Gachiakuta

Episode 18

It's like that classic song says, “All the Raider kids with their pumped-up kicks/You better run, better run, outrun Riyo's gun.” I never understood that part of the chorus before, but I totally get it now. Man, it's crazy that Foster the People called out such a specific story development in a Japanese shonen manga that wouldn't even come out for, like, fifteen years.

I can't stress enough how wild it is that I haven't gotten sick of Gachiakuta's extended Cleaner vs Raiders arc, because I am usually well-and-truly ready to be done with all of the endless fighting within two or three episodes. Maybe it's because the show has really found its style and its momentum in the back half of this first season, or maybe it's because this storyline has done a good job of pacing out the battles and providing fresh spectacles with each of the character pairings we've seen so far. Either way, I'm still having a blast —though, certainly not as much of a blast as Riyo is having this week (pun very much intended).

Pitting Riyo against this Noerde gal already made for a great matchup from a thematic standpoint - the Bad Girl's got freaky hair powers, and Riyo's got a giant pair of scissors for a weapon. It just makes sense. From a visual sense, the ladies' character designs and neon-glow flair also give their scrap in the junk-filled dirt pit a bit of visual flair that the other battles have been lacking, which helps keep the proceedings from feeling too samey.

Don't think that Bones is resting on its laurels after the impressive cuts we got in recent episodes, either. Riyo and Noerde's fight is fast, fluid, beautiful, and brutal; it's easily my favorite fight of this arc so far, and one of the best extended action scenes we've seen from Gachiakuta's entire run. I'm also a sucker for the poppy screamo that scores the battle. The more any given anime resembled a punk AMV from the early 2000s that I could have proudly affixed to my edgelord MySpace profile, the happier I am.

Of course, the biggest twist of the episode comes when Riyo interrupts her big, climactic moment with Noerde by pulling out a gun and sending two shots straight to the woman's chest. It isn't just a matter of the moment being a darkly funny, Indiana-Jones-esque twist on the usual battle formula. The show makes it clear that Riyo is no stranger to murder. This weapon isn't some magically modified Vital Instrument that shoots concussive waves or whatever. It's just a gun. When Riyo completely ventilates Noerde and Jabber, it isn't clear that both of them are straight-up dead, but we can see the empty, casual way that Riyo sees her own violence, and it's chilling stuff.

Even with Riyo being on Enjin's “No-Kill” leash, this climax puts Riyo's entire character in an entirely different and more dangerous light, which I absolutely love. It's Gachiakuta's capacity to surprise by elevating otherwise standard story beats and characters that have made it such a delight this season. I'm absolutely game to have a somewhat deranged professional killer on the team, even if I know it will probably just make Rudo's life even messier than it already is.

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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.