of exceptions, I felt this is where the episode really fell down. It was without... 'love'. Both Rena and Keiichi in particular seemed to do things that had very little emotion attached to them - unlike in the previous series, their violence seemed a little... like a spree rather than for any particular reason.
Actually Rika, despite her small part in the episode as a whole, gets me applause. Everything from her expressions and her 'Bern-esque' voice got me. I'm pretty sure there may have been some gentle underlying suggestions about the links to Umineko.

Overall: Overall I enjoyed it despite the little character flaws, it made a nice change from Kira and the 'happy-happy-love-love' Higurashi to something just that little bit darker. There seems to be doubt as to whether this is the last episode or whether there will be more. It seemed to me that the episode lent itself to a little more storytelling.

In light of Gyo being set to become an anime, I decided it was time to finally read it. I adore Junji Ito's work and have read Uzumaki, Tomie, Black Paradox and now Gyo, particularly drawn by the way he draws such amazing and grosteque pages.

Story - I originally didn't read Gyo as I didn't think it would be that creepy. I mean 'fish with legs', how on earth could that be creepy? And yet again, as always, Junji Ito shocks and awes with his amazing art and fascinating story line. I don't want to spoil the plotline for you but it is very interesting, ... although I felt that the ending was lacking -something- but it did round off the story.
Ironically, I really loved the bones story at the end even more than Gyo itself. I felt that this story (with the people shaped holes) had a lot of potential!

Art - Anybody who has read his manga knows of his very unique art styles and especially the way that he draws horror so detailed and creepy that for a long moment it takes a while to get your head round. He is my favourite manga artist by a long way.

Character - I usually loved the female leads in Ito's work but in this one, she was whiney and a bit insufferable (I didn't feel any sympathy towards her at all) whereas her boyfriend on the other hand was a much more laid back and logical chracter which I found much nicer. He takes everything as it comes and I liked that quite a lot. As this manga was fairly short - or felt shorter - than his other mangas, there was not quite so much character development, especially since the focus was on the fish and machined limbs than the characters themselves in manga such as Uzumaki (guru, guru, guru!).
Anyway, the characters in the mini story at the end were very interesting and it would be lovely to see more of this.

Enjoyment? As always, I thoroughly enjoy reading Ito's work and always manage to get hooked from chapter one! Definitely worth a read and if you like this one, definintely go and read Uzumaki and the rest!

Hope you enjoy it!

Not a lot of people have written a review since the last episode so I felt I should.

I have to admit I REALLY didn't like the first episode. It made me cringe a little bit and for a long time I considered not continuing with the OVA at all. I won't turn this review into ranting about why I didn't appreciate the first episode (I think the other reviews do that quite successfully)

However, I actually really enjoyed the second episode. I know a lot of people are saying that they don't appreciate the 'magical girl' or 'mecha' storyline but I felt it was a very ... clever parody of the world that Rika was used to fighting in.

The reason I enjoyed this episode so much was just little things more than anything. Mostly how tiresome 'alternate' Rika found it all and of course, the usual suspects being the 'masterminds' (Takano, I'm looking at you).

Of course, I can't give it any more than a 4 since my absolute adoration of the original Higurashi seasons would not allow me. I enjoyed the episode, but in the end, it is still not in classic Higurashi style (death, murder, mystery) but Rika is still her old self which I'm very glad to see after how she was portrayed in the first episode.

The next episode looks slightly more sensible... but we will have to see.

I noticed that there weren't any reviews for this which is originally why I thought 'Oo, I should try that manga, it sounds interesting'...

Now I can see why there are no review. What to say...

Story:

In essense, the story is very interesting. It has a very Jigoku Shoujo sort of feel to it with Kuroe having a very Enma Ai like character where he kills the Tsumi-Tsuki and was also very episodic.
It did however lack depth and in some places it felt very rushed and therefore the reader ended up feeling a little left out from the story.

Art:
...
I did love the art. This is the kinda art that I love. Dark and creepy with lots of shadows and a lot of creepy eyes. Very reminiscent of Higurashi art.

Character:

There was no character development at all. Kuroe has a little bit but otherwsie I felt you did not sympathise with any of the characters.

Enjoyment:

All in all, it was interesting for a half an hour read but I dont think I would rush to read this again. It needed a lot more chapter, a lot more explanation and a lot more depth but as a one off, the story was interesting enough.

Ok, so I came into Vampire Knight expecting not to enjoy it at all. I was at a loss for what to watch and as I love dark animes (with a bit of romance on the side) somebody recommended that I should watch Vampire Knight. Since the whole Twilight thing, everyone has become obssessed with vampires and I thought 'So what could they do differently?'

What indeed...

Story (8):

I enjoyed the story a lot. I loved all the characters (especially since Zero is voiced by the same actor as Light from Death Note. Big plus in my book) and the story flowed beautifully. I will say that ... I found quite a lot of it fairly predictable but this was by no means a bad thing. I was always interesting to see the story surrounding Yuuki, Zero and Kaname-sama.
The story wasn't shockingly original but I enjoyed it nonetheless.

Art (9):

I was a very different style to what I usually watch (bearing in mind that Elfen Lied and Higurashi are some of my favourite animes which are both fairly simple). I loved the way the characters are drawn, I love the glowing eyes and the fangs and the eroticness of the vampires which was all done rather tastefully.

Sound (8):

I thoroughly enjoyed both the opening and the closing songs which really set the mood for the show.

Character (9):

I felt the character development was done very well and there was no characters that I found particularly detestable. I especially loved Zero's character and the special bond that he has with Yuuki

Story - I must say that I actually guessed the right wolf from the beginning although Doubt does do very well at throwing you off the scent. This just goes to show how you show stick to your original instincts. Although I found it fairly predictable, I loved each second that I spent reading it. To me, it seems very 'Saw'-esque but with less gruesome scenes but it was exceedingly clever with lots of immense twists and a fantastic ending!

Art - I loved how the rabbit masks were drawn - very creepy and fitted so well with the atmosphere of the story. The characters were ... well drawn and I found in the creepier parts that some of the characters reflected the kind of drawing that is done in Higurashi.

Character - Obviously, in a manga like this they don't concentrate on the characters but I found that Yuu-san was a very likeable character and you could easily relate to how he was acting and what he did. At times you definitely had to feel sorry for him. It was clever how some of the characters decieved and manipulated their way through the story too.

Enjoyment - I really enjoyed reading it and read it all in a day as I was so hooked. Cliffhanger at the end of every chapter and you just -have- to keep reading!

Overall - If you like horror and psychological manga this is definitely for you!

Ok, so maybe I'm going a little bit overboard giving this manga straight 10s but it was, in my opinion, one of the best Higurashi mangas I've read.

Story - What can I say? Absolutely fantastic! It follows the plotline where everyone dies in the 'gas leak' and is set 20 years later with new characters and an older woman - Sonosaki Mion. The story itself was a mini mystery, trying to discover who was the murder and with Mion being suspicious through the whole story till the very end.

Art - As always, very beautiful. There were scenes where you see the ghosts of Rena, Keiichi, ... etc which was beautifully drawn and was very nostalgic.

Character - Mion has always been one of my favourite characters and this story explores a bit more into the politics of the Sonosaki estate. Otobe is the new protagonist and is mistaken for Satoshi a lot, he is a very likeable character and makes a nice change from the usual rabble.

Enjoyment - I really enjoyed this manga and felt that it showed the events past the gas leak and deaths of our favourite characters very well and has a lovely twist at the end of the manga. It also has some interesting more supernatural aspects to it.

Overall - A MUST READ :D