I saw a funny comment a few months ago briefly detailing how Gachiakuta was Vizs first attempt at an Industry plant and even now I can somewhat see where theyre coming from. For the mangas case it was because the series was licensed to North America very shortly following the first volume or two and when it was there were these big cardboard cutouts promoting the release and everything almost unheard of for a series from a new mangaka. When it came to the anime there was also a notable marketing push from every party involved and it just made logical sense from the perspective of a savvy oversees licensor. Gachiakuta is a grungy shonen battle manga with an incredibly intense aesthetic style by a freshman mangaka whos been designated the successor of Atsushi Ohkubo the creator of Soul Eater and Fire Force respectively. It begins with a split societytype story structure with heavy class elements and literally dives into a postapocalyptic monster hunting agency narrative. If Im to be honest youd have to be kind of a moron to pass that up. Now I dont know what Ohkubos motivation was for ordaining Kei Urana like he did its honestly unprecedented for a mangaka to do so but that part is also somewhat clear to me. Both Urana and Ohkubo have styles fiercely inspired by various youth western and alternative subcultures that act as the aesthetic spine of their work crafting worlds and narratives around their sensibilities. It so happened for Ohkubo he could create a narrative work like Soul Eater with impressively strong characterization and appetizing world building that allowed him to tap dance all over concepts like tonal consistency. It was charmingly juvenile and quirky but still had enough level headiness and sensitivity to not completely abandon its cast for mere visual spectacle. Fire Force is more of a mixed bag where the vibes overshadowed much of the other elements that made a work like Soul Eater so beloved. Even so once the anime concludes next year Im sure people will talk about Fire Force relatively positively for the foreseeable future. And Ohkubo himself has taken his success in stride retiring at 42 to be one of the most successful mangaka of his generation with two internationally successful manga and three anime adaptations under his belt. In this light Kei Urana had big shoes to fill. Gachiakuta is something of an elaborate and expensive test to see if she can fill those shoes. The question is does she? In terms of financials Im sure its been working out fairly well. Gachiakuta has been the number one show on Crunchyroll since like episode 12 and has been loitering in the top 10 since it started airing. Even if the show were somehow a complete financial disaster in Japan the international streaming contracts could probably pay off the cost of production on their own. More importantly how has Urana carried on Ohkubos legacy from a in terms of quality? Well just like her mentor Gachiakuta has an everpresent visual aesthetic along with very strong character designs you truly are up to your eyeballs in vibes. Technically Gachiakuta is a manga really headed by two people the other of which being Ando Hideyoshi. Hideyoshi is a graffiti artist who teamed up Urana and while he officially only designs the graffiti proliferated throughout the mangas many backgrounds his role and influence is seemingly much more ambiguous in practice. The anime conveys Hideyoshis work fairly well Gachiakuta never leaves its seedy atmosphere for even a second and its endless graffiti is a constant reminder of that. However when it comes to everything else in Gachiakuta it becomes much messier to talk about. To keep it simple Gachiakuta is a series where much of the enjoyment is found in its aesthetics. Its unfortunate because the show doesnt have the exceptional animation of a typical Bones production. And conversely the writing is loosely structured on a broader level and its characterization disjointed. People will complain about the tone and I think thats fair but my main complaint is that it feels like the actual arc of its main character was an afterthought and the characterization of the rest of the cast wasnt even considered until recently. Gachiakuta keeps introducing ornate design after ornate design only to provide most of them with surface level characterization. After a 24 episode season I cant say if I truly care about any of them and thats with some characters being VERY hit or miss like that binky kid hate him. I originally had more to say about Gachiakuta but I dont think the series is interesting enough to warrant that. Rudo the main character is okay. They lean more into the psychological disorder angle with the kid but ultimately itll be healed by the power of nakama because shonen so its whatever. I think pathology is always fun to explore in these stories and this series has a bunch of that but its not the whole thing there has to be a bunch of fighting. And I guess thats the problem with Gachiakuta given that it literally switches setting in the first episode the series never has the time to properly lead you into the setting and thus do the early leg work necessary to characterize at least SOMEONE enough to get me to care. I decided to check out Gachiakuta originally when I had like 15 shows to try out and frankly Ive never been terribly impressed. I think theres enough here that if there is more in the future I may well check it out but I wont perish if we never get Gachiakuta ever again. But I dont think Im unique in this take the response to Gachiakuta has largely been lukewarm by the anime community if both irl friends and these aggregate sites are any indication. I always like supporting young creators so I hope Rei Urana further refines her style in the near future and is able to elevate Gachiakuta to something exceptional. Otherwise until then people will largely keep saying It was alright. Have a nice day.