Gachiakuta

Episode 4

Now that Rudo has been more-or-less officially recruited as a new Cleaner, he needs to meet the real “boss” of the operations. Since the boss is MiA at the beginning of “Cleaner HQ,” this becomes a perfect opportunity for our hero to get the best kind of education possible: Hands-on experience in the field with Riyo. For Rudo, this means getting to hang out with a cute girl who probably won't reject and betray him at a moment's notice, like Chiwa did back in the premiere. For us viewers, this is Gachiakuta's chance to demonstrate what our weekly adventures with the Cleaner Crew will be after all of the setup and infodumping is (mostly) out of the way. I think that's a win-win, overall.

So, what do the Cleaners do on their jobs? As you might expect, they explore the polluted zones of the wastelands and use their vital instruments to beat up Trash Beasts. This is where the video-game influences of Gachiakuta's storytelling shine through the most, since the whole structure of this story - and, to a larger extent, the show's first batch of episodes - could translate almost seamlessly to the opening hours of a typical JRPG. We had our lengthy intro cutscenes, which were followed by a tutorial battle with the big trash beasts and the super-powerful mentor NPC who does most of the fighting. We've just wrapped up with the next batch of cutscenes and exploration segments that introduce the party members and maybe let you walk around the home base a bit. Now, Rudo and Riyo are out on the first real quest of the story, which is predictably one that starts with taking on a handful of animalistic mob enemies that shouldn't pose much of a threat to anyone.

This isn't exactly a criticism of Gachiakuta, mind you; just an observation. I'm a JRPG junkie, so I can appreciate the coziness of these familiar tropes when they are at least given a somewhat novel twist with the story's setting and art style. If Rudo were out there using his RPG Stat Menu to beat up slimes or goblins, I would be much less forgiving of such a tired structure. However, this grimy dump of a world is a much more interesting setting to live in than your average circular European fantasy town. The same principle applies to the cool metal monstrosities that our gang has to take down and the unique powers that each of the Cleaners uses. Riyo has giant death-scissors, but she uses her feet to slice the trash beasts to pieces. Sometimes, a tiny twist on convention is all it takes to stand out from the crowd.

That said, don't go into “Cleaner HQ” expecting anything more than a slightly more creative than usual variation on the typical first-mission story that we've got. Rudo is told that he's going to see Riyo in action and learn a bit more about the Cleaner's routine, and that is exactly what we get. The art and animation are still good enough to make it decently entertaining, even if the perspective can get a little wonky for some of the more dynamic shots. Riyo is also enough of a sexy badass that I'm not going to complain about getting to watch her kill monsters for ten minutes. Like so many anime and video games that preceded Gachiakuta, the great stuff usually takes a while to get cooking. We'll have to see what this particular show has in store for us as we get to know its characters and story even better in future episodes.

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

Gachiakuta is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.