Tatsumi is a naive boy from a rural village that makes the trip to the city in order to join the military and help his hometown. However, after he is rejected, he ends up joining Night Raid, a group of assassins part of a revolutionary movement to overthrow the government. From there, he must fight a brutal and increasingly bloody shadow war.
When it first came out, people loved Akame ga Killl for being one of the rare series where no one was safe. Furthermore, it kept true to it to the end, so if you want similar anime recommendations, give these a try.
Anime Like Akame Ga Kill
For Fans of Assassins
Black Lagoon
Average business man Rokurou Okajima found his life turned upside down when he was captured and held hostage by a mercenary group in Thailand called Black Lagoon. After learning how disposable his life was to his company, he decides to quit the salaryman life and join the very group of mercenaries that held him hostage. While he finds himself unexpectedly good at their various work, his ideals about the world vastly clash with those of his companions.
Although Black Lagoon is technically about mercenaries, what are mercenaries if not assassins that do more weird stuff? However, like Akame ga Kill, the show focuses on the adjustment and contribution of a random guy that ends up joining a group of trained killers. However, Black Lagoon maintains a more realistic setting.
Assassination Classroom
After the moon is mysteriously turned into a permanent crescent by an unknown calamity, the students of class 3-E at Kunogigaoka Middle School are presented with a daunting task – Assassinate the creature that blew up half the moon before the year’s end or die when the world is destroyed. The creature in question, dubbed Koro-sensei by his class, is super fast, super strong, and by all respects, indestructible. However, while the students try and learn how to destroy him, they also learn that he is the best teacher that they have ever had.
Both Akame ga Kill and Assassination Classroom are both about assassins, yes, but more importantly they are both comedies about assassins. However, both shows have moments where that light-hearted tone gets dark quite quickly when it needs to.
Basilisk
When two warring ninja clans each find themselves supporting a different son of Hidetada Tokugawa as the next shogun, they each send 10 representatives to fight to the death. The winner of this fight not only gets Tokugawa support, but they earn the right to wipe out the other clan.
Assassins ain’t nothing but non-Japanese ninjas, right? However, Basilisk has very little comedy to it. Virtually none, actually. It is just all serious and sad whereas Akame ga Kill knows how to take the edge off your favorite characters dying.
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For Fans of Villains That are Actually Good
Seven Deadly Sins
In this feudal world, the realm is protected from those who seek to spread their evil by the Holy Knights. However, in the kingdom of Liones, a small group of Holy Knights known as the Seven Deadly Sins sought to overthrown the king only to be driven off. Now, ten years later, the world hunts for the Seven Deadly Sins, but the Holy Knights have now turned their blades on the king and taken control of the kingdom. Now it is up to his third daughter, Elizabeth, to find the Sins and help them take back control.
In both shows, you are technically following the villains of the world, and in doing so, you find out that they actually aren’t bad people. Sometimes one might even call them heroes as the show goes on. It is a clever way in both shows to show that villains can be more than just evil or good. Both shows also have great comedy, but Akame ga Kill has more action.
Lord Marksman and Vanadis
In fantasy Europe, war is brewing between the countries. One of the War Maidens known as Vanadis has recently launched an attack on neighboring rival Brune. Young archer and Earl in Brune, Tigre, has his army decimated at her hands. However in a twist of fate, she spares him and takes him on as a servant.
Both Lord Marksman and Akame ga Kill take place in a fantasy medieval world in which a powerful woman has an encounter with a significantly weaker man, then takes him somewhat into her protection. However, while Lord Marksmen and Vanadis follows nobles, Akame ga Kill is just disposable assassins.
Claymore
In this world, humans are forced to coexist with demons called Yoma. These beasts feed on humanity and take on a human appearance. In order to fight them, an order of women called Claymores were imbued with Yoma essence in order to stand against the tide.
The characters in Akame ga Kill are expendable tools for a means to an end, just like the Claymores in Claymore. They are outcasts and only meant for one purpose. When that purpose is fulfilled, or they can no longer serve that purpose, they are killed. Both shows detail the short and brutal lives of human tools.
For Fans of No Plot Armor
Attack on Titan
Facing imminent extinction, humanity retreated behind a series of tall, thick walls to escape their most dangerous threat – massive human-like Titans with a taste for human flesh. With an enemy that eats humanity for fun rather than food, they are constantly threatened. As such, it is the duty of every human to defend the species. Enter Eren Yegaer who, after his village was destroyed by Titans breaching the outer wall, he and his adopted sister Mikasa join the Survey Corps. They are one of three factions of the military that scouts and combats Titans outside the walls. After joining in the brutal war, Eren discovers a secret about himself that could unravel what the world thinks they know about Titans.
What made both Attack on Titan and Akame ga Kill both so wildly popular is that you got attached to characters and wanted to see where the plot would take them, only to have them die brutally and unexpectedly. Both take place in modified fantasy worlds where you might see technology that otherwise wouldn’t be there as well.
Gantz
Kei Kurono is an apathetic young man that, while waiting for his train, runs into a childhood friend. When a homeless man falls onto a track, his friend coaxes him into helping save his life. Unfortunately, the train comes in and they both die. However, they both wake up in a strange room with other recently deceased people and a big black ball that tells them to kill aliens in order to gain their freedom.
You like character you think are definitely totally going to live for plot then watching them die violently? Gantz and Akame ga Kill are both fertile ground for such things. Even if Gantz does completely squander it’s potential with a filler ending.
Berserk
Gutts has been a mercenary for as long as he can remember, caring for nothing but moving to the next battle. One fateful battle puts him at odds with the rapidly rising mercenary group, the Band of the Hawk. Their charismatic, idealistic leader Griffith soon makes him join by force, but the bond he forms with the Band of the Hawk may very well mean the end of the world.
Berserk does have a fair bit of plot armor for some characters, but like in Akame ga Kill seeing who is vulnerable is part of the fun. Both shows are also in a mildly fantasy setting and feature strong political intrigue as well. However, Berserk is just about mercenaries and not so much assassins.
Did we pass over any better or otherwise deserving anime recommendations for Akame ga Kill? Let us know in the comments section below.
