Gachiakuta

Living in the slums of a wealthy town, Rudo and his foster father Regto try to coexist with the rest of the town's residents, but Rudo despises the wastefulness of the upper class. Ignoring the warnings from those around him, Rudo regularly rummages through the town's garbage in search of anything useful or valuable to save from the "Abyss"—a massive hole where anything considered trash is dumped, including people. Rudo's biological father was one such person, having been thrown into the Abyss after he was accused of murder.

One day, after running into a mysterious figure on the way home, Rudo returns to find Regto's dying body on the floor. He is immediately found at the scene by the authorities and is charged with murder. No one believes his claims of innocence, and he is thrown into the Abyss. Instead of dying, however, he finds himself in a strange, foul-smelling place surrounded by monsters made out of trash.

When Rudo is attacked by said monsters, he is saved by a man named Enjin, who reveals himself to be a "Cleaner"—someone who uses special weapons called Vital Instruments to combat these creatures. In order to get his revenge on the one who killed Regto, Rudo reluctantly becomes a Cleaner to fight his way back up and out of the Abyss.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Surebrec, Rudo Main

Ichikawa, Aoi Japanese

Enjin Supporting

Konishi, Katsuyuki Japanese

Reaper, Riyou Supporting

Hanamori, Yumiri Japanese

Nijiku, Zanka Supporting

Matsuoka, Yoshitsugu Japanese

Wongar, Jabber Supporting

Shin, Yuuki Japanese

Tunito, Follo Supporting

Ura, Kazuki Japanese

Grier, Semiu Supporting

Sonozaki, Mie Japanese

Regto Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Chiwa Supporting

Itou, Miku Japanese

Rubion, Gris Supporting

Hino, Satoshi Japanese

Amano, Naoki Producer

Tanaka, Wataru Producer

Tagai, Isao Producer

Ogo, Hirotsugu Producer

Reviews

Jul 28, 2025

Lord_shadow11

Recommended

Preliminary (3/24 eps)

Three episodes in and it’s already a favorite. Not because it’s revolutionary, but because it knows exactly what it wants to be: loud, stylish, gritty, and insanely fun.

Visually, it goes hard. The art style screams Fire Force (unsurprisingly, same artist roots), but it adds its own raw, trashcore vibe that perfectly fits the world. Every frame pops with energy, the animation is fluid, the designs are sharp, and the camera work during action scenes? Clean and intense.

But what really hits is the vibe. It’s got that dark, cursed-world tension à la Jujutsu Kaisen, mixed with absurd humor and chaotic pacing that somehow works perfectly. One ... second you’re tense, the next you’re laughing at some offbeat moment and that contrast keeps the whole thing fresh.

If you liked Solo Leveling, this might just be the next big thing for you. It’s not trying to reinvent the genre, it’s just doing everything right. The worldbuilding is intriguing, the main character is raw and full of potential, and the whole setting feels like it’s ready to explode into something huge.

I don’t have a favorite character yet, but the tone, the style, and the attitude are more than enough to keep me hooked.

In short: Gachiakuta is that new-gen shonen that slaps. Stylish, gritty, and chaotic in all the right ways. Don’t sleep on it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jul 27, 2025

notacanadian

Recommended

Preliminary (3/24 eps)

That's right folks, the anime about trash cleaning is, in fact, NOT trash!! 🤯🤯

Gachiakuta is a shonen action anime based on the 2022 manga of the same name by Kei Urana. It follows the story of outcast Rudo Surebrec, the adopted son of Regto, who is suddenly accused of a crime he didn't commit. After being sentenced to death as the prime suspect of his father's murder, Rudo is sentenced to death by the "Abyss," a large hole where citizens throw unwanted items or trash to never be seen again. Fueled by rage, Rudo swears to get revenge on his father's killer when he discovers ... the Abyss to be a strange, dangerous land filled with trash and monsters. There, Rudo meets Enjin, a "cleaner" in the Abyss who recruits him to become a cleaner. With his newfound status, Rudo prepares to fight danger, meet friend or foe, and most of all, find his way out of the Abyss to get revenge on Regto's killer.

