LogFAQs > #969766485

5. Akudama Drive
https://myanimelist.net/anime/41433/Akudama_Drive
Fall 2020 (12 episodes)
My Score: 10/10, MAL Score: 7.61/10
Best Character: Swindler

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ8iRrphkQo

Premise: Set in a cyberpunk future, the city of Kansai has both technological wonders and criminals called akudama. One of the most dangerous, a mass murderer known as Cutthroat, is about to be executed. However, a mysterious benefactor has hired several other top akudama to rescue him, and an ordinary person gets swept up along with them.

The Good: Akudama Drive is a sci-fi action anime. The cyberpunk setting is wonderful. It's full of neon signs and futuristic splendor contrasted against the dark underbelly of society. This isn't just a standard sci-fi setting, however. The world had a lot of creative ideas and hinted at interesting lore as well. I loved learning everything about it. Still, the characters are the main draw in this anime. There are six akudama criminals, each with their own personality and special skills. There's a master hacker who can get into any system, a courier with a fancy bike, a brawler with super strength, and so on. I loved every single one if them. There were a lot of awesome fight scenes in this, but they were equally as entertaining when they were all just standing around bickering. Each of the akudama has a forceful personality, and they didn't always work well together.

Still, my favorite character was a woman who was a completely ordinary person. Circumstances put her in the wrong place at the wrong time, and she's confronted by the akudama crew. Her only way out is to pretend that she's an akudama too. She claims to be a master trickster named Swindler. Then she needs to keep up the act while under intense scrutiny and while being dragged along through seemingly impossible situations. She works great as audience avatar reacting to the insanity just like an ordinary person would. She also adds to the group dynamic surprisingly well. During her misadventures with these criminals, she gets to experience every aspect of society. The story goes to some genuinely compelling places. The themes are great too, examining things like oppression and authority. There's also wonderful action scenes, occasional gore, and a lot of fun moments to balance that darkness out and keep it from becoming too bleak. This show excelled at everything it did. It was all just so stylish and cool.

The Bad: There are no flaws. Akudama Drive isn't even an anime where I can say the generic "it's too bad there weren't more episodes or another season ". This is a self-contained story that doesn't need additional content, and more episodes might've screwed up the perfect pacing.

Overall: Akudama Drive is probably the anime in my top ten with the most mainstream appeal. If anyone following along with my ranking feels compelled to watch at least something, this is your best bet. The interesting characters, difficult situations, and intense action scenes coupled with an overall fun tone probably could've carried the anime on their own. The fact that Akudama Drive also has so much depth beyond that is what elevated it into my all-time favorites.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/6/5/0/AAcDcBAAD7n6.png

CHARACTER: Swindler (Akudama Drive)
https://myanimelist.net/character/179399/Ordinary_Person
Voiced by: Kurosawa Tomoyo
TOP 100 RANK: 31st

SPOILERS FOR AKUDAMA DRIVE

VIDEO LINK: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zit7N-M9_gc

At the beginning of the story, this character really is an ordinary person. She works a regular job, then goes home to do it all over again the next day. That all changes when she has a chance encounter with the akudama called Courier. She gets arrested for a petty crime, and that puts her right in the path of the akudama crew breaking out Cutthroat. She pretends to be an akudama herself, claiming that, as the trickster Swindler, she even managed to erase all evidence of herself, and that's why none of them have heard of her. Their mysterious benefactor is happy to have another criminal on the team, and Cutthroat develops an uncomfortable obsession towards her and vows to protect her. Most of the others don't really care. Only Doctor doubts Swindler's story, which is enough to keep the ordinary person nervous.

This anime couldve easily been too dark to be enjoyable, especially with an innocent girl surrounded by dangerous killers. Thankfully, Swindler's situation is usually played for absurd comedy instead. I loved watching her string together dumb lies, and she was also fun in parallel with Hoodlum who was pretending to be a much more dangerous akudama than he really was. The group dynamic, action scenes, and hints of bigger things carried the show through the Shinkansen robbery. Then they rescued two mysteriously immortal artificial children, and the real depth of the plot began coming into focus. Swindler learned the truth about Kansai, as well as what the mythical Kanto actually was. She viewed these kids as a normal person would, too. Despite their powers or whatever sacrificial role they're expected to serve, they're still just kids. Swindler becomes genuinely invested in getting them to safety.

She started the story as an ordinary person, but I loved Swindler's believable transformation into the exact badass akudama she'd been pretending to be. She actually does swindle Kansai into chaos. Not once, but twice! She also manages to hold her own when the deranged Cutthroat finally snapped. Still, my absolute favorite moment in the anime is in the video I linked. It has such a spoilery title that I wasnt sure if I should link it even with the spoiler tag, but it's too good of a moment to pass up. Swindler finally embraced her accidental akudama identity, and then she got her own intro just like the others did way back at the start! It was so epic, and helped ease the sadness of what happened immediately after. Plus, Swindler won in the end. The kids get to safety and, with any luck, Kansai might start addressing its deeply rooted societal problems. Swindler's whole arc was just so fun and satisfying.