Gachiakuta

Episode 16

Sometimes, an episode of an anime will offer massive plot developments, moving character portraits, and deep explorations into nuanced themes. Other times, it will simply spend twenty or so minutes delivering pure, uncomplicated fun. This week's episode of Gachiakuta is a hell of a lot of fun, plain and simple. As the Cleaners and the Raiders continue their underground brawl, Studio Bones gets to show off their talent of crafting exciting and visually resplendent spectacle.

At least, that's where we eventually get. In typical shonen-action fashion, Gachiakuta has to play catch-up on some of the disparate fights that have only just gotten started. This week, we're introduced to Bro and Dear, the latter being the ten-year-old kid rocking the pacifier, who are squaring off against Bundus the cowboy Raider. It's not a bad segment of the story to sit with for the first half of the episode, but it's much more focused on the trio's tense banter and some tidbits of lore that get tossed out every couple of minutes. I'm sure all the talk about Corvus' secrets and the taming of Trash Beasts will pay off eventually, but it's all just breadcrumbs for us to follow as of yet.

The real draw of “Gifted and Not” is obviously Zanka's rematch with Jabber. There's more at stake on an emotional level, for one, since these two have a history that the audience has gotten to actively engage in. We want to see Zanka wipe the smirk off of Jabber's face (and in a way that isn't just going to make Jabber, you know, even more murder-horny than he already is). We also cross-cut back to Rudo's part of the story, which is where the crux of the audience's investment lies, so the sequence never gets toodistracted from the story at hand. This Zodyl guy is continuing to get inside of Rudo's head, and I'm eager to see where all of his evil monologuing ends up by the time this arc has wrapped up.

More than any highfalutin' emotional details, though, this part of the episode benefits the most from kicking supreme ass. Once again, I have to applaud Gachiakuta for understanding the simple but powerful effect that a late title-card drop can provide, especially after Zanka's endearing monologue about the annoyances of dealing with people who are naturally talented and know it. The crew at Bones is clearly having a great time animating Jabber and his obscenely giant claws, and fights like these are always elevated when the animation serves the characterization as much as the choreography. The choreography is great, too, mind you. The fight makes up for the relatively boring environment by taking advantage of the open space. Zanka can vault and twirl around with his patented Big Stick™ while Jabber's bloodthirsty menace is amplified by the fantastic storyboarding.

For a testament to how much Gachiakuta has done to excel within the genre conventions as of late, consider that I was on the edge of my seat the moment the credits started to roll. Usually, I have a hard time getting truly invested in the outcomes of individual battles with supporting characters in series like this because I'm either too aware of the typical patterns of fake-outs and revivals or I simply don't care enough about the cast. Here, though, even knowing that Zanka probably isn't dead, I'm still feeling the suspense that this episode worked so hard to draw out. I need our Big Stick™ Boy to get back on his feet and smash the grin off of Jabber's face for good.

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.