Akumetsu



""I'll change Japan.""

- Hazama Shou, and boy, he isn't kidding.

""When all the evil people in this world are dead, will this world truly be peaceful?""

The Punisher meets V for Vendetta meets Atlas Shrugged.

The Japanese economy is crumbling. The country has a debt of over 7 trillion dollars. This is followed by, of course, bankruptcy, poverty and unemployment.

Hazama Shou and Nagasawa Shina are two high school students and friends. One day, with the school year almost over, Shina has to sell herself into prostitution due to her family's massive debt. That night, at the hotel where she is made to entertain the high-level members of a semi-governmental corporation, a guy wearing a mask crashes the party, calling himself Akumetsu. Shina recognized him from the speech pattern... as Shou. After a conversation, bringing his target to admitting his crimes, Shou hacks his skull with an axe he brought and dragged the body outside with him, only to be shot to death by the police waiting outside.

Shou's head explodes as he dies.

But when Shina returns to school the next day... Shou is there, and seems fine. And he tells Shina that he'll change Japan.

Cue one dead Sleazy Politician and Corrupt Corporate Executive after another as Shou in his alter-ego, Akumetsu, set in motion his plan to save Japan from its economic and political disasters.

Published in Weekly Shonen Champion from 2002 to 2006, Akumetsu is a very violent series, but also boasts a realistic art-style. The story department, though, is a tad polarizing. The first plotline explores where and how "evil" can thrive in a modern society; in this case, the author chose politics and economy as its breeding grounds. The second one is about Akumetsu's plot to rid Japan of evil and the government's attempts to apprehend him and stop his terrorist acts. Those politically conscious might have a chance to pause and ponder on the facts the first plotline presents, while a casual reader will probably be interested in the second. Bottomlined, it has Multiple Demographic Appeal which may also appeal to some of the Shounen audiences.

Comparable to the Boondock Saints. On the other hand, most definitely not Death Note.

Not to be mistaken with a certain mangaka.

Tropes specific to Akumetsu:

 * Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Under Tokyo.
 * Air Vent Passageway:
 * An Axe to Grind: Akumetsu has used axes a few times.
 * Anime Hair: Shou's hair quite stands out in a manga where everyone else has plausible hair styles.
 * And I Must Scream:
 * Anti-Hero
 * Author Appeal: The writer clearly has a thing for countach cars.
 * Author Filibuster
 * Ax Crazy: Tell me he's not.
 * Back From the Dead:
 * Bad Cop, Incompetent Cop: Leave aside the "bad" part if desired, but the "incompetent" part is spot on.
 * Batman Gambit: Not just the gambits. The methods are very reminiscent of Batman... only with more violence.
 * Becoming the Mask: Whoever decides to follow Akumetsu's methods better "buck up and do it properly"... or else the real one's out there to get you.
 * Also a common theme with Shou..
 * Considering that the Shou conclave began from.
 * Blackmail: One of Akumetsu's oft-opted methods. Apparently not his favourite though.
 * Bland-Name Product: Such gems as Weekly Tsop.
 * Sany Video Camera.
 * Bring My Brown Pants: A Corrupt Corporate Executive wets himself in chapter 27.
 * Can't Stop the Signal
 * Cassandra Truth:
 * Character Title
 * Knight Templar: Shou.
 * Crazy Prepared: Oh... hell, and how.
 * Cross-Popping Veins
 * Cultural Cross-Reference: Picard has exceptional negotiation... Wait, what?!
 * Dangerously Close Shave: In Chapter 27.
 * Death Is Cheap: ...like never before.
 * That varies. Death is cheap early on when he had clones to throw away. Death becomes not so cheap once he is pushed since he does not have the materials nor the resources to create new ones as the final race makes every clone count.
 * Defector From Decadence:
 * Officer Yamada, if not for his utter hatred for Akumetsu, would be a pretty likely candidate.
 * Demoted to Extra: The spotlight quickly shifted to Shou/Akumetsu after a few chapters, with Shina being only a side character who feels for him.
 * Devil in Plain Sight: Spiky Anime Hair... check. That distinct voice and speech-style... check. Stylized Oni mask... un-check. Nah, that kid can't be Akumetsu.
 * Distressed Damsel: Shina in the first two chapters or so.
 * It also had a few countable moments sprinkled here and there; like, and particularly the two final lines of the Manga:
 * Demoted to Extra: The spotlight quickly shifted to Shou/Akumetsu after a few chapters, with Shina being only a side character who feels for him.
 * Devil in Plain Sight: Spiky Anime Hair... check. That distinct voice and speech-style... check. Stylized Oni mask... un-check. Nah, that kid can't be Akumetsu.
 * Distressed Damsel: Shina in the first two chapters or so.
 * It also had a few countable moments sprinkled here and there; like, and particularly the two final lines of the Manga:
 * It also had a few countable moments sprinkled here and there; like, and particularly the two final lines of the Manga:

