Gachiakuta

Episode 24

What a wonderful surprise Gachiakuta has turned out to be. While the premiere was undeniably excellent, it took a little while for the show to truly find its footing, as busy as it was with laying all the groundwork needed to invest in this setting and its characters. Once we hit the arc in Amo's Tower, though, Gachiakuta embarked on an essentially non-stop run of pure shonen excellence. The action has been great, sure, but more importantly is how much the show has convinced us to truly care about its characters and their journeys. The show about the stinky little trashboy who flings poop at his mentors and smiles with all of the grace of a meth-fiend baboon has proven to have a shockingly deep and nuanced emotional core.

Case in point is this series finale, which once again opts to abandon any pretense of thrills or spectacle to send our hero out on another quest to simply learn how to be a better person. Zanka can tell that Rudo is still obsessed with taking revenge for Amo's abduction, but he also knows that Rudo has yet to master the fine art of “Having a functional and healthy conversation with a girl.” So, the final mission of the season is a simple one: Take a field trip with Remlin and Guita to Canvas Town. Oh, and Dear is here, too, I guess.

At the beginning of the season, where all of his pent up shame and rage over being literally thrown in the trash by the only home he'd ever known had turned him into an almost feral gremlin of a boy. It wasn't long before the Cleaners took him in and helped him find himself again, but Rudo still spent the vast majority of the season staying quiet and lurking in the background until his presence was needed. The last time he took it upon himself to step up to the forefront and really let a girl know how he felt, it ended up with the horrible beating of Amo and her subsequent disappearance, which Rudo is still wracked with guilt over. So, right away, we can see how much Rudo has grown since those early days when he approaches Remlin and actually has a conversation with them. Granted, the conversation starts with Rudo literally screaming, “I HAVE NEVER DRAWN A DECENT PICTURE IN MY LIFE!” before awkwardly requesting to check out Remlin's art in Canvas Town and get some art tips, but hey. Baby steps, am I right?

The actual field trip is pretty cute, with Rudo taking full responsibility for protecting the other kids. It is also, of course, a bit of a ruse on the Cleaner's part, as Corvus happened to predict that the Hell Guard would be on their way to scope out the living Sphereite that has been hiding out at the base. The Hell Guard's leader is Kyouka Nijuku a bad bitch with a badass haircut who I'm sure we'll be seeing more of later. Between them, the reappearance of Fu (the most pathetic of the Raiders), and the big tease about Rudo's family connection to the ancient Undertaker Canis Surbrec, we've got plenty of fun breadcrumbs to nibble on while we wait for the just-announced Season 2.

Really, though, this finale is about having one last fun hangout with the goofiest goons in the trash-heap, and it succeeds with aplomb. You can tell that Studio Bones is having a hell of a time animating all of this silliness, especially when, at a certain point, the episode devolves into a non-stop parade of ridiculous faces and comically overanimated idiocy. When a creeper tries to take advantage of Rudo's unhinged cravings for candy, we even get a decadently animated kick to the nuts that is captured from several angles, sparing no expense in capturing Rudo's decimation of an entire family line. It may even rival the climactic nut-shot of Chainsaw Man. This isn't the only comparison I could make to one of this generation's finest ongoing manga, but it is probably the most appropriate one. I am incredibly happy to have covered Gachiakuta this season, and I cannot wait to dive back into the bottom of the garbage can with Rudo in the crew when the show returns.

Rating:

Gachiakuta is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

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