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Akame ga KILL! Zero #1

アカメが斬る!零 1 [Akame ga Kiru! Zero 1]

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斬った数だけ、幸せが生まれると私達は信じていた――。

「アカメが斬る! 」の物語から数年前。帝国に買われ、暗殺者として育てられた少女アカメは、殺戮の日々を生きていた。それが人々の幸せになると信じて――。TVアニメ化決定の大人気ダークファンタジー「アカメが斬る! 」衝撃の前日譚!!

210 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2014

38 people are currently reading
330 people want to read

About the author

Takahiro

160 books88 followers

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5 stars
173 (33%)
4 stars
181 (34%)
3 stars
123 (23%)
2 stars
36 (6%)
1 star
10 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
Profile Image for Shawna Finnigan.
748 reviews361 followers
January 31, 2024
TW// murder (including children), pedophilia

Attention: DON’T READ THIS SERIES IF YOU ARE AGAINST THE SEXUALIZATION OF MINORS!!

My review will contain discussion of sexual content but only because people need to see how much this manga sexualizes children before anyone even considers picking this one up.

I legitimately went into this manga hoping to enjoy it. I love the character’s faces in this manga and I liked everyone’s unique weapons. I also enjoyed how fast paced the story was. Beyond that, I wasn’t thrilled with this manga.

My biggest issue (in case my warning didn’t make it clear) is the sexualization of children throughout the story. Within the first few pages of the manga, a character referred to two children as “easy on the eyes” and he said “I can’t wait until they grow up.” I was hoping that this was a one off comment, but things got progressively worse as the story progressed. A man makes a comment at one point that “all the girls in the village are too young” and another man responds with “that’s the opinion of an obvious virgin.” There’s constantly times were older men are hitting on girls and most of the girls wore outfits that sexualized them to an extreme. That is if they are even wearing an outfit at all. There’s one scene where a child is completely nude with only one thin arm covering her nipples. The worst one though is that a girl is murdered in a perverted way. Her doctor decided that he wanted to make her “happy” while she’s being murdered so he gives her a drug that causes her to have a large orgasm. This is drawn in vivid detail with the child being splayed out and all the liquid is shown. It made me physically ill and I legitmately think it’s a huge red flag if someone says they love this manga due to scenes like this one.

The children issue aside, I also found that I didn’t care for any of the characters. This volume spends times estabilishing a cast of about fifteen or so characters. It covers each one very briefly and I felt that by doing that, I couldn’t get invested in the characters so I feel no desire to continue with this series for that reason alone.

I’d honestly recommend skipping this manga. There’s a lot better manga series out there and there’s a lot that aren’t as problematic as this one.
Profile Image for Ana Rilo.
95 reviews29 followers
February 16, 2018
La verdad es que lo que he leído, me ha gustado. Takahiro define bien sus personajes, te hace sentir como si los conocieras desde siempre. Tiene acción mezclada con drama y humor. Como aspectos negativos, hay algún diálogo clave, por así decirlo, que es un poco de besugos y yo quitaría el fan service que siempre me hace restar puntos a una buena trama, pero en fin… como no es exagerado y la trama pinta bien, lo paso por alto.

El dibujo me gusta, tiene dinamismo y es bonito de ver. Si bien no es el mejor que me he encontrado, desde luego cumple mis expectativas.

Reseña completa: https://armasdetinta.wordpress.com/20...
Profile Image for Hope.
113 reviews40 followers
February 22, 2019
First time reading this series and I didn't realise it was a prequel. But it doesn't leave the reader confused or rely on previously known information so it's easy to delve into. I liked it, I'm keen to read more. The art and dialogue flows well. It has dark themes but doesn't go too deeply into the psychological effects, so it's a high violence romp mainly. There's hints at future implications for when the characters realise how twisted their world is, but it's staying surface level atm.
Sometimes it was too sexualised for the children characters, one short scene in particular (an erotic portrayal, not a specific act). Which is unfortunately a gross staple of manga. That aside it was a pretty engrossing read in a complicated world.
Interested in the next books.
Profile Image for Anna  Quilter.
1,677 reviews50 followers
March 1, 2024
Prequel to AKANE GA KILL.

