Gachiakuta

Episode 10

Remlin might be a contender for my favorite supporting character in Gachiakuta simply because of the great snarky lines they get. When Enjin and the others are trying to figure out just how in the hell their Giver powers even work, since they can apparently transform their Vital Instrument from a paintbrush to a tattoo gun on a whim, Remlin's only explanation is, “Bro, you're thinking way too hard.” Just like with the magic itself, Remlin's relationship with the Instrument is completely vibes-based and seems to function based on whatever the current Artists thinks would be the coolest thing to do in the moment. This approach to the overall nature of power scaling and magical rules in Gachiakuta is a direction I can get behind. I don't need several collective hours devoted to explaining the ranking tiers and class rules of every single character's abilities. Just stick to a basic but consistent logic that keeps the fights feeling interesting and fresh. Oh, and don't forget to make them cool.

Granted, I totally understand that the reason so many battle manga fall back on labyrinthine and overcooked rules and power interaction systems is because the authors are trying to establish that consistent logic, but I've always thought that emotional logic is much more important in cinematic action compared to mechanical logic. If anything, relying too much on mechanics just leads to endless scenes of inner-monologuing and exposition dumping to get the readers and viewers up to speed with what is going on in the author's head. When done right, Gachiakuta's approach lets the story avoid all of those headaches and simply indulge in the spectacle.

Take the fight at the center of this episode, for instance. Rudo is an official member of the Cleaners now, and the team has been outfitted with their magical henna tattoo wards and their gnarly Hot-Topic-approved breather masks. This means everyone is good to go out into the Penta desert and fight a giant scorpion Trash Beast on their way to find the mysterious girl they've been tasked to track down. It's a fun fight precisely because the show doesn't need to bother with explaining how anyone's powers are working at this point. Riyo gets to mess the bug up with her big ol' scissors; Zanka whacks the thing with his big stick but good; and Rudo gets to play around with the unique properties of whatever trash he decides to weaponize in the moment, which in this case is an old keyboard that he uses to burn the characters for “ASSHOLE” right into the Trash Beast's carapace. It seems like Gachiakuta is even poking a little fun at the anime that gets too lost in the weeds with the technical mambo-jumbo when Tomme gets chastised for filling out her bestiary right in the middle of a fight. Good times.

Of course, with the pacing that Gachiakuta has been working with, all of this ends up merely being the prelude to the real conflict that the crew is going to have with this new girl. All we really know about her is that she doesn't wear pants, she has a Goth Girl Palace filled with spooky puppets, and she can apparently turn the brains of her enemies into mush. She's exactly what you'd expect from a Gachiakuta villain, in other words, and I'm looking forward to how Rudo and Co. will manage to free themselves from her clutches as the first half of the season reaches its climax.

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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.