Gachiakuta
Entry updated 12 January 2026. Tagged: TV.
Japanese animated tv series (2025-current). Bones Film. Based on the Manga by Kei Urana. Directed by Fumihiko Suganuma. Written by Hiroshi Seko. Voice cast includes Aoi Ichikawa, Kana Hanazawa, Katsuyuki Konishi, Toshiyuki Morikawa and Shunsuke Takeuchi. Twenty-four 24 minute episodes to date. Colour.
A wall divides the wealthy from the poor, with the white-clad former living in a beautiful City, the latter, the Tribesfolk, in a vast shanty town: "Humans think nothing of turning an object into trash ... they do this to other humans, too." The rich produce much rubbish and their police force, the Apostles, are trying to catch the "trash thief" who rifles through it. This is Rudo (Aoi), son of a psychopath who – like all major criminals – had been dropped into The Pit, where all the city's trash is dumped. Rudo, whose hands are discoloured and painful, wears large gloves to protect them; a gift from his stepfather Regto (Toshiyuki), whom he sees murdered by a masked, caped man who knocks him unconscious and departs with a book. The Apostles duly arrest Rudo for the murder and he is thrown into The Pit, swearing vengeance on all.
Landing, he sees an expanse of rubbish extending to the horizon. After fighting some "trash beasts" (Kaiju made of trash), he meets Enjin (Katsuyuki), who explains that Rudo had lived on a sphere flying above a planet. Its surface is actually The Pit; its inhabitants hate the "Spherites" for what they have done to their world. Rudo finds he has Telekinetic abilities that manifest through his gloves; Enjin explains that on the surface not only trash builds up, but also emotions – "anima" – which can convert into energy: this creates the trash beasts, but a loved object builds anima too, to become "vital instruments". Their owners (called Givers) manifest various Superpowers through them, many employed – like Enjin – as Cleaners, protecting the surface's cities from the beasts (where not covered in trash, the landscape tends to have a Post-Holocaust look). Rudo is persuaded to become one too, seeing it as a temporary measure until he finds a means of returning to The Sphere and enacting his revenge. The problem is the Border, which kills everyone trying to pass between the surface and the sphere; why he survived is a puzzle. Rudo trains and goes on missions with the Cleaners, fighting Trash monsters and visiting other parts of the world, resulting in character development. Most of these adventures – such as the graffiti city – are enjoyable, though one story involving child abuse is uncomfortable (see Children in SF); at the end of this episode the girl involved, Amo (Kana), is kidnapped by persons unknown.
There is another, less virtuous, group with vital instruments – whose leader, Zodyl Typhon (Shunsuke), is interested in the Sphere and thus Rudo. So whilst his Raiders battle the Cleaners one-on-one in an apparent Underground complex, he captures Rudo and offers him the chance to take down the Sphere, explaining Rudo's gloves, Zodyl's jacket and Amo's boots are part of a "Watchmen series", vital instruments owned by a tremendously powerful individual in the past. Zodyl has been trying to create further instruments in the same series, without success; however, he has been able to produce an immense trash beast that can fly to the Sphere, and reveals they are currently inside this beast. However, Rudo – though still desiring revenge – will not do so at the cost of betraying his friends, which the other sees as a weakness. As the trash beast approaches the Border, Zodyl and most of the Raiders depart, leaving the Cleaners on board; they manage to destroy its vital instrument and return to the surface. One of the Raiders dies, but before doing so realizes the Border is "the Watchman". Zodyl is pleased with events: the Cleaners survived the Border inside the trash beast, so he prepares to cross to The Sphere in another he has created, but wants to acquire more parts of the Watchman series first. In the final episode of the season Rudo learns that the original Watchman (also known as The Undertaker) was named Canis Surebrec; and Rudo's surname is Surebrec. He also wishes to find and rescue Amo.
Rudo suffers from Psychological trauma, a sense of having been abandoned by his parents: hence his attraction to discarded things and the urge to repair or make them whole again; he can bring out the "full and uninhibited worth" of any vital instrument that has been thrown away. The formation of people's beliefs is also a theme: how the familiar becomes "common sense" in their minds. With an exciting plot, imaginative worldbuilding, good characterization and excellent animation, Gachiakuta is an impressive Anime; criticisms might be made of a few too many fight scenes and the Humour being hit-or-miss, but these are minor points. An elite living in the sky with the downtrodden on the surface is a familiar plot (see Clichés); indeed another 2025 animated release, Knights of Guinevere, has a similar setting. Season one ends mid-story; fortunately a second season has been commissioned. [SP]
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