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 my opinion, 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.
