Akudama Drive

Akudama Drive
Air date	October 8th, 2020
Screenwriter	Norimitsu Kaihō
Director	Tomohisa Taguchi
Music	Aida Shigekazu, Maiko Iuchi
Studio	Studio Pierrot Too Kyo Games

Akudama Drive (アクダマドライブ, Akudama Doraibu) is an original anime series produced by Danganronpa series creator Kazutaka Kodaka with his recent studio, Too Kyo Games. Animated by Studio Pierrot, a 12-episode season aired from October 8, 2020 to December 24, 2020.

Funimation acquired the North American license for the series' simulcast as well as an English dub.

Synopsis

"Long ago, war broke out between the regions of Kanto and Kansai, splitting the country in two. Kansai became a vassal state of Kanto and developed characteristic advancements. However, with the decline of the government and the police force, crime ran rampant. Those criminals are called Akudama."

Episodes

• Episode 1 'SE7EN'
• Episode 2 'Reservoir Dogs'
• Episode 3 'Mission Impossible'
• Episode 4 'Speed'
• Episode 5 'Dead Man Walking'
• Episode 6 'Brother'
• Episode 7 'The City of Lost Children'
• Episode 8 'Black Rain'
• Episode 9 'The Shining'
• Episode 10 'Babel'
• Episode 11 'Wargames'
• Episode 12 'Akudama Drive'

Cast

Japanese

• Tomoyo Kurosawa as the Ordinary Person (一般人 Ippanjin)
• Yuichiro Umehara as the Courier (運び屋 Hakobiya)
• Shunsuke Takeuchi as the Brawler (喧嘩屋 Kenkaya)
• Shun Horie as the Hacker (ハッカー Hakkā)
• Megumi Ogata as the Doctor (医者 Isha)
• Subaru Kimura as the Hoodlum (チンピラ Chinpira)
• Takahiro Sakurai as the Cutthroat (殺人鬼 Satsujinki)
• Maaya Uchida as the Black Cat (黒猫 Kuro neko) / Brother (兄 Ani)
• Kana Ichinose as the Sister (妹 Imōto)
• Akio Otsuka as the Execution Division Master (処刑課師匠 Shokeika shisho)
• Yumiri Hanamori as the Execution Division Apprentice (処刑課弟子 Shokeika deshi)
• Yoshiko Sakakibara as the Boss (ボス Bosu)
• Taiko Katono as the Execution Division Junior (処刑課後輩 Shokeika kōhai)

English

• Macy Anne Johnson as the Ordinary Person
• Jonah Scott as the Courier
• Zeno Robinson as the Brawler
• Yungi Chang as the Hacker
• Brittany Lauda as the Doctor
• Kellen Golf as the Hoodlum
• Matt Shipman as the Cutthroat
• Daisy Guevara as the Black Cat/Brother
• Laura Stahl as the Sister
• D.C. Douglas as the Execution Division Master
• Jenny Yokobori as the Execution Division Apprentice
• Veronica Taylor as the Boss
• Eddy Lee as the Execution Division Junior

Staff

• Studio: Studio Pierrot
• Director: Tomohiro Taguchi
• Assistant Director: Yoshifumi Sasahara
• Series Composition: Norimitsu Kaihō
• Music: Shigekazu Aida
• Original Character Design: Rui Komatsuzaki
• Character Design: Cindy H. Yamauchi
• Art Director: Yoshio Tanioka
• Mechanical design:
  • Haruo Miyagawa
  • Shinobu Tsuneki
  • Sho Yamamoto
• Sound Director: Yukio Nagasaki
• Cgi Director: Shuho Fujitani
• Director of Photography: Kazuhiro Yamada
• Color design: Saori Goda
• Editing: Akinori Mishima
• Original Scenario: Kazutaka Kodaka

Music

Anime

TVアニメ「アクダマドライブ」OPムービー／OPテーマ：SPARK!!SOUND!!SHOW!!「STEAL!!」

Akudama Drive Opening - STEAL!! — SPARK!!SOUND!!SHOW!!