Before Night Raid Akame and her sister Kurome are raised and trained as assassin's for the Empire.They are motivated by questionable ethics.

Fair enough start...we get right into the killing..in a series we kind of know through the original manga
Profile Image for Amara.
1,367 reviews3 followers
September 1, 2020
DNF-ed. Did not interest me enpugh to continue reading
Profile Image for Doc.
1,959 reviews30 followers
June 27, 2016
Okay unlike the original series the prequel series for Akame ga Kill is rated Mature which if you are unaware of the rating system means absolutely no one under 18 should be reading this title which might have to do with violence common in the original series as well as occasional strong language, use of drugs to augment Capital assassins, and torture of children as they are trained.

The book starts peaceful enough as Akame and her friend Tsukushi are helping a traveling performing troupe with their shows until Bandits try to hold the group up and the two of them show the troupe how skilled they truly are. Trust is exchanged and betrayed as lines are drawn and truth once again is revealed in a time before Akame ever joined the assassin group of Night Raid.

We get to see Akame at a young age as over 100 children are placed in a trial to cull the weakest among them so the children can become powerful assassins for the Capital now that rebels and trouble makers are coming out of the woodworks. However training is not easy and only the elite make it into a special unit while the rest are throne into a different style of upgrading separating Akame from her beloved sister. Only time can tell what will happen as corruption is discovered and choices must be made.

My favorite part would probably have to be when Martha (from the Eatery Akame visits) decides she needs something more girly since she lacks femininity even though it leads to some problems down the line which you will discover if you read this volume for yourself. :)
Profile Image for Ashe Catlin.
907 reviews7 followers
April 3, 2019
This did nothing for me, the characters were dull. The interesting set up they did at the beginning was quickly killed off. Did we really need that many close ups of boobs? They're big, defy the laws of gravity and are focused on way to much in this. One guy I swear is only in the story to be a perv, he says something along the lines as you've developed nicely it wasn't phrased as nice as that. I don't mind fan service, I get a lot of people like it heck sometimes I can appreciate it to but my problem is when they were refer to them as children then it bothers me. There is a mad scientist, why is he mad.... he just is. I don't reason reasons behind a lot of stuff to enjoy it but when you have cardboard cut out charters I need something to engage me, they tried pushing in a sibling thing but that didn't do anything for me either oh look ones strong and ones weak, yay? That hasn't been done before, I know this is a prequel to the main series but honestly after reading this I definitely won't be picking it up.
Profile Image for La Colección de las Letras.
315 reviews20 followers
May 31, 2019
Me ha gustado bastante, ya que no tenía ninguna expectativa con referencia a la historia de Akame, pero la nueva imagen que le han dado no me acaba de convencer.

Sí es verdad que hay una diferencia entre el dibujante de la primera serie de tomos a esta, y se nota sobre todo por en este segundo han hecho a Akame con un aire de inocencia que no tenía antes.

La historia que estamos descubriendo en estos nuevos tomos me está gustando mucho, ya que aparecen los personajes secundarios de los primeros tomos.

Como fan del anime y de la historia de Akame, sí lo recomiendo. Además de sigue indagando en el mundo que han creado en torno a la protagonista. 
Profile Image for Jenny Clark.
3,225 reviews121 followers
June 14, 2019
This one is a little more gory than the original, plys it touches on more sad things, like brain washing and child druging. Overall, this is a really good series that has sone good psychological points. I do like how similar the art is, so that it's easy to see Akame and Chelsea and Kurome and know thats who they are, while being subtly different since they are different artists.
Profile Image for Laura.
339 reviews16 followers
July 10, 2017
Not as good as Akame ga Kill, and definitely more explicit. I still enjoyed it though. I'll be picking up the next installment when it's released.
Profile Image for The Book Dragon.
2,515 reviews38 followers
April 30, 2021
This is the prequel to Akame ga KILL! As I have not read the original series yet, I'm not yet aware of any potential spoilers.

