Main characters? Dead. Love interests? Dead. Bad guys? Dead. But just because they’re dead, doesn’t mean they weren’t great characters when they were alive. A series of amazing fight and characterization where every death (and boy is there a lot) is heart wrenching. Nothing is sacred in Akame Ga Kill. But here I’ll be ranking some of the absolute best characters in the entire series. Spoilers Note: the nature of this show means it’s hard not to spoil some really emotional deaths. You’ve been warned!
15. Najenda (Boss)
Despite being the boss (that’s the name they call her even), I didn’t personally like her character too much. She spends most of the early series off-screen trumping up support in the rebel army, and we sort of just see her as the matriarch in the ivory tower. Now she does have an interesting backstory, and is essential to Night Raid… but as a personal listing? Bottom of the best.
14. Tatsumi
Is it a sin to put the main character in the bottom five? Perhaps. But he’s a bit of a depressed emo Mary Sue. Now I get that the whole series is built up of archetypes in fancy dress. But Tatsumi is the boring anime hero archetype, while everyone is a cool superhero archetype. He wears a mock school uniform for most of the show! We never even step foot in a school!
13. General Esdeath
A sexy fan favourite, but not totally for this fan. She’s far too overpowered to the point of being ridiculous – but like all anime villains, she decides to never use her full power except in specific circumstances. Her ability is to control ice. But the writers must’ve been yoga artists because they stretched ‘controlling ice’ to mean sending meteors (made of ice) down to earth, freezing whole countries, and even freezing time itself. Another reason I don’t specifically like her a ton is that her whole character is built around sadism and having the hots for Tatsumi, who’s half her age. Talk about freezing your libido.
12. General Budo
I honestly would like to know more about General Budo. But in the anime he doesn’t get much screen time. Nevertheless, his brief appearance for a couple episodes cemented him as one of Night Raid’s greatest emissaries. Though leader of the Imperial Guard, he admits privately that he knows of the country’s corruption and wants no part in it. His honor is to the royal family and the spirit of the country. A true knight by every definition of the word. Shame we’re on the rebel side of the show, so he gets the guillotine.
11. Chelsea
The stoic shapeshifter who became one of the show’s most memorable and gruesome deaths. Chelsea was originally employed by a cruel Viceroy who would murder for sport. But after finding her Imperial Arm: The Gaea Foundation which lets her transform into another living creature, she murdered her boss and replaced him with a less brutal man. Before joining Night Raid, Chelsea was part of another revolutionary mercenary sect… but to watch them die. She since became stoic and blunt, but out of worry and love for her teammates.
10. General Liver
Another character with very short screen time, but an interesting backstory. Liver was an honest general in the imperial army who refused to take bribes from Prime Minister Honest. But in a world as corrupt as the Empire, he was accused of treason and sentenced to death in front of an already corrupted court. Everyone thought he died including Bulat, who quit the Imperial army and joined Night Raid exactly because Liver’s fate showed him how messed up the Empire was. However, surprise! Liver did not die, and it seems has become what he feared the most.
9. Sheele
Great backstory, but just a little too stereotypical. Sheele could’ve been ranked higher had she not been done off so early on. Born in the ‘Industrial part of town’ (read: Chinatown) Sheele was bullied and abused for being clumsy. One day, seeing her friend attacked by an ex, she killed the ex in cold blood and felt nothing. She realized then that her calling was to be an assassin, although she did lose her friend in the process. As part of Night Raid, she was clumsy. And that was about it. She’d drop everything. And in the comedic short skit spin-offs, it’s shown that she has a whole box of glasses because she can never find them. However, her death was the most shocking moment probably in the show. It’s when you learn that in this series, nothing at all is sacred. Be warned.
8. Dr. Stylish
The insane doctor archetype needs love too! Dr. Stylish is the sexy love child of Dr. Frankenfurther and Japanese body horror. He takes human subjects from death row and makes them into grotesque horrific beings with supernhuman powers. But they all also become super camp and swear to protect their creator. Not only insane, but truly a genius, Esdeath allows him to run his experiments at his own camp. Which is filled with his chimeric creations. He also upgrades another member of Esdeath’s Jaeger army, see below…
7. Seryu Ubiquitous
Protector of Justice Seryu Ubiquitous at your service! Along with her dog Coro (who is actually a giant regenerating monster), this feisty police-in-training won’t let any villains out of her sight. What’s that? The Empire is corrupted? The whole police force is corrupt? That’s not true – that can’t be true! You’ve…you’ve been infected by evil. Seryu Ubiquitous: twisted, zealous. Judge, jury, and executioner. Morally grey because she truly believes that the Empire is good, but irredeemable for the exact same reason.
6. Akame
The titular character of the series, but not the main for some reason. Akame is an assassin raised from birth to kill. Having served as one of the Empire’s top assassins, Akame quits and joins Night Raid after Boss convinces her of a better future where murder won’t always be the answer. She’s stoic because she knows what death means. She lives because she can’t fail after so many have sacrificed themselves to her blade. She will kill anyone and anything it takes to bring about a better future because, after all, that’s what she was raised to do.
5. Kurome
Siblings either love or hate each other. But it’s often a mixture of both. Kurome is Akame’s lost sister. When Akame quit the Imperial Army, Kurome stayed behind. Though she’s every bit as stoic as her older sibling, she’s also as damaged inside. Kurome’s sword, Yatsufusa, is the foil to Akame’s Muramasa. The Muramasa kills everything that it so much as scrapes. And in contrast the Yatsufusa takes the spirit of its victims, allowing the wielder to revive them as unthinking powerful corpses later on. Not being able to live through the death of her friends and allies, Kurome keeps the souls of her old teammates close to her heart – in her sword. Forever.
4. Leone
Growing up in the slums can be a fate worse than death. But Leone managed to make it out and make herself known for it too. She doesn’t necessarily have the overwhelming sense of justice it needs to be a hero. But she’ll always stand up for the underdog. Despite acting like she’ll never completely sacrifice herself for the greater cause – after all, she’s lived through hell and back. She will do anything at all to make sure people like her are taken care of in the future. Be careful of making this normally carefree gal angry, or you might hear a lion’s roar coming after you.
3. Bols
The perfect representation of ‘don’t-judge-a-book-by-its-cover’, Bols might look scary in his incineration squad outfit (It’s health and safety goddamit! This is a dangerous job!) But he’s actually timid, sweet, shy, and a picture-perfect man to his wife and daughter. Despite being a member of the Jaegers, he’s morally wracked with guilt. As part of the incineration squad, he’s set fire to villages full of innocents – karma, as he says, will one day catch up to him.
2. Mine
When I first started watching the show, I hated Mine. She’s needlessly peppy, acts spoiled, and is cold to most of the mains for no reason. But as it turns out, she’s just a tsundere. Specifically one with great backstory & character development. Born of mixed race, she was discriminated to the point of living on the streets and begging for food. She joins Night Raid hoping to rid the Empire of racism, but such a task is not easy. She steels herself over the years, becoming wary of weak links joining … but that doesn’t stop her from falling in love, either.
1. Prime Minister Honest
He’s number one not because he’s good. But because he’s well-written. Though a bit of a stereotype like the rest of the cast, Honest’s over-the-top character is simultaneously hilarious, but also horrific, cruel, and absolutely irredeemable. A man so rotten, he’s the reason the Empire becomes the corrupted state that it is. Truly it’s Honest who grooms the child Emperor into believing everything he says, even to the point of murdering his own citizens. His death in the anime is brutal. But in the manga, he truly gets what he deserves… being ripped apart bit by bit by the citizens of the empire.