TVアニメ「アクダマドライブ」EDムービー／EDテーマ：浦島坂田船「Ready」

Akudama Drive Ending - Ready — Urashimasakatasen

Promotional

『アクダマドライブ』キャラクターソングミニアルバム試聴動画／一般人(黒沢ともよ)、運び屋(梅原裕一郎)、喧嘩屋(武内駿輔)、ハッカー(堀江瞬)、医者(緒方恵美)、チンピラ(...

THE Chara SHOP Character songs album - Official preview

SPARK!!SOUND!!SHOW!! STEAL!! MV

Akudama Drive Opening - STEAL!! — SPARK!!SOUND!!SHOW!! MV

Development

Rui Komatsuzaki's 2018 Akudama Drive artwork

Following the creation of Kazutaka Kodaka's new studio Too Kyo Games, Akudama Drive was first announced in September 2018 under the name "Project #2" and subtitled "everyone is a villain", accompanied by Original Character Designer Rui Komatsuzaki's initial character artwork.

Meant to start airing on July 7, 2020, Akudama Drive was put off due to the COVID-19 worldwide pandemic, to finally release on October 8. For this reason, its manga adaptation's first chapter wound up releasing ahead of the anime, on July 6.

From October 8, 2020 to December 24, 2020, new episodes aired on Thursdays.

On December 25, 2020, a few hours after the last episode was released, it was announced that the last Blu-Ray & DVD volume to come out on May 28, 2021 would include a "Director's Cut" with 5 supplementary minutes of content.

On August 17th, 2021, Funimation and voice over production company Kocha Sound announced the upcoming release of Akudama Drive on Blu-Ray & DVD, already available for pre-order to release on November 30th. Along with it was announced a limited edition containing a 60-page Art Book, 8 Art cards and acrylic standees of Shark and Bunny. Formerly announced Director's Cut, out in Japan since May 28, will be included in both the limited and regular edition with english subtitles and dubbing.

Reception

Akudama Drive was critically acclaimed from its premiere on October 8, 2020, attracting multiple positive reactions from fans and reviewers alike. Kazutaka Kodaka fans found in Akudama Drive's first episode SE7EN similarities to his hit series Danganronpa, which they welcomed.

Reviewers brought up a major change in tone, largely due to a change in protagonist Swindler's personality, starting in its eight episode, Black Rain. This change, along with her new design, were found impressive and praised by critics.

The series' finale, Akudama Drive, was similarly acclaimed for its "beautiful storyboarding", the conclusion given to the Swindler and her ally the Courier and its commentary on the police's handling of criminals, though the latter was noted to lack in subtlety compared to the deeper themes brought up by Syfy.com within the Swindler's last moments. Syfy.com found Akudama Drive to be a welcome renewal of the Cyberpunk genre, which was also brought up by Comic Book Resources, who similarly to the latter believed that the animation was the main reason for Akudama Drive's popularity.

Syfy.com found the violence to be too impactful for sensitive viewers. Similarly, it had been commented by Anime Feminist that the reference to rape in episode 8 Black Rain was "an upsetting scene", and they included "so much violence" as one of their content warnings. This was also mentioned by magazine Otaku USA which praised its animation and brought up a "substantial body count", recommending owning Akudama Drive on home video to see "all of the beheadings and head/eye trauma". Anime Feminist also brought up the arguable depiction of the Brawler, and his death being the first, as "concerning", and included "racial stereotyping; death of marginalized characters" as some of their content warnings.

In the 2021 Anime Trending "Anime of the Year Awards", the series won the categories of "Best Anime", "Best Original Screenplay", as well as "Best Sci-Fi and Best Mystery".

Despite its positive reception, Akudama Drive was a commercial failure in Japan due to poor sales of its DVDs and Blu-rays, which were not released in the West, with their first volume accumulating little more than 500 copies sold.

Gallery

Key visual (日本語)

Key visual (English)

The Ordinary Person's Character Design

The Courier's Bike Design

The Courier's Character Design

The Brawler's Character Design

The Hacker's Character Design

The Doctor's Character Design

The Hoodlum's Character Design

The Cutthroat's Character Design

Trivia

• The original soundtrack of Akudama Drive was made available via multiple audio streaming services on September 1st, 2021.
  • The original soundtrack had initially been released in a bonus CD included with Volume 3 of the Japanese Blu-ray & DVD release.