Gachiakuta Episode 1 Review: A Nice Start To A Promising Shounen

Gachiakuta Episode 1 Review: The 1st episode of Gachiakuta is here, and this seems to be a pretty promising episode. Let’s discover how this episode plays out.

Gachiakuta Overview

Created by Kei Urana, Gachiakuta is a Japanese manga that began its serialisation in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in February 2022. Since its debut, the story has gained significant attention, with 15 compiled volumes released as of June 2025.

An anime adaptation by Studio Bones began airing on July 6, 2025, across CBC Television, TBS, and affiliated networks. Titled Gachiakuta: World Takeover for its international screenings, the series made its global premiere at the Shinjuku Piccadilly in Tokyo on July 4, with early showings scheduled in over 15 countries.

The anime is directed by Fumihiko Suganuma, with Hiroshi Seko handling series composition. Satoshi Ishino serves as the chief animation director and character designer, while Taku Iwasaki is in charge of the music. The show features “HUGs” by Paledusk as the opening theme and “Tomoshibi” by DUSTCELL as the ending track.

Streaming rights are held by Crunchyroll globally, while Medialink handles distribution in Southeast Asia.

Gachiakuta Episode 1 Review

This anime presents a very interesting premise where we get to see a world where disparity thrives, but in a very different sense. On one side, there is a world where cleanliness is literally looked up as godliness, whereas there exists another world where everything is termed as trash. Even the people who reside in this poor and deprived side of the city are considered no less than waste material, and that is where our hero, Rudo, survives.

His livelihood also depends on his foraging for things that the cleaner side of the town discards. However, even in the deprived side of the town, he is looked down upon by his peers and is often ostracised for being the son of a killer.

But not everything is bad in his life. There is a girl who looks at him with kind eyes, and he even has a guardian called Regto who takes care of him like his own son. After his real biological dad leaves Rudo with some irreversible damage, Regto was the only one who decided to protect him instead. However, when this only support gets snatched away from Rudo, his life turns upside down. What ends up happening is that he gets sent to the pit, where every criminal gets thrown as a punishment.

The pit is a huge abyss where all the wastes get dumped, and people who are deemed wrongdoers get thrown mercilessly. As the pit is very close to the slum where Rudo lives, the people are made to see this execution whether they want it or not. No one really knows what exactly happens once you get into the pit. Do you die, or in a twisted way, do you live to witness another horrifying experience? Sadly, after this happens, we witness a major shift in Rudo’s character, who is now reeling with revenge.

This episode sets up the premise very nicely, but again, it did not show anything new from what we saw in the trailer. To really understand how the anime is going to be, we will need another episode to come to terms with the storyline.

Verdict

Those who do not like CGI might also have problems with its extensive use in creating the monsters that we see towards the end. But personally, I am very intrigued with how things are unfolding right now, and I would definitely suggest that everyone start this anime.

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