As a reader and fan of the Gachiakuta manga, I will admit that I have my own personal biases for this anime. However, I can NOT stress enough how amazing this show has been so far. The animation, done by the team at Studio Bones, has been great with a solid mix between 2D and CG work. The animation quality complements Kei Urana's unique and unmatched art style flawlessly to create an enjoyable visual experience.

Beyond just the animation, the anime adaptation has an exceptional soundtrack by Taku Iwasaki. The soundtrack is extremely reminiscent of the music in anime like Noragami or Bungou Stray Dogs but with its own unique crazed twist that suits Gachiakuta amazingly.

Of course, when reviewing any anime, the story can not be ignored. The first episode starts with an amazing hook, setting up Rudo's background well enough in the 20 minutes allotted for each episode to understand his main goal for the rest of the series. Most revenge stories aren't exactly known for being calm and peaceful (looking at you, Redo of Healer), and Gachiakuta is no exception to that. The anime makes it clear both visually and audibly that Gachiakuta is not at all a "relaxing" anime and prepares viewers for this realization within the last few minutes of episode 1 and throughout the ending credits. The anime also paces itself well so that the episodes don't feel long and leave you wanting more by the end of every 23 minutes.

Being only 3 episodes in, it's fairly hard to find much to complain about at this stage of Gachiakuta. The only issues I could imagine are some possibly feeling disappointed that the animation isn't on the level of Jujutsu Kaisen or a KyoAni work, personal problems with how Rudo and others act, or a general lack of interest in the plot. Personally, the show's positives outweigh the negatives by a lot, although it could vary depending on the viewer and their tastes.

Overall, Gachiakuta has been a remarkable adaptation of one of the most punk-esque manga in recent years. The initial edginess of the show may not be for everyone, but the animation, music, and pacing helps it stand out and makes it a must-watch from the stacked Summer 2025 season. So far, I'll give Gachiakuta a 9/10 and see where this show goes over the next 24 episodes.

Wait, I just realized... this anime is just cleaning propaganda! Wow, propaganda is getting advanced nowadays... imagine if I started CLEANING after watching this anime! Ha, no chance. You know what they say, old habits die hard!! ✌️🤣

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 28, 2025

PaPaJohny

Not Recommended

Preliminary (3/24 eps)

Despite garnering a modest wave of anticipation from its existing manga readership, Gachiakuta found itself airing in unfortunate proximity to Dandadan season two, an anime juggernaut that swiftly captured the attention of the action genre’s entire demographic. With Dandadan monopolizing both viewer enthusiasm and critical discourse, Gachiakuta was struggling to carve out even a fleeting moment of relevance.

Even in the absence of such formidable competition, however, Gachiakuta would likely have encountered significant difficulty distinguishing itself. At its core, it is an unabashedly traditional shōnen series, reminiscent of Black Clover or Fairy Tail. It offers very little in terms of innovation and it’s certainly not refreshing ... when it smells like feces. The narrative is less a cohesive story than a chaotic string of combat sequences and shouted exposition, revolving teenagers doing silly emotes every few seconds. It is not crafted for viewers seeking narrative sophistication or thematic substance. Rather, it caters unabashedly to the action meatheads, who are content to be fed a steady diet of kinetic chaos and recycled tropes.

The above paragraph is just a polite way of saying the show is dumb. While its presentation attempts to evoke a darker, more mature atmosphere, its execution is clumsy. It has a city that is divided into the rich side and the poor side. If this was an attempt to have social commentary, it’s not supposed to stop at that, it needs to make some sort of in-story sense. How does the wealthy class sustain itself? Who supplies their goods and services? How do the poor acquire food or shelter in a system that denies them the means to labor, trade, or even scavenge? No answers are offered. It’s done with magic.

Gachiakuta further undermines itself through excessive exposition. In classic shōnen fashion, characters frequently explain aloud what is already plainly visible onscreen, just so you won’t have to actually look at the screen. It’s very awkward when you know the characters are talking about things they know about, just so the audience can get the basics in an artificial way. Why bother to show it when you can say it, right? It’s not like these characters who emote as if they are sitting on a bicycle without a seat are worth staring at.

