Why all eyes are on ‘Gachiakuta’
Leading up to Anime Expo 2024, there was a mysterious announcement that BONES—the beloved studio behind My Hero Academia, Mob Psycho 100, and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood—would announce a new project with Kodansha. There was even a whole panel dedicated to it, called simply “BONES x Kodansha New Project.”
Speculation on social media swirled about. But once they got to Anime Expo, attendees realized there was also a booth in the exhibitor hall dedicated to this project. It was pretty obvious what it was going to be: Kei Urana’s Gachiakuta.
If two major players in the anime and manga industry wanted to make such a big deal out of this announcement at a huge venue like Anime Expo, Gachiakuta must be a big fish.
What is Gachiakuta?
Kei Urana’s Gachiakuta is serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine, the same publication as Blue Lock. which is basically Kodansha’s version of Weekly Shonen Jump (the one that has One Piece, Jujutsu Kaisen, etc). Gachiakuta also features graffiti designs by artist Hideyoshi Andou.
Which clues you into a key distinguishing feature of Gachiakuta: it’s incredibly hip and incredibly gritty. The art style is even kind of … cute, in a strange way? It’s the tale of Rudo, who lives in the slums of a city in the sky where the rich simply toss their trash onto the poor living below. (There are actual places where this happens in real life, by the way.)
One day, Rudo is falsely accused of a crime and is exiled off the edge of the town, into “Hell”—meaning, Earth, which has become a monster-infested hellscape populated by ruthless outcasts. Quite the hook!
Here’s the most interesting thing about this whole announcement—Gachiakuta is an incredibly new series. It kicked off in February 2022, and an English version has only been in official circulation since March 2023. But with over 100 chapters by the time of the announcement, there’s definitely enough manga to adapt.
Who and when??
Gachiakuta will be helmed by Studio Bones, who are simply one of the best in the business. They’re behind such hits as My Hero Academia, Mob Psycho 100, and Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood. They also got in some sci-fi in earlier this year with Metallic Rouge.
Fumihiko Suganuma, the co-director of wonderful absurdist romp Train to the End of the World, is set to direct. The screenwriter is Hiroshi Seiko, who also wrote the script for such bonafide hits as Chainsaw Man, Mob Psycho 100, Jujutsu Kaisen, and Attack on Titan. When I saw him at a panel at Anime Expo 2022, he was wearing a Twin Peaks t-shirt, so I think of him fondly as “Twin Peaks guy.”
Gachiakuta‘s voice cast has yet to be announced. The show is still somewhat far off, after all—it’s slated to premiere sometime in 2025.
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