Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
I have a renewed admiration for the artwork in ‘Gachiakuta’, especially since episode 9 was packed with graffiti and it makes the viewer notice the sheer amount of work animators have poured into the background designs. The edgy sketchbook style of this anime is always refreshing to watch from the other glossier stuff (although, I do love glossy animation too).
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Titled ‘The City of Graffiti’, episode 9 kicks off with a rare scene of protagonist Rudo washing his beloved gloves, exposing his scarred hands to the audience. The primary focus of the chapter is on Rudo, Enjin and a small crew of cleaners visiting ‘Canvas Town’, to meet Gob, an artist and spellcaster, to help them with their next mission.
But before that, we discover something creepy-cool about the neckbands the Cleaners wear as part of their uniform. I won’t spoil it here (especially if you haven’t read the original Gachiakuta manga by Kei Urana), but let’s just say it adds an extra layer of power to their bond.
What’s the next mission? To meet the woman who lives in “No Man’s Land” and might know how to get back to the sphere. Unfortunately, the Cleaners are met with tragic news in Canvas Town. So, the episode ends up being a mixed bag: it nearly makes you cry for a character you barely know, then flips the mood into a vivid celebration of art.
Canvas Town is chaos and creativity rolled into one, its streets are laden with artists painting nonstop, and walls exploding with graffiti. The animation for the chapter is absolute chef’s kiss. The episode also introduces a new character, Remlin Tysark, a young artist who first appears as a sniffling mess but soon pulls themselves together and surprises everyone with an energetic enthusiasm for making art.
Titled ‘Penta: The Desert No Man’s Land’, episode 10 of Gachiakuta opens with a light-hearted sequence of Remlin talking about art. Although Enjin has a hilariously hard time understanding anything! It could also be the generational gap. He he.
“Trust me it’s not worth it. If you try to go too deep into conversation with an artist, you’ll just end up more confused.” The mayor of Canvas Town warns Enjin when he gets worked up over Remlin’s ramblings about how each artist is unique. It’s definitely my favorite dialogue from these two episodes of Gachiakuta.
Anyway, after Rudo and crew finish their spell-casting work in town, they finally head to the feared No Man’s Land to gather intel on the Sphere. They also make a quick-stop at the Cleaner HQ to pick up Rudo’s new custom-made mask, which looks pretty rad.
Like most pockets of the ground, the ‘no man’s land’ is super dusty, thick with toxic air, piled high with endless heaps of trash, and crawling with giant trash monsters. Which means: it’s battle time!
The crew who accompany Rudo are Enjin, Riyo, Zanka, Delmon, Tamsy, Gris, Follo, and Tomme, which means we get tonnes of cool sequences of these cleaners fighting monsters. Actually… this edition only shows Enjin, Riyo and Zanka using their weapons to fight off the garbage-turned-villains. But well, they’re also the coolest, so that’s more than enough entertainment.
Overall, these episodes of Gachiakuta are fast-paced, with great gritty background music, and the animators are pulling their best-foot forward to bring Kei Urana’s imaginative dystopian world to life. Episode 10 closes on an ominous cliffhanger, leaving viewers eager to see if this mission takes a dark turn in the next chapter.
Watch Gachiakuta on Crunchyroll.
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