Prime Minister Honest

"Time like these, when the nation is in chaos, are the best opportunity to determine who is loyal or who is not. Any fools who oppose me will be driven out and executed."

- Honest "There is an emperor, but he's only a child. Our land is plagued by corruption. It's the minister who controls the emperor from the shadows."

- Imperial Guard telling Tatsumi about Honest

Honest, also known as Prime Minister Honest, the Prime Minister and the First Minister, is the primary antagonist of the manga/anime series Akame Ga Kill!. He is the Prime Minister of the Empire and himself seized control over the Empire while the emperor is a child. He manipulates Emperor Makoto for his own ends, bringing suffering through his orders by manipulating his innocence. Honest secretly rules the Empire in the shadows, bringing misery, hunger and poverty throughout the land.

He is voiced by Kouji Ishii in the Japanese version of the anime, and Marty Fleck in the English version.

History
It is stated that Emperor Makoto only won the battle of succession due to the Prime Minister's influence and planning. The Prime Minister before him was Chouri, a man that was a kindhearted but strong willed and a strong adviser to the former emperor, who desired to return to the capital to stop the decline of the empire. When the Prime Minister became aware of this, he had Esdeath's force's (The Three Beasts') tasked to kill him. He is known to have one son, and he is also known to have one blood relative named Iwokura, who was killed by Night Raid.

When he was executed for his crime in the manga, Revolutionary soldiers, numbering in millions, decided to share their bounty on Honest's head... By each soldiers taking Honest's piece of flesh.

Appearance
Honest is a round, middle-aged man with light skin, gray hair, dark yellow eyes, and a long white beard that extends down to his abdomen. He often sports a sinister, toothy grin whenever he is plotting something nefarious. He wears a pair of brown boots, a dark green shirt, a belt below his belly and short pants which are also dark green, and a gray coat with some hair of an animal around his neck, resembling a bourgeois.

Personality
Honest embodies the very worst in humanity; he is extremely cruel, heartless, manipulative, and sadistic. He is pleased to mentally abuse people with the power he has, and he does not care about the country or the people around him begging for his help for a better life. In nearly every scene he appears in, he is always seen gorging himself on food with little care for his table manners. He is also implied to be a cannibalistic person, as shown when he oversees the Emperor ordering the execution of an innocent man while voicing his approval, and smugly tells him that he will make sure to take "care of his wife... every single part of her" while casually chowing down on some food. Honest appears to be an extravagant, wealthy, and rich supremacist who thinks he is above everyone else. He is able to commit any atrocity possible, in order for him to get a higher power.

On the surface, he is a nonviolent and quiet man who appears to be gentle, peaceful, soft-spoken, and harmonious in almost all of his interactions with the young emperor. However, behind the mask of man who appears to be responsible, hides a demon who shows no sympathy for any human in the world. He does not regret anything cruel in what he does, seeing them as nothing more than another step to achieve his goals of getting more power over the country.

He also shows a like of the psychological suffering of people, making them feel like nothing and making them fear him. Honest always hides his facial expressions when he speaks of something that can make a person be intimidated by fear and always hides the true monster that he is behind his jolly facade.

Trivia

 * Honest is very similar to the following villains:
 * The Major from Hellsing. Both are old, morbidly overweight, extremely manipulative men who desire to turn their worlds into the most horrible place imaginable. Additionally, both are Pure Evil. However, unlike the Major, Honest is a shameless coward when facing the prospect of his own demise.
 * Supreme Leader Snoke from Star Wars sequel trilogy: They rule in the shadows, they are immensely powerful and ancient, and they manipulate others for their own gain. He shares these similarities with Emperor Palpatine, another Star Wars villain.