Anime Review: Gachiakuta

I’ve been following this one for a bit, as the premise seemed rather interesting. Gachiakuta is a clever play on the old adage that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure, or in this case, power. Of course, it’s a little bit deeper than that. Can the anime world take a unique spin on this concept to make it to be something entertaining?

Let’s Jam!

The Story

The world is divided into two halves. One half values their cleanliness, the other half is a slum just trying to survive. It is believed that if you treat an object with care, a soul will one day inhabit it; however, the show calls into question what if the trash you discard is another human being? What becomes of its value after someone perceives it to be nothing?

For Rudo, he believes that trash has a purpose and that every object, new or old, has the chance to bear a soul thanks to the words of his foster parent, Regto. The apostles (essentially the ruling force of the “clean world”) pay a visit to the slums one day. When this happens, Rudo’s day goes from one of the happiest of his life to one of the worst as he is framed for a crime that he didn’t commit. In the land of the slums, those who commit crimes are sentenced to death by being dropped into a place known as The Pit. No one will listen to Rudo as he tries to proclaim his innocence; therefore, he is sentenced to The Pit.

Upon his arrival, if his world hadn’t been turned upside down before, it was about to get flipped once again. The Pit is nothing more than one giant landfill; however, there is more to this landfill than meets the eye. Sentient trash monsters, a faction who opposes them by wielding power known as The Cleaners, and in the middle of it all, Rudo, who only has one goal… to return home and right all the wrongs that was done to him, but he soon discovers that journey isn’t going to be as black and white as he would like it to be.

Now, as a Cleaner, Rudo needs to learn to put his trust in others, quell his anger, and find a better meaning to his life; however, in his process of doing so, he becomes a target of The Raiders, a group led by Zodyl,  who has the same goal as Rudo: to travel to the Sphere and destroy it. Part of The Raiders’ plan is to gather The Watchman series… a series of vital instruments said to give the wielder who collects them all unparalleled power… to which Rudo’s gloves are a part of them.

The Characters

It’s been a while since I reviewed a 24+ episode series, so as you can imagine… in a shonen battle series, there are a LOT of characters, so I think I’ll just focus on the most important ones to save this from becoming something bigger than one of my light novels.

Rudo

Our protagonist and the foster son of Regto. I will say that we do learn a little bit about his family and backstory in the closing moments of the 24th episode, but I’ll leave that for you all to discover. He’s hot-tempered, quick to become aggressive, and quite the loudmouth… everything that a shonen main character is in this day and age. Just because he’s like that doesn’t mean he is incapable of learning and growth, though. Rudo shows a lot of that throughout the show. He learns the meaning of friendship, and because of that (slight spoiler), he doesn’t get tempted by Zodyl’s offer to take down the sphere with him… something that he would have easily agreed to at the start of the series. Despite his growth, he gets embarrassed quite easily, not because he’s averse to doing nice things… It’s just that with the way he grew up, he doesn’t know HOW to do nice things, and is scared he’ll screw everything up. He was a fun main character who made you laugh, made you feel as if you could get behind him, and at times, made you wish you could just reach out and hug him. Pretty solid choice to lead this series!

Enjin

He is a member of the Cleaners who found Rudo after he fell from the Sphere. He becomes a mentor to him from the start, which is perfect since Enjin has the most level head on his shoulders out of everyone in the Cleaners. Often laid-back, he serves as the voice of reason, but also as a stern reminder whenever Rudo steps out of line. He always tries to find the good in things, and even in the most dire of situations, tries to remain positive; however, if you mess with any of the Cleaners, Enjin will waste no time putting you in your place. In a way, Enjin is almost like a father figure to Rudo, which is nice to see. He seems like the kind of character that would give his life for Rudo, but also the type to help him understand the meaning and significance of such a gesture.

Zanka

Speaking of mentors, Enjin thrusts Zanka upon Rudo as his trainer. Zanka is a bit hot-tempered and objective to the task, but they kind of develop a love-hate relationship between them. Zanka may act serious most of the time, but he has a light-hearted side to him, almost as if he were a kid. This is evident in the beginning of the series, where he falls victim to one of Rudo’s pranks. This doesn’t mean he comes without any insecurities, though. Later on, he questions his own strength, especially in his fight against Jabber of the Raiders. When they detail his backstory, you learn quickly that weakness is a common theme that has haunted him his entire life. Still, he knows that he needs to get stronger, and through his past, he learned to always look forward and continue to get stronger. To recognize weakness and overcome it. It wasn’t always like that, but the aforementioned character right above this one kind of nudged him in that direction! Zanka is a pretty cool character, and because he’s so diverse in his personality, it made him one of my favorites… the other being…

Riyo

I’m a sucker for tomboys, and Riyo is about as tomboy as a girl can get. It’s quite obvious that there is some sort of infatuation between her and Rudo… even if Rudo is completely unaware of it, but it’s not like she’s going to act upon it. While she doesn’t directly make any advances, you can tell from her mannerisms and the fact that she came to personally check up on him that there is some semblance of care in her for Rudo. Despite this, she’s a badass fighter whose vital instrument transforms into a pair of oversized scissors, giving off some Kill la Kill vibes. While she’s extremely talented, there is more to her than meets the eye, as we learn during the fight with the Raiders. Riyo wasn’t always bubbly, energetic, and fun, and her opponent learned that first-hand. Can you guess who brought her back down to Earth and helped shape her into who she is today? Just look up two characters on this list if you need a hint.

