Episodes 1-3 – Gachiakuta – Anime News Network

I was a little surprised that my enthusiastic response to Gachiakuta‘s first two episodes in this Summer’s Preview Guide seemed to be an outlier response, because the show got off to a hell of a good start, as far as I was concerned. Its setting has a lot of potential to exploit the class divides and systemic wastefulness that Gachiakuta seems so fixated on; Rudo is a likeable and interesting protagonist, so far as your usual shonen manga archetypes are concerned; and Studio Bones is doing an excellent job of conveying author Kei Urana‘s grungy and grim art style, which helps the show stand out from its similar action-adventure competitors.

I could maybe see folks bouncing off the slightly slower pace of these first three episodes, though we have to qualify that descriptor there, because it isn’t like Gachiakuta is ever boring. By the end of the premiere, we have established the personal stakes of Rudo losing his father, Regto, and being cast down from The Sphere to the trashy Pit of the surface world. The second episode does a great job of showing off the show’s action chops by getting Rudo into a scrap with a bunch of gnarly trash beasts. It also continues to develop the setting by illustrating all of the conflict and chaos that Rudo is going to have to overcome to even have a shot at rising back up to the Sphere and taking vengeance on the society that literally threw him out with the garbage.

Sure, we technically needed to wait until finishing this most recent (and delayed) third episode to properly settle into Gachiakuta‘s plot, what with Rudo finally being cajoled into joining up with the Cleaners by Enjin and forced into a very stinky inaugural training session with Zanka. I didn’t mind the show taking its time to dole out the exposition and explain the Cleaners’ anima powers, though, because shows like Tougen Anki make it all too clear what happens when an anime is so focused on getting all of its housekeeping out of the way as quickly as possible that it forgets to tell a decent story. I like the setting and the plot that Gachiakuta is delivering, so far, and I think Rudo is fit to make for quite the little badass once he gets more control over the object-animating superpowers he has discovered.

The most important thing that “The Ground” accomplishes, I think, is that it establishes the standard experience that I think we can expect from most Gachikatua episodes, and it’s a damned fun one. After getting all of the rage and anguish of Rudo’s origins out of the way, the show now has the chance to cut loose a little and prove that this entire cast of characters will be worth following for the long haul. Enjin makes for a perfectly fine “enigmatic and deceptively casual leader” type, but it’s the slimy showdown between Rudo and Zanka that sold me the most on the concept of this Cleaner crew.

Rudo’s new trainer is an ideal foil for our hero, knowledgeable and haughty, whereas Rudo is completely ignorant of the ways of the Cleaners and life in the Pit. Zanka doesn’t just serve as a decent archetype to fill out the cast. His inane and ridiculous bickering with Rudo makes both characters feel very real and engaging. For one, it is hilariously pathetic that Rudo does not know how to smile without sparking an instinctual response of rage and disgust in people. It is equally funny to watch Zanka be momentarily impressed by Rudo’s ability to imbue seemingly any old junk with the anima needed to transform it into a Vital Instrument, only to discover that Rudo’s weapon of choice is a wildly flailing and completely shit-crusted plunger. It isn’t often that you see the protagonist of an anime beat his new rival into submission by smearing week-old diarrhea sludge all over him.

It may seem like a small thing, but my favorite scene comes at the very end of Episode 3, where Rudo meets up with the entire Cleaner squad while Zanka cowers in putrid humiliation. Enjin cannot help but laugh himself silly hearing the story, while Zanka finds himself beaming despite everything because of a single, throwaway word of praise from his leader. Meanwhile, Rudo cannot even process getting his silky-smooth hair fondled by a lady as pretty as Riyo, who otherwise spends most of the drive with her feet kicked up in the trunk of the Jeep. It’s one of those sequences meant to quickly and efficiently establish the dynamics of the gang we’ll be hanging out with for the next season, and it’s much harder to pull off than it looks. Gachiakuta may not be perfect, but it is hitting all of the right notes for a fun and quirky action anime without breaking a sweat, and that’s more than enough to keep me entertained.

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Gachiakuta is currently streaming on
Crunchyroll.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on BlueSky, his blog, and his podcast.