The bustling metropolis of Kansai, where cybernetic screens litter the neon landscape, may seem like a technological utopia at first glance. But in the dark alleys around the brightly-lit buildings, an unforgiving criminal underbelly still exists in the form of fugitives known as "Akudama."
No stranger to these individuals, Kansai police begin the countdown to the public execution of an infamous Akudama "Cutthroat," guilty of killing 999 people. However, a mysterious message is sent to several elite Akudama, enlisting them to free Cutthroat for a substantial amount of money. An invisible hand seeks to gather these dangerous personas in one place, ensuring that the execution is well underway to becoming a full-blown bloodbath.
[Written by MAL Rewrite]
Nenhum episódio encontrado.
Comentários
SingleH
Episode one of Akudama Drive is all gas, no brakes. Four badass edgelords who are aimlessly wreaking havoc upon the most over-the-top cyberpunk setting imaginable are offered a ludicrous amount of money to rescue a fifth badass edgelord who is scheduled for execution, and the madness and violence which ensues throughout the course of the first episode is the result of this bounty which they were all happy to compete for, but after having razed the world before them to complete their task, they’re met with a talking cat who has the very man they saved snap collar bombs around their necks and the necksof two other nobodies who just happened to get caught up in the chaos, and the episode then swiftly ends without having explained any of its craziness, of which there was plenty. Episode two, on the other hand, begins with the following exposition, and while dissecting a scene or two usually wouldn’t be enough to review an entire show, things change when every scene is the exact same. The purpose of the painfully meticulous structure of the review you’re about to read is to illustrate the fact Akudama Drive would be a perfectly fine show if you didn’t put any thought into it whatsoever.
The talking cat begins by expressing its gratitude towards everyone for showing up, and says he shouldn’t have been surprised since they are all veteran Akudama, a phrase this show uses as a proper noun which literally means “bad person.” After a short discussion which still somehow felt too long, the talking cat reveals he is a robot cat and the mastermind who sent them the original bounty. The few sane individuals present protest the collar bombs around their necks, but the cat refuses to remove them stating this is all part of a larger plan they are now a part of, and while the two nobodies in the group weren’t originally part of it, the fact even they remained standing after the previous episode’s carnage is proof of their skill. More of them protest, simply not wanting to continue taking part in a conspiracy they have no observable interest in, but when a character called “Brawler” attempts to rip his collar bomb off and walk away, the robot cat implores him to wait and pays them all for successfully saving the prisoner, the task he now describes as Phase One. Before he can explain what this means, the character called “Hacker” asks why everyone was paid, when the single individual who actually freed the prisoner should’ve been the only one rewarded. The robot cat responds who best preformed wasn’t his concern, alerting Hacker and all the other Akudama to the fact this Phase One was merely a test, and when asked if they passed, the robot cat affirmed they did so with flying colors. He proceeds to entice them into participating in Phase Two of his plan by boasting the fact no Akudama has ever passed it before. Phase Two consists of attacking the site known as the Shinkansen, the only entrance to the territory in which they reside which is revered as sacred grounds by many who live there. To dismiss their hesitation, the robot cat announces this next job will reward them with an even greater sum of money to make them an offer they can’t refuse, but their conversation is interrupted when the remaining armed guards from the previous episode’s bombastic prison break storm the area.
The scene transitions to our cast (inexplicably) relocated to a rooftop somewhere where they impatiently await a “bus,” which in this setting, is apparently a blimp. When one doesn’t come, Brawler jumps off the rooftop and soars through the air straight through the window of one of these so-called buses. Having successfully hijacked the vehicle and murdered its driver, Brawler asks the others how to drive it, only to be unanimously deemed a moron. Hacker does something seemingly advanced with his hands which kites the airship to port, and inside the blimp, he remarks how primitive its systems are and quickly commandeers its controls to fly them to where the cat had specified. In flight, the character called “Delinquent” praises Brawler for his superhuman jump, but Brawler says it’s only natural, since, after all, he is the world’s greatest brawler. Before they can arrive, the character they all saved from being executed, “Cutthroat,” randomly presses a big red button on the control panel which sends the blimp speeding into overdrive. Hacker exclaims that was only for emergencies, and when asked where they’re headed, he shrugs, and they crash into a high-rise hotel at mach speed. Having all miraculously survived, they have a conversation in some hallway where Delinquent praises Brawler yet again for being unfazed by a crash which would’ve killed any normal man, and the police originally chasing them catch up almost immediately and begin firing at them indiscriminately down the hallway. Hacker and the character “Doctor” don’t react at all, and Brawler continues to stand in the middle of the hallway within a spray of bullets which refuses to hit him. Outside, two oddly normal, twenty-first century looking police officers stress over the current state of affairs. The deputy suggests to the detective their men are utterly outclassed and will continue getting slaughtered by the Akudama, and the detective begrudgingly acknowledges the deputy is correct, but when they’re radioed by headquarters and told two “Executioners” are on their way, the detective becomes frustrated saying they didn’t ask for help.
Inside the hotel and past the now-dead policemen lying in piles of gore, the cast sits down and continues their exposition dump where its determined all those present have skills necessary for Phase Two despite the fact one of the two nobodies is self-admittedly useless and the other is at the very least known to be useless by the cat, and they do so on a screen inside a random hotel room which somehow contains and can display all the cat’s files and graphics relevant to the proposed heist, but that’s enough narration, because at this point the fact should be clear: nothing about this sequence makes sense. First of all, the briefcase of collar bombs given to Cutthroat had enough to put one on everyone there, but the plan was to only enlist the original four the cat sent the bounty to. If this apparent miscalculation wasn’t enough, the cat is constantly portrayed as being highly intelligent throughout these exchanges, yet at no point does he see the plainly observable fact Delinquent and the character called “Ordinary Person” aren’t in any way the badass edgelords he’s looking for, even going so far as to say their mere presence proved their skill, despite the fact we viewers witnessed the events of episode one ourselves and know they literally stumbled their way into this situation. Speaking of episode one, Brawler is introduced as a loose canon who loves nothing more than brutalizing the police and those who tell him what to do, yet when a talking cat tells him to stop taking his collar bomb off, he complies with no resistance or talk-back whatsoever, completely betraying his character. His subsequent jump into the blimp is dumb in and of itself, but what’s even sillier is the fact he then has the described exchange with the other Akudama still on the rooftop despite being dozens of meters away in an aircraft, a distance no human ear could hear from. And in the blimp, he blows off the praise he received from Delinquent by stating the fact he can preform superhuman jumps is a natural effect of being the world’s strongest brawler, even though hand-to-hand combat has nothing to do with such a feat.
Hacker’s motivations and consistencies are questionable as well, since he and Doctor were complaining about the blimp not picking them up, but after Brawler did his stunt and failed to steer the blimp, Hacker just brought it down to pick them up anyway using techno-nonsense, with nothing to suggest he couldn’t have just done so from the start. The first thing he says when he enters the cockpit is its systems are primitive, yet when Cutthroat sends the blimp into overdrive he just stands by doing nothing while they all crash into a building. Putting aside the fact he panicked when Cutthroat hit the button yet was completely calm mere seconds later for a completely unfunny joke, the fact he could take complete control of the blimp from outside the damn thing yet not do the same from inside the cockpit is absolutely preposterous. But specifics themselves are pointless to dissect, since the entire premise itself makes just as little sense. These assholes just crashed a blimp into a concrete building at rocket speeds, and every single one of them, including Ordinary Person, a teenage girl with no connection to the comically badass Akudama edgelord anime gods, survives. Forgetting how laughable it is this fact is accentuated by Delinquent praising Brawler for walking away from the crash without a scratch despite the fact he did the exact same, this is by no means the only instance of this utterly farcical nature of the show’s presentation. I mentioned Brawler standing in a hail of bullets down a straight hallway and still not getting shot, but I didn’t even have space to discuss Doctor literally getting her throat slit and surviving by somehow sewing it up herself before bleeding out, a process which should’ve been nearly instant. Even the characters who look like somewhat normal people are internally broken in the first half-minute we see them. The police detective outside is introduced coming to terms which the fact he and his unit are completely outgunned by the Akudama and can’t subdue them alone, but when he learns the Executioners are on the way, he clicks his tongue and remarks in contempt.
