Akudama Drive

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]

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Background

Each episode of the series shares a title with famous movies whose story shares themes and plot elements with the episode.

Episode Videos

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Characters & Voice Actors

Cutthroat

Main

Sakurai, Takahiro
Japanese

Ordinary Person

Main

Kurosawa, Tomoyo
Japanese

Courier

Main

Umehara, Yuuichirou
Japanese

Hacker

Main

Horie, Shun
Japanese

Brawler

Main

Takeuchi, Shunsuke
Japanese

Doctor

Main

Ogata, Megumi
Japanese

Hoodlum

Main

Kimura, Subaru
Japanese

Execution Division Master

Supporting

Ootsuka, Akio
Japanese

Execution Division Apprentice

Supporting

Hanamori, Yumiri
Japanese

Black Cat

Supporting

Uchida, Maaya
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Taguchi, Tomohisa

Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Series Composition

Nagasaki, Yukio

Sound Director

Murata, Hikaru

Script, Storyboard

Sasahara, Yoshifumi

Script, Storyboard, Assistant Director

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Opening Theme

"STEAL!!" by SPARK!!SOUND!!SHOW!!

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Ending Theme

"Ready" by Urashimasakatasen

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Reviews

Dec 24, 2020

Ryuseishun

Not Recommended

Spoiler

Akudama Drive is one of those easily captivating and enticing sci-fi action flick series. Lots of flashing aesthetics, bombastic action, sheer madness, ludicrous characters, and a cool-looking hi-tech environment. With all of this in one package, being created and written by none other than Kazutaka Kodaka, the creator of the Danganronpa franchise, well as being influenced by classic films like Pulp Fiction, Blade Runner, and The Ghost in the Shell, it’s not surprising that many people would instantly be hooked on it and praise it so much.

But the truth is, Akudama Drive is akin to a bunch of discombobulated parts tossed into a blender in ... unruly fashion, or quite literally, a runaway train bound for wreckage. What was working out so well early on as a very promising presentation from the otherwise hectic year of 2020 simply unraveled down the stretch. So then you ask: what exactly went wrong?

To start off, Akudama Drive is set in a futuristic Japan, specifically the regions of Kansai and Kanto, previously ravaged by war and conflict. Its initial appearance comes off as a very urbanized and splendid-looking state-of-the-art utopia, but underlying that mask is something else entirely that clearly defines this show’s setting as a dystopia filled with underlying criminal activity. Highly skilled and/or dangerous criminals are labeled as “Akudama” to be noted separately from normal civilians, while the Executioners are the law enforcers meant to handle and oppose them. For the most part during the series, there is very little groundwork regarding any proper approach to exploring the dystopic world itself, and any exposition covered is usually via regularly applied silly-looking televised cartoon skits, which actually do a fairly decent job of explaining the history. Otherwise, everything is pretty much at surface-level, as the majority of the concepts and themes within the show are underdeveloped and unsubstantial. The recurring subject of moral ambiguity, especially regarding the Akudama and the Executioners, keeps coming up every chance it gets. It’s obvious to see and recognize they’re there, but there’s not enoutgh deeper context to properly support them and make them significant enough to tie them with the main characters, even with subtleties here and there.

The direction of the story starts off fairly optimistic with a very well-paced progression as a consistently entertaining ride filled with a whole lot of blustering horseplay and shameless implementation of the “rule of cool”. A normal unnamed teenage girl is hilariously dragged along into a grand scheme along with a randomly gathered group of Akudama and given instructions to work together to “go against the system” and complete tasks along the way, with the promise of getting a huge fortune. Being initially uninvolved and unwilling to participate, the girl, aptly entitled as “Swindler” in ironic fashion, is forced along with the gang into the chaos. Every now and then, she vocalizes in how ridiculous or dangerous on the decisions made or actions taken. Coupled with the multi-colored composition of the different personalities in the Akudama gang, and it honestly made for a rather nonsensical yet self-aware wild ride. For a good amount of the first half, it was honestly going fairly well in the right direction despite the surface-level context and choice for a nameless narrative (meaning none of the characters in the series are given actual names).

The second half of the series was when things start to unravel. The pacing starts to get rather sluggish as the story starts to accumulate more and more details regarding the settings itself, the mood of the story starts to shift to an abnormally serious one, and not in a pleasant fashion. The main characters are killed off, one by one, without so much as a consistent sense of impact. I will not deny that the narrative likely intended on killing off a number of the recurring cast members in the first place, but the way it did just that felt so….senseless. Practically like a version 2.0 of Akame Ga Kill. Gone was the sense of self-awareness that gave the series its identity. Gone were the chances to properly flesh out, develop, and/or realize the captivating main cast, not even so much as a sliver of some sort of backstory for any of them. Gone was the silly fun of the grand heist and now replaced with some overly conceited and unpleasant sense of anxiety and tension. The tonal shift may supposedly befit the show’s dystopic background, but there’s not much established beforehand to make the transition all that much smoother, and it comes off as jarring and obstructive. Sure, the themes are still very much expressed, but never properly explored, and by this point in the show, it becomes really hard to just take things at face value anymore. As the series wound down to the final episodes, we are provided with rather copious amounts of grating plot twists and revelations, ranging from human experiments to immortality to quantum physics. Even then, these revealed plot elements don’t seem like they amount to much beyond just a desperate attempt to come up with a conclusion to end the madness. There was always a very slight foreboding tone throughout the series, in all fairness, but again, there wasn’t enough there in terms of the premises’ foundations to amount to nearly enough. It’s as if the series has underwent a major identity crisis and upheaval, leading to a rather tedious and frustrating trudge to the finish line.