""Ku... ku... ku... ku... ku... ku...""
 * Driven to Suicide: One banker in chapter 32 commits suicide rather than go through with what Akumetsu wants with him.
 * Evil Laugh: Not used by a villain, but has the same effect on people.
 * Evil Laugh: Not used by a villain, but has the same effect on people.


 * Fan Disservice: The opening chapters with the molestation of the schoolgirls.
 * Gambit Roulette:
 * Giving Someone the Pointer Finger: Quite often. An overused example can be seen here.
 * Go Out with a Smile:
 * Guns Akimbo: By the end of his standoff in, Shou is dual-wielding M-16s.
 * Hostage Situation: Akumetsu's favourite method.
 * Human Shield:
 * : Akumetsu's here now? Let's switch to ! Next we have  !
 * Inherent in the System: Many of Akumetsu's targets use this as an excuse for their inaction. He never buys it.
 * Innocent Bystander: Either averted or subverted or both; Akumetsu never touches kills a bystander.  He would, however, have to do things to leave a persistent bystander (like a bodyguard shooting at him, for example) out of line-of-fire from time to time.
 * Instant Death Bullet: Averted when he goes after Nakanoshima. Akumetsu states that .22 slugs aren't very powerful, and indeed he does manage to power through several successful shots to kill the target.
 * Karmic Death: Akumetsu never fails to find ways for the targets in the most fitting and ridiculous fashion.
 * Knight Templar
 * Living Lie Detector: Mari Kirishima, a.k.a. "Bloody Mary" who had nosebleed when facing evil persons, including her own boss.
 * Mask Power: In addition to looking cool, the Akumetsu mask.
 * Master of Disguise: Apparently,
 * Meaningful Name: Akumetsu, "Destruction of evil".
 * Mexican Standoff: Akumetsu and Officer Yamada got into this once.
 * Mood Whiplash: Akumetsu is often shown to be torturing or blackmailing a politician right on national TV and with people watching everywhere in Japan. His topics are completely serious and yet we have Ametsu-kun, a cute and cuddly mascot that will aid Akumetsu in an unfathomably cute fashion.
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
 * Not So Different: Done to
 * No Politicians Were Messily Killed: The prime minister bears a striking resemblance to Junichiro Koizumi and there's even a page in one of the translations giving you a helpful guide to the real life equivalents of the various Sleazy Politicians that Akumetsu meets.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Shou is a master at this.
 * One-Man Army: Shou, both literally and figuratively.
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain:
 * Not So Different: Done to
 * No Politicians Were Messily Killed: The prime minister bears a striking resemblance to Junichiro Koizumi and there's even a page in one of the translations giving you a helpful guide to the real life equivalents of the various Sleazy Politicians that Akumetsu meets.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: Shou is a master at this.
 * One-Man Army: Shou, both literally and figuratively.