I know it may seem like I gave way too much attention and devoted way too much analysis to a sequence which spanned only half an episode, if that, but every scene in this show is intrinsically broken for all the same reasons of forced contrivance and unapologetic contradiction, so such analysis of really any scene would’ve functioned as a perfect encapsulation of the show’s fundamentally broken presentation. Akudama Drive is an anime which began as and ceaselessly proceeded to be a gimmick on every level. The nameless cast of characters defined by the tropes which stand in for their non-existent personalities carry the story of ridiculous visual action which is set apart only by its constant insistence on breaking the laws of physics, and the characterization for our empty cast extends only as far as their paper-thin backstories, many of which make the likes of Kirito Kamui seem sensical. Despite the potential in the art design, the show turned out to be downright ugly in a truly A-1 Pictures fashion, with little attention paid to consistency and polish, but every attention paid to the action sequences and fan service which will ultimately be selling the show to its young audience. While its sheer absurdity can put a smile on your face, and while the fan service is nice in the form of Doctor’s tits, what ends up being far more masturbatory is the show’s hyper-violent gore which often begs anatomical belief. The unexpectedly provocative geopolitical commentary behind the setting and its facilitation is kind of respectable, but it’s also just an inferior imitation of the world in Rolling Girls which explores the same themes with cooler concepts, a well-built society, personable characters, and a jaw-dropping animation production, whereas Akudama Drive does its thing through an unanimated exposition dump in the form of a literal puppet show. When you really sit back and look at all this in conjunction with its Blade Runner cityscape and its Danganronpa character designs, mascots, and plot devices, the more you’ll see just how much of this thing is and always was a pure rip-off.
Thank you for reading.
debochca
Akudama Drive is a dystopian anime that, at simple site, is a bunch of edgy characters with a simple story with a lot of blood and chaos on it. And that concept is pretty close to what it is yet, at the same time, it’s a little bit more than that. I wouldn’t call it “a hidden gem” because is not hidden and less is a gem, but certainly an interesting anime to take account. You are told a story in an original way (I mean, what can be better than having puppets as narrators) about the current state of the city in Akudama Drive andhow a war turned it into what they show. Kansai and Kanto are the main cities here. Kanto is the one that won the war, and Kansai is where the story takes place. Kansai responds to Kanto and obeys it, and the difference between both of them is the level of life. For what they say, Kanto is a marvelous city where things are perfect and is clearly superior, while Kansai is the dependant city where regular people coexists with the criminals, better known as Akudamas, who are increasing in number. The dependance of Kansai to Kanto is well managed, showing off how everything is ordered by Kanto and how even the big associations responds to them. The regular people of Kansai live controled by technology, frightened of the violence that surrounds them and resigned to the life they got to take because of the war’s resaults, and they are persistenly brainwashed by the puppets that are presented in big screens all over the city, and that perform like a childlish sketch to make them (and us) understand in a few words why they have the lives they have and why you don’t mess with Kanto, making them see that city as their dreamland, even teaching them to praise the train that comunicates both places as a god itself, as a ticket to their wonderland. That was a nice detail. Although, of course, Kansai is not easy to handle, and since they live between regulars and criminals, and since the city is progressively more troubled because of the delincuency, people hate Akudamas, and when the things get crazy, so do the people and they get plunged into turmoil and starts a rebelion. In consequence, later on, as a vulgar display of power, the Akudama’s Executioners, who are the law in the city, decrete every rebel or disturber is an Akudama, which couldn’t be more accurate to our reality and, possibly, the future itself. So, Akudama Drive, more than a story about edgy criminals, embraces a concept that is wider: the rebelion of the marginates and the underdogs.
The story has a clear beginning, development and end. Even though at first the story is a little bit confusing since you don’t completely understand what’s going on, but then it grews in a master plan that only the highest Akudama-rank criminals could make, and it’s still intriguing as no one explains why nor who is commanding that extremely dangerous mission. However, once it gets on the road, you get involved and it gets really interesting as the mission advances.
All Akudamas are reunited by a message that offers them a great reward if they get to save Cutthroat, another Akudama-rank criminal, in the place of the execution itself. Because yes, that’s how the law prevents people from becoming a criminal, showing off the executions online, like some sort of deep web site, as a way of saying “that’s what awaits for you if you missbehave”. Anyway, people enjoys it as though they were watching a football game. When they get there, the main character appears there too because she’s chasing a cat in order to protect that damn animal, risking her life just for that. After that, the party begins and when they archieve the goal they’re paid and forced to complete another mission, that consists in retrieving a capsule that is going to be sent to Kanto by the Shinkansen (the beloved train I mentioned before). After a lot of trouble, blood, laughs and fights, they get to the capsule and when they open it they realize that their actual goal was to save two kids inside it. Of course, the main character becomes the big mamma and kinda adopts them. She couldn’t let a cat alone, why would she let two children by their own? However, as these kids are pretty important to Kanto city, the real explotion begins. The story is original, indeed, but it didn’t blow my mind.
I just wanna make a pause right here to say that every episode is named after a famous movie, and that’s GREAT. The first one is called Se7en, referencing to the movie about the seven deadly sins, and the Akudama gang is conformed for seven members lmAO. Another good detail.
My only BIG problem with Akudama relies on the characters. Something I appreciate in a show, regardless of the story, is the character development. I don’t need an evangelism, but at at least give me SOMETHING I can get attached to: a past, a reason. That’s where it has terrible lacks. Let’s start by the fact that they don’t even have a name. Not one of them. They are Cutthroat, Courier, Swindler, Doctor, and so on. Even the rest of the characters that don’t even form part of the main gang, they all are “executioner”, “Onii-san”. I’m not gonna lie, that really surprised me and it seemed an original concept to me, but as it progresses, you realize that that only marks a line of distance between the viewer and those characters. You don’t have a name, don’t have a background, don’t have the less idea about what they are doing there nor why. When one of them dies, it doesn’t matter if it’s a main or a secondary, you don’t feel moved at all, because you don’t connect with them since they are total strangers. Of course, they’re likeable though, I really had fun with Brawler, specially. He’s a personage that is the stereotype of a brainless strong fighter, but I emphatized with him even though he is shabby and plain. The rest of the group is similar, flat, edgy and generic (And as I always state, “generic” is not a bad perception to me, as long as I can connect with them or actually like them, or as long as they have a background or growing. This is not the case). Cutthroat is the typical sanguinary guy whose only ability is to kill, he doesn’t even know how to speak as a normal person. Doctor is really similar to him, just an egocentric and violent milf, whose only purpose is to accomplish a bunch of fetishes: doctor clothes, lencery, glasses, oppai and milf. Courier is a cold super-edgy guy that only cares about his job. Hacker, even though he is the most useful out of them, is just that, a nerdy hacker that doesn’t care for anything else. He is just a person who needs a huge challenge to make his life worth. And Hoodlum is the one I kinda connected. He’s the weakest of them all and is a weepy and fearful guy. At the beginning he is unbearable since all he does is to scream and hide, and is easily manipulable, but as it advances, I realize that he’s the only one realistic in that group and he even has a little development. Also, I really had fun with his relationship with Brawler, and actually felt them as bros. Is not a great character, but is the one that I can save in this mediocrity of personages.
Going on with this, the main character is the one I disliked the most. Swindler is the only one of the group that is not actually a criminal, she’s there just because she got caught up in that mess, and pretends to be an Akudama-rank criminal to survive, choosing the name of Swindler. I dare to say she is the most boring main character of the season. She is the stereotype of the good girl, and all you can say about her is that she is SO GOOD, and that’s really all you can say. She doesn’t have another atribute. You, unlike me, can really love her and empathize with her if you feel so, but one undeniable thing is that she’s a good unmarkable person and nothing else. She is kind to everyone, she’s caring, she meddles in the gang’s plans since she doesn’t want anybody to get killed or hurted, and that’s a pain in the ass to me. As I’m not going to get any character development or depth, I enjoyed Akudama Drive because of the action and the art, and if there’s a gang of bad guys, it’s annoying that this girl intervenes every time the sauce begins just because she doesn’t want people to die. I thought that the fact of her being the only Akudama that is a regular person was going to mean that she would be the only one with a backstory or something like that, or that she would be the bare representation of how hard it is to be a Kansai citizen, but I ended up with my hands empty. Although, she has some growing during the series, even though is really predictable, is, at least, something that actually made me like her better.
