Story time. Redline 2009. Takeshi Koike and his team spent 7 arduous years at Studio Madhouse to produce one of the most adrenalinefueled wellanimated films in all of anime. It bombed hard to the point where almost no film production has gone down this path since. It may go down as a cult classic a decade later but at the turn of the decade it was a miserable flop. Keijo 2016. Hideya Takahashi noticed a ridiculous sports manga about bodacious babes bumping boobs and buts off of water balconies. He and his team at Xebec took that fun action comedy romp and made it one of the biggest meme titles of 2016. It doesnt quite get the respect it deserves and the production values arent that great for TV anime standards but it is a noteworthy title. Finally Akudama Drive 2020. Tomohisa Taguchi and his team at Studio Pierrot got drugged up on Hotline Miami and cyberpunk aesthetics before deciding to make a show about it. This is probably not how it happened but simply saying individuals with talent and creativity had a wacky idea they wanted to run with is a reality too boring for a show such as this. Its sheer balls to the wall glory. For the most part its exactly what action anime has largely neglected to be. Can you guess what the term is? Do you know what anime has been missing for a while? Straightforward entertainment. Action anime is so focused on gimmicks and drama. A lot of the time these productions would be so much better if they focused on being either over the top or otherwise just focusing on entertainment value to maximize their potential and aesthetics. Theres a reason Jojos Bizarre Adventure became a hit long before the nature of its ambition incorporated particularly dramatic storytelling. Theres a reason the Slime isekai is a lot more wellregarded than most of its peers. Hellsing Ultimate is mainstream for this as well. Prioritizing fun and aesthetics above all else has become criminally undervalued. This is where Akudama comes in barreling through horde after horde of anime in postapocalyptic 2020 with the biggest stupidest grin on its face. Its characters are about as outlandish and simple forcing their bombastic nature and chemistry to carry their weight. Otherwise onedimensional characters such as the meathead Brawler or the red and bloodobsessed psychopath Cutthroat remain entertaining as a result of this chemistry and how their gimmicks are handled. Even the least asinine members of the group such as the Ordinary Person and the Hoodlum have enough comedic value in their interactions to fake their way in and react in perhaps even more over the top ways to the situations than everyone else. Even then each of these weirdos has little personality quirks to help them all stand out amongst each other and butt heads on a consistent basis. Theres enough vibrancy to the characters to sell the insane nature of events in the show perfectly complimenting the shows wonderful presentation. Tomohisa Taguchi and his team must have had an absolute blast during this production. The vibrant cyberpunk aesthetic is stark with tons of atmospheric lighting all around and combinations of red and blue being used to their fullest. The transitions are also hilarious with environments shoving themselves into the screen. Perhaps the most hilarious scene transition is in episode 2 where after everyone is about to crash as Ordinary Person and Hoodlum are screaming we fade to black and cut to an exposition dump on the setting of Kansai which is presented by animals drawn on paper and held up by sticks. The show truly gives all and no fucks at once if its willing to present exposition this way. It helps that the show also has several gorgeous shots in both the calmer and more hectic moments. As for the character designs they are both somewhat simple and somewhat busy and are rendered in an interesting slightly more realistic art style. The hair and especially eye detail is constantly on display even when the action ramps up. The fight scenes are fluid and exciting especially when the lighting changes to ramp up the intensity of the fights. Theres a sense of weight to each impact and characters can get tossed around like ragdolls. This is sadly where some mechanical CGI comes into the picture and that doesnt look great. There are also a few moments of reused animation and slideshows. However when the action is this good and the collateral damage and laser beam effects are this wonderful a few blemishes wont hurt. We are dealing with some of the best digital particle effects usage in recent anime after all. Its just a shame that some of it gets censored since there are several dropdead gorgeous sequences that further elevate this show to one of the most wellanimated TV productions of the year. As for the soundtrack its solid. Theres a mix of electronica jazz and more that get utilized effectively. Only a few tracks stand out such as the menacing techno track that has so far been labeled as Cutthroats theme and the piece that plays during the final fight between Brawler and the Master Executioner in episode 6. Regardless theyre all still fine as they complement the show well enough and more interesting pieces reveal themselves over time. Theres also an OP and ED but lets not get into them regardless of if they fit the show. As for the show and how its written Akudama Drive is stupid. Its over the top with characters uppercutting people with bikes shielding themselves from radiation of some sort with weird unexplained tech shields and characters crashing through walls all the time. Sometimes the show does take a breather to explore characters like Ordinary Person and Hacker a bit more or to even just take in the gorgeous atmosphere. It can even be surprisingly sweet at times. However not only does the show earn it with its likable cast were more often barreling through corpses than sitting down to eat if that makes sense. The shows asinine nature does somewhat come at a cost with unexplained things like Cutthroat surviving being thrown off a hotel or their employers playing flutes that provide unexplained barriers to keep them alive. Everyone has something for every situation convenient or no though rarely does the show become obnoxiously or detrimentally contrived. There are other issues. While the main method of exposition is cute it does become repetitive after a while. It also comes after some inopportune times such as after the blistering and emotional climax of episode 6. More importantly the narrative and interesting worldbuilding become more of a focus in the second half. Some of the reveals are just downright braindead like the reveal of the fate of the moon in episode 7. The show also takes itself more seriously and while its earned that does make it harder for the show to maintain the bombastic edge that made it stand out in the first place. It also makes it harder to excuse some of the ridiculous reveals or moments where characters survived deaths they should not have. Its not a complete trainwreck in the second half as there are still some solid emotional moments. There are brilliant bits and pieces such as the comedic exposition broadcast being hijacked in episode 9 only for it to turn out that hijacking the airwaves during a time of Akudamainduced panic was a horrible idea. However the show never completely recovers from the awkward sometimes gaudy and nonsensical stumbling blocks of episodes 79. Its fun seeing the character flaws of the Akudama start to erode the group just as its fun to see the dystopias authoritarianism go absolutely haywire. However the direction the show goes in never reaches the peaks the simpler first half did. Simple straightforward fun is what Akudama promised. The first half of the show is what more anime should aspire to be with its lively presentation and bombastic cast of characters. Unfortunately it seems Akudama Drive was just a bit more ambitious than that just as a lot of anime are. Ambition isnt everything and sometimes just being earnest and having the drive to be fun more than anything else is what we need. There will always be a place for drama relaxation and even titillation. Anime is a diverse market. However whether it be in the form of spectacle or whimsey the simple need to be fun is still important. It will always be welcome. This is an entertainment medium after all.