It was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Gangan Joker from March 2010 to December 2016, with its chapters collected in 15 tankōbon volumes.

The story focuses on Tatsumi, a young villager who travels to the Capital to raise money for his home only to discover strong corruption in the area.

The assassin group known as Night Raid recruits the young man to help them in their fight against the corrupt Empire.

Zero, illustrated by Kei Toru, was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Big Gangan from October 2013 to January 2019, with its chapters collected in ten tankōbon volumes.

Tatsumi is a fighter who accompanied by his childhood friends, Iyeyasu and Sayo, sets off for the Capital in hopes to earn money to assist his poverty stricken village.

After being separated from his friends in a bandit attack, Tatsumi unsuccessfully attempts to enlist in the army and is swindled out of his money in the Capital.

As a result, he joins Night Raid, which consists of the swordswoman Akame, the beastly fighter Leone, the self-proclaimed sniper genius Mine, the scissor-wielding Sheele, the string manipulator Lubbock, the armored warrior Bulat and their leader Najenda, a former general of the imperial army.

Night Raid is also part of the revolutionary forces assembled to overthrow the Prime Minister Honest who is manipulating the young emperor for his personal gain despite the rest of the nation falling to poverty and strife.

Tatsumi receives Bulat's Teigu, Incursio, as a result while Esdeath replaced her slain subordinates with a group of Teigu-using warriors called the Jaegers.

Night Raid, along with new recruits Susanoo (a humanoid Teigu owned by Najenda) and Chelsea, fight the Jaegers with Seryu, Wave, and Akame's younger sister Kurome among its ranks.

When the revolution gained momentum, Honest formed a new secret police force, the Wild Hunt, led by his own son, Syura, but Wild Hunt heavily abuses its authority by killing innocent civilians for their own plans, antagonizing both the Jaegers and Night Raid.

The remaining Night Raid members attack the execution site to rescue Tatsumi while being pursued by the imperial general Budo, who Mine manages to kill at the cost of her Teigu and falling into a coma.

As this occurs, Night Raid confronts the last members of Wild Hunt and finish them off, with Akame taking out big generals on the Empire's side.

After hearing the news of the remaining Jaegers' deaths, Esdeath resumes her duties as general to hold off the Revolutionary Army when they begin a siege on the capital to remove Honest from power.

She does so during her battle with Esdeath, later revealed to have only killed the Danger Beast's soul so Tatsumi can live, managing to defeat the general at the cost of her own sword.

Akame, still working as an assassin to defend the recovering nation from those looking to take advantage of the turmoil, sets sail eastward to find a cure for the pain in her body inflicted by Murasame's trump card.

As she leaves on her voyage she reflects on the caring friends and happy memories she made along her journey, hoping one day they will be able to fulfil their dream of seeing the world beyond the nation together.

After his editor approved the idea, he waited on serialization until his visual novel studio, Minato Soft [ja], had stabilized and released two other titles; during which he developed the characters, story and world.

Rei), written by Takahiro and illustrated by Kei Toru, was serialized in Monthly Big Gangan from October 25, 2013[11] to January 25, 2019.

[48] Kestrel Swift from The Fandom Post praised the anime's first episode for "harsh, brutal commentary on corruption and how likely it is that the more perfect someone seems, the darker the secret lurking within" as well as the production values from White Fox.

[49] While reviewing the series' first eight episodes, Matt Packard from Anime News Network said that "it's stupid and childish" as "[t]here's nothing mature about the idea that evil always takes the form of a psychopath or a power-hungry glutton, or that people become soul-dead assassins because something traumatic happened to them once, or that the physically weak are destined to become slaves and die weeping".