The only characters that got a background are the sibilings that appear later in the series, and they’re children. Is easy to feel pity for them, but still, none of them has a feature that will get to you; they’re like both robots (pretty close though, lol). And the worst character, beyond my tastes, is the real villain, the traitor of the Akudama group. Since the beginning this character doesn’t have no depth at all, no background, no anything, as the rest of the gang, but when the betrayal is devealed and this person starts to be an antagonist, is an awful one. This personage’s reason to become a traitor and a despicable human being, is that wants to be released of the “Akudama” name to adquire the title of a regular person, in order to kill freely without the consequences, and you know why? Just because this person desires to control life itself, enjoying the assassination because of the exciting feeling of killing people, deciding how long they live and how and when they die, like some sort of god complex. And that’s IT. That’s the only info they give you about the new enemy, and don’t expect another development or redention, because you won’t have any. Is an objectiveless antagonist with no personality as such. My only thought was “k, when are you going to die? Shut up”
Then, I didn’t want, but I have to. I have to talk about the Akudama’s Executioner association. My god, what a SHAMEFUL affiliation. This consist in, as its name indicates, a huge group that dedicates to exterminate the Akudamas. But they fail loudly, all the time. They function as the main enemies of the Akudama gang, of course, but they don’t accomplish anything. I had the impression that they were there just to make the main gang look cooler, since all they do is to loose battles against them and to say stupid things like “I will kill every Akudama!!!” when they can’t even harm them. Just one of them is kinda respectable, the first one, but also he ends up ashamed. His kouhai, a beginner, is even worse. Is the typical useless female character who is just a burden for her superior, and she is specially arrogant, constantly defying the gang as if she could fight with one of them without fainting in the process. Disgusting. They alll are pitiful and their boss is EVEN WORSE, a woman who obeys the highest commands and whose only line is “Why did it have to happen when I’m the boss?” or “I will kill every Akudama!!!”.
After ranting the characters, I continue. The animation surprised me entirely. I hate Studios Pierrot, so I was rather relunctant to watch this when I saw it was a work from that studio. Nevertheless, is surprised me in a good way. It was decent, fights seemed nice for me to watch, I positively enjoyed them. The art is very striking, with its nuances and bright presentation. Considering this is a Sci-Fi, they are at the correct standars, because is really futuristic and the edgy characters’ design is adequate too. To me, specially coming from the hideous Pierrot, it is memorable. The sound is pretty good too. Music gets you hyped and the seiyuus do a great job, specially with the first Executioner and Cutthroat, who was actually spooky.
In conclusion, Akudama Drive is a show that I don’t regret watched, actually, I enjoyed it a lot and it wasn’t boring to me in no moment, even though its big flaws. Even if I disliked the characters, that didn't restrain me from having a good time with it. If you’re looking for a sci-fi anime, audiovisually good, that is full of action and a lot of violence with interesting fights and revolution, this is definitely for you, and please enjoy. If you’re looking for an awesome writting or top-tier in depth-developed characters you can love and care, or personages that can blow your mind, this is not for you.
CodeBlazeFate
Story time. Redline, 2009. Takeshi Koike and his team spent 7 arduous years at Studio Madhouse to produce one of the most adrenaline-fueled, well-animated films in all of anime. It bombed hard to the point where almost no film production has gone down this path since. It may go down as a cult classic a decade later, but at the turn of the decade, it was a miserable flop. Keijo, 2016. Hideya Takahashi noticed a ridiculous sports manga about bodacious babes bumping boobs and buts off of water balconies. He and his team at Xebec took that fun action comedy romp and made it one of thebiggest meme titles of 2016. It doesn’t quite get the respect it deserves, and the production values aren’t that great for TV anime standards, but it is a noteworthy title.
Finally, Akudama Drive, 2020. Tomohisa Taguchi and his team at Studio Pierrot got drugged up on Hotline Miami and cyberpunk aesthetics before deciding to make a show about it. This is probably not how it happened, but simply saying “individuals with talent and creativity had a wacky idea they wanted to run with” is a reality too boring for a show such as this. It’s sheer balls to the wall glory. For the most part, it’s exactly what anime has largely neglected to be.
Can you guess what the term is? Do you know what anime has been missing for a while?
Straightforward entertainment.
Action anime is so focused on gimmicks and drama. A lot of the time, these productions would be so much better if they focused on being either over the top or otherwise just focusing on entertainment value to maximize their potential and aesthetics. There’s a reason Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure became a hit long before the nature of its ambition incorporated particularly dramatic storytelling. There’s a reason the Slime isekai is a lot more well-regarded than most of its peers. Hellsing Ultimate is mainstream for this as well. Prioritizing fun and aesthetics above all else has become criminally undervalued.
This is where Akudama comes in, barreling through horde after horde of anime in post-apocalyptic 2020 with the biggest, stupidest grin on its face. Its characters are about as outlandish and simple, forcing their bombastic nature and chemistry to carry their weight. Otherwise one-dimensional characters such as the meathead Brawler or the red and blood-obsessed psychopath, Cutthroat, remain entertaining as a result of this chemistry and how their gimmicks are handled. Even the least asinine members of the group, such as the Ordinary Person and the Hoodlum, have enough comedic value in their interactions to fake their way in and react in perhaps even more over the top ways to the situations than everyone else. Even then, each of these weirdos has little personality quirks to help them all stand out amongst each other and butt heads on a consistent basis. There’s enough vibrancy to the characters to sell the insane nature of events in the show, perfectly complimenting the show’s wonderful presentation.
Tomohisa Taguchi and his team must have had an absolute blast during this production. The vibrant cyberpunk aesthetic is stark, with tons of atmospheric lighting all around and combinations of red and blue being used to their fullest. The transitions are also hilarious, with environments shoving themselves into the screen. Perhaps the most hilarious scene transition is in episode 2, where after everyone is about to crash as Ordinary Person and Hoodlum are screaming, we fade to black and cut to an exposition dump on the setting of Kansai, which is presented by animals drawn on paper and held up by sticks. The show truly gives all and no fucks at once if it’s willing to present exposition this way. It helps that the show also has several gorgeous shots in both the calmer and more hectic moments.
As for the character designs, they are both somewhat simple and somewhat busy, and are rendered in an interesting, slightly more realistic art style. The hair and especially eye detail is constantly on display, even when the action ramps up. The fight scenes are fluid and exciting, especially when the lighting changes to ramp up the intensity of the fights. There’s a sense of weight to each impact, and characters can get tossed around like ragdolls. This is, sadly, where some mechanical CGI comes into the picture and that doesn’t look great. There are also a few moments of reused animation and slideshows. However, when the action is this good and the collateral damage and laser beam effects are this wonderful, a few blemishes won’t hurt. We are dealing with some of the best digital particle effects usage in recent anime, after all. It’s just a shame that some of it gets censored since there are several drop-dead gorgeous sequences that further elevate this show to one of the most well-animated TV productions of the year.
As for the soundtrack, it’s solid. There’s a mix of electronica, jazz, and more that get utilized effectively. Only a few tracks stand out, such as the menacing techno track that has so far been labeled as Cutthroat’s theme, and the piece that plays during the final fight between Brawler and the Master Executioner in episode 6. Regardless, they’re all still fine as they complement the show well enough, and more interesting pieces reveal themselves over time. There’s also an OP and ED but let’s not get into them, regardless of if they fit the show.
As for the show and how it’s written, Akudama Drive is stupid. It’s over the top with characters uppercutting people with bikes, shielding themselves from radiation of some sort with weird unexplained tech shields, and characters crashing through walls all the time. Sometimes the show does take a breather to explore characters like Ordinary Person and Hacker a bit more or to even just take in the gorgeous atmosphere. It can even be surprisingly sweet at times. However, not only does the show earn it with its likable cast, we’re more often barreling through corpses than sitting down to eat, if that makes sense. The show’s asinine nature does somewhat come at a cost with unexplained things like Cutthroat surviving being thrown off a hotel or their employers playing flutes that provide unexplained barriers to keep them alive. Everyone has something for every situation, convenient or no, though rarely does the show become obnoxiously or detrimentally contrived.
There are other issues. While the main method of exposition is cute, it does become repetitive after a while. It also comes after some inopportune times, such as after the blistering and emotional climax of episode 6. More importantly, the narrative and interesting world-building become more of a focus in the second half. Some of the reveals are just downright braindead, like the reveal of the fate of the moon in episode 7. The show also takes itself more seriously, and while it’s earned, that does make it harder for the show to maintain the bombastic edge that made it stand out in the first place. It also makes it harder to excuse some of the ridiculous reveals or moments where characters survived deaths they should not have. It’s not a complete trainwreck in the second half, as there are still some solid emotional moments. There are brilliant bits and pieces such as the comedic exposition broadcast being hijacked in episode 9, only for it to turn out that hijacking the airwaves during a time of Akudama-induced panic was a horrible idea. However, the show never completely recovers from the awkward, sometimes gaudy and nonsensical stumbling blocks of episodes 7-9. It’s fun seeing the character flaws of the Akudama start to erode the group, just as it’s fun to see the dystopia’s authoritarianism go absolutely haywire. However, the direction the show goes in never reaches the peaks the simpler first half did.
Simple, straightforward fun is what Akudama promised. The first half of the show is what more anime should aspire to be, with its lively presentation and bombastic cast of characters. Unfortunately, it seems Akudama Drive was just a bit more ambitious than that, just as a lot of anime are. Ambition isn’t everything, and sometimes just being earnest and having the drive to be fun more than anything else is what we need. There will always be a place for drama, relaxation, and even titillation. Anime is a diverse market. However, whether it be in the form of spectacle or whimsey, the simple need to be fun is still important. It will always be welcome. This is an entertainment medium, after all.