In terms of the audiovisuals, Akudama Drive at least does shine the brightest in that department. Colorful looking urban backgrounds coupled with varying color tones, brightness, and saturation to really highlight the vivid illustrations and atmosphere of the dystopian world. The combinations of 2D and 3D graphics make for really nice presentations, and even the action & fight scenes also have really nice consistent choreography. There’s also an extremely nice touch to the aesthetic experience with once-per-episode scene transitions, where the background art for the next segment would slam together piece by piece to replace the previous ones. The soundtracks and theme songs befit the somewhat dual nature of the settings, with the opening theme representing the bright and energetic outer parts of the city, while the ending theme may be symbolizing the more chill yet somewhat pessimistic and foreboding side, especially revolving around the main cast. The voice acting in particular was quite solid, albeit on occasions the dialogue may feel forced or hurried, though overall still a consistent performance, as the seiyuus did their best to bring out the personalities of the recurring cast members. By all means, the production value managed to provide grade-A art, which is by all means worthy of praise considering the infamous history of Studio Pierrot.

I’ll have to admit right now that the interpretation regarding the character department can be rather subjective here. To me, while the recurring characters are really nice in terms of how they’re very well characterized to the point where we at least know what kind of people they are, the lack of deeper context in the series composition strikes again here. There isn’t much character work or development done in the series at all, and perhaps there was no need due to the nameless narrative being implemented. However, with nothing else to really give them more dimension, it’s really hard to find much to care about them and their objectives. As a result, their initially appealing traits can quickly grow dull. I’m pretty sure I’ve seen these kinds of characters in other series written far, far better. Sure, they were entertaining and all, but they came off as nothing more than a particularly rowdy group. I will admit, though, that the short-lived brotherly bonds between the Hoodlum and the Brawler guy was perhaps THE most wholesome thing I’ve seen from the show.

As for the Swindler’s case of character development in the latter half of the series, I found it very unimpressive. It felt like more of a convenient case of instant gratification for the mainstream viewers to immediately be smitten by the Swindler’s heel-turn, from a stereotypical protagonist complacent about her unintended involvement, to a headstrong and resolved, selfless heroine. Yes, it’s development for sure, as it comes off from her eventually being unable to determine what’s really right or wrong and wanting to take matters into her own hands. However, it still felt too abrupt, untimely, and perhaps a bit obsolete; I would honestly say it should’ve been given more focus and time. While some people may insist that her development was subtle and actually happened along the way, it’ll still go back the problem to her not getting much of a background along with the other Akudama members. Perhaps if the whole nameless narrative thing wasn’t in play, the character department would’ve had far better results.

In terms of my enjoyment level, I initially did enjoy Akudama Drive to a certain degree early on for its “dumb fun” and bombastic sequences, though I wasn’t really sold on a whole lot due to everything being given mostly at face value. The aesthetic experience was of course really nice throughout the series, especially during the well animated fight scenes. It was when the second half came along and reared its ugly head that my pleasure turned into bafflement. I was not sure whether I should continue turning my brain off or actually start thinking about whatever plot points were thrown at me. It was admittedly an infuriating sequence for me during that dreadful final stretch, trying to figure out what in the world did the show want to accomplish in the end beyond just mere schlock entertainment.

Akudama Drive flew out the gates with blades of glory, only to later on fall hard and flat on its face. With its lack of fleshed out context and deeper characterization to an otherwise gorgeous-looking world, it only does best as popcorn entertainment. If you’re the kind who is willing to roll with anything and everything regardless as long as you’re entertained, feel free to watch it, as I would still recommend it for those who want nothing but entertainment and can still appreciate the characters for who they are; I would still warn about the second half, of course, where even just pure enjoyment would get compromised by the incoming convolutions and silly twists that ruined the potential for an underrated modern classic.

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Dec 24, 2020

ACasualViewer

Recommended

Spoiler

Are you tired of boring Rom Com series with dense protagonists that never go anywhere? Would you rather quit anime altogether than watch another basic Shonen series? Do you enjoy high octane action driven series set in a well-developed gritty cyberpunk world? Well Akudama Drive is the right anime for you. Every moment is either action, world building, or characters explaining something important, not a moment is wasted in this breakneck paced show.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Story: 8

Imagine Suicide Squad the anime, throw in a futuristic world where crime rankings are a power level and authoritarian police that were implemented during some civil war and ...

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Dec 24, 2020

SingleH

Not Recommended

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 necks ... of 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.

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Cutthroat

Ordinary Person

Courier

Hacker

Brawler

Doctor

Hoodlum

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Akudama Drive

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Episode Videos

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Ending Theme

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