The Empire seeks to maintain it's control over its citizens by creating super elite assassin squads to put out any sparks of dissension before it can set the Empire on fire. To do this, they set children loose in an extremely dangerous forest and only those that survive get to become assassins. The top 7 get their own special training which is based on emotional manipulation while the rest get doped and are kept under control via drugs.

It's a dark horror story about children learning to murder people...yay. So yes, there will be some gore. The art is...satisfactory, not the best, but not horrible. It's nice too look at but doesn't keep you from understanding what's going on. The pacing of the story has some really good moments like going from page 33 to 34/35. Very good job. Overall, not the best opener, but not the worst, so curiosity and OCD will compel me to continue reading.

This series has 10 volumes.
Profile Image for Casey.
677 reviews12 followers
February 21, 2019
This review is for the series up through vol 6.

Sadly -- it isn't nearly as interesting as the original. There are some moments where we see Akame becoming the person she is in the original series, but the SLOG to get there... I am done. I am not even going to bother with the rest. I find myself wholly uninvested in the characters (even Akame and Kurome at times) and by vol 6 was reading it because I don't like to abandon things and just to add it to my list of things read. Alas, by the end of vol. 6 I'm not going to bother.

Will you have a different reaction? It is entirely possible, some people rather like the series. But my advice would be to get a volume or two from a library or a friend before investing heavily in it. If you haven't read Akame ga Kill because you think you should read ZERO first... don't wait, pick up the original and you should have a good time.

If you still want to read ZERO, well, that's up to you. With so many things like this it is all subjective anyway. For me -- not worth the price of admission or the time to read it. As always, YMMV.

Profile Image for David Doel.
2,429 reviews6 followers
September 26, 2022
This is closer to 2.5 stars than 3; my explanation is that the mangaka was lazy in making the story clear. If I had not already read Akame ga Kill, I probably wouldn't know what was going on here -- not a good comment on a prequel.

One down and three to go.
Profile Image for Emily.
283 reviews4 followers
July 23, 2024
The only first volume of a manga series at the library, so I picked it up. Mindnumbingly boring, predictably perverted in the classic mature manga sense, what exactly is the point of this? It had OK worldbuilding but my god, this sucked.
Profile Image for Yuiko.
1,714 reviews21 followers
May 14, 2018
So bored with this all their doing is running around killing people
Profile Image for Sam.
950 reviews33 followers
July 28, 2019
4.5 stars
*read as part of The Reading Rush 2019
Profile Image for Jessica Rissley.
36 reviews
January 8, 2022
This is a different style of book for me.

I loved Akame ga Kill the series when I watched it. So when I saw this is had to read it.

I’ll definitely finish the series.
Profile Image for David Guthrie.
1 review
April 2, 2023
Love the anime, this prequel is not at all what I’d expected. Probably going to read the next volume to see if it improves but so far this has very few redeeming qualities
Profile Image for Robert.
153 reviews1 follower
April 26, 2023
This was fairly interesting manga, young children turned into assassins, one of which has a conscience, which leads to an interesting and fairly deep story.
Profile Image for Rick Zinn.
183 reviews1 follower
March 31, 2024
Just finished watching Akame ga Kill, loved it and found out it has a prequel series, so I decided to start that.
Interesting story line as the sisters are separated.
Profile Image for Jack Syron.
164 reviews
August 11, 2024
Took a good while to warm up, here and there placement issues, but art got steadily more engaging.
Profile Image for Alexandria (DaysPass).
92 reviews1 follower
December 13, 2020
I was a bit hesitant to read the prequel as I haven't actually started the main manga series as of yet. I have however seen the anime. If I hadn't done so, I don't expect I would've enjoyed this manga nearly as much as I did.

I've just got to mention how much I love being in this world. I was however a little worried to begin with as there was no sign of Kurome, but if you are waiting for her appearance you don't have to wait too long.