LordSozin
Akudama Drive and Great Pretender were the only two anime that stood out to me in the year 2020, and both of them were originals. While the two weren’t adapted from particular source material, such as manga, light novel, or webtoon’s manhwa, they were still able to cater to an audience, respectively. Great Pretender, by WIT Studio, was a Japanese crime comedy anime, and Akudama Drive, by Studio Pierrot, is a Japanese Cyberpunk inspired anime. The most prominent and well-known series such as Ghost in the Shell, Serial Experiments Lain, and the critically acclaimed 1988 film Akria for those who’re unfamiliar withthis sub-genre. If you’re a fan of any of those series, this show is worth the investment.
The story follows a group of criminals, generalized by the name of Akudama, as they were assigned a job to rescue a prisoner named Cutthroat, who was held by the Kansai Police force, for a large sum of money. As with these types of Cyberpunk shows, the setting is a very futuristic and technologically advanced city--but with the 80s vibes. In the first scene of the first episode, you’re presented with breath-taking visuals of the city that then transitions from the mist skyline to the convoluted city streets. From there, it unravels its futuristics from the intricate details of lights, buildings, and inner parts of the city to the mundane life of its citizens and its societal structure. With these first transitional shots, it sets up the tone and expectations of the show from episode one, which then the show exploits the already established structure to introduce the rest of the casts and build a foundation of the story.
A girl named Ordinary Person--later adapts the name of Swinder--who coincidentally joins the group after being arrested and sent to jail for a trifling incident: Not paying for her food at the spot. With this arrest, the show presents a strict and controlled society, which correlates with the setup atmosphere from the first transitional shots. At the same prison, she meets the rest of the cast, who’d later form into a group with a mutual goal: free Cutthroat. With their violent entrance to the prison, it immediately initiated a police pursuit of the Akudama. The police force is the representation of its utopian society, which again, cultivates what was established early on. From there, with no significant spoilers, begins the fun. It’s revealed that their meeting with Cutthroat was a devised plan by a Black Cat--who later revealed to be a different being entirely. The gang was tasked to seek out the truth of their utopia. Throughout their excursion, we experience how each gang member interacts, discovers, and learns to trust and rely on each other. As the show progresses, the bond between the members grew, which helped deliver some emotional moments later on in the series.
The aesthetics of Akudama Drive is perhaps the major selling point of this show. There’re many elements that the show does right with this type of creative field--those being the art, animation, designs, coloring, and atmosphere aesthetics. The artistic expression, along with its settings and characters’ designs, bolstered its dark utopia atmosphere and helped to ground the series, which further enhanced the show’s relatability. Alongside its top art, the fluent animation of its fights, motion, and detailed designs of its characters were the highlights of the show as well. Each of its characters got its own distinct hairstyles, clothes, and body types that make them stand out in this convoluted cast show. The directions of its fights and motion were displayed conveniently to deliver an even bigger impact to its already flawless animation. Akudama Drive, without a doubt, is the show that’s the most eye-pleasing of art that I’ve witnessed in the year 2020.
I don’t find the characters in Akudama Drive to be particularly unique or memorable. As each of the main casts barely has any depth and development. I see them as a group of misfits, which I believe is what this show wants to covey. Each of them embodies a personality and quirk, and that’s what they are throughout the show, with a few instances of conventional developments that don’t mean much. Most of their behaviors are the personality types that we’ve seen numerous times. To name a few, the show has a savage, dumb, but buff guy that’s used for strength and comedy. It has a quiet and reserved but omnipotent in technology/electronics expert. A level headed but apathetic person that has the characteristic of a “man of few words.” Individually, they aren’t amusing to watch. As I’ve aforementioned, it’s their personalities that play off each other as a group is what makes it mesmerizing.
Akudama drive is one of the few standouts of the season and 2020 as a whole. It’s a captivating show that’s unconventional and unique. It has sufficient appealing elements while staying faithful to its genre. If you will, please give this show a watch.
Score: 6/10
RebelPanda
Akudama Drive is pure madness. It has all the action-packed mayhem of a 1980s B-movie, taken to ludicrous extremes with orgasmic animation and insane characters. It uses the classic cyberpunk aesthetic to tell a story saturated with razor-sharp social criticism and vibrant neon lights. This anime is a combination of Blade Runner and Psycho-Pass, lovingly brought to life by Kodaka, the creator of Danganronpa. It shouldn't work, but it does. And it's god damn amazing. The story follows an ordinary person, a girl mistakenly labeled as an Akudama; One of the most dangerous and highly skilled criminals in the city of Kansai. She becomes known as "Swindler" forbeing falsely accused of a petty thief. Along with six other Akudama, she must evade the militarized police pursuing them. If they manage to escape alive and retrieve a package for a mysterious bidder, they'll each earn 10 million dollars.
All seven Akudama are wildly entertaining; each has such a unique character design and a distinctive persona, they could lead their own shows. It might seem strange at first, but we only know them by their criminal labels: Swindler, Cutthroat, Courier, Hacker, Brawler, Hoodlum, and Doctor. Their faces are plastered on billboards with these names. They only matter because there's a bounty on their heads. Real names are irrelevant in this world. In Kansai, a person's life is worth less than a candy bar; human life is a commodity, just like in real life. People fight, buy, and sell human beings. One of this anime's clear messages is, human dignity is gone, alluding to a very plausible future.
Watching these unstoppable badasses fend off executioners and deliver surprisingly hilarious one-liners is always exhilarating. Wisely, the anime ups the stakes by pairing its merciless and seemingly impenetrable Akudama with Swindler, an empathetic and innocent bystander. The action is easy to follow, with a violent neon visual spectacle overflowing with sakuga and impressive visual effects unseen in modern anime.
Once you become an Akudama, you no longer have human rights. The police will mercilessly execute you without trial. Kansai's government isn't a democracy; it is a world owned by the top 1%. Anyone, even innocent people, can be declared a criminal; It's eerily similar to how the police abuse their power every day. That's how Swindler gets wrapped up in everything. She's our window into this crazy world—like the audience's avatar. Rarely are blank slate characters done right, but Swindler's is one of the lucky few. Her hollow personality is like a sponge; she absorbs all of the fucked up things happening around her and develops into an entirely new person. A lot of people have criticized her for lacking characterization, but they're missing the point. She is you, and she's everyone. She's relatable in the sense that she also has no idea what the fuck is happening. As she learns about the world, so do we. Often, she comments aloud on what's happening, like a narrator. Her commentary is helpful when the action gets intense. Then there are times when it feels like the show is holding our hand, which is fine. The pacing is so fast that it helps to have someone fill in the blanks. We're smart enough to figure things out.
Misguided critics have said that this anime is unrealistic, too stupid, and comical. No shit, sherlock. This show is self-aware. From the beginning, it's clear the only logic it adheres to is the rule of cool. Courier rides his motorcycle on the sides of buildings, equipped with a massive railgun and grappling hook. Brawler can catch bullets with his teeth and shoot them like a gun. The logical consistency of Akudama Drive is in its themes: Capitalism, policing, colonialism, the death penalty, and fascism. I can't overstate how bloody this anime is. It is cartoonish, and the color palette is straight out of a comic book. I can't say it's realistic, but it's impactful—blood sprays everywhere like fountains, guts, and gore spill out in plain sight. It might be humorous at times, but this is intentional. Death is meaningless to the police in this world—not even the main characters are safe. Every death is impactful and serves a purpose in the story.
Every criminal and citizen is disposable; if they disobey the executioners, then they are labeled a criminal and killed on sight. The reason why criminals exist in this world is to justify execution—not to protect people. This anime makes a great point at saying none of the Akudama deserve to die: Brawler simply likes fighting with other super-strong people, Swindler saves cats and would never hurt a fly, Hoodlum is an average joe with great hair, Courier just does his job, and Hacker never hurt an innocent person. They're all fine people: except for Doctor and Cutthroat, who are abusers, manipulators, and traitors to the real Akudama. The writers make a point to give the abusers exactly what they deserve. Throughout the show Swindler and Hoodlum especially endure abuse, however, they are the focus. We enter their headspace and they get a chance to seek revenge. It's magnificent how they handle abuse 100 times better than your average anime.
Purely as a sci-fi action show, it's brilliant; Incredible tension, animation, and visuals. Akudama Drive achieves its visual excellence through the marriage of 2D art and CGI. Not the overreliance on one or the other. The kinetic action sequences are dazzlingly realized with digital compositing by Kazuhiro Yamada. He was responsible for Attack on Titan's excellent action sequences blending 3D background art with 2D action animation. He also worked with the animators to render all the holographic neon effects, beautifully enhancing the background art and every action sequence. Similar to Danganronpa, the background art transitions piece by piece as if a stage is gets rearranged. All of its visual idiosyncrasies culminate in one unique aesthetic.