Amo

While she plays a minor role in the show, she also plays a major role. When the Cleaners meet her, she puts them to the test by hypnotizing them and pitting them against one another. Well, maybe test is the wrong word here, as she was legitimately trying to get them to kill one another; however, when you discover her past, you’ll realize why she decides to lash out at anyone who doesn’t want to talk to her or love her. She is also in possession of a piece of the Watchman series (boots), and as such, becomes a target of Zodyl and The Raiders. During their time together, something about her resonates with Rudo, and it’s through her that you begin to see Rudo’s maturation. She feels as if he needs to protect her, and when she disappears, finding her becomes one of his top priorities. She’s a very tragic character that invoked a lot of emotion. For such a short time on screen, she sure left a huge impact on the show!

Zodyl

I’ll end things here with our main antagonist. There still isn’t much known about Zodyl, but we do know that he is the leader of the Raiders and wants to destroy the Sphere… which you would think would be a good thing, considering all of the hate and animosity the people have for the Sphere on the Ground. That’s the only confusing part of the show, is that why wouldn’t anyone join him to take down the object of their hatred? Well, probably because Zodyl is the type of person who will use anyone or anything to get his way, caring not what happens to them… as long as his grand plan moves forward. He has proven that by sacrificing and casting aside those whom he considered either useless or a means to a greater goal. That’s not a leader one should follow, but simply the whims of a calculated madman. His cold, uncaring, yet highly intelligent demeanor makes Zodyl the perfect villain. He even finds success in failure and imperfections. Setbacks in his plan are mere advantages to him. That’s the type of calculating villain he is. If there is a Villain of the Year award, he would be a strong contender for it just for his controlled psychopathic tendencies.

Art, Animation, and Sound

It’s bones. What more do you need me to say here? If you need me to elaborate, bones knocked it out of the park with Gachiakuta. It contained some of the most unique character designs I have seen in a while. I would say it is a cross between the inking style of something like Attack on Titan, mixed with the design style of The World Ends with You. Everything looks super unique and stands out in a good way.

It’s not just the character design, either. The environments bring life to a lifeless world. You would think that there would be limitations by depicting a brown world made up entirely of trash, but then you see colorful sets like The City of Grafitti where paint is life, or the inside of The Cleaners’ headquarters. These areas are vastly different than the outside world and show that just because your story takes place in a barren wasteland, it doesn’t mean you have to stick to the theme. There are creative ways to exploit that theme and bones found every way under the sun to do that to bring this amazing world to life.

The fights were well-animated, and the non-battle scenes were given the same quality treatment. Yes, there was some obvious usage of CGI, which did look a bit out of place, but it wasn’t super glaring, nor did it truly suspend your disbelief. I believe that things blended well, so the CGI wasn’t an issue at all.

The music was also quite incredible, too, although I’m not a fan of either opening theme. Just not my cup of tea, but the second ending theme fit the show really well, and I found myself jamming out to it quite often. The OST was great with several memorable tracks that fit the mood of what was happening on the screen. While I don’t typically jump up and recommend a soundtrack all too often, I would say that this is one that you should at least check out.

Overall Thoughts

Gachiakuta is a fresh take on the shonen formula, but I will admit… the formula itself wasn’t altered too heavily. It starts off with a character who wants revenge, who awakens a power in the direst moment when he needed it the most, then learns and grows as a character as they take their journey. We’ve seen it a thousand times over by now, but it still works in this case. Although there is one thing missing from this formula, and I’m thankful that it’s not present… and that’s Rudo getting a major power-up.

Now, one can argue that’s what happened towards the end of the Cleaners vs Raiders arc, but I wouldn’t necessarily call that a true power-up. It was a single moment when Rudo focused all of his power on one thing versus many. It was something he could have done this whole time, but just never did. A power-up to me would be discovering something completely new to form a brand-new attack that adds to your arsenal. I don’t think this moment quite qualifies in that sense. Maybe it does, and I’m just splitting hairs here, but I’ll leave that up to you to debate. In fact, when you think back, none of the characters truly received a power-up in the most traditional sense. It’s as if there was already a baseline power established for everyone, and everyone was depicted in such a way.

The character development was surprisingly pretty deep for a shonen series. I enjoyed a lot of the characters’ backstories, but the one that shocked me the most was Riyo’s. While Zanka got the typical ‘overcome my insecurities and get stronger” arc, and Rudo got the “learn to trust your friends” arc, Riyo’s came from out of left field and was quite dark and something that you don’t typically see in a shonen show. It had some seinin vibes to it, and I was surprised the show went in that direction… especially since I know a little bit about Japan’s viewpoint on certain weapons. Needless to say, it was a nice surprise.

Overall, I had a lot of fun with this show. The ending left things wide open for a second series, so I hope we get one, and I also hope it’s another 24+ episodes. If Gachiakuta plays its cards right, this could be the next big shonen series. Again, it didn’t break or reinvent the shonen formula… it just executed it in a way that made it seem fresh… and you have a cavalcade of shows that came before you that have seemingly done it all, keeping it fresh and interesting is no easy feat. I’m happy to say Gachiakuta achieved that, and I hope you give this show the chance to prove it.

Overall Score: 4.5/5