The show’s carelessness with its own internal consistency is best exemplified by its treatment of the relationship between the city’s social classes. The wealthy elite inexplicably tolerate the physical proximity of the impoverished masses, whose squalor pollutes their environment, despite the rich having no apparent economic, social, or logistical need for them. The poor neither produce goods nor offer labor; they are not even permitted to collect refuse, despite the rich possessing an apparently inexhaustible supply of disposable resources. Even the most rudimentary solution, a waste-for-labor exchange system, wherein the poor are allowed to recycle refuse in return for basic sustenance, would have lent the setting a modicum of plausibility. No symbiosis exists, no plausible incentive justifies their cohabitation, and no explanation is provided as to why the affluent don’t simply exile the underclass entirely. Instead, the elite wait for crimes to occur in order to selectively punish a few. It’s ineffectual and collapses under the slightest scrutiny.

Another example is how the poor wear the same type of clothes as the rich. Logic suggests the rich should have opulent garments clothes, while the poor would walk around in tattered rags. So why are they all wearing the same fancy clothes? How do they even acquire those clothes? It’s certainly not from the trash of the rich, so where do they get them from? You never get an answer because the show is dumb.

The obvious meta- explanation is because the protagonist needs to look cool. Who would like a shonen hero who wears rags? It doesn’t matter if has no in-series logic, the same way ninjas in Naruto should not be wearing bright-colored overalls. It’s the spectacle that comes first. And even then Gachiakuta stumbles because its characters inhabit a world that reeks of filth. What kind of a shonentard could sympathize with or even tolerate a hero caked in grime, surrounded by stink, breathing in squalor? By extension, who would find any sort of appeal in a cast of characters who permanently smell like rotten eggs? The answer is nobody. Back to watching Dandadan!

Moreover, the show attempts to engender empathy for its vomit-smelling protagonist, by portraying him as falsely accused of murder. But even this narrative pivot is portrayed superficially. Why didn’t anyone see the killer running out from the front door of the house in broad daylight? Why did the police arrive instantly and immediately accused the protagonist without any motive or evidence? It’s all done to victimize him in a hurry and it falls flat on its face. The reason it worked so well in other anime such as The Rising of the Shield Hero or even Redo of Healer, is because the audience knows who the actual culprit is and sees them taunting the falsely accused. In Gachiakuta the assassin is masked, emotionally opaque, and devoid of motives or even emotions. In a dumb action show where everyone emotes as if they got a dozen suppositories up their butt, this means nothing and nobody will care.

The final nail in the coffin is what follows the exile of the protagonist into a trash hole. It’s like a dimensional portal that isekais anyone falling in, to a world of trash. Somehow falling 2 miles and crushing on the ground doesn’t kill you. Somehow the trash there is sentient and turns into ugly CGI that wants to eat you. Somehow you gain superpowers when you fight with trash. And somehow there is another society down there who recruits the discarded and together they form the Toxic Avengers (Garbage edition). Essentially, the anime jumps genres entirely, from a social drama to Alice in Garbageland.

Then the whole thing follows your typical Young Adult supernatural organization of smug magicians who are interested in the bland protagonist. Guess what other show airing alongside Gachiakuta did that. Why, yes, it’s the Lord of Mysteries, which happens to look far more polished and doesn’t have characters who emote like clowns with constipation.

So yes, as a whole Gachiakuta is not simply about trash. It’s actual trash, airing in a season with far better offerings.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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	Poll: Gachiakuta Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Softhenic03 - Aug 3	53 replies	by WolfWood37 »» 31 minutes ago
	Poll: Gachiakuta Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Softhenic03 - Jul 27	169 replies	by alpo42ab »» 3 hours ago
	Poll: Gachiakuta Episode 2 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) IzanaSolos - Jul 13	198 replies	by SFM18 »» Yesterday, 12:01 PM
	Poll: Gachiakuta Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ... Last Page ) IzanaSolos - Jul 3	258 replies	by someoneverycool »» Aug 1, 6:00 PM
	Is it actually good? Lichikal - Jul 28	42 replies	by Youre_boyIruma »» Aug 1, 3:58 PM