Like all great sci-fi thrillers, Akudama Drive uses over-the-top action to tell a story about social inequities in modern society. Cyberpunk settings are hard to make unique. Yet Akudama Drive provides a brilliant new interpretation of the genre—this is a show that pokes fun of our modern-day police system and the corrupt government. Kansai is quite literally a militarized police state. It's a frighteningly believable totalitarian state controlled by a politically motivated police force that watches the citizens' every move. In this world, resistance equals death. If you protest the government, you won't just be pepper-sprayed and arrested—the police will mercilessly slaughter you. The Executioners live in a tower right beside upscale hotels. The wealthy and privileged overlook the smog-filled city. Citizens live in slums below, a neon-lit wasteland covered in advertisements, garbage, and populated by the middle-class and homeless people. Kansai's version of a sporting event is public executions where the worst criminals get beheaded. Hundreds of bloodthirsty citizens fill a stadium to watch.
The two executioners who pursue the Akudama squad are multilayered villains—consumed by nationalism, all they have is a desire to serve their fascist state. In this world, police officers craft their plans to kill criminals. Their only purpose is to punish rather than rehabilitate. Their duty is to "Remove the dregs of society," which means anyone who opposes their fascist control. They destroyed their political opposition in a war and then rebuilt their land as a paradise for the ultra-wealthy. These two characters are the personification of a failed justice system. A system that focuses on crime after it happens. Instead, they should focus on preventing crime by creating a better quality of life so people wouldn't need to turn to theft and murder in the first place. The anime uses its corrupt justice system to tell a potent message: If we treat people like animals, they'll act like animals.
Barely any time is wasted on pesky exposition. Thank god it doesn't bother explaining sci-fi technology, unlike most modern anime. It follows the "Show-don't-tell" rule very well. If you care about stuff like world-building, there's plenty of visual story-telling in the background art. However, it may take multiple viewings to pick up on everything. We also get pieces of info for each episode in a diegetic puppet show. It plays out like a kids educational TV show with slapstick humor. I found it to be an excellent way to transition between settings while explaining introducing new concepts.
People have plenty of minor critiques of this show, some deserved, but most are nitpicks. It has its fair share of contrived situations and plot conveniences. You could wonder, "Why didn't the woman at the food stand ask for Swindler to give the food back? If she was so serious about being paid, why wouldn't she ask for payment before giving her the food?" But at the end of the day, all of those critiques would be nitpicks. The sheer bombast and messages it tells alone are enough for me to forgive these flaws. If fast pacing will put you off, this isn't going to be for you. It purposefully moves quickly, but I was always able to follow it. The plot itself is procedural. Though it is sometimes cliche, you can never guess where it'll go. The twists feel earned rather than shoehorned. There are clues throughout the show to build up the mystery. This attention to fine details gives the show so much heart. You can rewatch the show and pick up on new things you didn't realize the first time. Minor lines of dialogue and subtle details in the background art contribute significantly to the rewatch value.
Akudama Drive is a love letter to every Sci-fi classic of the 20th century. It waves its inspiration like a flag while providing a fresh and culturally relevant critique: It released at the best time in history. It's not without its flaws, but I love everything about it. Although the premise is simple, it has more thought-provoking story beats than you'd expect. With only a 12 episode show, it managed to tell a fantastic complete story, with one of the best endings in recent memory. You owe it to yourself to watch this underrated gem; this is one I'll be returning to in the future.
SunlitSonata
When you’ve been in the anime community for long enough, you’ve likely noted the recurrent presence of “edgy anime.” Taking advantage of anime having less restrictions than western animation, there are a couple givens with these shows; a focus on dark lighting with the color red, loads of gratuitous sex/violence, characters constantly mugging the camera for their craziest face, trying desperately to suggest characters have depth by adding a surplus of angst and for bonus points, massive tonal swerves from gritty violent action to happy wacky comedy. All with a lack of tact and putting this shock value before the characters and the message. You’veprobably seen at least one show that’s fallen into some of these traps: Elfen Lied, Gantz, Deadman Wonderland, Another, Mirai Nikki, Akame ga Kill, most of Tokyo Ghoul’s anime, Akuma no Riddle, Ousama Game, Magical Girl Site, the list goes on. However, with every rule, there proves exceptions that can somehow make all of those elements work rather than have them sink the show’s integrity/intentional entertainment, and for the most part, Akudama Drive fits that exception.
In a dystopian future, Akudama Drive bases itself around some kind of “suicide squad”: outlaws pilfering from the dystopia. As the show goes on, you’ll get to see numerous exciting action cuts, plot twists up the wazoo, lip service to its filmic influences and moments of meaningful character interspersed between the crazy plot.
Now, if you were to look at the show from an overly critical lens who nitpicks every little detail (ex. ThatAnimeSnob, CinemaSins) you probably won’t enjoy it. There’s plenty of logical leaping and moments that put emotion before logic, but there’s still very contained pacing to its bombast. When watching Akudama Drive, I felt like it was designed specifically to be the length that it was as an original story. When need be, it’s brought forth by anarchic energy, via bikes defying the laws of physics or Doctor having instant healing capabilities that just aren’t there in real life. The show’s open mystery setups provide easy holes to enable more plot twists, whether from the conceit of the heists themselves, the Executioner’s purpose for hunting the Akudama in the first place or the puzzle of the show’s entire setting. The fact that these twists are presented with the gravitas they are is part of the appeal on a week by week basis. Understanding what the show is trying to be, rather than what ultimately inconsequential detail it missed in one scene, I think is the bigger picture. I mentioned before how it, for the most part, works to defy a lot of the pitfalls other “edgy” anime have fallen into, and it’s very much stunning the audience with the power it has in surfing those tidal waves. The amount of time to wallow in angst is limited and the post-punk style shines through all the way. Obviously, its dystopia isn’t developed to the extent of say, Psycho-Pass, but that just makes it more natural when things go hog wild.
What really helps the show as it goes on is how incredibly self-conscious every character is. Kodaka’s work on Danganronpa proved he could be adept at creating characters with instantaneously recognizable designs and personality traits, and that carries through here as Rui Komatsuzaki’s designs translated to animation. Each one has a very distinctive look that gets their outlook with high expression values. From Doctor’s more slit eyes in conjunction with her lipstick and colored hair, to Brawler’s combo of dreads and vests, Cutthroat’s almost ghostly appearance clad in white, or the ever expressive big eyes of Swindler, there’s a lot to glean from an artistic standpoint to make each character stand out.
But that self-consciousness for the most part carries to individual writing in the same way. Courier’s on the job mentality remains consistent throughout the whole series as a reflection of how he views the world against the absurdity’s of his bike, and Hoodlum’s intention to constantly play himself up with the Joker color scheme follows through with his character from beginning to end. Every character is as they are, so it doesn’t feel like depth or comedic asides are obfuscated; they're inherent. The divide between characters that have these insane superpowers and those that lack them is also capitalized on, much to my surprise. Swindler, Hoodlum and Apprentice are barely pieces in a world that moves along without them, and the show realizes that when sprouting its arcs for them while it progresses. Now, this isn’t to say this always works. Cutthroat’s relatively simple masochistic killer schtick works out when he’s paired up with equally big-headed figures, but when he’s isolated in Episode 9, it’s the closest the show ever comes to wiping out on the edge wave in punctuating the shock factor. The last two episodes do stress it a bit with the metaphors it wants to get across in a way that might seem weirdly out of place for the rest of the show’s tone, but ultimately I think its writing works out to its reason. The ultimate fates of the earnestly portrayed characters, the insane pacing and keeping the ball rolling with its plot make it rarely boring moment to moment. I wouldn’t say the insane thinktrain ever hits Baccano’s levels of intricate thought, but it’s damn solid attempt to make a 4-and-a-half-hour blockbuster narrative. The ease of immersion, constant momentum, and the impressive spectacle would help make the experience, even (or perhaps especially) for someone who may be tired of other anime and their meandering pacing problems.
