Akudama Drive

BlackCatLef Dec 24, 2020

5

3S Review no.10 (short, simple and salty/sweet/spicy) From the king of awful fillers studio, came one of the most popular anime of the season. You see, this season wasn’t really good for anime, so some shows get more attention than they deserve. That explains why Akudama drive is like in the top 5 anime of the season. But it’s not just that, the show does have some virtues of its own. Most importantly, being honest with itself and the audience, it doesn’t try to be anything that it can’t be (or at least it didn’t initially). So it ends up having some entertainment value. So here’s the story, without spoiling anything. Someone is assembling the most dangerous Akudama (akudama is the term for criminals) to do a job. Five legit highly wanted criminals, a notorious courier, a brawler, a doctor, a hacker and a throat-cutter. Two more get involved accidentally, an innocent young lady and a low life hustler, both just play along since they got in that mess of a situation. Soon you’ll get to see who hired them and what is his goal, as well as (eventually) find out the truth behind the divided world they live in. Pacing of the show is great in the early episodes, stuff happen keeping you engaged and nothing gets dragged on for no reason. There is killing, a lot of it, action, high stakes, backstabbing, sneaking in, running away, lots of entertaining stuff. And that’s the whole thing, the show just tries to entertain you in a let’s say...tarantinoesque way. Although ultimately, the story is pure garbage. Its a mess, stuff happen just to happen, plot holes like the uprising of people (twice, yes, the people do revolt TWICE in this show) doesn’t make much sense. For what it’s worth it does have a beginning and an end, but that ain’t enough. Especially when you reach the 11th episode, you gonna need some hard drugs or strong liquor to keep up with the nonsense. The story does not make any sense, no matter how hard you try to make it make some, when you finally learn the truth about the world and the...lets say objective the lets say…enemy has, it still makes no sense. In the end everything falls flat. I could be way more specific about that but not without major spoilers. Supposedly there are some messages to be found, some themes, like who is actually considered a criminal, what is just or unjust and bunch of crap like that are definately not explored decently at all. Characters ain’t much either, they are just there to be entertaining, there are some interesting moments here and there about their actions, but nothing special. They are schizophrenic, obsessed with their own thing, whether it is hacking, delivering, fighting or cutting throats. And that’s all they are, their actions are defined by that single trait. Even the heroine who is not a criminal, she is just defined by being kind, even tries to find kindness in serial killers and that’s that. You can say there is some development i guess if you are really lenient, but not really. Sound is good, I believe it’s the composer’s first work about an anime and he does a fine job. Music fits the tone of the show very well. The opening is very good, not your typical opening but still I liked it a lot. Voice acting is good, with Cutthroat’s, Doctor’s and the Executioner’s being very good. Here is the juice of the show though, the presentation. Its all about presentation. Its all about style. I really like the animation and art style, even the cgi is ok. And I respect the studio’s (unexpectedly) wise decision to use cg backgrounds so the rest of the animation is given more attention and time/budget allocation. That being said, the backgrounds ain’t half bad either for what they are. The art style manages to portray the city and the characters really well. I love the transitions of the show from a scene to another (not every scene but you’ll know what I mean when you see it) and some other little details. Like when they fight in a hotel and the lighting of the room changes to fit the mood, or when a sign that reads “Geisha De Maiko grant suite”, a couple of killings later malfunctions and reads “G----- – ----o r-- ----e”. I wish there were more of those details, but I’ll get what I can. Infodumping in this show is handled well, by being handled terribly. Little interludes occur with two cardboard puppets, like a kid’s show and explain what the lore of the world and how things work. It’s what I said before about the show not trying to be something it can’t. It skips all the headache of giving us info through proper storytelling, and just infodumps it in our face, it does it with style and it’s saving time so we can get back into the action. The titles of the episodes is also a nice touch with their popular references. So, is it worth a watch? Meh, not really although it does hold some entertainment value, certainly there are shows that do what it does better. How is it entertaining though when the story and the characters are so crap? The answer is very simple friends, it’s action packed, has nice presentation and great pace (early on at least). And that’s enough to make it entertaining. Who knew people settle for so little huh? It’s not for everyone’s taste, it’s not my cup of tea either and certainly its not amazing. But by not trying do much, it at least succeeds at doing the few. Keep you engaged and entertained by the action it presents for at least a couple of episodes. Then story goes really south and the bullshit writing kind of becomes unbearable. So, you can check it out a bit just for the presentation I guess, but I wouldn’t recommend anyone to actually watch it as a decent show.