I was and still am a little bit worried about keeping canon to the original story, all it takes is one little mistake for me to be completely pulled out of the story. I'm especially worried with the twist that comes at the very end of this volume.

But I cannot wait to start reading the rest of the series. I'm more than happy to put the original series on hold until after I'm finished with this series. The characters are so incredibly likeable and generally enjoyable and I love the small relationships between each of them. I also appreciate how Akame, is still Akame. She's not a completely different character as she is in the original, but she is also written as younger and more innocent. Which I totally appreciate.

There were a few panels that I got a little confused by but I'm just putting that down to my recent introduction to manga, more of a me problem than a book problem.

Anyway, I would totally recommend this series, but not as an introduction to the world possibly.
Profile Image for Brittany.
236 reviews7 followers
March 15, 2016
I read this manga in order to decide whether or not we need to add this to our collection. In just a candid review, near the end of the book there is a part where one of the assassins is too injured to ever fight again. I saw it coming where she was going to be killed (that I figured was going to happen); however, the man in charge (daddy as he's called) comes in and tells her to rest well and that he's sending her away happily. She of course is making these ah. ah. ah. noises - you know she is probably dying. The next page has her laying there dead with marks on her face and body and then moisture between her legs. It is blatantly obvious that she was "raped" and then killed. So, nope - will not be adding this to my teen collection.

The manga did flow and was a decent work for this genre - it actually was easier to follow than most of the manga that I've read - but it is rated M for a reason. The rest of the Akame ga Kill! series have been rated OT - older teen. I am reviewing one of those later today as well.
3 reviews
March 30, 2016
I'm a huge fan of Akame ga Kill, but after finishing this book I think I may just stick with the main series.
Not only is this not written by the same writer nor drawn by the same artist, the characters are less likeable, the story darker, and the overall feel less "fun".
The story deals with the back story of Akame and her younger sister Kurome who place in different assassination squads based on their skills and the whim of their overseer. While working for the Empire and wielding Shingu (knockoffs of the Teigus in the main series), Akame (ranked seventh) places in the elite squad while Kurome (ranked eighth) places in the lesser squad and uses performance enhancing drugs to compete against her older sister.
The overall story didn't do anything for me but the book does finish by introducing another character in the main series and a battle that has only been hinted at. I will pick up the next volume to see if the story improves but I doubt I'll stick around unless it's a relatively short prequel.
Profile Image for CharlyyGentlePhoenix.
780 reviews4 followers
February 11, 2024
Red Eyes Sword Zero, tome 1 par Toru Kei (Japon) & Takahiro (Japon, aussi !) Tome 1/10. 224 pages Kurokwa (12/05/2016) 3.94/5 (18 notes sur bab !).
Akame et Tsukushi (les sœurs) rejoignent une troupe d’acrobates en tant que couverture pour éliminer une cible. Seulement, les brigands les attaquent, en les menaçant des pires choses…, mais Akame sait bien se défendre.
Le Scénario est banal, cela dit, il compense de par son additivité.
Les deux sœurs valident leur période d’entrainement et se mettent à avoir de vrais contrats. C’est à la fois mignon et mortel.
Akame travaille pour le compte de l’Empire (oui c’est plus ou moins similaire à Star Wars !). On sait si on a Lu ne serait-ce que le début de la saison précédente, qu’elle va ensuite changer de camp. Mais on voit que c’est en en passant par là qu’elle acquiert toute sa puissance de combat.
« Vais-je mourir ?! Si… Si je meurs… Kurome se retrouvera toute seule ! »
Akame deviendra une véritable machine à Tuer toute puissante or ses missions seront de plus en plus difficiles…
Phoenix
++
Profile Image for 暁名.
370 reviews5 followers
July 10, 2024
Necesitaba algo ligero que leer, así que he recuperado los tomos que estaban cogiendo polvo de AGK0

Aunque me guste mucho los orígenes de Akame, el dibujo se centra demasiado en el Ecchi que en las escenas de acción :')
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews

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