Although there is a noticeable dip as the show nears its conclusion, for the most part the show’s presentation is to its benefit, which enhances the hype factor. Rarely will scenes be content with flat lighting. Ambient lighting is constant, really making the look pop compared to other anime of its ilk; particular in episodes 1, 4, 6 and 12. Even with how the distinctive color choices enhance the designs of the characters, it’s able to make the environmental lighting give scenes that extra sense of pop-rock. This does mean though that episodes like 3 and 10 with their lighter environments tend to show the weaknesses of duller lighting and CGI pedestrians in different scenes, and the TV censoring can’t show all of the violence in full display. There might be some ruminations on the nature of violence, but you won’t see it stop for the “cursed” cycle of revenge; it’s in service of that “go, go GO” manic energy. On a more positive note, the animation also borrows some techniques from the Danganronpa games to strongly distinctive effect, like the puppet skits to break up the action, and the way its locations are constituted as play sets for scene transitions. It helps make the compositions more artfully crafted than they might have been otherwise and helps establish trademarks of the style, which were ironically mostly absent in Danganronpa’s anime themselves. That playful, toybox feel to the plotting and structure is constituted with these particular transitions, as enhancements of the overall vision.
“Vision” is what I see in Akudama Drive; a “drive” to perpetuate hype cycles through its wildly self-conscious characters and insane yarn of plot. Its brief 12-episode length helps to alleviate potential tiredness of the style, while its art design and characterization create a strongly distinct feel to spot it within a crowd. Akudama Drive isn’t a show that’ll blow you away with its characterization or satisfy the logical brain of putting everything together in insane theory charts. But it will present the type of exploitation and temptation-fueled balance of style and substance you won’t get outside the medium, and on that level, I can say, you done good.
fast2611
Its late and im definetly not composed enough to write a well thought out review. But I NEED to praise this show, NOW. Story:____9 Art:______10 Sound:___ 8 Character:_9 Enjoyment:10 Overall :__ 10 Everthing bejond here will be kinda spoilery due to blablabla bla
bla
you gone? good.
The incredible twists the story takes. There is no reason to spoil any in particular but they are so increbile that I woudnt wanna tell anybody it happens.
There are Cool af , iconic characters, sakrua magic everywhere. well thought out dialouge, dynamic action scenes meaningful sacrifces and an end shot that made me cry a bit
Yee sorry I know this is a mess but I just needed to thanks
ScraF
An action centered anime can take 2 directions: an action packed show with beautiful animation and not much to think about or a thought provoking show where each battle has impact and each move needs to be thought about in order to fully appreciate the series. Akudama Drive finds itself in the middle, which is not a good thing. Akudama Drive presents itself as a simplistic show with a critique on society in some way. However, where the show struggled the most is the subtle but quality diminishing change in the way the show aims to be perceived. What started off as a simple show quicklybecame a mess. Akudama Drive wants to be simplistic, yet deep and with an impactful message. Whilst that is not a bad thing per se, it does not seem to work out in this case. In the middle of the series, Akudama Drive takes a turn and subtly becomes more “mature” and “meaningful”. Needless to say, it does not achieve any of the things above, however, those attempts ultimately destroy the previous build up of the simplistic side of the show, ruining its overall structure even further.
A great characterization is the stepping stone for a great character but relying on characterization alone can only take a character so far. Akudama Drive uses plain and simple, yet effective characterization techniques on each of its characters, but they work. It is in no way perfect and has its fair share of flaws, however, they can be overlooked since the attempt was done with utmost care and respect for these characters. Here is where the problems come in: this great characterization is the only part of the cast that makes it stand out quality wise. There is nothing beneath these characters, there is nothing left to them other than their signature traits and lackluster motivations, they are just empty shells. It feels as if the cast are not really characters but just plot devices which are made in order to enhance the viewing experience, which they fail at doing. They are just NPCS, which can work out in some cases, where Akudama Drive struggles, however, having a player within those NPCS. That player does not exist, yet an attempt was made in that direction.
Creating a setting that is compelling, interesting and leaves room for character interaction is quite a task, especially within modern anime, since ideas have mostly been stagnant and just copies with some degree of reworking in them. Akudama Drive manages to somewhat balance out the old and mix it with new. In a futuristic cyberpunk reality, the way the main cast is introduced and the whole Akudama system is fairly obvious with taking inspiration from other works, yet it is not afraid to experiment. With the system created in order to place a critique on society, Akudama Drive utilizes the aspect of the general public in order to get its message across. In series that use a similar idea to get the message across, mainly Psycho Pass, the system is used more so than regular people, while Akudama Drive uses the aspect of the regular person; the viewer, to get the point across. With people critiquing the system and often showing signs of revolution, a grey line is made and the word “evil” loses its meaning in Akudama Drive. The execution of this concept is one of the things Akudama Drive excelled at and one of the main reasons as to why it was wasted potential.
Lazy writing is the main reason an anime can accumulate the love it or hate it status among the fanbase. Utilizing character deaths is often the trickiest part when it comes to making emotional moments well paced and not put one after another. Akudama Drive follows the example of Akame Ga Kill when it comes to emotional climaxes and emotional impact on the viewer. While many people enjoyed Akame Ga Kill and its emotional value, there are also many flaws to be found and parallels with Akudama Drive can easily be drawn upon taking a closer look into both of these series. Akudama Drive handles its deaths in a very lazy and sluggish way. Each death is presented as a big emotional moment for at least one of the characters and should be what stimulates character growth within them. Instead of this organic way to develop a character, Akudama Drive kills off a character and proceeds to simply make another character sad for an episode and that is where it stops. The characters remain stagnant and stay the way they were, with nothing added to them in the slightest.
Character interactions are what make the show watchable. Akudama Drive tries to have meaningful conversations with its characters to propel the quality of the show with its witty and deep dialogue, yet it all boils down to heavily abusing the signature trait each character is given in the first episode and is the only thing these characters have to converse. Wheter it is Brawler being stupid or Cutthroat making weird and creepy comments about the color red, these interactions have no real meaning other than filling up the episode minute count.
Motivations are a must when creating a character that will have any sort of impact in a series. The motivations of the main cast in Akudama Drive can all be explained with their name: Brawler likes to brawl so he does, Doctor wants to either heal someone or hurt them, Hacker wants to hack into things because he sees it as a challenge, the list goes on. This is not to say simple motivations are bad, they are not and can be used in many different ways, Akudama Drive, however, just chooses to stay on that and is satisfied with those simple but stupid motivations. No character in Akudama Drive has anything concerning their motivations that makes sense once a deeper look is taken into their character and how they should act according to their motivations.
Akudama Drive is a series that is confused. It suffers from a split personality disorder. It randomly switches between its simple and attempting to be deep personality throughout the whole series and makes it even more confusing than it already is with its message. Akudama Drive is below average; but only slightly so. It had immense potential and it honestly pains me that that potential was not realized fully and its reach was shown only in the setting aspect. With everything else feeling lackluster, Akudama Drive will stay a series that leaves a bad taste in my mouth, but is still left in a somewhat fond memory for me. If you liked Akame Ga Kill and enjoy emotion heavy series with not much else to offer, Akudama Drive is for you.
Sukamii
For lack of a better simile, Akudama drive is like eating rock candy- at first seeming incredibly interesting, an interesting appearance with an enticing texture, it tastes sweet but isn't much more. Like liquid sugar, Akudama Drive doesn't really make for much more than a temporary sugar rush. Like flashes of lightning, the series always presents something that is enticing, ideas that come off as interesting, characters that you *could* grow attached to- but they exist within their boxes of tropes and don't become more than characters on the screen. For their initial presentations, most of the characters exist as incredibly edgy and egotistical charactersthat I could easily become interested in as the story unfolds (barring Doctor, as I dislike near everything about her character, except her VAs performance)- but they don't exist as anything more. They have predictable fates, stories that unfold in a blase manner. It's really a shame.
For the first five episodes it feels exceedingly generic, the "plot twists" and advancement of the story don't feel like anything special, and after getting past the fifth episode; I felt as if it had wasted my time telling a story that could easily be condensed. Even after the halfway marker and the show becomes "interesting", it's only due to clever moments of design where before you flashes entertainment. But its embedded in a genre (and medium) that does it but better in every way. The characters are by far the worst offenders of this, I don't think there was a single one I came away from thinking they told an exciting story worth remembering. The tropes are solid, the animation is good, and the plot is exceedingly average. It's going to be forgotten to time, created to sell and nothing more.
I won't waste my breath doing an in depth analysis of the themes, ideas, or story on the whole of the series. What you see the the first episode is what you get the entire run time, sometimes a little bit more- but by and large its exactly what it is. Defying its own sense of logic and reason, stretching suspension of disbelief so far that it frays and snaps under its own existence.
I usually don't continue to watch series I actively dislike, but even more than that I hate dropping something unless it's so painfully egregious that I feel like my life force is being siphoned away as I watch. At times, Akudama Drive felt like an art vampire- but what's even worse is that I definitely enjoyed it. After all, I wouldn't have picked it up and watched all the way through if I wasn't at least having fun. Its not so terrible that you'll feel your eyes roll into the back of your skull during viewing, but it gets close. Just when your souls close to its desperate escape from your flesh it'll do something clever- a nice use of doubles, an enticing action sequence, or a genuinely heartfelt moment that convinces me to watch another episode.