kyozaii Dec 27, 2020

4

This anime was... super entertaining, but it isn't stable and consistent when you think about the storyline/plot. I mean, it depends on how you look at it and what exactly is considered a 'good' plot for you. They did a good job keeping you entertained from the get-go, however, a few plotholes emerged along the way.  *slight spoiler* They ended up introducing quantum computers, which I expected, but they didn't go into detail with anything, as with the rest of the show. They talked about several things yet never truly explained how or why. I do like the fact they kinda painted the executioners in a negative light while the akudama was kinda seen as the 'good' guys. It makes you think about the system we live in, what's right and wrong, how we humans can easily believe anything we see in the media, and how easy it is to change our minds about things we once believed in. The characters were pretty much the stereotypical ones we always see, not much personality was given to them. And their time was very short-lived so there was no room for development. However, the last scene with courier was a bit emotional, which is surprising, considering the fact I had no emotional attachment to any of them since they were rather bland. Overall, if you want something entertaining to watch, this is your show, however, don't expect too much out of it.. story-wise.

ThatAnimeSnob Dec 28, 2020

6.5

Akudama Drive is something that, up until the midpoint, is nothing more than mindless action and a pretty looking steampunk setting. As someone who is sick and tired of highschools and pretentious themes about supposed deep characters, I was fully into it. There is no depth to the cast to the point they don’t even have actual names, and the plot is a very straightforward heist mission. It was of the same vein as Black Lagoon and Hellsing Ultimate. You just shut off your brain and you enjoy the mix of rule of cool and comedy based on misunderstandings. Then the second half began and said, yeah, enough with that, time to add nonstop twists, revelations, and drama. Usually that spells doom for a show, since the transition from what it began as to something different can be alienating. In this case it worked in its favor because the bar was low to begin with and by adding extra stuff without losing the previous ones it became something more instead of something entirely different. Meaning, it didn’t lose the rule of cool and comedy bits, it added more stuff atop of that without bloating the whole… because there wasn’t much to bloat; it was a simple mindless action show.So yeah, the premise is about a bunch of mass-murdering psychopaths forming a team against their will (although it doesn’t matter since they would do it anyways, just for the fun or the money). They are then tasked to steal the cargo of a super secure train with one of them being a typical girl who through a series of very convenient and unlucky circumstances ends up having to constantly lie as means to not be killed, like pretty much any other civilian who is standing in their way. Did I mention they are mass-murdering psychopaths? Life has no value to them. So, the seven of them use their hax abilities and one-note character traits for steamrolling or bullshiting everything in their way until they get to the cargo, midpoint through the series. And then the real fun begins, as they lose their plot armor and reveal different aspects of themselves, which were unseen up until then. In storytelling we call that fleshing out. We definitely do not call it character development, because adding more stuff is not development. From that point onward the setting and the character relations become far more multilayered and fun to follow, while still being the dumb action flick it began as.And no, I am not saying that made the show amazing, since it is still quite silly to the most part. There are still lots of elements that can make the show unlikable.-The fight scenes never follow the laws for physics. You will see a spiderman motorcycle that flies around however it suits the plot, and since it’s supposed to be technology instead of magic, it can be quite jarring. -The characters never get any actual names. They are just a character class. It was stupid in Goblin Slayer, it’s stupid here as well. -As much as I liked the world building and the twists, the pacing is too fast to let you delve into them for long. Everything comes and goes too fast for having any impact other than the viewer learning about more stuff. -The logic that the population of the city is following is all over the place. First they revolt but stop once most of the protesters are killed. And then they revolt even more when a single civilian gets killed. -And we never learn why those puppet thingies were occasionally trying to reveal the truth although they were supporting the establishment.So yeah, the best for enjoying the show is to never take it seriously. It is a dumb rule of cool anime that gets more mysterious and dramatic as it goes on. It’s not A tier material, but it certainly achieves more than most hyped up mediocrities and for that reason it ended up being my personal most enjoyable anime of 2020.