Completed Series: Akame ga Kill!

[catystorm]

 Title: Akame ga Kill! / アカメが斬る！
 Year: 2014 | Summer
 Episodes: 24
 Production: Square Enix

 Official Summary: In a fantasy world, fighter Tatsumi sets out for the Capitol to earn money for his starving village, and finds a world of unimaginable corruption, all spreading from the depraved Prime Minister who controls the child Emperor's ear. After nearly becoming a victim of this corruption himself, Tatsumi is recruited by Night Raid, a group of assassins dedicated to eliminating the corruption plaguing the Capitol by mercilessly killing those responsible. (via MAL)

 Catie's Thoughts: I went back and forth on this show a lot. It feels familiar while still keeping it fresh - it reminds me a great deal of how I felt when I first got into anime, and this brand new fantasy world opened up, full of characters with a quest to follow. The difference here is that the quest is assassination, and when Tatsumi got all starry-eyed about doing it FOR JUSTICE, he got smacked down immediately with "no, we're murderers."

And while this again feels like a late 90's, early 00's series, there are a lot of earmarks that it is not. The casual violence, for once - and the fact that characters die, and stay dead, and there's often not a lot of warning at all. In fact, if you embark on this show, I wouldn't get too attached to anyone, it'll save you some heartbreak later.

I really, really enjoyed the series and the character dynamics a lot more than I thought I would. I don't know if I would want to watch it again (see: heartbreak) but I would buy a release and keep it on my shelf. 

Watch it: Crunchyroll, of course.