I wouldn't recommend Akudama Drive for any reason other than understanding what makes Anime tick, in good ways and bad; to experience how good tropes can go to die when the characters they inhabit become nothing more than the tropes themselves, and when the story gives up on being worth your time. There are plenty of anime that are genuinely worth your time, exploring ideas in genuinely meaningful and artistic ways. I'm absolutely against saying "go watch this show instead of x", but with very little effort you'll be able to find works in this genre that do everything Akudama Drive wants to do with some fraction of grace and fidelity.
But if you REALLY want to watch this mess, nothing in this world should stop you. It's not a good time, but at the very least its a fun ride.
LeynaSept
It's weird, I was planning to drop the series around the middle. Not because it's bad I just wasn't impressed with the writing at the time I recommend not being influenced by the bad reviews too much, this is one of the shows that can really linger and settle deep within you, it could also not but the chance that it does is worth the take. I'm glad I gave it a chance to watch til the end, no matter what flaws I may find it was 100%+ worth it that I went through this journey. With being a story with only one season, itwas fairly well-paced. A satisfying ending. A story can be mediocre but if the ending is brilliant you betcha I'll rate it high. Endings are one of the most important factors in stories for me, you have better make me feel like I watched something that was worth it.
But the story wasn't actually mediocre for me, at least not for the second half. I *really* loved the second half. This was a really beautiful anime. All of my top anime can be described as "beautiful" and this amazingly manages to fit that bill.
I can see some technical flaws if I thought hard enough. But that does not matter right now for my opinion of the series. In stories, I look to feel an "experience". I want stories that manage to hit certain emotions just right, and this anime is one of them.
NOW ONTO THE PART WHERE I WILL WRITE SPOILERS BUT HOPEFULLY IN A WAY TO CONVINCE YOU TO WATCH THIS SHOW.
Also I'm writing this at like 4:30am after binging episodes 6-12. I'm both tired and traced with emotional anguish.
The first half seemed fun, charming, but a little lackluster in the writing. I planned to drop it so I didn't continue. Got interested since I still viewed the threads of episodes to see opinions of people. Basically if you're familiar with the danganronpa writer you know he likes killing off characters. And in this story, he does it right. So right. I admire whoever can make death seem bitterly beautiful yet heavily tragic at the same time.
The second half of this series is what I can really praise. Everything from the sound, the tone, the animation, scene direction, writing, voice acting, really came together in a lot of moments and it really captivated me.
I thought the characters were rather one-dimensional at first, but they turned out to have more depth than I thought. One writing technique I've learned of is when the author doesn't fully explain a character's backstory/story in detail but just enough where the viewer can just fill in the blanks with their imagination as they imagine what that person went through. An effective tactic and it works for short stories.
The author managed to convey the emotions to me, managed to convey the tone and the story so well to me. The protagonist seems like the usual sympathetic wants-to-be-a-hero-always heroine, hopelessly stubborn. This is nothing new with most protagonists, but you know, due to the author being able to convey her tragic situation I admire her more than think she's annoying. She was a great protagonist from beginning to end, and I liked the development. She managed to keep her ideals, and she did it with pride. It was all tragic and beautiful, bitter hopefulness. I like animes that can conflict my emotions like this.
I might be making this anime seem more like a masterpiece than it is, but to me at least, it is one.
ThatAnimeSnobRE
Akudama Drive is something that, up until the midpoint, is nothing more than mindless action and a pretty looking steampunk setting. As someone who is sick and tired of highschools and pretentious themes about supposed deep characters, I was fully into it. There is no depth to the cast to the point they don’t even have actual names, and the plot is a very straightforward heist mission. It was of the same vein as Black Lagoon and Hellsing Ultimate. You just shut off your brain and you enjoy the mix of rule of cool and comedy based on misunderstandings. Then the second half began and said,yeah, enough with that, time to add nonstop twists, revelations, and drama. Usually that spells doom for a show, since the transition from what it began as to something different can be alienating. In this case it worked in its favor because the bar was low to begin with and by adding extra stuff without losing the previous ones it became something more instead of something entirely different. Meaning, it didn’t lose the rule of cool and comedy bits, it added more stuff atop of that without bloating the whole… because there wasn’t much to bloat; it was a simple mindless action show.
So yeah, the premise is about a bunch of mass-murdering psychopaths forming a team against their will (although it doesn’t matter since they would do it anyways, just for the fun or the money). They are then tasked to steal the cargo of a super secure train with one of them being a typical girl who through a series of very convenient and unlucky circumstances ends up having to constantly lie as means to not be killed, like pretty much any other civilian who is standing in their way. Did I mention they are mass-murdering psychopaths? Life has no value to them. So, the seven of them use their hax abilities and one-note character traits for steamrolling or bullshiting everything in their way until they get to the cargo, midpoint through the series. And then the real fun begins, as they lose their plot armor and reveal different aspects of themselves, which were unseen up until then. In storytelling we call that fleshing out. We definitely do not call it character development, because adding more stuff is not development. From that point onward the setting and the character relations become far more multilayered and fun to follow, while still being the dumb action flick it began as.
And no, I am not saying that made the show amazing, since it is still quite silly to the most part. There are still lots of elements that can make the show unlikable.
-The fight scenes never follow the laws for physics. You will see a spiderman motorcycle that flies around however it suits the plot, and since it’s supposed to be technology instead of magic, it can be quite jarring.
-The characters never get any actual names. They are just a character class. It was stupid in Goblin Slayer, it’s stupid here as well.
-As much as I liked the world building and the twists, the pacing is too fast to let you delve into them for long. Everything comes and goes too fast for having any impact other than the viewer learning about more stuff.
-The logic that the population of the city is following is all over the place. First they revolt but stop once most of the protesters are killed. And then they revolt even more when a single civilian gets killed.
-And we never learn why those puppet thingies were occasionally trying to reveal the truth although they were supporting the establishment.
So yeah, the best for enjoying the show is to never take it seriously. It is a dumb rule of cool anime that gets more mysterious and dramatic as it goes on. It’s not A tier material, but it certainly achieves more than most hyped up mediocrities and for that reason it ended up being my personal most enjoyable anime of 2020.
zombii111
This anime is some absolute craziness and i love it. Akudama drive is about a girl who accidentally got in with these high class criminals called akudama. Akudama has several characters who are given a mission by this robot and are paid for it. It has a certain level of gore but the storyline of the show is amazing and very intriguing. I wish it was a bit longer though. Story: 9 The story and concept for this anime is absolutely amazing and it makes you wish that the episodes are longer. This show will never get you bored. Art:10 The art style is perfect and the fight scenesare spot on.
Sound:8
Good intro and soundtrack.
i loved every bit of this show.
The first 6 episodes are a solid 10/10 for me, it kinda falls off to an 8 in the middle but has an amazing final episode
9/10
kakk
* I will avoid as many spoilers as possible * Story 8/10 Like many others have said there wasn't much backstory so the main story of the anime wasn't super developed, however I still think its really enjoyable, the lack of backstory doesn't bother me too much, so if you don't mind that then I think you'll like the story. It mainly follows the same kinda premise throughout the show, a few twists and turns occur but in the end its still the same goal, but never the less still enjoyable. art 10/10 I really enjoyed the art and the character designs, especially the cyberpunk like setting. The artin the last episode especially, when courier is fighting and the very end where the two are walking together (sorry im trying to keep it vague haha)
character 9/10
I enjoyed the characters and their different personalities, each character had a different set of moral views and goals and yet they all worked together for the most part towards a common goal, so we got to see them interact and how they each react differently to different situations. Each character tended (but not always) to also have an underlying motive which we find out later on in the series which in my opinion adds some depth to their characters. I did wish they went more into their backstories a bit more as we don't learn much about their past, but aside from that I really enjoyed the characters!
enjoyment 10/10
I thoroughly enjoyed this anime, despite the lack of backstory, the art and the characters were very fun to watch and from the first episode I was hooked, each week I was very excited for a new episode to see what would happen next!
overall 9/10
As I said before, this anime is really good imo, you get excitement, there are twists and turns, interesting characters and interactions! Therefore, although it lacks in some places such as the story, you should give it a go as it is very enjoyable! :)
September
[Warning: As I've watched all 12 episodes, I will review the story spanning across all episodes, too. Therefore, there will be spoilers in this review.] I'll admit: I went into Akudama Drive with... well, not exactly low expectations, but they weren't high. That being said, I'm very glad I watched it all the way through now that it's over. Wow, what a series. It was full of action from start to finish and none of it was unnecessary. I'm one of those people who isn't exactly drawn to action series first thing since I'd rather look for a good story, animation and characters. Thankfully, in myopinion, Akudama Drive has all of these.
