Gachiakuta Season 1 Review: A Masterpiece?

Published on September 6, 2025

---

Gachiakuta's anime which was released on July 6, 2025 is probably the standout anime for me at least for the Summer anime season. The series features a one of a kind art style and high energy gritty fighting scenes that has already hooked Shonen fans.

Season 1 Review

The series hasn't lived up to its massive release hype. Before the season was released, the studio (studio Bones) promoted the series with striking visual images and hyped up trailers but when the series did release, the praise was somewhat lacking. However, with 24 episodes this is surely set to change. Gachiakuta has a dark theme and can be very humorous at times, mixed with emotional, heart pacing scenes, especially the beginning which sets up the season perfectly. The first episodes titled "the sphere" has a good pacing. It introduced the back story of the world, the concept of the pit and the division between the wealthy and the poor, all in one episode. Even though all this was introduced in one episode, it felt boring unlike the manga however the ending of the first episode is where things really started to kick off. When Rudo gets thrown off the sphere and lands in a deserted trash heap and finally meets the Cleaners, this to me is where the show gets interesting. We see the power of Rudo and the cleaners which is an organization on the ground who's job is mainly to destroy trash beasts. Their organization feels like a close knit family and are always well prepared for any outside attack. Since episode 2 started, it feels like the series is just getting better and better, and as the story goes on you feel more connected with the characters especially Enjin, who is this bad ass fighter who is also like Rudo (Givers). We see him at the start of season 2 when he helps Rudo fight off a trash beast.

The Animation

The animation in this season feels good and bad at the same time. The characters asymmetrical shape looks good, it separates this anime from others with its specific art style. The animation itself does feel like AI at times, like when the trash beasts first appeared. This animation can be overwhelming at times especially being 3D after most the episode was 2D, but as the story went on i eventually got over it. But all in all i think the animation studio outdid themselves and i think the series deserves much more praise than it's gotten so far.

Its clear to see that the studio wanted this series to really be something amazing, we can see this in the animation details and the camera angles that were used which felt like a cinema level production, but with more than 15 episode left, I'm sure people will get more addicted to the series and Shonen fans will find their footing in the world of Gachiakuta.

Gachiakuta follows Rudo, a young boy living in the slums of a floating city high up in the sky where the wealthy elite discard their trash which includes exiled criminals, into a massive dump called "The Pit." Despising the upper class's wastefulness, the protagonist named Rudo scavenges for valuables, but his life unravels when he’s falsely accused of murdering his foster father, Regto, and is thrown into The Pit. So instead of dying, Rudo discovers he’s on the surface which is a trash-filled wasteland teeming with monstrous trash beasts, although he is then rescued by Enjin, a member of the Cleaners, who use "vital instruments" to fight these creatures. Learning he’s a "Giver" with the power to imbue objects with life through his gloves, Rudo joins the Cleaners, driven by a quest for vengeance to go against those who framed him and to uncover the truth behind his foster father’s death.