 * Overly Long Gag: We cannot reprint/show you the lyrics here.
 * Paper-Thin Disguise: While Akumetsu appears in different uniforms, suits and costumes for different occasions, the only "disguise" he has is his gimmick; a stylized Oni mask... which, according to himself, barely covers his face.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil: Akumetsu's modus operandi.
 * Product Placement: "Huh? Don't ya read manga? Like Weekly Shounen Champion."
 * Also a Shout-Out because Weekly Shounen Champion is where the title is serialized in.
 * : . It was kinda sad, too. The bright side, on the other hand, is that
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge:.
 * Screw The Rules, I Have Connections!: Every single one of the targets, being filthy-rich megalomaniacs, Corrupt Corporate Executives and/or Sleazy Politicians, in any combination. Of course, their massive egos make it all the more interesting to watch as Akumetsu rapidly crumbles them.
 * Secret Identity: Subversion: Akumetsu doesn't really seem to care about it as much as other people thought he does.
 * Seinen: Despite being published in a Shonen magazine, Akumetsu's violence and story content are definitely not for kids.
 * Serious Business: The Akumetsu way: Punish evil thoroughly.
 * Serial Escalation: Every event in the story is one-upping the previous one in some way or another. "Insane" may be an understatement here, but it'll have to do. For now.
 * Shoot the Hostage:
 * Shout-Out: Oh-so-many, particularly from different manga and some anime, without even bothering to censor the titles. Some character names do get censored by a syllable though.
 * Shocker is brought up now and then as a metaphoric representation of evil. Also a few SuperSentai villain groups.
 * 's story of usurping the evil which created him is pretty similar to Kamen Rider as well. Even Shou lampshaded after the exposition.
 * "Rider has the powers of a grasshopper, 8 Man has the powers of speed and transformation, Doraemon has the tools of the future,..."
 * He references Kamen Rider, Ultraman, Mobile Suit Gundam, Eight Man, Doraemon, Saint Seiya, Black Jack, S-Cry-ed, Astro Boy, Apocalypse Zero, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and... Nextwave?
 * There's only one truth! (Warning: Crazy page alert.)
 * Then there's the Phoenix Wright-style fingerpointing...
 * Am I the only one who sees that Shou's hair style and even his eyebrows (somewhat) closely resemble that of Phoenix's?
 * Akumetsu in his flight suit is very reminding of a certain black-clad hero.
 * That one is almost a double shout-out. When that same suit is in flight it becomes an almost perfect copy of a Griffon from Patlabor.
 * "I wanna know what happens to Toriko!"
 * Enjoy your Sunday morning kids shows on... TV Asame?
 * When Akumetsu-ing, Shou dresses up as Black Jack.
 * Apparently, is so secret that even Kinda'ichi, Detective Conan and Sherlock Holmes can't find out!
 * Shown Their Work: The author has very good insight into Japanese politics. Especially in economics.
 * Sleazy Politician: We lost count a while ago...
 * Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Averted with Akumetsu, in spite of how violent his methods are.
 * Sociopathic Hero: Although it's notable that Akumetsu admits that his methods are terrorism.
 * Sympathetic Inspector Antagonist: Not a comical one, but... Officer Yamada; he's miles away from even scratching Akumetsu. He's not alone, though, nor is he the first; everyone who tried to catch Akumetsu ended up making fools out of themselves.
 * Take That: And how!.
 * Thanatos Gambit:
 * Timed Mission: Akumetsu "made a deal" with the Prime Minister:
 * The Unfettered: Akumetsu at the very end once backed into the corner. And it is both beautiful and heart-rending.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: At least Akumetsu explains and be honest about his motivation and aim...
 * Whole Costume Reference: The Black Jack references come to mind.
 * X Meets Y: The Punisher meets V for Vendetta meets Manga.
 * Your Head Asplode: Akumetsu's favorite trick; in order that they can't identify his face,
 * The Unfettered: Akumetsu at the very end once backed into the corner. And it is both beautiful and heart-rending.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: At least Akumetsu explains and be honest about his motivation and aim...
 * Whole Costume Reference: The Black Jack references come to mind.
 * X Meets Y: The Punisher meets V for Vendetta meets Manga.
 * Your Head Asplode: Akumetsu's favorite trick; in order that they can't identify his face,