I have to highlight the character development of the last two standing Akudama, Courier and Swindler. Though she started out as an ordinary person, Swindler had such an amazing character development throughout the anime. She was never really a meek character by any means, but she certainly got more courageous, cunning, and "akudama-ish" by the end, really embracing the fact that she was turned into an Akudama by stumbling right into the lion's den of Akudama that one day. Though I did like the way it ended, I'm strangely enough also upset that she had to go.
Then there's Courier. I didn't think much of him in the beginning since he just seemed like this stereotypical brooding, angry dude with a potty mouth. As time went on, though, there was a subtle change in his character, and I really like that it WAS subtle, because it fit him. At the end, it wasn't surprising to me that he'd be one of the last standing, because, as his motto is, "he always finishes a job". Technically, he didn't, but he also sort of did by telling the kids where to go. That's besides the point. My point is, I really love how they handled his character, as well as Swindler, and I'm satisfied with Akudama Drive's ending.
The animation was incredibly good, too; having watched previous works written by Kodaka (obviously, the Danganronpa series), it's easy to notice the big uptick in animation quality in Akudama Drive. It's beautiful. The music wasn't exactly my cup of tea, but it fit the series nevertheless, so that was fine. All in all, a series I highly recommend watching and even re-watching, which I know I will do at some point.
Zedlin
(Pontenial miniature spoilers, read at your own risk.) What’s this? A good original anime with godtier animation and action? Akudama Drive is an anime that gets progressively better each episode. Having character growth, and losing main characters as well. It’s hard to fully emphasize the grand epicness of what makes Akudama Drive work. The show is the essence of badass. Set in a cybernetic technological utopia at least at a glance- but underneath is a unforgiving criminal underbelly where fugitives thrive. These Akudama are legendary criminals where the bounties are more than exuberant because of how feared they are. Akudama Drive is a freight train barrelingfull throttle, and I’m all for it. It’s too overboard with its overly high stakes action to not at least grin once. It’s one of the best action series I’ve seen in a hot while.
Unlike the vast sea of forgettable fall 2020 anime, Akudama Drive stands out with its stellar production value. The art style over stimulates with its futuristic vibes, truly presenting the battle of conflicting struggle. No matter what was being shown the animation was absolute gold. The silky movements of a life-or-death fight between the Akudama and Executioners, to puzzling out all the detail, it keeps the tempo thriving.
The characters despite their simple nature, gain more development than the majority of seasonals today. All of the main cast starts off with a basic template, as it allows the story to progress without slowing down. The point of Akudama Drive is to create intriguing fights that feel valuable, with a cast of people who are strong, but still can lose a fight. That those fights have consequences where these characters they’ve developed matter to the audience. Simple ideas with strong production is the difference between an anime of passion and one of wasted potential. An example of where Akudama Drive thrives is the protaginist. She starts off as the typical kind girl, in which her values makes her care deeply for those around her. In a world of unforgiving criminals, she has no choice but to adapt or die. Her resolve is strong but physically unlike those around her, put her values in question. Without strength the protaginist has no choice but to continue depending on others. I believe if there was more time, perhaps even 1 more core of episodes, each character could have more fulfilling arcs.
Overall Grade: 9
Story: 7
Animation: 9
Sound: 9
Character: 8
Enjoyment: 9
I recommend Akudama Drive to the enthusiasts of full throttle action, where the production, and animation are simply stellar.
CarbonRuiner
TL,DR: over the top situations full of action scenes, an impeccable visual style, and an interesting non-logical story, but everything's so cool. First thing first, the show is good, but as good as a good action shonen/movie/videogame, period. The rest is incidental. You should approach this anime as you would if it were a Devil May Cry, if it's cool it's cool, whether it makes sense or not. So if you are looking for a deep and well tale story, an intriguing with no plot holes and a study of the psyche of its characters this is not that kind of anime (this is not, even withall the similarities, a Psycho-Pass kind of show). This is a wild ride with a story and characters that make you want to keep watching it, but without asking for any of the above.
Everything is so over the top, but so over the top that one can only suppress any logical reasoning in their brain and be dragged along with what's happening on the screen.
The first chapter is perhaps the least interesting, in fact after watching it I abandoned the series disinterested, months later I returned and watched the 2nd and ended up hooked and enjoying it. So if you find yourself, like i was, not very invested on it, i recommend you give a try to the next ones.
The visual style is spectacular (very cyberpunk-esque), the animation is monumental, the characters have great designs and unique personalities. There is a good characters development, especially of the one who would be considered the main character. The plot is quite interesting and complex (with reminiscent of Psycho Pass as i said) but at the same time nothing makes sense. And that's what makes it great.
If you are in for the ride you'll enjoy it. An anime with an interesting story where when things happen you must just focus on the “wow, really?! I didn't expect this” and not on the “I didn't expect it because it doesn't make any sense”, even when, in fact, it does not.
There's Dragon Ball fights, even some buildings are knocked down. Some characters has their severed limbs sewn back on and keep fighting. They "teleport" sometimes to a place just because it's necessary for the plot (How did they know where they were? How did they get there from the other place? whatever, is cool, who cares. Motorcycles that almost fly. Bleeding out? No problem. And the story? oh boy, interested? yes, it's impossible not to be interesting when you mix, action, consciousness simulations, genetic engineering, virtual worlds, space travel, references to a lot of well-known movies (the title of each chapter is the name of one), despotic empires, corruption, information manipulation, nuclear warfare, immortality, social issues, the greater good, indoctrination, abuse of power... not everything listed is in the anime, don't wanna spoil anything, but you can imagine the amalgam of themes one after the other.
So I recommend it as long as you know what you are coming for.
I came expecting the series to be nothing more than a superfluous show full of fanservice and no story to tell. It turns out that I ended up loving the story (although not to be taken too seriously) and there isn't even that much of a fanservice, there's a character with a big cleavage but not unnecessary frames of it the series never ceases to amaze!
Takadashi
overall score: -mid eight- (8.5) it all started because of a 500 yen, Truly a competitor of bench-kun and truck-kun. This show started in a rather odd plot with a so so concept but quickly grasp viewers attention with its really flashy animation and character. In the beginning the anime didn't really show any extravagant story or any complexity. But the story and character quickly progresses and evolve into a whole new breed. What makes the show stands out from the other is its plot progression and way of serving. even if it's not a masterpiece for you gotta be honest that it's still a really goodshow. totally worth your time if you like action, sci-fi type show.
BlackSea773
This is not your typical anime, it is something different. It may had a slow start, honestly I didn't expect much from it, but it turn into a really interesting anime at the end. I liked the idea of the akudama system and the license to kill that the executioners had and the way they exploit it in the end I commend them for that, and the fact that we don't know the names of the characters without loosing any content is somewhat funny. The poor swindler got here life f***ed up to the point of no return knew thatshe can't go back and chose the best choice at the end, the way every akudama's character was written and the choices that they made because of there personality was very cool this was a really interesting anime overall.
This line will CONTAIN SPOIILERS ( I have some mixed feelings about the akame ga kill move, it didn't feel bad since I didn't like any character to the point I wanted them to live, but its not cool to do that jeez) SPOILERS END HERE.
After all this is a nice change of pace, it is not like any normal anime but I feel like it was missing something that could bring it to a higher level, still this is a great anime to watch
JAXARE
So this is my very first review on MAL and I've decided to start with AKUDAMA DRIVE because of how disappointed I was with this show. I heard lots of praise coming from people online about this show and my interest was already peaked when I saw the visuals for it so I decided to give it a try. Now with that said ill get right into it. . . . . . CONTAIN SPOILERS . . ..
.
.
"so many questions with so little answers", That is the driving point of AKUDAMA DRIVE, from immortal children created as vessels for a shapeshifting quantum computer to a naïve "do-the-right thing" MC wrapped up in criminal business, were taken down a rabbit hole that seems to lead to nowhere fast. the story starts somewhat interesting with establishing the world and a couple of the characters but around the 6th episode the story switches gears and drags us through plot hole after plot hole after plot hole. I had many question each time an episode ended and thought "maybe it'll be answered next episode or towards the end of the show" but nope those questions were never answered, in fact they were only proposed because this story seemed to have some depth, instead it put up a façade and hid its plot holes and flaws with its flashy aesthetics. even the ending was a big-bright-flashing ball of disappointment. If only this story wasn't derailed by so much unnecessary information, useless twists, and excess of shallow characters; but instead was simplified or rewritten to allow the visuals to be the true center point, this would have been a much better show.
I personally would not recommend this show unless you are looking for something to visually stun you for a few seconds, its a blend of AKIRA, Tokyo Ghoul, and Akame ga kill but take away all the interesting story elements of those three.
